OSCARS SPOTLIGHT: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE SHORTLIST 15 CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DOCS DECEMBER 25, 2019 - JANUARY 12, 2020 FILMMAKER Q&AS TBA / SCHEDULE SUBJECT TO CHANGE ADVOCATE Since the early 1970s, Jewish-Israeli attorney Lea Tsemel has made a career out of defending Palestinians in Israeli courts: from femi- nists to fundamentalists, from non-violent demonstrators to armed militants, including suicide bombers. In ADVOCATE, filmmakers Philippe Bellaiche and Rachel Leah Jones deconstruct this con- troversial figure who will defend anyone who opposes what she describes as an illegal occupation of Palestine. Directed by Rachel Leah Jones & Philippe Bellaiche / 1h 54m Screening: Wednesday 12/25 @ 5:00pm, Tuesday 12/31 @ 7:30pm, Tuesday 1/7 @ 5:00pm AMERICAN FACTORY APOLLO 11 In 2014, a Chinese billionaire opened a Fuyao factory in a shut- Never-before-seen footage and audio recordings take you tered General Motors plant in Dayton, Ohio. For thousands of straight into the heart of NASA’s most celebrated mission as astro- locals, the arrival of this multinational car-glass manufacturer nauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins embark on a meant regaining their jobs—and dignity—after the recession left historic trip to the moon. them high and dry. American Factory takes us inside the facility to observe what happens when workers from profoundly different Directed by Todd Douglas Miller / 1h 33m cultures collide. Screening: Thursday 12/26 @ 7:30pm, Thursday 1/2 @ 4:30pm, Friday 1/10 @ 1:45pm Directed by Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar / 1h 50m Screening: Monday 12/30 @ 12:00pm, Sunday 1/5 @ 7:30pm, Friday 1/10 @ 4:00pm THE APOLLO AQUARELA Internationally renowned for having influenced American and AQUARELA takes audiences on a deeply cinematic journey pop culture more than any other entertainment venue, the Apollo through the transformative beauty and raw power of water. A Theater created opportunities for new talent to be seen and has visceral wake-up call that humans are no match for the sheer served as a launchpad for myriad artists including Billie Holiday, force and capricious will of Earth’s most precious element. From Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald and more. Academy and Emmy the precarious frozen waters of Russia’s Lake Baikal to Miami in the Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams chronicles the unique throes of Hurricane Irma to Venezuela’s mighty Angel Falls, water is history and contemporary legacy of the New York City landmark. AQUARELA’s main character. Directed by Roger Ross Willams / 1h 32m Directed by Viktor Kossakovsky / 1h 30m Screening: Friday 12/27 @ 6:45pm, Wednesday 1/1 @ 5:00pm, Screening: Friday 12/27 @ 12:00pm, Tuesday 12/31 @ 5:00pm, Sunday 1/12 @ 5:00pm Sunday 1/12 @ 7:30pm THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM chronicles the eight-year quest of John Examining her native country’s democracy from when it began and Molly Chester as they trade city living for 200 acres of barren in 1985, focusing on Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rous- farmland and a dream to harvest in harmony with nature. Through seff’s careers, filmmaker Petra Costa interweaves the personal and dogged perseverance and embracing the opportunity provided political to show just how fragile a people’s government can be by nature’s conflicts, the Chester’s unlock and uncover a biodi- when information is kept from the public and those in power refuse verse design for living that exists far beyond their farm, its seasons, to operate in the best interests of the masses. and our wildest imagination. Directed by Petra Costa / 2h 3m Directed by John Chester / 1h 32m Screening: Monday 12/30 @ 5:00pm, Sunday 1/5 @ 12:00pm, Screening: Sunday 12/29 @ 5:00pm (FOLLOWED BY A Q&A), Friday 1/10 @ 6:30pm Friday 1/3 @ 6:45pm, Thursday 1/9 @ 5:00pm THE CAVE FOR SAMA For besieged civilians, hope and safety lie inside the subterranean FOR SAMA is both an intimate and epic journey into the female hospital known as the Cave, where pediatrician and managing experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her physician Dr. Amani Ballour and her colleagues have claimed their daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through right to work as equals alongside their male counterparts, doing five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets their jobs that would be unthinkable in the oppressively patriarchal married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises culture above. They contend with bombardments, chronic supply around her. shortages and the threat of chemical attacks, The Cave paints a stirring portrait of courage, resilience and female solidarity. Directed by Waad Al-Kateab & Edward Watts / 1h 40m Screening: Tuesday 12/31 @ 12:00pm, Monday 1/6 @ 7:30pm, Directed by Feras Fayyad / 1h 47m Saturday 1/11 @ 4:30pm Screening: Saturday 12/28 @ 4:30pm, Wednesday 1/1 @ 7:30pm, Saturday 1/11 @ 2:00pm THE GREAT HACK KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE Data has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable asset. It’s be- A young bartender in the Bronx, a coal miner’s daughter in West ing weaponized to wage cultural and political warfare. People Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada, and a registered nurse in everywhere are in a battle for control of our most intimate person- Missouri build a movement of insurgent candidates to challenge al details. From award-winning filmmakers Karim Amer and Jehane powerful incumbents in Congress. One of their races will become Noujaim, THE GREAT HACK uncovers the dark world of data ex- the most shocking political upsets in recent American history. ploitation with astounding access to the personal journeys of key players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/ Directed by Rachel Lears / 1h 26m Facebook data scandal. Screening: Thursday 12/26 @ 5:00pm, Saturday 1/4 @ 6:30pm, Saturday 1/11 @ 6:45pm Directed by Karim Amer & Jehane Noujaim / 2h 19m Screening: Sunday 12/29 @ 7:30pm, Saturday 1/4 @ 4:00pm, Tuesday 1/7 @ 7:30pm HONEYLAND MAIDEN Nestled in an isolated mountain region deep within the Balkans, In 1989, a competitive all-female sailboat crew was nearly in- Hatidze Muratova lives in a village without roads, electricity or run- conceivable to the manly world of open-ocean yacht racing. ning water. She’s the last in a long line of Macedonian wild bee- 26-year-old skipper Tracy Edwards, her second-hand racing yacht keepers. Hatidze’s peaceful existence is thrown into upheaval by Maiden, and seasoned crew not only became the first-ever all- the arrival of an itinerant family, with their roaring engines, seven woman challenge to the Whitbread Round the World Race, they rambunctious children and herd of cattle. Hatidze optimistically proved able competitors in the famously grueling race. By the time meets the promise of change with an open heart, offering up her they returned to their starting point after 32,000 miles, they had affections, her brandy and her tried-and-true beekeeping advice. shocked, inspired, and transfixed the sailing world and the nation. Directed by Tamara Kotevska & Ljubo Stefanov / 1h 30m Directed by Alex Holmes / 1h 37m Screening: Monday 12/30 @ 7:30pm, Sunday 1/5 @ 5:00pm, Screening: Wednesday 12/25 @ 7:30pm, Monday 1/6 @ 5:00pm, Sunday 1/12 @ 2:30pm Thursday 1/9 @ 7:30pm MIDNIGHT FAMILY In Mexico City, the government operates fewer than 45 emer- gency ambulances for a population of 9 million. This has spawned an underground industry of for-profit ambulances often run by people with little or no training or certification. An exception in this ethically fraught, cutthroat industry, the Ochoa family struggles to keep their financial needs from jeopardizing the people in their care. They face increasing moral dilemmas even as they continue providing essential emergency medical services. Directed by Luke Lorentzen / 1h 21m Screening: Friday 12/27 @ 4:45pm, Wednesday 1/1 @ 12:00pm, Wednesday 1/8 @ 7:30pm ONE CHILD NATION China’s One Child Policy, the extreme population control measure that made it illegal for couples to have more than one child, may have ended in 2015, but the process of dealing with the trauma of its brutal enforcement is only just beginning. The sweeping One Child Nation explores the ripple effect of this devastating social experiment, uncovering one shocking human rights violation after another - from abandoned newborns, to forced sterilizations and abortions, and government abductions. Directed by Nanfu Wang & Jialing Zhang / 1h 29m Screening: Saturday 12/28 @ 6:45pm, Friday 1/3 @ 4:30pm, Wednesday 1/8 @ 4:30pm.