Making Morning Star

Sheri "Sparkle" Williams has been a star dancer with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company (DCDC) for nearly 40 years, a track record virtually unheard of in the professional dance community. The powerhouse dancer suffers her first serious injury, on stage during a bold performance. She must decide whether to face the tough work needed to recover in time for a return to the stage... at age 49.

Cleveland. 1973. Marv, the owner of an old neighborhood Jewish deli, must stay open 24 hours to cater to a new generation of clientèle, but straight-laced neighborhood do-gooders want to close him down. Meanwhile inside, hippies, bikers and crusty old Jewish men, caught in the throes of changing times and culture clash, fight over turf and yearn for a waitress to take their orders. Into this milieu drops new waitress, Susan, a wholesome small town beauty who must struggle with testy customers, a dubious romance, and a jealous head-waitress. Her future and the fate of the regulars hang by a thread as Marv takes increasingly desperate measures to save his deli.

In the early 1970s, a group of secretaries in Boston decided that they had suffered in silence long enough. They started fighting back, creating a movement to force changes in their workplaces. This movement became national, and is a largely forgotten story of U.S. twentieth century history. It encapsulates a unique intersection of the women’s movement with the labor movement. The awareness these secretaries brought to bear on women’s work reverberates even today. Clericals were the low-wage workers of their era. America now confronts the growing reality of deep income inequality. The stories and strategies of these bold, creative women resonates in contemporary America.

Five families struggle with the ups and downs of cancer treatment over the course of six years.

From Dave: Normally I wouldn't show you something so unrefined, I hope you understand.

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

Three women labor activists in America tell their stories of organizing in the 1930s.

A unique documentary that looks at the political activities of the American Communist Party in the early to mid-twentieth century.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Julia Reichert reflects on the social, economic and personal forces that led to her career as a pioneering documentarian.

Goose leaves the gang life behind after pleas from his girlfriend. But it isn't long before he's pulled back into the world of violence.

The inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, as lived by the people who worked the line.

Following the lives of six girls and women between the ages of four and thirty-five, this documentary examines how American society shapes female identity through family, education, media, and expectations about marriage.

An abandoned teen jumps a freight train in Philadelphia intent on reaching his uncle in Indiana, whom he believes will help him with financial difficulties including a pregnant girlfriend. In Ohio, he meets another homeless teen, who escorts him to his uncle. Finding his uncle equally broke, the duo head on to Oklahoma City to try to find the first teen's long-gone ex-con father. A confrontation between father and son send the duo on into exploits in the west including getting beaten up, busting into an Indian reservation church, and hitch-hiking with a beautiful nurse.

Dave Chappelle provides the community he calls home with two things desperately needed in difficult times – economic and comic relief. What began as an experimental socially-distanced live comedy show in a neighbor's cornfield, grew into an unforgettable summer with his neighbors, friends and fellow comedians.

Three women at high risk for Alzheimer's disease offer their brains and bodies to a medical study. After the deaths of their mothers, these daughters are determined to contribute to the search for a cure. This is the latest fight against Alzheimer's - by those with a very personal stake in the battle.