First Run Features (Firm)

In an era when Dick, Jane, and discipline ruled America’s schools, Albert Cullum allowed Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Shaw to reign in his fifth grade public school classroom. Through the use of poetry, drama and imaginative play, Cullum championed an unorthodox educational philosophy that spoke directly to his students’ needs.. Many of Cullum’s projects were recorded on film by then novice filmmaker Robert Downey, Sr. Weaving stunning black...

On March 8, 1971, a group of citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, PA, took every file, and shared them with the public. Their actions exposed the FBI's illegal surveillance program of law-abiding Americans. Now, these previously anonymous Americans publicly share their story for the first time.. The FBI, established in 1908, was for 60 years held unaccountable and untouchable until 1971, when The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI,...

Troublemakers unearths the history of land art in the tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s. The film features a cadre of renegade New York artists that sought to transcend the limitations of painting and sculpture by producing earthworks on a monumental scale in the desolate desert spaces of the American southwest.. Today these works remain impressive not only for the sheer audacity of their makers but also for their out-sized ambitions to break...

Rousseau is a bestselling crime novelist from Paris, troubled by writer’s block. Candice Lecoeur is a local beauty, gracing the famous ”Belle de Jura"cheese packaging, who has gotten it into her head that she might well be the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe. The two will meet in the coldest village in France, but only after Candice has been found dead. The case was closed before it even opened and the cause of death declared suicide by sleeping...

Seaside is a film about Cayeux, a small beach town in France. Beautiful young Marie works at a pebble processing plant. Her boyfriend, Paul, a warehouse employee in winter and a lifeguard in summer, doesn’t understand Marie’s dreamy temperament and stifles her with his clumsy love. The people who vacation in Cayeux remind Marie that youthful dreams lie elsewhere. She wants to leave, and when Albert, a young executive at the plant gets fired, he...

When presidential candidate George McGovern took on incumbent Richard Nixon in 1972, no one really expected him to win – and he didn’t. But in his bold, grassroots, seat-of-the-pants campaign, which energized young and progressive Americans to a degree never before seen, we find the genesis of today's powerful and sophisticated progressive movement. Using a wealth of amazing archival materials, interviews with provocative figures including historian...

Andreas and Stefan lead an idyllic life near Vienna and even work in the same orchestra, as manager and musician. But one morning an unexpected outburst of violence from Stefan shakes their harmonious relationship to its core. Writer-director Klaus demonstrates exceptional sensitivity for the male psyche, drawing the viewer into Andreas’ and Stefan’s most intimate physical and emotional moments in this poetic ballad about the fragility of love...Warning:...

The War After is a powerful, 70-minute documentary featuring nine U.S. veterans transitioning from active duty to the unexpected challenges of civilian life. Our film is told through the voices of dynamic young men and women from diverse economic and racial backgrounds and varied branches of military service.. Join these brave and honest veterans as they share their surprising journeys into military service, the intense and at times harrowing experiences...

This is the story of The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, the site of layer upon layer of buried members of the once-vibrant Jewish community. Almost a million people from all over the world now visit the cemetery each year, and HOUSE OF LIFE chronicles its history, which is rich in lore, mysticism, tradition and philosophy. Tales of great rabbis and philanthropists and the story of the giant golem, created from clay to protect the Jewish people, are...

The Nation, America’s oldest weekly magazine, founded in 1865 and now in its 150th year, has long been considered one of America’s definitive journalistic voices. Hot Type, the new film by Barbara Kopple, a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, tells the riveting and surprising story of The Nation.. The film captures daily life at the magazine, introduces staff writers and editors past and present, and follows members of...