Top 250 Movies Like First Act

A list of the best movies similar to First Act. If you liked First Act then you may also like: 101 Rent Boys, Udayananu Tharam, Ugly, Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship & Videotape, The Bread, My Sweet and many more great movies featured on this list.

TV show

First Act chronicles the journey of child actors and their parents into the Hindi film and TV industry. Through interviews with older child actors, parents, casting directors and filmmakers, the series explores the ecosystem within which children must perform and the challenges they face to achieve the family dream.

101 Rent Boys

Paid 50 dollars for their time, 101 male prostitutes -- spanning all ages, ethnicities, and personal backgrounds -- are questioned by the filmmakers about their lives.

Udayananu Tharam

Udayabhanu is an assistant director and scriptwriter, who dreams of making it big in the film industry. His attempt is thwarted by his roommate, a junior artiste, Rajappan Thengamoodu who steals his script to become superstar Saroj Kumar

Ugly

A team of the best cops in Mumbai is dispatched to find a girl who has gone missing from her father's car. As the hunt for the kidnapper begins, fingers suspiciously point to closer home.

The Bread, My Sweet

Dominic works round the clock: nights making biscotti for his family's bakery in a working-class Italian neighborhood in Pittsburgh, then days downtown where he's a specialist in firing people at a company that negotiates mergers. He's thrown for a loop with he learns that Bella, an elderly neighbor who's his family's closest friend, has but a few months to live. All her life, she's saved money in coffee cans for her daughter, Lucca's, wedding, but Lucca is off in foreign lands, initially as a Peace Corps volunteer, and doesn't need a man. Dominic vows to bring Lucca home and convince her to marry him to fulfill Bella's most fervent wish. What will Lucca say?

The Hero

Arindam, a matinee idol, is going by train to collect an acting award. On the train, he is confronted by Aditi, a journalist who somewhat unwillingly starts to take his interview. Arindam, won over by Aditi's naivete, starts to disclose his past, his fears and his secrets.

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

An exploration of the appeal of horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.

Not Another Not Another Movie

Follows a struggling movie studio that's willing to do anything to make some money - even if it means ruining their reputation, and running the movie industry into the ground.

An Open Secret

An investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry.

Overnight

Alternately hilarious and horrifying, Overnight chronicles one man's misadventures of making a Hollywood movie. It starts out as a rags to riches story as Troy Duffy, a Boston-bred bartender, sells his first screenplay for The Boondock Saints.

The James Dean Story

Released two years after James Dean's death, this documentary chronicles his short life and career via black-and-white still photographs, interviews with the aunt and uncle who raised him, his paternal grandparents, a New York City cabdriver friend, the owner of his favorite Los Angeles restaurant, outtakes from East of Eden, footage of the opening night of Giant, and Dean's ironic PSA for safe driving.

Jersey

An ex-cricketer struggling to make ends meet, wants to fulfill his child's wish of getting an Indian jersey but in the process comes face to face with his heroic past and is forced to decide if he will rise to the occasion and become a symbol of hope or continue to live a life as a loser?

Jugni

Jugni (Firefly) is the beat of the soul, the free-flying spirit. Jugni is Vibhavari (Vibs). Vibs is a music director, working on her first big break in the Hindi film industry. When work and home affairs, with her live-in boyfriend Sid hit a high tide, Vibs hits the road with a glint of hope; to find music. The journey takes her to a village in Punjab in the search of a Bibi Saroop, whose voice holds the promise that Vibs is searching for. But as the twist of fate would have it, Mastana, Bibi's son and a proficient singer himself, is the voice and man who winds his way into Vibs' heart. From here on, Jugni is about striking balances, making tough decisions while trying to soften the blows and dealing with the studied dramatic turns and unpredictabilities of life and finding the place which one can call home; home of the heart, where the firefly is at her brightest.

Julie 2

Julie, a simpleton, follows through with her dream of becoming an actress and rises to stardom. However, she is soon introduced to the murky waters of the entertainment industry. She begins to compromise on her choices and seeks love from the men in her life. Just as she decides to change paths, she is offered a political biopic that further complicates her life.

Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3

In order to impress his girlfriend's conservative father, a porn actor uses his fellow adult movie stars in creating a fake traditional family.

Altman

Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.

American Dream

When workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota are asked to take a substantial pay cut in a highly profitable year, the local labor union decides to go on strike and fight for a wage they believe is fair. But as the work stoppage drags on and the strikers face losing everything, friends become enemies, families are divided and the very future of this typical mid American town is threatened.

American Movie

American Movie is the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mission, and his dream. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, American Movie is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man's quest for the American Dream.

Audition

Louis is "repo man" who is no stranger to strong-arm tactics in his work, but he has dreamed of becoming an actor since he was a child. When his cousin helps him get an audition, Louis gets the help of a famous actor to secretly help rehearse his scenes. He doesn't even tell his girlfriend Suzie. But Suzie also has a secret; she's pregnant and doesn't want her child to grow up in an atmosphere of violence.

BaadAsssss Cinema

With archive film clips and interviews, this brief look at a frequently overlooked historical period of filmmaking acts as an introduction rather than a complete record. It features interviews with some of the genre's biggest stars, like Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, and Richard Roundtree. Director Melvin Van Peebles discusses the historical importance of his landmark film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. For a contemporary perspective, the excitable Quentin Tarantino offers his spirited commentary and author/critic bell hooks provides some scholarly social analysis.

Burden of Dreams

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.

Dangerous Game

A New York film director, working on his latest movie in Los Angeles, begins to reflect the actions in his movie and real life, especially when he begins an affair with the lead actress.

De Palma

An intimate conversation between filmmakers, chronicling De Palma’s 55-year career, his life, and his filmmaking process, with revealing anecdotes and, of course, a wealth of film clips.

The Dirty Picture

After running away from home in search of movie stardom, a village girl rises to become a prominent sex symbol.

Dying to Do Letterman

When 35 year old stand-up comedian Steve Mazan learned he was dying of cancer, he dedicated the rest of his life to making his dream come true: performing comedy on The Late Show with David Letterman. This documentary chronicles his five-year journey, as he races his own ticking clock to achieve a nearly impossible goal. Hilarious and heart-breaking, Steve brings a brand-new perspective to living with cancer. This is a story that proves it's not how much time you have, it's what you do with it. As Steve says, 'If you stop chasing your dreams, you're already dead.'

Fame

A chronicle of the lives of several teenagers who attend a New York high school for students gifted in the performing arts.

Filmworker

The story of Leon Vitali, who surrendered his promising acting career to become Stanley Kubrick's devoted right-hand man.

Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film

This historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, begins with Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Prom Night. The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal wanes. Then, Nightmare on Elm Street revives the genre. Jump to the late 90s, when Scream brings humor and TV stars into the mix.

The Souvenir: Part II

In the aftermath of her tumultuous relationship with a charismatic and manipulative older man, Julie begins to untangle her fraught love for him in making her graduation film, sorting fact from his elaborately constructed fiction.

Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies

Hollywood is a town of tinsel and glamour; but there is another Hollywood, a place where maverick independent exploitation filmmakers went toe to toe with the big guys and came out on top.

Sex and Buttered Popcorn

Actor Ned Beatty hosts a look at the genre known as "exploitation" films. Interviews with some of the producers and directors of these films are shown, along with scenes from and trailers for some of these films.

Mau Mau Sex Sex

A documentary about the history of exploitation films that focuses on the careers of legendary producers David F. Friedman and Dan Sonney.

Life with Mikey

Michael Chapman, a former child TV star, runs a struggling talent agency specilizing in child acts. When a young girl off the street puts on a real performance after he catches her picking his pocket, he may have just found the next big thing.

The Callback Queen

In the cut-throat London film industry a vivacious actress chasing her big break struggles to maintain her integrity in the face of the director's advances.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.

Living in Oblivion

Nick is the director of a low-budget indie film. He tries to keep everything together as his production is plagued with an insecure actress, a megalomaniac star, a pretentious, beret-wearing director of photography, and lousy catering.

Lost in La Mancha

Fulton and Pepe's 2000 documentary captures Terry Gilliam's attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground. Back injuries, freakish storms, and more zoom in to sabotage the project.

Seduced and Abandoned

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

Soapdish

Celeste Talbert is the star of the long-running soap opera "The Sun Also Sets." With the show's ratings down, Celeste's ruthlessly ambitious co-star, Montana Moorehead, and the show's arrogant producer, David Seton Barnes, plot to aggravate her into leaving the show by bringing back her old flame, Jeffrey Anderson, and hiring her beautiful young niece, Lori Craven.

To Be Takei

Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.

Trust Me

In an attempt to sign a Hollywood starlet, struggling talent agent and former child star Howard Holloway must contend with her volatile father, a scheming long-time rival, and a producer and casting director who despise him.

Chi Girl

This offbeat comedy about love and romance won writer, director and actress Heidi Van Lier top honors a Grand Jury Prize at the 1999 Slamdance Film Festival. Heather Green (Van Lier) is a journalist with an alternative newspaper in Chicago who is obsessed with her ex-boyfriend. Randy (Joe Kraemer) is in turn obsessed with Heather. A would-be documentary filmmaker, Randy constantly films her, sometimes without her knowledge. When Heather takes up a challenge from Randy and announces she can seduce the next man she meets, her desperation makes it clear she's had bad luck with men for a very good reason. When Heather finally does meet the man of her dreams, a good-looking attorney named Cliff

Meghe Dhaka Tara

Nilkantha, an artist, is admitted in a mental asylum but even while undergoing treatment, he manages to write a play.

A Better Life

Two desperate families find their quest for a better life in the United States challenged by prejudice and injustice in director Andrew James' harsh critique of the American Dream. For two families who successfully manage to make their way across the border and into the United States, the harrowing trip through an unforgiving landscape was only the beginning of their treacherous journey. How does one survive in a place where right has become wrong, and the perpetrator is now the victim? Some turn to crime, inadvertently falling into a vicious cycle with the power to destroy families and consume lives before they've even had a chance to prove themselves.

365 Nights in Hollywood

Down-on-his-luck film director Jimmie Dale takes a job at a fly-by-night acting school. He is drawn into the plans of the school's owner to bilk a wealthy young man out of the funds he has supplied to shoot a movie starring pretty student Alice Perkins. But Jimmie hopes to bilk the bilkers by actually completing the movie as ostensibly planned.

What Happened, Miss Simone?

The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.

Show People

Hollywood hopeful Peggy Pepper arrives at a major studio, from Georgia, to become a great dramatic star. Things don't go entirely according to plan.

Double Happiness

Jade Li is a feisty, 20-something Chinese Canadian, trying to achieve that happy medium between giving in to her parent's wishes and fulfilling her own needs and desires - double happiness. Naturally, something's got to give and when love beckons in the shape of Mark, a white university student, the facade of the perfect Chinese daughter begins to slip.

American Commune

In 1970, hundreds of hippies followed Stephen Gaskin on a journey from San Francisco to Tennessee, where they founded a legendary commune known as the Farm. Within this self-sustaining society based on non-violence, vegetarianism and respect for the earth, members willingly took a vow of poverty, lived in converted buses, grew their own food and home-delivered babies. Born and raised in this alternative community, filmmakers and sisters Rena and Nadine return for the first time since leaving in 1985. Finally ready to face the past after years of hiding their upbringing, they chart the rise and fall of America’s largest utopian socialist experiment and their own family tree. The nascent idealism of a community destroyed, in part, by its own success is reflected in the personal story of a family unit split apart by differences. American Commune finds inspiration in failure, humour in deprivation and, most surprisingly, that communal values are alive and well in the next generation.

The Right to Love: An American Family

Chronicling one story of courage born out of the highly mediatized and controversial Prop 8 2008 election results in California. A Californian married gay couple and their two adopted children fight back against discrimination, ignorance and hate through home videos posted on their YouTube channel, Gay Family Values. As they pursue their American Dream, the opposing political, social and religious opinions that pervade society attempt to strip it from them.

Halla Bol

Ashfaque (Ajay Devgan) is a small town boy aspiring to be a film star in the Hindi film industry. He joins a street theatre group run by a reformed dacoit Sidhu (Pankaj Kapur) who uses street theatre as a medium to bring about an awakening in the masses. Ashfaque struggles to give a creative vent to the actor in him in order to realize his dreams.

I Am Steve McQueen

"I Am Steve McQueen" tells the incredible life story of this legendary actor, racer, and cultural icon. Extensive interviews, movie clips, archival footage and sound bites chronicle his extraordinary career while focusing on the correlation between his on-screen and off-screen experiences. Narrated by Robert Downey Jr.

Green Chimneys

Green Chimneys follows three young boys living at Green Chimneys, a residential treatment center for children with emotional, behavioral, social and learning challenges.

The Auteur

THE AUTEUR follows formerly renowned porn director Arturo Domingo (Five Easy Nieces, Requiem for a Wet Dream) through a bizarre weekend as he receives a lifetime achievement award at a film festival in Portland, OR. Encountering crazed fans, former collaborators, bitter enemies and free-loving hippies, Arturo attempts to put the pieces of his broken career and personal life back together.

Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution

A once reluctant homeschool family sells their home and everything in it, packs up in an RV and travels the country to tell the story of the millions of American families who are a part of the Homeschool Revolution. After talking with education experts, homeschooling pioneers, and regular families at every step in their home education journey, they learn come away convinced that it's time for America to bring their children home. The movie follows host, Yvette Hampton, as she travels the country with her family talking with education experts, curriculum developers, college and university faculty and administrators, and homeschooling families at every stage in the process, from kindergarten to college graduation and beyond. As viewers follow Yvette on this journey and share in her challenges and victories as a homeschool mom, they will gather the necessary resources and encouragement to homeschool their own children with excellence.

I'm a Porn Star

I'm a Porn Star follows the lives of guys in the neighborhood who are likely a lot more famous than you - at least on the Internet. There are an estimated 370 million pornographic websites on-line. Porn is now a thirteen BILLION dollar business. So who's doing all this moonlighting? Turns out -- probably some people you know.

Wheeler

The story of an aspiring musician from Kaufman, Texas who travels to Nashville with the lifelong dream of trying his hand at country music. By embodying the title character under prosthetic make up, actor Stephen Dorff successfully infiltrates Music City and takes his character on an authentic singer / songwriter journey. With the help of key allies on the ground, "Wheeler" converses with real people in real locations, with every musical number performed live. The line between reality and fiction blurs as Wheeler chases his dream in this touching tribute to old school country legends.

Fluffy Cumsalot: Porn Star

Fluffy Cumsalot, Porn Star is an extraordinary documentary about porn stars and their stage names. Featuring Ron Jeremy, Marilyn Chambers, Jenna Jameson, Seymore Butts and over 70 more of the world's top porn stars, this film is a fascinating and revealing documentary about adult performers and the origin of their on-screen names.

The Courtesans of Bombay

In the Mumbai, India, tenement community of Pavanpul, young female courtesans sing, dance and perform sexual favors for male clientele. Directors James Ivory and Ismail Merchant blend documentary footage and dramatic reenactments in their exploration of this seamy underworld, the flip side of the Bollywood film industry, where aspiring actors and dancers -- some even sold into prostitution by their own families -- end up, with their innocence lost and their hopes for movie stardom shattered.

Corman's World

A chronicle of the long career of American filmmaker Roger Corman, the most tenacious and ingenious low-budget producer and director in the US film industry, a pioneer of independent filmmaking and discoverer of new talent.

This Is My Life

Single mom Dottie Ingels sells cosmetics in a department store, but she dreams of being a comedian. When she inherits some money, she takes the chance and moves with her two children Erica and Opel to New York to perform in small bars. Soon her agent Arnold Moss makes her famous, but while she travels all over USA, her children stay home lonely.

Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl

Clara Bow: Discovering the 'It' Girl features scenes from 25 of her films, as well as interviews with family members and acquaintances.

Aloft

As we follow a mother and her son, we delve into a past marred by an accident that tears them apart. She will become a renowned artist and healer, and he will grow into his own and a peculiar falconer who bears the marks of a double absence. In the present, a young journalist will bring about an encounter between the two that puts the very meaning of life and art into question, so that we may contemplate the possibility of living life to its fullest, despite the uncertainties littering our paths.

Popatopolis

In 20 years, he's directed more films than Martin Scorsese, He's produced more profitable movies than Jerry Bruckheimer, And he's infuriated more actors than Alfred Hitchcock. The ultimate B Movie Documentary, focusing on B Movie Giant Jim Wynorski (and B Movie Celebration Mentor) and his attempt to make a feature film in 3 days. He's directed seventy feature films, but he's never made one... in THREE DAYS. Jim cuts the shooting schedule, has the actors cook their own food. A documentary featuring B-Movie legends Roger Corman, Andy Sidaris, Julie Strain, Julie K. Smith and Stormy Daniels, Popatopolis follows Jim Wynorski as he begins to film one of his many opuses "Witches of Breastwick" Jim's frenetic pace demands 100 setups per day (the Hollywood standard is 20), and he reduces his electric package to just two lights so he can concentrate on the task at hand.A great overview of a true master at work and in many ways a laser sharp dialectic on the state of B filmmaking today.

Raging Boll

Widely recognized as the planet's worst film director, Uwe Boll embarks on a quest to conquer Hollywood and take vengeance upon the film fanatics striving to destroy him. Filmed over three years on and off the set, 'Raging Boll' is a walk in the shoes of a man people love to hate.

Choosing Children

CHOOSING CHILDREN is a pioneering film about parenting in non-traditional families and helped to open dialogue about the meaning and reality of the "modern family." This film takes an intimate look at the issues faced by lesbians and gay men who decide to become parents after coming out.

Slice and Dice: The Slasher Film Forever

A celebration of slasher cinema - from PSYCHO to the present day, with a focus on highlighting many of the genre's forgotten cult classics, deconstructing how to survive a slice and dice movie and meditating upon why it is almost always a final girl and rarely a final guy... this is a documentary which is designed for both the biggest fan of "mad maniac" movies and the person who may only have seen HALLOWEEN and SCREAM. Either way, this is a documentary that proves the SLASHER FILM is truly FOREVER!

Indie Director

This movie invites you to take a look at the world of micro budget indie cinema. The point is to entertain you while also teaching you some insider knowledge. You'll love this story even if you don't care about the genre, but if you are part of the industry, you will hail this as your video bible.

Liar's Dice

The film follows Kamala, a young woman from Chitkul village and her girl child Manya, who embarks on a journey leaving their native land in search for her missing husband. Along this journey she encounters Nawazudin, a free spirited army deserter who helps them to get to their destination with his own selfish motive.

Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn

The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba

Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown

Since the early days, Jerry Lewis—in the line of Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel—had the masses laughing with his visual gags, pantomime sketches and signature slapstick humor. Yet Lewis was far more than just a clown. He was also a groundbreaking filmmaker whose unquenchable curiosity led him to write, produce, stage and direct many of the films he appeared in, resulting in such adored classics as The Bellboy, The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, and The Nutty Professor.

Bangalore Days

A fun roller coaster ride about three young people, Aju, Divya and Kuttan who are cousins, reach Bangalore to dream, discover & explore!

Pipe Dream

A lonely plumber poses as a movie director to meet women, and the writer whose script he's stolen builds on his ruse to get her movie made.

Zindagi 50 50

Zindagi 50 50 has three stories of common people's special dreams. And to fulfill those dreams they have to struggle hard. Sometimes few get it easily, where most of them must struggle very hard with lots of sacrifice, values, principals to achieve their dreams. Among them only few get it after long struggle time where most of them have to loose everything with a failure tag.

Sulemani Keeda

In this slacker bro-mantic comedy, writing partners Dulal and Mainak dream of shaking up the Bollywood film industry with their script “Sulemani Keeda” (Hindi street slang for “Pain in the Ass”). When they’re not being rejected by producers who refuse to read their script, they lurk around bookstores and poetry slams shamelessly hitting on girls. They find some hope when the drug addled, cat-obsessed Gonzo Kapoor, the son of a famous B movie producer, hires them to write an art house film billed as “Tarkovsky with orgies” for his directorial debut. All seems well until Dulal meets Ruma, a beautiful photographer who makes him question his choice to sell out.

What the Jatt!!

What the Jatt is a nerve tickling adventurous comedy film about a young aspiring actor Raj and his best friend Fateh, who hail from a village in Punjab. During their efforts to achieve their dreams they find themselves in hilarious situations that lead to a chain of unexpected events. One mishap after another leads them to posing as detectives, to film makers to what not, creating mayhem of confusion and laugh riots. But like true Jatts, they overcome all challenges and emerge as winners!

Louis Theroux: Twilight of the Porn Stars

In 1997, Louis Theroux made a documentary about the world of male porn performers in Los Angeles. 15 years later, he returns to find a business struggling with the deluge of free porn on the internet. Louis revisits some of the original programme's contributors as well as meeting the latest crop of porn performers dreaming of porn stardom.

Scream: The Inside Story

In 1996, the horror master Wes Craven unleashed Scream, a slasher movie aimed at a whole new generation of teenage movie-goers.

Nailed It

"Nailed It" chronicles the genesis and legacy of the 40 year Vietnamese nail salon and its influence on an $8 billion-dollar American industry. For mixed-race Vietnamese filmmaker Adele Pham it's personal, as she confronts her cultural conflicts and discovers her place within the community, by peeling back the layers of this niche trade seen by everyone but known to few.

Yesterday's Tomorrows

Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the third of the six films, "Yesterday's Tomorrows," filmmaker Barry Levinson delves into what we, as Americans, thought the future would be as we traveled through the 20th century. Houses and cars of the future, the promise of technology, and the other hopes and dreams of the early part of the century gave way to the fears and anxieties brought about by the atomic age and the Hollywood disaster films that followed. Soon we wondered if we could control technology, or if it would control us. This film is by turns light-hearted and thoughtful, and rare historical and archival film, produced by government and industry, alternates with on-screen interviews with people as diverse as consumer advocate Ralph Nader, cartoonist Matt Groening, futurist Alvin Toffler, comedienne Phyllis Diller, and actor Martin Mull.

The American Tapestry

Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the last of the six films, "The American Tapestry," filmmaker Gregory Nava takes viewers on an uplifting and challenging journey through the memoirs of five immigrant families, each one on a quest for its own American Dream. Beautifully interweaving accounts from several generations, Nava composes an astonishing tapestry of personal triumphs and tragedies, as each story of courage unfolds. The American Dream is an elusive thing, and the lives of the people in Nava's film are both triumphant and tragic, teeming with optimism and sometimes despair. They expose the finest and worst in America as well as what we feel most magnificent and dreadful. They are part of the many contrasting threads that make up the American tapestry — a complex portrait of a nation at the turn of the millennium.

Shyam Singha Roy

A young filmmaker is in a soup right when he’s about to find his footing in the film industry. When he sets out to find an answer, turns out it’s in the past.

Shamitabh

A mute, aspiring actor joins forces with a man who has a powerful voice. Together they take the film industry by storm, but will their egos get in the way?

Wishing for a Dream

Actress Mika Andrews and her filmmaker boyfriend, Louis Digman struggle through the stresses, hopes, desires and disappointments of the entertainment industry to succeed in 'Hollywood.'

Religion

The story is based in Banaras and is about a Hindu Priest Chaturvedi who follows the scriptures to practice Hindu religion. When a child is abandon by a woman and brought in his house by his daughter - after initial hesitation but due to requests from his wife - the family adapts the child; only to know after 4 years that the child is a Muslim. The family gives away the child and Chaturvedi engulfs himself in the purification process to cleanse his body, mind and soul due to contact with a Muslim soul. By the time, Chaturvedi thinks he is fully purified – the child reappears – seeking refuge, due to Hindu- Muslim riots. This is the time Chaturvedi finally realizes that the true religion is - religion where humans help humans – humanity.

Go for It!

Carmen is a good student with a bad attitude who lives for dancing in the underground clubs of Chicago. She yearns to be 'somebody' but is afraid to believe in herself. Her immigrant Mexican, working-class parents want her to stay in school and get an education, so she attends junior college while working at a grocery store. Carmen's professor catches her performing one day in the neighborhood and challenges her to audition to a formal dance school in California. She gets into a fight with her chaotic family and runs away to her best friend Gina's place only to find out Gina's been getting beat up by her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Carmen's boyfriend, Jared wants her to commit and move in with him. Pulled apart in every direction, her dream of dancing fades. Can Carmen overcome her fears and take the biggest chance of her life, or will she succumb to her self-doubt?

Lowlife Love

Tetsuo (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) is a lowlife. A film director with a small indie hit many years back, yet he has never gotten any further as he refuses to go against his 'artistic integrity'.

Roy Cohn/Jack Smith

When Jill Godmilow’s documentary Roy Cohn/Jack Smith premiered at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival, the number of AIDS-related deaths was reaching an all-time high in the United States (over 270,000). In New York City, the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic, many artists and filmmakers were grappling with the disease. While Broadway was hosting the second part of Tony Kushner’s award-winning play Angels in America, downtown New Yorkers were fondly recalling another recent production, Ron Vawter’s one-man show Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, in which the actor, who died of AIDS in April 1994, performed two monologues, first as Cohn, the conservative lawyer, and secondly, as Smith, the flamboyant experimental filmmaker—both of whom died of AIDS-related causes in the late 1980s.

Bollywood Diaries

The passionate journey of three Bollywood fanatics who wish to make it big in the industry.

Captive

'Nazarband', the National Award-winning filmmaker's first outing in Hindi, is inspired by a short story by much- revered Bengali writer Ashapurna Devi and depicts the journey of two young people.

Balak Palak

BP is about four teenage friends (Avya, Bhagya, Chiu and Dolly), who over hear that, a friend, a resident of their colony, Jyoti tai, has left their colony, as she has brought disgrace to her family. Having received unsatisfactory explanations from their parents for Jyoti tai's exit. It becomes imperative to find out what exactly was her disgraceful act. Kids decide to take up this challenge. In this journey to discover, they end-up bonding little too much with their over mature school-mate 'Vishu', the guiding star for the foursome. He enlightens them by throwing his divine light upon blue films. He feels, one has to read, watch, and if need be, perform to understand the true meaning of life (read SEX).

Being James Bond

Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.

Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest

Transcending cultural barriers and consistently going against the grain, female Nepali climber Pasang Lhamu Sherpa attempted to summit Everest four times in the early nineties. Although she was not allowed to attend school as a child, Pasang did not let that stop her from pursuing her dreams. After founding her own trekking company in Kathmandu, she blazed a trail for Nepali women via her efforts to summit Everest. Proving how big you can dream and how far you can go to achieve those dreams, she left a legacy not only for the family she has left behind, but for the myriad women following in her footsteps.

Porno Unplugged

Journalist Fabian Burstein looks behind the curtains of the porn industry. Starting in Budapest he heads westwards to explore a new world on its victory march rooted deeply in Austria. On this journey he meets the heroes and leading actors of this story: Austrians Mick Blue, Renee Pornero and Thomas Janisch. Porno Unplugged follows its native porn stars to where their lives happen. From east to west...

Making Montgomery Clift

Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift’s legacy has long been a story of tragedy and self-destruction. But when his nephew dives into the family archives, a much more complicated picture emerges.

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