Penny Lane

"Manhood" follows Dallas entrepreneur Bill Moore as he attempts to make penis enlargement as commonplace as Botox. Along the way, an OnlyFans star and a father of five put their bodies—and their insecurities—on the line. Blending dark humor with unexpected empathy, "Manhood" examines shame, addiction, and the fragile myths of American masculinity.

As the clock counted down to the the 21st century, the world faced a potential technological disaster: a bug that could cause computers to misinterpret the year 2000 as 1900. Crafted entirely from archival footage and featuring first-hand accounts from computer experts, survivalists, scholars, militia groups, conservative Christians, and pop icons, Time Bomb Y2K is a prescient and often humorous tale about the power and vulnerabilities of technology.

The story of The Satanic Temple, a controversial movement that combines religion and activism with the apparent purpose of questioning the basic foundations of US society.

A joyful and surprising journey into the fascinating world of toddler pop, exploring why kids' music is so catchy, can be deeply meaningful, and how AI is taking hold and shaping the industry. Featuring appearances by The Wiggles, Laurie Berkner, and other musicians.

The true story of John Romulus Brinkley, a small-town Kansas doctor who discovers in 1917 that he can cure impotence by transplanting goat testicles into men. And that’s just the tipping point in this stranger-than-fiction tale. With the balls of a P.T. Barnum, the gonads of goats, and the wishful dreams of flaccid men, Brinkley amassed a fortune, was almost elected Governor of Kansas, invented junk mail and the infomercial, and built the world’s most powerful radio station. By the time all of the twists and turns of Brinkley’s story are revealed, Nuts! certainly earns its title.

On February 2, 2023, Flaco — a male Eurasian eagle-owl, the largest species of owl in the world — was discovered missing from his cage at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan. What follows when Flaco, who had lived his entire life in captivity, was released in New York City is a surprising story revealing the delight, concern, and fascination of millions in the city and beyond.

Never before seen Super 8 home movies filmed by Richard Nixon's closest aides - and convicted Watergate conspirators - offer a surprising and intimate new look into his Presidency.

A humorous but incisive look at the saxophonist Kenny G, the best-selling instrumental artist of all time, and quite possibly one of the most famous living musicians.

“Women watch themselves being looked at.” –John Berger

Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, say they have it. But the mainstream medical community says Morgellons is not a disease at all, but a delusion propagated and reinforced by social media. “It’s all in your head,” they say. The Pain of Others is a found footage documentary about Morgellons, a mysterious illness whose sufferers say they have parasites under the skin, long colored fibers emerging from lesions, and a host of other bizarre symptoms which could be borrowed from a horror film.

A short story about growing up, a certain love song, and the apocryphal memories of childhood. Simple animations create a picture book whose story is scrambled by time and loss.

This is what happens when you spend all your time in front of a computer. Beware, childrens!!! – PL

A random survey of personal ads one night on Craigslist opens up performative possibilities for a corporate tool.

Director Penny Lane’s decision to become a “good Samaritan” by giving one of her kidneys to a stranger turns into a funny and moving personal quest to understand the nature of altruism. “Confessions of a Good Samaritan” is a provocative inquiry into the science, history, and ethics of organ transplantation, asking an ancient question in a whole new way: Who is your neighbor, and what do you owe them?

In the summer of 1977, NASA sent Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 on an epic journey into interstellar space. Together and alone, they will travel until the end of the universe. Each spacecraft carries a golden record album, a massive compilation of images and sounds embodying the best of Planet Earth. According to Carl Sagan, “[t]he spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet.” While working on the golden record, Sagan met and fell madly in love with his future wife Annie Druyan. The record became their love letter to humankind and to each other. In the summer of 2010, I began my own hopeful voyage into the unknown. This film is a love letter to my fellow traveler. - Penny Lane

Explore the changing role of American womanhood through the Mrs. America Beauty Pageant’s half-century history.

DIS-EASE is a feature-length documentary about how we imagine disease, and how that affects what we do when we encounter illness, outbreaks, doctors, treatments, and disability in real life. It dives deep into the weird, wild archives of medical imaging, public health messaging, and pop-culture outbreak narratives to understand how ideas have moved between science, science fiction, and political ideology over the past century. (Yes, this is a film that covers both antibiotic resistance and the persistence of zombie apocalypse films.) Ultimately, DIS-EASE is a provocation to re-think how we define both the "public" and "health" in public health - who is included, what counts as care, and what it means to be sick or well in a world perpetually on the brink of collapse.

The sometimes-true story of Mame Faye, who ran a world famous house of prostitution in Troy, New York for almost forty years (c. 1906 to 1941). Despite being snubbed by official historians, everyone past the age of retirement has a story – funny, sordid, unbelievable – about Troy's most famous madam.

An animated documentary about the legendary journalist who changed the game for women in reporting before women even had the right to vote. Examining boundaries between reporting and storytelling, it creates a dynamic portrait of a woman who refused to accept the status quo.

The Story of the Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys is the colourful and surprising true story of a man named Harold von Braunhut; a man who could look at the humblest of creatures – the brine shrimp – and imagine an empire built upon it. Breezy, colourful short about a half-century of marketing directly to children, the force of nostalgia in pop culture, and an unlikely meeting of flimflam and hard science.

Jesse Stiles and I wanted to make a one minute horror movie one night. Here it is! – PL

In this deeply personal video diary, a young researcher tries to make sense of her fascination for the film "The Pain of Others" by Penny Lane. A deep dive into the discomforting world of YouTube and online conspiracies, that challenges traditional notions of what documentary cinema is, or should be.

Such encounters are extremely rare and can last for perhaps a few seconds. The resulting light and heat, however, can exist in a residual state for eons. This produces in the seeker a kind of agitated euphoria similar to that of the stargazer. https://vimeo.com/3193844

This short documentary suggests a direct connection between two of Nixon’s greatest triumphs as president: his landmark 1969 "Silent Majority" speech (in which he argued that street protesters did not represent the views of most Americans, despite their increasing visibility) and his historic landslide re-election in 1972 (in which George S. McGovern won only one state and the District of Columbia, losing even his home state of South Dakota).