Arise Firebird

Burn Motherfucker, Burn!

2017 · ★ 6.5

An in-depth and provocative look at the 1992 Los Angeles riots exploring the roots of civil unrest in California and the relationship between African Americans and LAPD.

Kesh

A short documentary about one man’s sacrifice to survive in America.

Is Love Racist? The Dating Game

2017

Emma Dabiri looks at racism in Britain via the world of modern dating, love apps, and a national survey suggesting that young Britons could be more segregated than ever.

Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days

2021 · ★ 6.5

For more than a half-century, Sesame Street has addressed and explained diversity, equity, and inclusion around the globe by using the universal tools of music, empathy and celebrity. Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days reflects upon the efforts that have earned the show respect and qualification around the globe. The special also chronicles the creation and introduction of a Black family of Sesame Street Muppets, Wes and Elijah Walker, a father-and-son duo who are at the heart of Sesame Workshop’s new racial justice initiative Coming Together.

L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later

2017 · ★ 7.5

Documentary film exploring the lives of the people at the flashpoint of the LA riots, 25 years after the uprising made national headlines and highlighted the racial divide in America.

Cooked: Survival by Zip Code

2019 · ★ 7.5

Filmmaker Judith Helfand's searing investigation into the politics of “disaster” – by way of the deadly 1995 Chicago heat wave, in which 739 residents perished (mostly Black and living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods).

Preschool to Prison

2023

Preschool to Prison is a compelling examination of how the United States public school system is built and operated like prisons. Zero-tolerance policies are used to justify suspension and arrests that set up a pathway to send children of color and children with special needs from school to prison. Children are being suspended, restrained, dragged, physically manhandled, and subsequently arrested for minor offenses such as throwing candy on a school bus. These personal accounts from people affected by the school-to-prison pipeline give riveting tales about the generational impact on society.

Burning Out

2016 · ★ 6.7

Burning Out is literally a drama about life and death. For two years, the Belgian director Jérôme le Maire followed the members of a surgical unit in one of the biggest hospitals in Paris. Constantly under severe stress, understaffed and subject to severe budget cuts, employees fight each other for resources. Meanwhile the management imposes ever more stringent efficiency and profitability targets. All over Europe burnout has reached epidemic proportions among employees in the public and private sectors. Will we end up killing ourselves? Or will we be able to find meaning and joy at work?

Until I Fly

2024 · ★ 8

A charismatic Indian-Nepali boy, lives a bohemian life in a remote Himalayan village. As he transitions from childhood to teenagehood, his poetic journey of perseverance echoes issues that span across ages and communities.

Coded Bias

2020 · ★ 6.9

Exploring the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all.

Sidney & Friends

2017

When his family tries to kill him, Sidney, who is intersex, flees to Nairobi where he meets a group of transgender friends. Together, they fight discrimination and discover life, love and self-worth.

Dresden Story

1954 · ★ 7

People are interviewed in Dresden, Ontario, to sample local attitudes towards racial discrimination against black people that brought this town into the news. After a round-up of the opinions of individual citizens, white and black, commentator Gordon Burwash joins two discussion panels, presenting opposite points of view. The rights and wrongs of the quarrel are left for the audience to decide.