CNN Films (Firm)
1) Elian
Description
The remarkable story of Elian Gonzalez, a five year old Cuban boy plucked from the Florida Straits, and how the fight for his future changed the course of US Cuban relations.
Description
It is an all-archival documentary about the original performer-president's role of a lifetime. Teasing apart the spectacle at the heart of finger-on-the-button global diplomacy, the film follows Ronald Reagan's rivalry with charismatic Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, tracing how the Communicator-in-Chief uses his public relations chops to overcome Soviet mistrust, the objections of a skeptical press corps and the looming threat of WW III.
Description
A critical examination of Steve Jobs, revered both as an iconoclastic genius and denounced as a barbed-tongued tyrant. Interviews with a handful of those closest to him unravel the larger than life myth he deliberately crafted, and examine the endurance of his values which continue to shape the culture of Silicon Valley to this day.
4) Holy hell
Description
In 1985, film school graduate Will Allen joined a loving, spiritual community, called the Buddha Field, in West Hollywood, which centered on the mysterious leader they called Michel. Allen became quickly immersed and with his camera in hand began to document life inside the group.
Description
Former U.S. Navy SEAL Christopher Beck embarks on a new mission as Kristin Beck. Kristin's journey in search of the American ideals that she protected has a whole new meaning as she lives her life truthfully as a transgender woman. After a lifetime of service, Kristin has learned that her fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness did not end on the battlefield.
Description
It explores the remarkable life of Jeremiah Tower, one of the most controversial and influential figures in the history of American gastronomy. Tower began his career at the renowned Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1972, becoming a pioneering figure in the emerging California cuisine movement. After leaving Chez Panisse, due in part to a famously contentious relationship with founder Alice Waters, Tower went on to launch his own legendary Stars Restaurant...
Description
Afghanistan, immediately post-9/11. Small teams of Green Berets arrive on a series of secret missions to overthrow the Taliban. What happens next is equal parts war origin story and cautionary tale, illuminating the nature and impact of fifteen years of constant combat, with unprecedented access to U.S. Special Forces.
Description
For over 60 years, the National Enquirer has pumped out salacious, shocking stories, stretching the limits of journalism and blurring the lines between truth and fiction. From its coverage of Elvis's death, to Monica Lewinsky and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, the National Enquirer rattled the foundations of American culture and politics, sometimes allegedly using payoffs and blackmail to get its scoops. Mark Landsman examines the obsession with the...
9) Julia
Description
The film brings to life the legendary cookbook author and television superstar who changed the way Americans think about food, television, and even about women. Using never-before-seen archival footage, personal photos, first-person narratives, and cutting-edge, mouth-watering food cinematography, the film traces Julia Child's twelve year struggle to create and publish the revolutionary Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) which has sold more...
Description
If it hadn't been for a bottle of scotch and a late-night visit from musician Gregg Allman, Jimmy Carter might never have been elected the 39th President of the United States. This documentary charts the mostly forgotten story of how Carter, a lover of all types of music, forged a tight bond with musicians Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan and others.
11) Blackfish
Description
A discussion on the keeping of intelligent creatures in captivity. Employs the story of Tilikum, the notorious performing whale who, unlike orcas in the wild, has taken the lives of several people while in captivity.
Description
Chef, writer, adventurer, provocateur: Anthony Bourdain lived his life unabashedly. Director Morgan Neville offers an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. This unflinching look at Bourdain reverberates with his presence, in his own voice and in the way he indelibly impacted the world around him.
Description
The astonishing true story of three men who make the chance discovery, at the age of nineteen, that they are identical triplets, separated at birth and adopted to different parents. The trio's joyous reunion in 1980 catapults them to fame but it also sets in motion a chain of events that unearths an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes far beyond their own lives, a secret that goes to the very heart of all human behavior.
15) Life itself
Formats
Description
A documentary that recounts the inspiring and entertaining life of world-renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert. It's personal, funny, painful, and transcendent. Based on his bestselling memoir of the same name, LIFE ITSELF, explores his life, from his Pulitzer Prize-winning film criticism at the Chicago Sun-Times to becoming one of the most influential cultural voices in America.
Description
Incorporating interviews and rare archival video, this documentary chronicles U.S. Congressman John Lewis's 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action relating to civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health care reform, and immigration. Using present-day interviews with Lewis, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 80, the film explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family, and his meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr....
17) Apollo 11
Description
From director Todd Douglas Miller comes a cinematic event 50 years in the making. Crafted from a newly discovered trove of 65mm footage, and more than 11,000 hours of uncatalogued audio recordings, the film takes viewers straight to the heart of NASA's most celebrated mission, the one that first put men on the moon, and forever made Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin into household names.
18) Halston
Description
America's first superstar designer rose to international fame in the 1970s, creating an empire and personifying the dramatic social and sexual revolution of the last century. Reaching beyond the glitz and glamour, acclaimed filmmaker Frederic Tcheng reveals Halston's profound impact on fashion, culture, and business.
19) Ivory tower
Description
Is college worth the cost? Groundbreaking filmmaker Andrew Rossi asks the critical question about the value of higher education, revealing how colleges have come to embrace a business model that often promotes expansion over quality learning. With student-loan debt now over the one trillion dollar mark, the once-great American institution is at a breaking point. The film explores the current education crisis from the halls of Harvard, to community...
Description
"Little Richard: I Am Everything tells the story of the Black queer origins of rock n' roll, exploding the whitewashed canon of American pop music to reveal the innovator--the originator--Richard Penniman. Through a wealth of archival footage, performances, and interviews, the film unspools the icon's life story with all its switchbacks and contradictions." --Container.