Jane Wells

On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).

Follows the mental health crisis in Chicago and three participants of the Mental Health Court in Cook County who are working to rebuild their lives after being incarcerated for crimes related to their mental illnesses.

This character-driven film considers the evolving sex trafficking landscape as seen by the main players: the exploited, the pimps, the johns that fuel the business, and the cops who fight to stop it.

In North Dakota an Indian nation finds itself at a critical moment in its long history. The Three Affiliated Tribes face catastrophic damage to their land and culture as a result of the recent oil boom on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Native Silence is a solemn account of the legacy of forced adoption on Native American children, torn from their tribal communities and placed in foster care and boarding schools. Joyce, a recovered drug-addict and now mental-health worker, and Paulette, a mother who 'doesn't associate' with the Natives in her town, were two such children. Their stories reflect the struggle that they and many others faced growing up as Native American within larger non-Indian culture.

This character-driven film considers the evolving sex trafficking landscape as seen by the main players: the exploited, the pimps, the johns that fuel the business, and the cops who fight to stop it.

As the Syrian war continues to leave entire generations without education, health care, or a state, Lost in Lebanon closely follows four Syrians during their relocation process. The resilience of this Syrian community, which currently makes up one fifth of the population in Lebanon, is astoundingly clear as its members work hard to collaborate, share resources, and advocate for themselves in a new land. With the Syrian conflict continuing to push across borders, lives are becoming increasingly desperate due to the devastating consequences of new visa laws that the Lebanese government has implemented, leaving families at risk of arrest, detention, and deportation. Despite these obstacles, the film encourages us to look beyond the staggering statistics of displaced refugees and focus on the individuals themselves.

The war on drugs has failed: is legalization of cannabis the answer? Pot Luck takes a trip across pioneering state Colorado five years after full legalization to see how it's all playing out and what this blazed new world looks like.