ANNOUNCEMENT: First wave of films!
The first wave of film announcements is here - check ‘em out!
SIRENS
Directed by: Rita Baghdadi | 78 min | 2021 | USA
Headstrong 23-year-old guitarist Lilas Mayassi lives with her mom and younger brother on the outskirts of Beirut. By day, Lilas teaches music to kids. By night, she’s trying to keep her thrash metal band together. And she’s secretly falling for a young woman living across the border in Syria.
Sirens presents Lilas and Shery, co-founders and guitarists of the Middle East’s first all-female metal band, as they wrestle with friendship, sexuality, and destruction in their pursuit of becoming thrash metal rock stars.
THE LONG RIDER
Directed by: Sean Cisterna | 96 min | 2022 | Canada
When Filipe Leite leaves his adoptive home of Canada, the aspiring journalist sets out on an epic quest to ride from Calgary to his family's home in Brazil entirely on horseback. Inspired by Aimé Tschiffely's 1925 equestrian journey, Filipe's 8 year odyssey of over 25,000 kms across 12 international borders, sees the young immigrant battle intense heat, drought, speeding transport trucks, nature's wrath and corrupt border guards on his history-making long ride home. Culled from over 500 hours of never-before-seen-footage.
THE AUTOMAT
Directed by: Lisa Hurwitz | 79 min | 2021 | USA
The Automat tells the 100-year story of the iconic restaurant chain Horn & Hardart, the place where generations of Americans ate and drank coffee together at communal tables — and the inspiration for Starbucks.
From the perspective of former customers; entertainer Mel Brooks, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Horns, the Hardarts, and key employees - we watch a business climb to its peak success and then grapple with fast food in a forever changed America.
Featuring an original new song written and performed by Mel Brooks.
MISSION: JOY - FINDING HAPPINESS IN TROUBLED TIMES
Directed by: Louie Psihoyos & Peggy Callahan | 90 min | 2021 | USA
MISSION:JOY gives us unprecedented access to the unlikely friendship between two international icons who transcend religion: His Holiness the Dalai Lama & Archbishop Tutu. In their final joint mission, these self-described mischievous brothers give a master class in how to create joy in a world that was never easy for them. They offer neuroscience-backed wisdom to help each of us live with more joy, despite circumstances.
MAMA BEARS
Directed by: Daresha Kyi | 90 min | 2021 | USA
Connected by Facebook groups, 30,000 mothers across America —many from conservative, Christian backgrounds— share their love for their LGBTQ+ children. They call themselves "mama bears" because while their love is warm and fuzzy, they fight ferociously to make the world kinder and safer for all LGBTQ+ people. Mama Bears explores the journeys of three such women whose struggle for self-acceptance exemplifies why the mama bears movement is vitally important.