Some Kind of Heaven

Florida is home to beaches, coral reefs, pine forests and the famous Everglades wetland, but a growing human population and abandoned exotic pets like pythons are threatening this wild paradise. Can Florida’s ecosystems continue to weather the storm?

Through the eyes of a young drifter who rejects society's rules and intentionally chooses to live on the streets, Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang explores the meaning of personal freedom – and its limits.

Gigantic machine combs beach in southern California and retrieves articles lost in sand; synthetic gems made by new chemical process; aviation school holds classes in grounded transport plane; how seaweed is processed for scientific use.

We observe the daily routines of an elderly couple. Within the quiet flow of time, a longing for youth and irretrievable memories begin to surface. This piece reflects the sorrow hidden in the stillness of old age and the deep yearning for the past.

Imagine a sprawling city of 155,000 retirees, equipped with 54 golf courses, 70 swimming pools, and its own media outlet. The thousands of residents of The Villages, Florida, live isolated from the world in a leisure bubble where age is no longer a question. But all of this comes at a cost, paid by the flora, fauna, and locals.

In 2011, the center of the high school basketball world was in Winter Park, Florida. Winter Park - Ten Years Later recounts the journey of NBA veteran Austin Rivers as he stepped out of the shadow of his NBA head coach father, Doc Rivers, and into the basketball stratosphere as a high school supernova.

Food, health, and nutrition divide two sides of town in Gainesville, Florida - how the movement to bring Black culture, history, and knowledge back to the table is healing the community.

In the United States, there is an active shooter incident every 12 days. In Memoriam shows the wrenching perspective of wounded survivors, grieving relatives, and heroes of the horrific attacks at the Las Vegas Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, the Sutherland Springs Baptist Church in Texas, and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The story of a little loggerhead turtle, as she follows in the path of her ancestors on one of the most extraordinary journeys in the natural world. Born on a beach in Florida, she rides the Gulf Stream up towards the Arctic and ultimately swims around the entire North Atlantic across to Africa and back to the beach where she was born. But the odds are stacked against her; just one in ten thousand turtles survive the journey.

Police bodycam footage reveals how a long-running neighborhood dispute turned fatal in this documentary about fear, prejudice and Stand Your Ground laws.

An ode to the Florida Everglades, past and present, told through the prescient writings of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and those who today call the region home.

An unflinching documentary of those dealing with mental illness in the criminal justice system and a profile of families who tragically fell victims to that system.

A look into the underground community of rule-breakers at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida and how their actions led to the disappearance of an Audio-Animatronic named Buzzy.

On November 4th, 2008, three states - California, Florida and Arizona - voted to amend their constitutions, denying and revoking the rights of same-sex couples to marry. On May 26, 2009, with Canadian allies, gay American families rally at a Vancouver demonstration to protest these amendments that persecute the LGBTQ community. Demonstration organizer Roger Chin relays the California Supreme Court's infamous decision on Prop 8. Subsequent speakers talk about couples living in exile. Weaving elements of public protest and intimate interviews, four families share their stories of how they met, their decision to escape to freedom in Canada, their Canadian experience and their dreams of returning to their home country, family and friends. In the end, the organizer celebrates the freedoms to marry that exists in Canada.

Ivan and Jožica, a married couple, move to a care home after 70 years of sharing their lives. Despite the hardships of old age, they continue to live together in the new environment. Memories are fading, love remains.

Basically we just drove around aimlessly, stopping any time we saw something or someone that interested us and one thing would lead to another and the universe would pull us in one direction or another. Most of what you’re seeing in the final film is the entirety of our interaction with these guys. It was quick and to the point and I didn’t even interview people besides the occasional “Any words of wisdom?” So what we got was a whole bunch of people telling stories and talking about whatever was on their mind. It was a strange and exciting journey that took us to a lot of places we didn’t expect.