Portside

Set against the tempestuous politics of post-colonial Jamaica, through flashbacks, "One Love" portrays the rise of the beloved Raggae legend Marley and his legendary band, The Wailers.

Roger Ross Williams cinematic tour de force proceeds to tell the story of racism through the colonial period up to today’s Black Lives Matter struggles against police brutality and more.

'Ithaka' the documentary produced by the WikiLeaks founder’s half brother offers a close-up look at one of the world’s most famous political prisoners. 'Ithaka' stresses that if Assange is extradited to America, supporters fear he’d face extremely harsh conditions. He would also become the first journalist ever convicted under the draconian Espionage Act, a blow against journalism, transparency, and democracy.

For almost two decades before 1939, Alfredo Cecchetti worked as a cameraman documenting the rise of the Fascist Party in Italy and its leader Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. Alfredo C. helped to immortalize the great machine of the Italian Fascist Regime – both in Italy covering countless public appearances of Mussolini and after 1939, the Italian invasion of Albania, as he followed the Italian troops and then filmed the new Italian settlers. Embedded in the archive are many films that were part of the Italian Fascist propaganda machine.

Central to "Cousins" is the struggle of the Maoris to retain ownership of their age-old lands in the face of settler colonialism dating back to the British invasion of Aotearoa/New Zealand by 1840.

In 1978 body snatchers really did dig up and try to ransom the corpse of the legendary actor Charlie Chaplin shortly after his death. 'Stealing Chaplin' uses this fact-based bit of skullduggery as a mere launching pad for its fact-free comedy.

Diane Kruger is superb portraying a tortured character with her own “Subterranean Homesick Blues” who is “thinking about the government.” Kruger won the Best Actress Award at 2017’s Cannes Film Festival for her depiction of the anguished Katja who decides to take direct action against the neo-nazi assassins of her husband and child.

Resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline and other extractive projects was a recurring theme in the NWIF festival, which highlights motion pictures by and about indigenous females. 'Standing Rock: A New Nation' encapsulates what the movement there is all about and kicked off the NWIF’s screenings. New Nation explores the heightened consciousness created by the radicalized village that sprang up to resist DAPL and the extraction industries that threaten Mother Earth.

The Progies premiered in The Progressive Magazine in 2007 to pay tribute to and highlight films and filmmakers of conscience and consciousness. With an eye on cinema history, the awards in a variety of categories are named after outstanding progressive pictures or artists.

In essence, Wilderpeople is about an urban Maori (the indigenous people of NZ) juvenile delinquent type, Ricky Baker (the droll, roly-poly Julian Dennison), who is placed in a foster home somewhere out in the bush. There, he is begrudgingly adopted by “Uncle” Hec, a Caucasian ex-con and “bush man” played by the great Sam Neill.