Q&A: Director Ava Warbrick on ‘Stephanie in the Water’

Professional surfer Stephanie Gilmore won her first world championship event at age 17 on a day off from high school. Over the next four years, she led the sport, claiming back-to-back world titles as the undisputed champion. Stephanie’s talent seemed untouchable—until a violent turn of events abruptly ended her winning streak. This intimate documentary portrait […]

Q&A: Samantha Grant and Brittney Shepherd on ‘A Fragile Trust’

A Fragile Trust is a shocking and fascinating look at Jayson Blair’s downward spiral through the hallowed halls of The New York Times’ news department. “The Blair Affair,” which coincided with the trajectory of newsrooms going digital, not only rocked the Paper of Record, but shook the foundations of journalism and unleashed questions of ethics, […]

Q&A: Barbara Kopple on ‘Running From Crazy’

Hopeful and heartbreaking, Running From Crazy opens with a vision of perfection: a blonde modeling in the wilderness. This particular pretty face, however, belongs to Mariel Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway’s youngest granddaughter, famous for her role in Woody Allen’s Manhattan. Hemingway’s family history of depression, substance abuse, and suicide is not limited to her legendary grandfather. […]

Q&A: Mika Mattila on ‘Chimeras’

Wang Guangyi, at the height of his career as one of China’s most successful contemporary artists, is settling into middle age with increasing ambivalence, a front line witness to his scene’s contradictory commercial impulses. Liu Gang is a supremely promising new face on the scene, plucked from art school into the high gloss world of […]

Q&A: Jennifer Steinman on ‘Desert Runners’

Any single race in the 4 Desert Ultramarathon Series is a life-threatening challenge. Desert Runners is a thrilling documentary about ordinary people who endure the 150-mile ultra-marathons through the world’s four most treacherous deserts in one year: the Atacama Desert in Chile, the Gobi Desert in China, the Sahara in Egypt, and Antarctica. Filled with […]