Paint Me A Road Out of Here 7 / 10

Documentary about the recovery of the painting For the Woman’s House from Rikers Island prison which is, unfortunately, still in existence. Faith Ringgold, the principal art’s painter, and Mary Baxter are featured prominently in the documentary. The film talks about the torture that is American incarceration.

Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones 7 / 10

I’d describe this as a sort of lengthy music video for Haiti. There is not a clear story or plot to the film, but it really did make me feel nostalgic for my brief time visiting Haiti. Dialog from Haitians do comment on the history of Haitians self liberating themselves only to be put under the boot of European powers along with the United States not taking Haiti’s side on things.

Mamífera 5 / 10

Slow paced Spanish movie about a woman in her 40s finding out she is unexpectedly pregnant. She visits a clinic, and evidently Spain also has the medically unnecessary and theoretically imposed mandatory several day waiting period in between seeking an abortion and having access to it. During that waiting period she spends time contemplating the decision.

Asog 8 / 10

Philippine comedy about people living in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, and standing up against corporate greed. Primary character is trying to drum up funds to get to a beauty pageant with the hopes of winning that and making more money, which will help with basics of survival. Always happy to find a foreign comedy that doesn’t feel like anything is lost in translation.

The Gullspång Miracle 6 / 10

Strange documentary about a family drama that just has more mysteries come up as the film goes, and resolves nearly none of them. All of the points given are because of how many strange twists and turns come up but, points removed because so few threads are tied up by the end of the documentary. I’d recommend it, but I did find that lack of closure on much of anything to be frustrating.

Unusually Normal 7 / 10

Documentary about seven women in three generations of a family - all of which are gay. Terrific story telling through personal accounts that illustrate LGBT acceptance (and not) going back eight decades and all the way up to today.

Maestra 6 / 10

Documentary of women working to smash the glass ceiling of orchestral conductors. Focuses on a conductor competition (apparently there are many of these), exclusively for women. Weirdly the Maestra contest still had some notes of sexism. During one of the feedback sessions with the judges, one of the conductors was told “you need to smile more”.

Sew Torn - 6 / 10

Thriller movie that goes all in on a young seamstress’s (tailor?) inventiveness with thread.

Sircocco and the Kingdom of the Winds 7 / 10

Started off rough because there is a child in it that makes me question Natural Selection. Once the story revealed that it had a layer of grief, it really took off for me. The French can do animated weirdness like few others.

We Can Be Heroes 10 / 10

LARP camp for creative and intelligent children. It’s hard for me to describe specifically how much I enjoyed this documentary. The Camp Wayfinder seems like a camp that I would have very much would have liked to have been at for the creativity, supportiveness, and welcoming atmosphere. However - I did have the opportunity to have gone to a 4-H camp and declined on doing that because I was certain that Bad Things would happen to me at the hands of other campers, so I probably wouldn’t have gone to this even if I had had the opportunity. Some of those kids featured in this are definitely smarter than I was at that age, and maybe smarter than me now.

Between the Temples 8 / 10

Jewish buddy movie turned romance? Hilarious and frequently uncomfortably funny.

Ama Gloria 6 / 10

French movie about a French kid spending the summer in Cape Verde with her nanny.

Kill 5 / 10

Train based action movie. Bonus points for not having any characters safe from injury or death. Minus points from me for having no idea why anyone was changing cars or fighting in one director or another. Maybe a lost-in-translation issue, and not a fault of the movie. Also may have had this viewing personally tainted by sitting next to a chatty group, which irritates me endlessly.

New Wave 6 / 10

Slow paced documentary about New Wave music in Vietnamese American communities, featuring Lynda Trang Dai, and the director’s relationship with her mother. Story about this community living in the traumas that came from fleeing their homeland because of American imperialism in Vietnam. Despite the name, I sort of feel like there wasn’t that much content about New Wave music.

Smugglers 5 / 10

Korean movie about lady divers who get involved in smuggling. Then some revenge turns into a double cross, maybe triple cross. Despite the content, I thought the pacing was a little slow.

Radical 10 / 10

Inspiring movie, based on a true story, about a teacher in a poor town in Mexico. Adapted from a Wired article title: A Radical Way of Unleashing a Generation of Geniuses by Joshua Davis.