Lock-Up: The Prisoners of Rikers Island

Dreams Don't Die

1982

Two young kids in love, one young graffiti artist and the other a foster-child, find trouble on the mean streets on the other side of the river in New York City. Officer Charles Banks finds young Danny tagging subway cars and then catches Teiresa selling drugs for another mislead teen, Kirk. The officer, instead of turning both of them in, gives both teens a chance to make more of their lives together. Changing their ways turns out to be more challenging than first thought.

This is an Address

2020

Stonewall veterans (including prominent trans activist Sylvia Rivera) and HIV-positive New Yorkers take up residency on the Hudson River piers as cranes raze vacant buildings for a new skyline.

Eastwood After Hours

1997

On October 17, 1996, veteran and contemporary jazz greats gathered for a select soiree on the stage of New York's Carnegie Hall, saluting a guy more noted for making popular films than for making sweet music. But as any fan of Clint Eastwood, especially after he started directing 30 years ago, will attest, the award-winning star is also an inveterate jazz lover who has uniquely integrated that musical form into the scores of his films. Join Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Flip Phillips, Charles McPherson, James Rivers, Slide Hampton, Hank Jones, Thelonious Monk Jr., the Kyle Eastwood Quartet, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and more for this scintillating celebration of film and music.

Son of Sam: The Hunt for a Killer

2017

A shocking serial murder case terrorized New York 40 years ago. Surviving victims, families of the deceased, and the detectives who worked on the case recount their stories.

Water and the Dream of the Engineers

1983

Documentary where rich social history frames a spirited debate on the development of water infrastructure throughout the USA.

Hitler's 9/11

2013

Adolf Hitler's Nazi megalomania knew no limits. The most daring of his plans World War II involved German fighter planes crashing into Manhattan's skyscrapers as living bombs, like the Japanese kamikazes. Hitler understood the huge symbolic power of Manhattan's skyscrapers. He believed suicide bombing would have a devastating psychological impact on the American people and the U.S. war effort.

Die Menschenfischer

2004

I'm Your Venus

2024

The two very different families of "Paris Is Burning" star Venus Xtravaganza unite to honor her and reopen her unsolved murder case.

New York Underground

2003

Profiles the culture, lifestyles, and rituals within the New York City subways.

Deciding Vote

2023

50 years ago, assemblyman George Michaels cast a single vote on New York's abortion bill that changed the course of American history but destroyed his political career in the process.

Don't Bring A Dog

1997

Don't Bring A Dog shows a part of the New York underground music scene - rooted in the early eighties - existing apart from MTV and billboard charts. Music, interviews, sounds and pictures of the city blend into a collage. Don't Bring A Dog works like a time capsule of people and music in NY at a particular moment

Shine a Light

2008

Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones unite in "Shine A Light," a look at The Rolling Stones." Scorsese filmed the Stones over a two-day period at the intimate Beacon Theater in New York City in fall 2006. Cinematographers capture the raw energy of the legendary band.

Brooklyn Bridge: An Engineering Masterpiece

2023

The Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River and connects Manhattan and Brooklyn, the two centers of the port city of New York. Its architect Johann Roebling was one of the great inventors and master builders of his time. The wire rope: his product. The suspension bridge: his dream. The film tells the amazing story of the Roebling family and the spectacular history of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Jonas

1968

A verité portrait of Jonas Mekas making his daily rounds, JONAS shows us the underground impresario attending a peace rally, filming in Central Park, typing up notes at the Village Voice and projecting his latest rushes at the Film-Makers' Cooperative. A true New Yorker, Mekas seems to be everywhere at once, always with a Bolex camera slung over his shoulder. In detailing these routines, director Gideon Bachmann comes away with a striking time capsule of a city bent on art.

Secrets of the Empire State Building

2019