KUCI: Film School Mike Kaspar

Zarrar Kahn’s feature film debut focuses on the lives of Mariam (Ramesha Nawal), her younger brother Bilal (Jibran Khan) and their mother, Fariha (Bakhtawar Mazhar) in a tiny apartment in Karachi. When Mariam’s maternal grandfather passes, his brother tries to manipulate them into signing over their apartment to him, a common occurrence in Pakistan, where women’s property rights are fragile. Mariam’s mother, grieving and isolated, is easy to influence. Mariam, distraught by her mother’s foolishness, finds solace in a secret romance with a fellow student, Asad. When their relationship takes an unexpected turn, Mariam becomes consumed by nightmares. Meanwhile, her mother, caught between her coercive Uncle and a murky legal system, is oblivious to her daughter’s deteriorating mental state. Mariam’s nightmares begin to bleed into reality. Mother and daughter must come together if they hope to overcome the real and phantasmal forces that threaten to engulf them. Director and writer Zarrar Kahn joins us for a conversation the inspiration for this layered and multi-genre film, assembling a superb cast of veteran and new actors, the systemic bias and barriers that women struggle to navigate in Pakistani society and the joy of being picked to represent Pakistan for the 2024 Academy Awards© in the Best International Feature Film category.

For more go to: gametheoryfilms.com/in-flames

LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL is an intimate documentary portrait of a one-of-a-kind singer-songwriter from 1970s LA – Judee Sill.  It charts her life from a troubled adolescence of addiction, armed robbery and prison through her meteoric rise in the music world and early tragic death. In two years, Judee went from living in a car to a deal with Asylum Records  and the cover of  Rolling Stone. As told by David Geffen, Linda Ronstadt, JD Souther, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash -- along with Judee herself -- the film explores Judee’s unique musical style and the inspiring recent rediscovery of her singular music fostered by Shawn Colvin, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek of Big Thief, and  Weyes  Blood.   Co-directors Brian Lindstrom and Andy Brown join us for a conversation how they discovered this nearly forgotten artist, their search for archival material on Judee Sill, finding the “right” way to tell her story, and connecting with wide array of artist, young and older who have been inspired by Judee’s enduring work.

For more go to: lost-angel-the-genius-of-judee-sill

In Theaters and On Amazon & Apple TV on April 12

BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION dives int a world where fashion is identity for teenage girls and one brand, Brandy Melville, has developed a cult-like following despite its controversial “one size fits all” tagline. Hiding behind its shiny Instagram façade is a shockingly toxic world, a reflection of the global fast fashion industry. Through a calculated social media presence and promoting an unattainable aesthetic, fueled by Instagram campaigns featuring its own employees and select “Brandy girls,” Brandy Melville conferred a sense of coolness to the teens who wore the tiny clothes that quickly exploded and today has nearly 100 stores in over 15 countries and over 80 cities worldwide. Fast fashion isn’t all glitz and glamor – it’s an exploitative business that pollutes the planet for the sake of profit. Media stories have exposed some of Brandy Melville’s unsavory practices and that’s why some call it Brandy Hell-Ville. BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION examines the far-reaching reverberations of mass-produced fast fashion by Brandy Melville and other mainstream fashion brands, as well as the consequences of the collective increase in consumption and production of cheap clothing, traveling to Accra, Ghana, a destination for discarded textiles that end up polluting landfills and waters. Director Eva Orner joins us to talk about the cult-like brand and the devastating impact that fast fashion, disposable clothing, and the pernicious culture that Brandy management has cultivated inside and outside the stores, and how prescient BRANDY HELLVILLE & THE CULT OF FAST FASHION is for exposing systemic exploitation within the global fashion industry.

For more go to: hbo.com/brandy-hellville-cult-of-fast-fashion

From the award winning team of Jesse Moss (The Overnighters, The Family) and Amanda McBaine (Boys State, The Mission) comes their latest mesmerizing documentary GIRLS STATE. The film follows 500 adolescent girls from all across Missouri as they come together for a week-long immersion into a sophisticated democratic laboratory, where they organize a Supreme Court to consider the most contentious issues of the day. Among the many questions posed in this sibling follow up to their 2020 Sundance Grand Jury prize, BOYS STATE, what would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? What political and social issues would they focus on? How will the concurrent BOYS STATE session, being held at the same Missouri school, be perceived by these young women? GIRLS STATE is a political coming-of-age story and a stirring re-imagination of what it means to govern, follows young female leaders — from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri — as they navigate an immersive experiment on how to build a government from the ground up. Co-directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss joins us for a spirited conversation on their plan to follow up Boys State with Girls State when the opportunity presented itself, how they decide which projects to pursue and the genuinely disappointing differences between the two STATES.

Available on April 5 at: tv.apple.com/girls-state
For more on Jesse Moss & Amanda McBaine go to: jessemoss.com

Rural hospitals around America are closing at alarming rates, leaving communities without care. Since 2005 more than 190 rural community hospitals, mostly in the South, have closed. In this documentary If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis Oscar-and Emmy-nominated director Ramin Bahrani visits Appalachia, where American communities are left with limited or no access to healthcare. Explore the rural healthcare crisis in the South through the eyes of those struggling in it and the dedicated doctors trying to reach them. If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare highlight the challenges faced by Rural American communities today intimately through the lens of individuals, families, and tight-knit towns, underscoring the urgent need for systemic change in the national healthcare, climate and mental health systems. If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis capped off the 2023 Winter Season for INDEPENDENT LENS, the award-winning PBS documentary anthology series presented by ITVS. Director Ramin Bahrani (Chop Shop, 99 Homes) joins us for a conversation on the existential and personal inspiration for the film, traveling around Appalachia in the Health Wagon with Dr. Teresa Tyson and Dr. Paula Hill-Collins and how the heartbreaking stories told by the people living without access to affordable healthcare has impacted his life.

For more go to: pbs.org/if-dreams-were-lightning

Support affordable healthcare @thehealthwagon.org

For over 50 year’s PBS’ FRONTLINE has been the standard by which all other long form broadcast journalism is measured.  Under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief and Executive Producer Raney Aronson-Rath FRONTLINE has won every major award in broadcast journalism, including Peabody Awards, Emmy Awards, and, in 2019, the first Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Gold Baton to be awarded in a decade. FRONTLINE’s reporting has been recognized with myriad journalism honors including Overseas Press Club Awards, Scripps Howard Awards, the Nieman Foundation’s Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism and the Peabody Institutional Award. Aronson-Rath has led an ongoing charge for transparency in journalism — including through the FRONTLINE Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind FRONTLINE’s reporting. She served as the sole public media representative on the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy. In addition to increasing FRONTLINE’s digital footprint, Aronson-Rath has  spearheaded FRONTLINE’s expansion into the theatrical documentary space. During her tenure, the series won an Academy Award® for 20 Days in Mariupol (2024), and received Academy Award® nominations for Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2018), For Sama (2020). In 2021, Aronson-Rath became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Raney Aronson-Rath joins us to talk about the surpassing importance of reliable and accurate reporting in service to a functioning democracy.

For more go to: pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentaries

Watch 2024 Oscar Doc winner at: frontline/20-days-in-Mariupol