Films

When a mining project threatens her ancestral lands, Sámi reindeer herder Maia calls upon her estranged uncle for legal advice, but his return opens deep familial wounds in indigenous Sámi filmmaker Elle Sofe Sara’s inventive, visually arresting musical drama.

The fascinating documentary reveals the man behind the legend of cosmologist Carl Sagan, the man who was for many the face of space exploration, scientific inquiry, and insatiable curiosity.

On the morning of Eid, the detention of two longtime residents sparks an unexpected response from a Glasgow neighborhood, setting the stage for a historic day of resistance. 
-MICHELLE SVENSON

Deep in the breathtaking rainforests of Indonesia, an existential battle rages: vegetable oil production versus the planet’s future. This visually stunning, emotionally unsettling documentary captures the passion and purpose of native people battling multinational corporations to save their home.

Fifteen years after her landmark documentary Miss Representation, Jennifer Siebel Newsom returns to confront the ways social media, AI, and online misogyny are weaponized against girls, threatening the future of the next generation of female leaders.

Forced to flee their own country, independent Russian journalists continue to chronicle Putin’s war on free speech—and Ukraine—in this equally vivid follow-up to Julie Loktev’s acclaimed 2024 documentary.

A mother’s grief becomes a fight for justice when Lorena Gutiérrez takes her daughter’s story to Mexico’s highest halls of power, refusing to let Fátima’s memory disappear.

Nearly a half-century of Iranian political repression and resistance unfolds through one family’s experience, illustrated by home movies and other archival materials in this highly personal documentary from expatriate Pegah Ahangarani.

“Big business, it don't like you, it don't like the things you do. You got no money, so you got no power.”   In this selection of short-form films, protagonists assert their power and try to rewrite the narrative against powerful forces they face.  In Maia Wikler’s documentary WILD EAST (Canada/US 2026, 36 min), environmental activist Gabi Paun risks his life to expose illegal logging in Romania’s ancient forests, taking on timber mafias and IKEA while revealing the hidden cost of the world’s appetite for cheap furniture. In the fictional FLESH IMPACT (US 2026, 17 min), director Maggie Gyllenhaal assembles a notable cast (Ellen Burstyn, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard) to tell a revisionist history of Marilyn Monroe, who faces down studio pressure to assert her voice and influence, in a speculation on a career that might have been.  Then in FREE JOAN LITTLE (US 2025, 38 min), award-winning filmmaker Yoruba Richen excavates a groundbreaking true-life 1975 case that galvanized Black Power activists, feminists, and prison reformers around one young Black woman’s historic fight for justice and the right to defend herself against sexual violence.  Be sure not to miss this memorable, eclectic trio of legends and their stories. —Michelle Svenson

“But go easy Step lightly Stay free.” As we grow older, we tend to abandon all inherent free spirit and audacity. This collection of short documentary films brings those feelings flooding back, allowing us to live vicariously through these bold, intrepid, and resilient characters. In THE RIGHT FIT (US 2025, 12 min), Max Mollring and Nicolas Collins introduce the owner of a one-of-a-kind small business in San Rafael. Intimate and observational, Hao Zhou's AT THE STAGE WHEN (China 2026, 15 min) follows a young urban couple experiencing societal pressure around parenthood. Composed of black-and-white 35mm photographs, A TOWN CALLED NEEDVILLE (US/Canada 2026, 5 min) traces filmmaker Audrey Lane's inpatient stay at an all-women’s mental health facility in Texas. A collaboration between Ukrainian painter Alla Hurenko and directors Natalie Shirinian and Elizabeth Baudouin, ROOM OF THE ABSOLUTE (US, Ukraine 2026, 18 min) is a time capsule and portrait of resilience in the face of relentless destruction in Ukraine. It is 1980 in Yuba City, California, in Reaa Puri’s HARVEST PARTY AT CAMP TWO (US 2026, 16 min), and a group of Young Punjabi Sikh farmworkers throw the biggest party their small town has ever seen. —Diana Sánchez Maciel

When the local pool closes, pre-teen Pola leads the charge to save it in this upbeat and inspiring story of activism, kid-style, and the enduring power of friendship, awash in wildly creative costumes, musical dance numbers, and fabulous young talent.

Legendary documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple completes the workers’ trilogy she began 50 years ago with this vivid, on-the-ground look at often rancorous labor struggles in the era of delivery apps and the gig economy.

Bay Area poet, educator, and community activist Amber Allen-Peirson turns the camera on her own life in this deeply moving quest for belonging that blends personal archival footage and vérité moments with a bold poetic narration.

Former lawyer and veteran documentarian Dawn Porter revisits the case of the Harlem Park Three, whose wrongful convictions as teenagers led to 36 years behind bars and exposed profound failures within the American justice system.

It is 1980 in Yuba City, California in Reaa Puri’s Harvest Party At Camp Two, and a group of Young Punjabi Sikh farmworkers throw the biggest party their small town has ever seen.

Environmental activist Gabi Paun risks his life to expose illegal logging in Romania’s ancient forests, taking on timber mafias and IKEA while revealing the hidden cost of the world’s appetite for cheap furniture.