As we in the world’s wealthiest countries continue to negotiate access to health care, this rigorously researched documentary charts the trials and triumphs of Partners in Health, a project that has saved millions of lives in some of the world’s poorest countries over the last four decades.

Harvard medical physician Paul Farmer, physician Jim Yong Kim, and activist Ophelia Dahl began their quest for global health equity in Haiti in the 1980s; since then they have worked arduously in such regions as TB-stricken Peru and Ebola-afflicted Rwanda. Innovating not only in terms of immediate relief, but also in long-term education and community building, Partners in Health serves as an inspiration for us all.

The career of Damon Jerome Keith is among the most remarkable in the annals of American justice. This unconventional, Detroit-born judge was once a janitor, and his personal struggles, like several of his high-profile rulings, resonate with our ongoing conversation about civil rights.

Walk With Me focuses on four highly fraught cases that appeared on Keith’s docket, all of which concerned discriminatory practices within the realms of housing, education, employment and law enforcement. Keith’s decisions placed him in precarious opposition to angry crowds, corporate America, the KKK and a certain former President. Keith’s life and work, which, now more than ever, deserves to be reckoned with—and celebrated.

Attorney-turned-filmmaker David Feige’s feature documentary debut is a challenging investigation into a profound legal mire. The term “sex offence” applies to a broad range of infractions, from child-rape to sexting, and yet “sex offender” is a scarlet letter that can make ordinary life impossible for those who bear it, even after being ostensibly reformed.
Featuring the horrifying case of South Florida lobbyist Ron Book and his daughter Lauren, who founded Lauren’s Kids and is now a Florida state senator, Untouchable explores all sides of this hot-button issue. Feige urges us not to simplify a complex subject, to look closely at the pariahs we create and what we consider to be genuine justice.

The tremendous anxieties that underlie struggles with fertility and the decision to seek medical intervention are given an inquisitive, empathetic voice in Oscar-nominated director Amanda Micheli’s new documentary. Profiling contestants in an annual video contest to receive free in-vitro fertilization treatments—which can cost as much as $20,000 and which have a success rate average of 30%—Micheli uncovers a peculiar world in which women’s desperation to conceive is regarded as material for a reality show. But the heart of haveababy lies in Micheli’s interactions with the contest’s finalists, who speak with affecting openness about their dreams, disappointments and diverse reasons for wanting children to begin with.

Over the last quarter-century, in a bunker-like building in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, 70 girls ranging in age from one to 18 have found refuge from poverty and violence. Our Little Roses is Honduras’ only orphanage for girls. Its charges are looked after by a devoted staff who supply food, shelter, medical attention and nurturing care.
The debut documentary from filmmaker Brad Coley is a moving, eye-opening tribute to the courageous work performed at Our Little Roses. Voice Beyond the Wall tracks the long and difficult process of recovering from trauma, healing deep wounds and preparing for a better future.

Some offers really are too good to be true. In 2015, 68 Nepalese and Indians students learned this lesson the hard way. Each paid $10,000 to study at an American institution calling itself Lambirds Academy. Lambirds promised eight months of education, a work visa and a guaranteed job on a cruise ship. When the students arrived at Lambirds’ campus on the Caribbean isle of St. Lucia, they found nothing but an empty room above a grocery store. They were left stranded, broke and homeless, with their passports confiscated.
Fini Maza’s documentary recounts the story of these ruthlessly scammed students as they struggle to redeem their investment—and their dreams.

To this day, Havana remains that rare city where music-lovers can still wander into a small club and, for a nominal fee, witness some of the world’s most vibrant sounds being generated by some of its greatest talents. Perhaps the most illustrious of all Havana’s clubs is Gato Tuerto, now in its sixth decade of existence. Its stage is small but has hosted giants, among them Omara Portuondo, Pablo Milanés and Chucho Valdés, while around its tables have sat the likes of Gabriel García Márquez and Julio Cortázar.
Dacio Malta’s documentary chronicles the long, fascinating story of Gato Tuerto in all its bohemian glamor and creative bliss.

This soaring documentary from Dennis Scholl and Miami native Marlon Johnson—whose Deep City: The Birth of the Miami Sound world premiered at the Festival in 2014—tracks the highly unusual and inspired collaboration between Pulitzer Prize-nominated musician Tod Machover and the people of Detroit.
Machover received over 15,000 individual contributions; bars of music, but also field recordings capturing the everyday sounds of the city. Over 13 months Machover assembles the material and shapes it into a symphony for the Motor City, to be performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and accompanied by Detroit citizens. Symphony in D is the awe-inspiring profile of this unique celebration of a great American metropolis.

This joyous documentary profile from director Diego Mas Trelles chronicles the colorful life of Xavier Cugat (1900-1990), the Spanish-born, Cuban-bred “Rhumba King” who was instrumental in bringing Latin music to American ears—and dancing feet.
Featuring extracts from Cugat’s numerous Hollywood screen appearances while paying tribute to his years of work in radio and in countless casinos, hotel ballrooms and nightclubs—including the legendary Coconut Grove—Sex, Maracas and Chihuahuas tells an incredible story of hard work and wild times, of romance, gangsters and opulence, and of glorious, infectious, beautiful music.

This elegant, transporting film offers an intimate portrait of prima ballerina Wendy Whelan on the occasion of her departure from New York City Ballet following a record-setting three decades with the company. Restless Creature opens to find Whelan 46-years-old and struggling with a painful injury. From here we step back and forth in time, to revisit Whelan’s Kentucky roots and witness her new collaboration with young choreographers to create an exquisite quartet of vignettes.
Co-directed by Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger, Restless Creature profiles an artist undergoing great change, asking fundamental questions about creativity, identity, longevity and self-worth. Through it all, Whelan is frank, articulate, inspiring and very much alive and restless.

At Sainte Trinité Music School in Port-au-Prince, children use classical music to channel their creativity and nurture their sense of empowerment. School director Father David César has extended music education throughout the island, and, even after unimaginable disaster strikes, César, his faculty and students refuse to let Sainte Trinité’s legacy come to an end.
Filmmaker Owsley Brown began documenting the school long before Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake and he continued to follow its fate over several years of rebuilding. Serenade for Haiti captures the resilience and talent of this widely misunderstood country, and the soundtrack highlights outstanding Haitian composers who are largely unknown to international audiences.

When Hulk Hogan sued Gawker in a Florida state court for releasing a sex tape, it opened a can of worms concerning the limits of the First Amendment. Hogan’s case was funded by Silicon Valley libertarian Peter Thiel, who had his own vendetta against Gawker. Filmmaker Brian Knappenberger digs deep into this case and others to reveal a burgeoning battle over free speech in America.
Besides Hogan’s case, Nobody Speak also looks at casino owner Sheldon Adelson’s purchase of the Las Vegas Review-Journal to influence its coverage. For billionaires who want to shape the media according to their wishes, money is no object. For the rest of us, this film is a bracing wake-up call.

Whenever life on Earth seems too dire, or simply too limiting to our imaginations, many of us look to the heavens for solace, sensing that somewhere out there, just maybe, another creature is looking back at us. Brad Abrahams’ new documentary introduces us to someone unusually invested in that vision of intelligent life on distant planets. David Huggins claims to have made contact repeatedly over the course of his 72 years—including the closest encounter of all: an interspecies romance.
Wondrous, fun and respectful, Love and Saucers lets Huggins tell his story without shame, and display his collection of surreal paintings documenting his astonishing experiences.

Major Lazer is a major force in the world of electronic dancehall. In 2015, riding the wave of their hit “Leon On,” the EDM supergroup undertook a world tour with a stop in Havana, a destination few international acts have had permission or, given its infrastructural issues, inclination to perform. The show was a gamble—but 500,000 habaneros turned up for what turned out to be a history-making event.
Fun, fascinating and inspirational, Give Me Future exudes Major Lazer’s motto: “Making the world smaller by making the party bigger.” Director Austin Peters captures the concert while seizing glimpses of a great city in a moment of dizzying transition.

Dream Empire follows Yana, an ambitious young woman who leaves her rural home to pursue the fabled Chinese Dream in Chongqing’s thriving real estate market. Yana opens an agency designed to aid Chinese developers in reaching foreign investors, but she soon discovers that her clients’ expectations—not to mention economic realities—may prove too tumultuous for her dream to weather.
Filmed over several years, Miami-native director David Borenstein’s incisive documentary dissects the chaotic, reckless, often mind-boggling world of the globalized real estate market, showing its merciless effects not only in the abstract, but also on the life of a single, hugely determined individual.

The late, great Jane Jacobs, author of the seminal The Death and Life of Great American Cities, helped change the way we look at urban living. In the 1960s she led a citizens’ movement against ruthless developer Robert Moses, who wanted to build a highway through the New York City neighborhoods of Little Italy, SoHo and Greenwich Village. The battle against Moses saved those neighborhoods and serves as a model for standing up to powerful bullies and defending minority communities.
Citizen Jane’s Matt Tyrnauer previously directed Valentino: The Last Emperor—the Festival’s 2009 opening night film—and has spent the last two years working on a Miami-based project.

Sixteen year old Juan Carlos ran away from an abusive home and lived on the streets of Mexico City for years before finding his way to IPODERAC, a unique group home and social enterprise located in Puebla, MX. IPODERAC is defined by a strong sense of brotherhood and sustained by the sale of artisanal goat cheese.

Visitor’s Day is an observational documentary that follows Juan Carlos throughout the most transformative year of his life, as he finds the strength to return to Mexico City to overcome his sense of abandonment and forgive his father for the past. Along the way we watch other boys overcome their own obstacles with the support of the extraordinary staff at Ipoderac.

Take My Nose…Please! is a seriously funny and surprisingly moving look at the role comedy has played in exposing the pressures on women in contemporary society to be attractive, and our deeply ambivalent attitude toward aesthetic surgery. The film follows two comedians, Emily Askin, an improv performer in Pittsburgh, and Jackie Hoffman, a seasoned comic actress, celebrated for her ‘funny face,’ as they contemplate having surgery and its possible impact on their careers, relationships, and self-regard. Intercut with these personal stories are those of iconic comedians–from Fanny Brice, to Phyllis Diller, Totie Fields and Joan Rivers, among others–who have spoken honestly about their surgical makeovers, while their colleagues in dramatic roles have remained steadfastly silent. Putting it all in perspective are surgeons, sociologists, historians, cultural critics, and fellow comics who contribute surprising insight. Will it hurt? Only when you laugh.

The subjects of Maite Alberdi’s documentary are four middle-aged students at a Chilean school for Down’s Syndrome children. The quartet studies and works in their catering department, but to what end? This winsome, opinionated group feels ready for a life of greater autonomy, yet financial independence is elusive in a system that marginalizes them as disabled. Those who caught Tea Time at the 2015 Festival know Alberdi’s capacity for generating tremendous charisma, but Grown-ups’ infectious warmth is balanced with indignation over its subjects’ dearth of options. Grown-ups doesn’t dismiss the innate challenges faced by those with Down’s Syndrome; rather, it merely urges us to consider their desires and abilities on a case-by-case basis.

A film about love and the passage of time in a country on the verge of a radical and unpredictable change: Cuba- where time seemed to stand still.
Reflections on the recent transformations in Cuban society as seen through the lives of three families filmed over a span of 20 years.

Sassy and empowering, Rama Rau’s League of Exotique Dancers offers both front-row seats and a backstage pass to Legends of Burlesque, an annual extravaganza hosted by Las Vegas’ Burlesque Hall of Fame. We’re introduced to veterans like Gina Bon Bon, Camille 2000 and Marinka, Queen of the Amazons, all of them in their 60s or 70s, preparing to present their vintage vamps from the pre-pole-dancing era.

Ten years after retirement from a career as a professional athlete, Kenny Anderson finds that basketball is easy, it’s life that’s hard. Still reeling from his mother’s death, the former New York City high-school prodigy and NBA All-Star loses a cherished coaching position, sending him into a midlife crisis. Facing his personal demons head-on, the charismatic Anderson must come to terms with his past in order to find a way forward.

Embargo chronicles the story of the politics and collusion behind the Cuban embargo; its history, impact and evolution. Along with information from recently declassified documents and original interviews with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Sergei Khrushchev, Ted Sorensen, and Lucie Arnaz—among others—an unprecedented array of historical political, social and cultural perspectives are revealed dating back before the 1959 Cuban revolution that catapulted Castro to power, and led to the failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion and 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis.

Omar is a humble bricklayer, fragile-looking, thin and ungraceful. He began to build a movie theatre above his home, all by himself and without telling anyone. It took him four years. He opened the cinema with a projector from 1928, got the seats from the old village cinema and set up the screen painting a canvas that his wife helped him hang. This room became his refuge.
After 10 years of trying to keep it running, his brothers decided to sell the land where Omar’s house and theatre were. He had to move.
Omar did not give up and started again. Like an ant, slowly and quietly.