To a stranger, he is  an eccentric Singaporean obsessed with toilets, but to those who know him, he is  ‘Mr. Toilet’. A former entrepreneur, Jack Sim, uses humor to campaign for something no one dares talk about: poo and where it goes. It’s a crisis impacting over two billion people. Having established UN World Toilet Day, Sim plunges into his biggest challenge yet when asked to help resolve the sanitation problem in India. But with few resources and no real governmental support, Mr. Toilet discovers there is a price to pay for being the world’s #2 hero. This is a very thought provoking documentary that will hopefully inspire many conversations. (WARNING: the “s”-word referring to poo is said at least 200 times.)

USA  / 2019  / in English and English subtitles / 86 min / 10+ (mild profanity, visuals of sewerage, mention of rape)

 

*OPENING NIGHT FILM*

​This Sundance Award-winning documentary will put pep in your step! STEP (or step-dancing) is a corporeal form of storytelling that originated during the slave trade when slaves used footsteps, hand claps and call-and-response songs to communicate and spread vital news. STEP documents the senior year of a girls’ high school step team in inner-city Baltimore as they try to become the first in their families to attend college. For them, Step is a call to action: Get focused! Work hard! Be empowered! The girls strive to attain their dreams against a backdrop of social unrest.

 

 

New England Premiere

This candid documentary captures a real-life story of a boy trying his best to turn his dreams into reality. Twelve-year-old Jeffrey has the responsibilities of an adult, working as a windshield washer on the busy streets of Santo Domingo to help his mom make ends meet at home. But he has big plans to become a reggaeton singer. In collaboration with his older brother Jeyson, he composes and records songs about his neighborhood, his way of life, and his dreams for the future.

Director Yanillys Perez highlights the resilience and dynamism of her subject. We watch as Jeffrey looks for customers, tries to avoid turf wars with other windshield washers, spends time at home with his family, and climbs his special tree—a tree to which he often speaks of his hopes for a better life. Through his story, Ms. Perez skillfully contrasts the layered beauty of the Dominican Republic with the daunting struggle of its people wanting to break out of a cycle of poverty.   

Meet some eccentrics, visionaries, and just plain folks who have transformed their autos into art works, led by director/narrator/Camera Van owner Harrold Blank. Subjects featured include world-renowned spoon bender Uri Geller and his fork-and-spoon-covered “Peace Car,” Howard Davis’s “Telephone Car,” and religious folk artist Leonard Knight, who’s painted his vehicles as well as most of an entire mountain in the desert as a testament to his faith. On a humorous and touching journey, we find that an art car has the power to change perspective in an increasingly homogeneous world.