Chain of Circumstance

Framing Agnes After discovering case files from the UCLA gender clinic from the 1950s, a group of trans actors confronts the legacy of young trans women being forced to choose between honesty and access.

HOTEI + Todai-ji Hotei T... A one-night-only special live held in front of the Great Buddha Hall of Todaiji Temple in Nara in October 2008, The long-awaited DVD release of the GUITARHYTHM V TOUR held from April ~ June this year! On October 18, 2008, for the first time in 14 years, Torayasu Fubukuro stood on the stage of the Great Buddha Hall of Todaiji Temple, and the audience was enveloped in a fantastic sound universe using a 3D surround system. The sense of realism is completely reproduced in 5.1 channel surround. Special guests include opera singer Michiki Nakamaru, dance performance by H. R. Chaos, and Japanese drummer Leonard Eto.

Every Day in Kaimuk... Naz, a cynical and charismatic 20-something, has spent his entire life in tranquil O’ahu, Hawaiʻi, skateboarding with his friends and hosting a nightly radio show where he spotlights emerging musicians. When his girlfriend Sloane nabs the chance to move to bustling New York, Naz begins preparing for their big move, planning every detail down to his cat’s absurd flight plan. Even when dreaming about what life outside the island might look like, however, Naz wonders whether uprooting his world is the right decision, and if anywhere will ever really feel like home when he’s always been an eternal outsider.

A Love Song Two childhood sweethearts, now both widowed, share a night by a lake in the mountains.

We Met in Virtual Realit... Filmed entirely inside the world of virtual reality (VR), this immersive and revealing documentary roots itself in several unique communities within VR Chat, a burgeoning virtual reality platform. Through observational scenes captured in real-time, in true documentary style, the film reveals the growing power and intimacy of several relationships formed in the virtual world, many of which began during the COVID-19 lockdown, while so many in the physical world were facing intense isolation.

The Territory The Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau people have seen their population dwindle and their culture threatened since coming into contact with non-Native Brazilians. Though promised dominion over their own rainforest territory, they have faced illegal incursions from environmentally destructive logging and mining, and, most recently, land-grabbing invasions spurred on by right-wing politicians like President Jair Bolsonaro. With deforestation escalating as a result, the stakes have become global.

The Mission Four American teenagers have received a mission from God that takes them from the safety of their remote religion-filled bubbles to the other side of the planet. In the frozen forested lands of Finland, these impassioned, wide-eyed teens confront local Finns, Europe’s most non-religious and private people, and attempt to convert them to their faith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Tantura When, in the late 1990s, Israeli student Teddy Katz exposed the massacre of Palestinian civilians by Israeli forces in the village of Tantura, in May 1948, during the first Arab-Israeli war, he was initially praised for his pioneering work; but he was soon infamous and branded a traitor. Decades later, incendiary new evidence emerges that corroborates Teddy's findings.

Sirens True to their name, Slave to Sirens — the first and only all-woman thrash metal band in the Middle East — are utterly magnetic. Amid a backdrop of political unrest and the heartbreaking unraveling of Beirut, five bandmates form a beacon of expression, resistance, and independence. Director Rita Baghdadi follows founders and guitarists Lilas Mayassi and Shery Bechara as their tenderness, and sometimes bitterness, for one another grows in ways both unexpected and deeply moving. Joined by vocalist Maya Khairallah, bassist Alma Doumani, and drummer Tatyana Boughaba, these women negotiate their emotional journeys through young adulthood in tumultuous circumstances with grace, raw passion, and a ferocious commitment to their art. Their grit is tested as they grapple with the complexities of friendship, sexuality, and the destruction around them.

Nothing Compares Since the beginning of her career, Sinéad O’Connor has used her powerful voice to challenge the narratives she was surrounded by while growing up in predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland. Despite her agency, depth and perspective, O’Connor’s unflinching refusal to conform means that she has often been patronized and unfairly dismissed as an attention-seeking pop star.