Confronting America’s ugly history of forced sterilization
“Belly of the Beast” is an exposé of human rights abuses in California-based women’s prisons — specifically, forced sterilizations of Black females.
Is the organ donation system run by a ‘God Committee’? This writer-director wants us to ask.
At the heart of the film, a question looms: Isn’t it worth sacrificing a few for the benefit of many?
In Hebron, a soldier’s life filled with brutality and boredom
In Rona Segal’s documentary “Mission: Hebron,” soldiers describe their troubling experiences serving in the Israel Defense Forces.
How a former Anglican monk’s story inspired a gay French-Jewish romance
The French film ‘Summer of ‘85’ was adapted from the 1982 young adult novel ‘Dance on my Grave’ by Aiden Chambers.
In 21st century America, where arranged child marriages remain a scourge
The practice of arranged marriages, often involving brides who are 15 or younger, continues almost unchecked and unchallenged.
In the Oscar shorts category, stories of fraught relationships in Israel
“The Present” is the more openly political of the nominees; “White Eye” is more subtle.
For this survivor and member of the French Resistance, the scars remain
The Oscar-nominated documentary short ‘Colette’ tells the story of an elegant, stoic 90-year-old woman, member of a French Resistance family.
Returning to Poland, chasing ghosts and a lost painting
The documentary “Still Life in Lodz” focuses on a woman’s return to her childhood home in Lodz.
In Mexico City, a young artist’s affair threatens her Syrian-Jewish community
Set in Mexico City, “Leona” is a coming of age tale that follows a young female muralist who falls in love with a non-Jewish Mexican and winds up essentially disinherited from her own community. The Spanish-language film, which marks the impressive debut of writer-director Issac Cherem — who hails from the tightly-knit, Syrian-Jewish community where his film takes place — touches on marginalization, female agency, immigration and community.
The trippy, far-out artist who refused to support the Nazis
Throughout his life, M.C. Escher was dumbfounded and at, at times, irritated by his popularity among counterculture youth.