Writer of O

Heather Booth is the most influential person you have heard of. The newest film by critically acclaimed filmmaker Lilly Rivlin, HEATHER BOOTH: CHANGING THE WORLD is an urgent response to the recent election of Trump and all that has ensued. At a time when many are wondering how to make their voices heard, when civil and women’s rights are under attack, this empowering documentary is an inspiring look at how social change happens. Heather Booth, a renowned organizer and activist, began her remarkable career at the height of the Civil Rights movement. Through her life and work this inspiring film explores many of the most pivotal moments in progressive movements that altered our history over the last fifty years: from her involvement with Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, to her founding of the JANE Underground in 1964, to her collaborations with respected leaders such as Julian Bond and Senator Elizabeth Warren.

A documentary portrait of legendary Perfect Ten gymnast Nadia Comaneci after becoming an icon in the 1976 Olympics, during her Romanian period, and her challenging years under the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu.

Strong-willed, funny and charismatic, at 37, Belgian athlete Marieke Vervoort’s time is running out. As her strength falters and her body begins to fail, she determines to end her life with the aid of her doctor. Liberated by the legal permission to die, Marieke rediscovers the freedom and thrill of living and competing and becomes a Paralympic champion. Her acceptance of death becomes an affirmation of life. Marieke demystifies one of the most controversial issues of our time.

This documentary about teenagers living on the streets in Seattle began as a magazine article. The film follows nine teenagers who discuss how they live by panhandling, prostitution, and petty theft.

When filmmaker Kathy Leichter moved back into her childhood home after her mother's suicide, she discovered a hidden box of audiotapes. Sixteen years passed before she had the courage to delve into this trove, unearthing details that her mother had recorded about every aspect of her life from the challenges of her marriage to a State Senator, to her son’s estrangement, to her struggles with bipolar disorder. HERE ONE DAY is a visually arresting, emotionally candid film about a woman coping with mental illness, her relationships with her family, and the ripple effects of her suicide on those she loved.

A trip along the seamy edges of New York City and a voyage through the consciousness of the mad beat poet Alan Granville. “Broken Meat” captures Alan’s New York, stripped of its glittering surface: a strange, deserted place.

A WOMAN LIKE ME is a hybrid documentary that interweaves the real story of director Alex Sichel, diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2011, with the fictional story of Anna Seashell, who struggles to find the glass half full when faced with the same diagnosis. The film follows Alex as she uses her craft to explore what is foremost on her mind while confronting a terminal disease: parenting, marriage, faith, life, and death. When we are stuck between a rock and hard place, can our imagination get us out?

A rural American town suffering economically from factory closures finds an unconventional route to recovery with the help of MASS MoCA.

Pool is a melange of documentary and fiction, about its actors’ lives: a 14-year old girl, a Chilean exile, a French actress and an unfulfilled shoestore manager. No plot runs through it, but the characters all move in and out of their roles. When we get too close, we are reminded It’s only a movie. The young girl who appears at the beginning of the film is Ally Sheedy at fourteen. She has since appeared in many feature films including The Breakfast Club and High Art.

Learn what happened backstage during the creation of "Hair," the seminal 1960s musical that defined the hippie era, with this documentary featuring in-depth interviews with the original producers and cast members, including Tim Curry and Ben Vereen. "Hair" tried to explain peace, love, drugs, sex and war; in the process it became a cornerstone of the counterculture movement and has lasting relevance decades later with the Iraq War.

Grace Paley: Collected Shorts brings to life the momentous times in which this author and activist lived and worked as she reads from her short stories, poems and essays. Her work has been translated into 92 languages. She was a firebrand on the front line of protest. She opposed war and nuclear proliferation, and fought for the rights of women, which often landed her in jail. As a teacher she influences generations of writers. Grace Paley is a New York icon whose life attests to the possibility that one person can combine public responsibility with individual creativity.