Cinemafile

With unprecedented access to the global migration crisis, ROADS OF FIRE weaves together three powerful, deeply personal narratives: a human smuggler guiding refugees through the treacherous Darién Gap, an asylum seeker rebuilding her life in New York City, and volunteers working on the frontlines of a mounting humanitarian emergency. ROADS OF FIRE offers an unflinching, intimate look at the human cost of forced migration, and the resilience of those navigating one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time. In our guest Director Nathaniels Lezra’s own words… “Roads Of Fire is the culmination of years of labor executed by an extraordinary, compassionate, engaged, and courageous group of artists and crewmembers. It is also a window into a journey I’ve been undertaking for roughly a decade – one that began with my learning about my grandfather’s experiences as a Spanish Arab refugee in Morocco, having escaped one of the Spanish dictator Franco’s concentration camps in Northern Africa, and relocated to Tangier.”

Keith Jarrett’s legendary performance in January 1975 nearly didn’t happen. Based on a true story, Köln 75 follows how the concert was conceived and orchestrated by the efforts of a teenage up and coming concert promoter, Vera Brandes, (played by German actress Mala Emde). Her enthusiasm set her to multitasking – from organizing the concert venue (the Cologne Opera House), promoting the event, and selling the tickets, to convincing Jarrett to perform when he almost dropped out when the Bösendorfer Imperial Grand piano he was promised was nowhere to be found. John Magaro plays Jarrett with his own intensity, a sublime counterpoint to Mala Emde’s joyful portrayal of the enthusiastic and unstoppable Vera. Köln 75 captures the compelling, entertaining and, until now, unknown back story about Jarrett’s one-hour, entirely improvised concert, which became the best-selling solo album in jazz history. Director Koln 75 - Director Ido Fluk (Empty Mansions, 24 Hours in June) joins us for a conversation on this remarkable story of perseverance and Vera Brandes’ refusal to take no for answer and how transcend art often comes from the chaos of uncertainty and struggle).  

RIVER OF GRASS is a present-day reimagining of Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s groundbreaking book, “The Everglades: River of Grass,” (1947), which transformed the public’s understanding of the area from worthless swamps to an essential source of freshwater, enabling the ecosystem to endure, just barely, today. In the wake of a hurricane, Douglas visits filmmaker Sasha Wortzel in a dream and catalyzes a prismatic study of a wilderness that is home to a rich history and a site of resistance in the face of climate collapse. Seeking a way forward, Wortzel reads Douglas's book and embarks on a deep listening walk through the Everglades with Miccosukee educator Betty Osceola. The intertwined voices of the narrator, Betty, and Marjory transport the audience across the Everglades, past and present. Along the way, we meet a mother taking on the polluting sugar industry; a family of crab fishermen who have fished in the Everglades for six generations; a mother-daughter team who venture out nightly to remove invasive snakes wreaking havoc on the ecosystem; and a two-spirit Miccosukee environmentalist and poet, among others. Interweaving Douglas's writing, personal narration, stunning present-day verité, and haunting archival footage, RIVER OF GRASS reveals how this country’s origin story haunts and inextricably shapes contemporary American life, while asking how we might weather coming storms better together. Director Sasha Wortzel joins us for a conversation on all the remarkably dedicated people in the making of this foreboding and essential documentary.

River of Grass website: https://www.riverofgrassfilm.com

Resurrection, ancient prophecies, and globe-spanning adventures—this is the outrageous true story of Patrick McCollum, an eccentric spiritual leader who’s been identified by Indigenous Elders as the man foretold to fulfill a sacred prophecy to save the Amazon. McCollum has lived a life so improbable, it sounds like a myth. From carnival worker to renowned jewelry designer, kung fu master, reverend, pagan ritual leader, and international peacemaker—his journey defies logic. Pulled into Patrick’s world, acclaimed director Gabe Polsky embarks on a surreal journey where the absurd and the profound blur, and nothing is quite what it seems. Our guest is Gabe Polsky, an award-winning writer, director, and producer known for bold, unconventional storytelling in both documentary and narrative film. The Man Who Saves the World? executive producers include; Peter Farrelly, Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, Brandon James and world-renowned ethologist, conservationist, and humanitarian, Jane Goodall.  

Before being the feminist powerhouse that she’s known to be today, Nora “Norita” Cortiñas was a traditional housewife. She was catapulted into her country’s political life when the 1976-82 military dictatorship kidnapped her son Gustavo and thousands of other young activists. NORITA, co-directed by Jayson McNamara & Andrea Tortones, takes viewers on a gripping journey through Argentina's tumultuous history, where Norita's personal tragedy becomes a catalyst for change. As a mother seeking justice for her disappeared son during the dark days of Argentina's dictatorship, her unwavering determination and fearless activism led her to co-found the renowned Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a pivotal human rights organization. Our guest is NORITA Producer and founder of DoctoraStories, Dr. Sarah A. Schoellkopf. DoctoraStories was founded on the belief that storytelling has the power to spark change. Sarah, a producer and academic, brings her background in human rights and gender research to the film industry.  From her fieldwork with the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo to co-producing the feature documentary Ferguson Rising, her vision is rooted in truth, justice, and connection.

Combining magical realism and evocative hand-drawn animation with revelatory interviews and verité footage, "Among Neighbors" examines the story of a small, rural town where Jews and Polish Catholics lived side by side for centuries before World War II. The film brings the Polish response to the Holocaust to life through the last living eyewitnesses, revealing both love and betrayal as it zeroes in on one of the last living Holocaust survivors from the town, and an aging eyewitness who saw Jews murdered there — not by Nazis, but by her own Polish neighbors. Produced and directed by our guest, award-winning filmmaker Yoav Potash. Potash produced and directed the Sundance premiere documentary “Crime After Crime,” a New York Times Critics’ Pick and winner of 25 honors, including a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the National Board of Review Freedom of Expression Award, and six audience awards

ISRAEL-PALESTINE ON SWEDISH TV 1958-1989 by archival film maestro Göran Hugo Olsson (The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975) is assembled from a vast stockpile of footage catalogued in the vaults of Sweden’s national television service SVT, where accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are witnessed and represented by Swedish journalists. Stories of the beginning of the Israeli state are interwoven with the Palestinian struggle for independence. News coverage with Yasser Arafat and interviews with Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban during a visit to Sweden have not been shown since the first broadcast. From the tenth anniversary of Israel’s founding to the First Intifada, perspectives and encounters with statesmen, civilians, revolutionaries, and intellectuals tell the story from myriad angles of an evolving media landscape, revivifying a history of the conflict.  Göran Hugo Olsson (Concerning Violence, Am I Black Enough for You) joins us for a lively discussion on his own experience of going through hundreds of hours utterly fascinating footage and how his illuminating documentary, literally, could not be more relevant than it is in this moment of our collective history. 

Obsessed with Light is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create. The film pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller, a wildly original performer who revolutionized the visual culture of the early 20th century. Creating a dialogue between the past and the present, the documentary delves into the astonishing influence Fuller's work has on contemporary artists including artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Taylor Swift, Bill T. Jones, Shakira and William Kentridge. In the process, the film uncovers commonalities that connect these creative luminaries to Fuller and to each other.  The American creator of modern dance, Fuller (1862-1928) invented a completely new kind of spectacle which combined dance, fabric and movement. She also pioneered the ingenious use of electricity for the stage, even building a glass floor so that she could be lit from below. Anyone who has been to a rock concert has seen a modern version of her lighting designs. Fuller propelled herself into swirling abstractions that made audiences gasp and she immediately understood the importance of protecting her ownership of these innovations. Always struggling against a flood of imitators, Fuller was the first choreographer to attempt to copyright her dances and sued to protect her work as early as 1893.  Co-directors Sabine Krayenbühl, Zeva Oelbaum join us for a fascinating conversation on Fuller’s determination to create and push the boundaries of art for art’s sake and her prominence among a vanguard of women artist in the early days of the 20th Century. 

Director Klaudia Reynicke subtly weaves a tale of shifts and sacrifices that shows, whatever the familial configuration, strength and loss are necessary parts of growth. Grounded by a strong performance from Jimena Lindo as Elena and a wonderfully inquisitive Abril Gjurinovic, a family is brought to life. Reynicke’s effective direction honors each community the camera focuses on, and her Lima, the city where Reynicke grew up, feels personal, like a memory or a version of a city that no longer exists but emerges vibrant and alive in the film. Reinas is truly an emotional trip, transporting the viewer to Lima in the ’90s, right into the heart of a family faced with a universal challenge: the search for a safer place. Winner of the Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus International JuryAward and Switzerland’s 2025 Academy Award submission for Best International Feature Film, director and writer Klaudia Reynicke joins us to talk about how this film helped her to reconnect with her native country of Peru, how she gather together a superb cast and why it was so important to her to focus on this specific period in Peruvian history. 

THERE WAS, THERE WAS NOT follows four women living in the Republic of Artsakh, an unrecognized country reckoning with the aftermath of one war while on the precipice of another. In the midst of this uncertainty, four women build a life with the hope of making their home a better place. When war breaks out again, what began as an observational meditation on women’s roles after conflict becomes an urgent and intimate record of their lives interrupted once again by war. From taking up arms on the front lines to fleeing their homes as refugees, each woman’s life changes irrevocably. Their journey becomes the myth of a homeland lost forever, and the power of story to keep it alive. Director Emily Mkrtichian (Motherland, Transmission) stops by to talk about why never meant to make a film that documented war, displacement, and ethnic cleansing. As she puts it… “There Was, There Was Not has become our record of that persecution, but also of the resistance, resilience, and creativity we as women constantly offer in the face of it. As I watch other communities around the world suffer violence, genocide, persecution, displacement and ethnic cleansing, I offer this record as hope to other women around the world fighting for their homes, and working to strengthen their communities and to guarantee safety and security for their children and families.”