An introduction to the lifestyle of contemporary women that emulate the makeup, fashion and vintage style of women in the 40's & 50's. These ladies champion freedom of self-expression, self-confidence, diversity, and total body acceptance - no matter what size or shape - while competing to be crowned Miss Viva Las Vegas in the largest and most heralded Pinup contest in the world.

Hair is not just a part of our appearance, it's a part of our identity. It's how we show our personality, our background, and our beliefs. MANE is about the intersection of hair and culture.

One woman's quest to win a historic tenth Queen of the Bands in Toronto's illustrious Caribbean Carnival.

This documentary outlines the ways in which race, identity, and hair are all related and offers a compassionate viewpoint on issues that affect African descendants.

A rare glimpse into the intriguing and complex world of modeling. Behind the glossy covers of Vogue and Glamour lie the rarely talked about, uncensored stories of what models endure and sacrifice to become a top model. CHASING BEAUTY examines body image and the psychological effects of the beauty business on young women and men. The film examines what it takes to be a top model - the demanding and oftentimes unattainable physical requirements of the position, the financial and emotional investment, and the moral negotiations that are sometimes prerequisites for making it. The film follows supermodels, photographers, agents, designers, plastic surgeons, make-up artists and psychologists and asks the question...what is beauty and is it worth the cost?

How do our families influence our relationship with our own bodies? How do American pop culture's standards of beauty get inside our hearts and heads? In what ways can sport and the drive for fitness actually make us sick rather than healthy? In this courageous, deeply personal new film, Diane Israel examines American culture's toxic emphasis on thinness, beauty, and physical perfection. Israel, a Boulder-based psychotherapist and former champion triathlete, talks candidly about her own struggle with eating disorders and obsessive exercising, fearlessly confronting her own painful past as she tries to come to terms with American culture's unhealthy fixation on self-destructive ideals of beauty and competitiveness. The film lends context to Israel's personal odyssey with fascinating insights from athletes, body builders, fashion models, and inner-city teens, as well as prominent cultural critics and authors such as Eve Ensler, Paul Campos, and Naomi Wolf. In a special bonus feature, Israel talks in detail about where she is in her recovery 2 years after the filming of Beauty Mark. Beauty Mark is a classroom edition (produced by Carla Precht in association with MEF) of Diane Israel, Carla Precht, and Kathleen Man's 75-minute documentary film by the same title.

Each morning we spritz and slather ourselves in over 100 different chemicals - yet the cosmetics and personal care industry in North America is not required to prove an ingredient is safe for human health before it is on the shelves. So when we run a bath, lather cream for a shave, carefully apply our makeup or deodorize our underarms, we could be exposing our bodies to toxic chemicals. Hormonal disruption in baby boys, developmental delays, ADHD, low sperm count in men - the effects aren't pretty. TOXIC BEAUTY is a documentary feature that follows the class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and the plaintiffs; women fighting for justice in a race against time.

Is being hit by lightning a random natural occurrence or a predestined event? Accidents, chance, fate and the elusive quest to make sense out of tragedy underpin director Jennifer Baichwal's (Manufactured Landscapes) captivating new work, an elegant cinematic meditation on the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. To explore these profound questions, Baichwal sought out riveting personal stories from around the world. Visually dazzling and aurally seductive, ACT OF GOD singularly captures the harsh beauty of the skies and the lives of those who have been forever touched by their fury. Official Selection at the **Hot Docs Film Festival.** *"An undeniably provocative head-trip, laced with the most spectacular lightning-storm footage I've ever seen." - Andrew O'Hehir, **Salon.com***

A beautiful and forlorn tree is stuck in the middle of the Rose Bowl parking lot. Ignored and neglected. Hit by cars, and starved for water and oxygen. Attacked by pathogens and pollutants, and it has no chance to reproduce. Joel Tauber, a young and amorous man, is drawn to the tree. Outraged by the indignities that the tree is forced to endure, he devotes himself to improving the tree's life, watering it with giant water bags, installing tree guards to protect it from cars, building giant earrings to celebrate its beauty, lobbying to remove the asphalt beneath its canopy and to protect it with a ring of boulders, and helping the tree reproduce. To date approximately 200 of these sycamore 'tree babies' have been planted throughout Southern California. Passionately narrated by Tauber and peppered with interviews by experts in a variety of disciplines (environmental philosophy, tree pathology, biology, ecology, urban forestry), the film is a highly unusual documentary. It examines the tree in a personal and multi-faceted manner, offering it as a microcosm of the plight of urban trees and of forgotten individuals.

Set in the grassroots of the Himalayan mountains, TASHI'S TURBINE is an uplifting tale of a small village's attempt to harness renewable, sustainable energy with the power of the wind. The story begins with the strong friendship between Tashi Bista and Jeevan, who journey from Kathmandu to Namdok with hopes of building a stronger Nepal, one wind turbine at a time...Their first site, Namdok, is a humble remote village in Upper Mustang, which previously relied on sparse candlelight to power through the windy nights. As Tashi and Jeevan work with the villagers, the elements and gusty landscape bring their own set of unforeseen challenges for installing a strong wind turbine..."Director and cinematographer Amitabh Joshi tells a story of friendship and engineering with simple and graceful composition, paying delicate attention to the natural beauty of Namdok. As the villagers speak and laugh with the camera, their storytelling weaves together a light-hearted, moving account on the power of the wind and a community's vision."- Hardeep Jandu.."Tashi's Turbine is a very depictive film, placing a critical perspective on the growing energy crises in the world. The story is a beautifully told one, lending a personal face on the quest for renewable energy and how it can inspire and sustain a community."- Special Jury Mention, Center For Asian American Media Film Festival..Special Jury Mention, Documentary, CAAMFEST, San Francisco, USA 2015