An alarmingly disproportionate number of Black women are failed every year by the U.S. maternal health system. Shamony Gibson and Amber Rose Isaac were vibrant, excited mothers-to-be whose deaths due to childbirth complications were preventable. Now, their partners and families are determined to sound a rallying cry around this chilling yet largely ignored crisis.
Directors Paula Eiselt and Tonya Lewis Lee follow Gibson’s and Isaac’s bereaved partners, Omari Maynard and Bruce McIntyre, as they fight for justice and build communities of support, bonding especially with other surviving Black fathers. Their tragic, individual experiences are punctuated with condemning historical context, showing that gynecology has a long-standing history of exploiting and neglecting Black women in America. In the arresting words of mother-to-be Felicia Ellis, “A Black woman having a baby is like a Black man at a traffic stop with the police.” She emphasizes that paying attention is paramount. Aftershock brings an unsettling reality to the forefront while uplifting the families, activists, and birth workers who are striving to bring institutional change and legislative reform. These mothers will not be forgotten.
Controversial Pakistani cleric Maulana Aziz, linked to the Taliban, declares jihad against the government to impose sharia law. The government retaliates by destroying his seminary, killing his mother, brother, his only son and 150 students. The film follows charming yet menacing Maulana Aziz on his personal quest to create an Islamic utopia, which causes the country to implode. The Red Mosque has students allied with ISIL, and strong ties to the Taliban. We meet two Red Mosque students whose paths diverge: Talha, 12, leaves his moderate Muslim family to study to be a jihadi preacher. Zarina, also 12, escapes her madrassa and joins a normal school. Her education is threatened by frequent Taliban attacks on schools like her own. In December, 2014, the Taliban massacred 132 schoolchildren in Peshawar, outraging Pakistan's moderate majority. Aziz's longtime opponent, education reformer Pervez Hoodbhoy joins the re-energized anti-extremist movement. Throughout the film, he passionately opposes Aziz on television and public forums. With the tide turning against the cleric, Pervez is determined to see Aziz put in jail. Intimate and brutally honest, AMONG THE BELIEVERS offers rare insight into the ideological battle shaping Pakistan and the Muslim world.
Pakistan's notorious cleric Maulana Aziz, with links to Taliban, declares jihad against the government to impose sharia law. This sparks a bloody war and causes the country to implode. Along with Aziz's quest, the film charts the coming-of-age stories of his two students who are trapped in this ideological war.
Chicken People is a funny and uplifting look at the world of show chickens and the people who love them. Starting at the largest national poultry competition, likened to the Westminster Dog Show for chickens, Chicken People follows three top competitors over the course of a year as they grapple with life's challenges while vying to win the next year's crown. Both humorous and heartfelt, Chicken People is an unforgettable celebration of the human spirit.
This is a story about people in love with cinema, and a country going through its most difficult times. A group of friends, who met sometime ago in a movie theatre, get together to see one of them off to Belgrade. So their journey begins: from personal memories to the remembrance of their country, out of a small dark room to the mystery of Kiev's night. Their last stop - the farewell party where reality and cinema once again become a single whole.