New York City of Cities

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson

July 2017 •English

Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.

Life After People

January 2008 •English

In this special documentary that inspired a two-season television series, scientists and other experts speculate about what the Earth, animal life, and plant life might be like if, suddenly, humanity no longer existed, as well as the effect humanity's disappearance might have on the artificial aspects of civilization.

Blondie's New York and the Making of Parallel Lines

August 2014 •English

The story behind Blondie's album Parallel Lines, which sold 16 million copies and captured the spirit of 1970s New York at a time of poverty, crime and an exploding artistic life.

Style Wars

January 1984 •English

Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's PBS documentary tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

9/11: Escape from the Towers

September 2018 •English

Each World Trade Center tower consisted of 110 floors. Each floor has a story. In this two-hour special, survivors from two of those floors, many speaking publicly for the first time, tell their stories. Focusing on one floor in the North Tower and one in the South, this film will provide a never-before-achieved intimacy with what it was really like to be inside the Twin Towers on 9/11.

Fight Church

September 2014 •English

A documentary about the confluence of Christianity and mixed martial arts, including ministries which train fighters. The film follows several pastors and popular fighters in their quest to reconcile their faith with a sport that many consider violent and barbaric. Faith is tried and questions are raised. Can you really love your neighbor as yourself and then punch him in the face?

Die Menschenfischer

October 2004 •English

Global Enlightenment: Part 1

June 2005 •English

The shape-shifting and enigmatic hip hop artist Kool Keith has managed to surprise, shock, and enrage fans and detractors alike with virtually every album he has released. His many personas include Dr. Octagon, under which he released 1996's Dr. Octagonecologyst, a futuristic masterpiece that flouted traditional hip hop mores in favor of intriguingly disruptive, warped rhymes. He is also the Black Elvis, Dr. Doom, Mr. Gerbik, and Rhythm X, and is formerly of the Bronx group the Ultramagnetic MCs, with whom he first established himself as a rapper that pushes the envelope and is not afraid to be critical of the system within which he operates. This DVD release features multiple interviews with the artist, as well as live concert footage. Keith takes his audiences on a tour of Manhattan and the Bronx. Keith also explains why he loves seltzer water.

Susanne Bartsch: On Top

May 2017 •English

Dubbed New York's "Queen of the Night," proto–club kid Susanne Bartsch has been throwing unforgettable parties for over 30 years and is still going strong.

Man on Wire

August 2008 •English

On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.

The Ring Thing

June 2017 •English

When Sarah accidentally proposes to her girlfriend in Provincetown, the mixup turns their loving relationship into a minefield of marital exploration.

Get Rollin'

April 1980 •English

A documentary about Pat the Cat and other roller disco skaters who want to make it big doing what they do.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, artiste absolu

June 2022 •French

The life and work of New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat have been marked by a long quest for identity, by his Haitian and Puerto Rican family origins and by a founding trip to Africa. To portray this major painter of the 20th century, who died in 1988 at only 27 years old, is also to evoke the place of black American artists in the conservative and racist America of the Reagan years.

NYC Point Gods

July 2022 •English

An in-depth look at the legendary point guards of New York City who honed their craft and developed their legendary showmanship in the 1980s and ’90s. The documentary spotlights the ascent of Rafer Alston, Kenny Anderson, Mark Jackson, Stephon Marbury, God Shammgod, Kenny Smith, Rod Strickland and Dwayne “Pearl” Washington in the midst of a cultural renaissance.

Tales of the American

November 2017 •English

Seemayer Studios presents a new documentary about the American Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District that surrounds it. Since 1979, the American Hotel has been the beating heart of a rich community of artists who began moving into the deserted factory buildings between Alameda and the Los Angeles River.

The Capote Tapes

September 2021 •English

A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.

Sex, Hood, Skate, and Videotape

November 2006 •English

Sex, Hood, Skate, and Videotape shot, edited, and released by Ian Reid in 2006 is a legendary and infamous video that has been unavailable in it's entirety for 10+ years.

The Three Failures

January 2006 •English

A fairy tale about communism, social-democracy, and capitalism. (The sequel to Wandering Marxwards)

32 Pills: My Sister's Suicide

November 2017 •English

Traces the life and mental illness of New York artist and photographer Ruth Litoff, and her sister's struggle to come to terms with her tragic suicide.

Disney: Through the Looking Glass

January 2010 •Spanish

Tito del Amo, a passionate 72-year-old researcher, takes the final step to unravel the enigma about the alleged Spanish origin of the American cartoonist Walt Disney, making the same journey that his supposed mother made to give him up for adoption in Chicago. A journey that begins in Mojácar, Almería, Spain, and ends in New York. An exciting adventure, like Alicia's through the looking glass, to discover what is truth and what is not, with an unexpected result.