Films

Learn more about the films featured in this season of Community Cinema.

  • May 2012

    • Strong!

      Cheryl Haworth is a young woman with a big dream: to be the strongest woman in the world. As the 300-pound U.S. Olympic weightlifter prepares for Beijing 2008, she struggles with injury, confidence, and her place in a world where larger women are not readily accepted.
      Women and Girls Lead

    • September 2011

      • Women, War & Peace

        Women, War & Peace is a bold new five-part PBS mini-series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain. A co-production of THIRTEEN and Fork Films, Women, War & Peace places women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security and reframes our understanding of modern warfare. Featuring narrators Matt Damon, Tilda Swinton, Geena Davis and Alfre Woodard, the series reveals how the post-Cold War proliferation of small arms has changed the landscape of war, with women becoming primary targets and suffering unprecedented casualties. Simultaneously, they are emerging as necessary partners in brokering lasting peace and as leaders in forging new international laws governing conflict.

      • October 2011

        • Deaf Jam

          Aneta Brodski, a deaf teen living in New York City, discovers the power of American Sign Language poetry. As she prepares to be one of the first deaf poets to compete in a youth slam, her journey leads to an unexpected collaboration.

        • November 2011

          • December 2011

            • Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai

              How does the simple act of planting trees lead to winning the Nobel Peace Prize? Ask Wangari Maathai of Kenya. In 1977, she suggested rural women plant trees to address problems stemming from a degraded environment. Under her leadership, their tree-planting grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, defend human rights and promote democracy. And brought Maathai the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
              Women and Girls Lead

            • Lioness

              How did five female Army support soldiers--mechanics, supply clerks and engineers--end up fighting alongside the Marines in some of the bloodiest counterinsurgency battles of the Iraq War? Directors Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers give an intimate look at war through the eyes of the first women in U.S. history sent into direct ground combat, despite a policy that bans them from doing so. Through harrowing personal stories, these women candidly share their experiences in Iraq as well as from their lives back home to form a portrait of the emotional and psychological effects of war.
              Women and Girls Lead

            • Troop 1500

              At Hilltop Prison in Gatesville, Texas, a unique Girl Scout troop — Troop 1500 — unites daughters with mothers who are serving time for serious crimes, giving them a chance to rebuild their broken bonds. Facing long sentences from the courts, the mothers struggle to mend their fractured relationships with their daughters.
              Women and Girls Lead

            • January 2012

              • February 2012

                • More than a Month

                  Filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman sets off on a cross-country campaign to end Black History Month. His humorous journey explores the complexity and contradictions of relegating an entire group’s history to one month in a so-called “post-racial” America.

                • March 2012

                  • Revenge of the Electric Car

                    Filmmaker Chris Paine takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars. Without using a single drop of foreign oil, this new generation of car is America’s future: fast, furious, and cleaner than ever.

                  • April 2012

                    • Hell and Back Again

                      U.S. Marine Sergeant Nathan Harris, 25, leads his unit to fight a ghostlike enemy in Afghanistan. Wounded in battle, Harris returns to North Carolina and his devoted wife to fight pain, addiction, and the terrifying normalcy of life at home.