“I’m on a path.” “It’s good to be on a path.” Gad Elmaleh’s Stay with Us takes us along a path the ponders the meaning of faith, identity, and community. The semi-autobiographical comedy is about a man with Sephardic Jewish roots who is contemplating converting...
The current goal is to send people to Mars within the next decade. That is certainly an ambitious and worthy undertaking. Want to be on that first three-year mission? Perhaps you should watch the Independent Lens documentary Space: The Longest Goodbye before you get...
“My dad used to say that the beginning of liberation is to raise your flag. The highest level of liberation is to burn it.” In Alam (The Flag), directed by Firas Khoury, we see Palestinian youth struggling with a world in which they have had no voice. It is not just...
Even before the current violence in Gaza, the history of Israeli-Palestinian interactions has been filled with violence and death in both groups. It is easy to forget that each of those deaths lead to a grieving family. In Mourning in Lod, documentary filmmaker Hilla...
”WE EXIST!” In the 1990s, the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago became a symbol of urban decay and danger. Yet for some it was the only home they knew. In We Grown Now, written and directed by Minhal Baig, we see this world through the eyes of two young boys...
People living with mental illness, may often feel isolated. In On the Adamant, from documentarian Nicolas Philibert, we see a refuge in the middle of Paris that attracts a people and provides a place of acceptance, dignity, and perhaps healing. The Adamant is a...
“Please, let it all out. That’s what I’m here for.” In The Listener, directed by Steve Buscemi, we eavesdrop on callers to an emotional support helpline. I view such services (and I have volunteered at one many years ago) as emotional first-aid. That is not meant to...
“How do I know what I want? But my future is not bleak.” Yuni, from Kamila Andini, is a coming-of-age story that deals with the conflict between personal aspirations and societal expectations. These are issues in nearly all cultures, but they seemed to be heightened...
“These are not just pictures; they are testimonies that will live forever.” I remember that, decades ago, I would enjoy looking through National Geographic magazines. I rarely read the text, but would often be enthralled by the photographs. They might have been...