November is Native American Heritage Month, and New Day has many films that celebrate the cultures and histories of those who were here before the colonization of Turtle Island (aka North America), and those who survive and continue to build futures for their children. Tracing Roots follows master weaver and Haida elder Delores Churchill on a journey to understand the origins of a spruce root hat discovered alongside a 300-year-old traveler in a retreating glacier.
Shellmound is the story of how one Bay Area location changed from a sacred burial ground to a toxic late-stage capitalist consumer zone.
In Whose Honor? follows the story of Charlene Teters, a mother and activist who went up against the University of Illinois to ban the use of a racist mascot. Check out these films and more here.
Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15, coinciding with the anniversaries of independence of several countries including México, Chile and Guatemala. New Day offers an excellent collection of films that tell powerful stories from these countries, and celebrate the contributions
Abrazos
of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States. Stages: Intergenerational Theater on the Lower East Side follows a group of older Puerto Rican women as they work with urban youth to create a play out of the stories of their lives, while Abrazos tracks the transformational journey of a group of U.S. children who travel 3,000 miles from Minnesota to Guatemala to visit their parents’ homeland.
Land of Opportunity
October also brings the opportunity to focus on our communities with two more special commemorations. National Community Planning Month honors the role of planners and planning in our communities. New Days films Land of Opportunity and Made In Brooklyn both take a look at the impact of planning in cities like New Orleans, Durham, Albuquerque, Burlington and New York.
Sins Invalid
National Disability Awareness Month is a time to educate about disability issues and to celebrate the contributions of Americans with disabilities. In The Key of G, we learn about a uniquely successful model of supported living for people with physical and developmental disabilities. In Sins Invalid, a film and performance project conceived and led by disabled people of color, normative paradigms of “normal” and “sexy” are challenged, offering instead a vision of beauty and sexuality inclusive of all individuals and communities.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month (LGBT Pride Month) is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. The Stonewall riots were a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. New Day has a strong collection of films on LGBTQ topics, including award-winning new releases Out in the Night, about the justice struggle of four young black queer women known as the New Jersey Five, and The Year We Thought About Love, about a Boston-based queer youth theater company.
Mental Health Month raises awareness about mental illnesses, such as depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. New Day has a rich collection of films that lift the veil of silence over mental health issues. In Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw, the WNBA’s “female Michael Jordan” battles personal setbacks and stigma to become an outspoken mental health advocate. In Split, children weigh in on the emotional and psychological impact of living through their parents’ divorce. View New Day’s entire collection of mental health films here.
States of Grace
Older Americans Month is a time to celebrate the contributions of older adults to our nation. Several new additions to the New Day catalogue highlight such achievements. In Nine To Ninety, a family’s matriarch boldly leads her family in making difficult end-of-life decisions. In States of Grace, a celebrated doctor recovers from a devastating accident to create a holistic pain clinic. Tracing Roots follows the adventures of a native elder as she strives to find the origins of a curious relic in a retreating glacier. For more New Day films on aging and gerontology, click here.
Top Spin
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month honors the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Two new films in the New Day collection shed new perspective on the Asian-American experience. In Top Spin, Chinese-American ping-pong prodigies set their eyes on Olympic gold. In Making Noise in Silence, two high school students must balance being both Korean immigrants and members of the Deaf community. For more titles exploring Asian-American and Pacific Islander life, click here.
This April 22 marks the 46th anniversary of Earth Day. In the past half century, a powerful global movement centered on the protection of our environment has arisen. New Day is an active voice in the movement, with films like Catching the Sun, There Once Was an Island: Te Henua e Noho, and Rebels With a Cause. Check out our full collection of films on the Environment and Sustainability here.
Women’s History Month highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. Did you know that 40% of the rebel army in Nepal were women? Woman Rebel follows one woman’s story (codename “Silu”), from the jungles to the halls of Parliament. Breaking Silence: The Story of the Sisters of Desales Heights follows twelve elderly nuns preparing to face the outside world for the first time in their adult lives, raising important questions about the changing role of women in society when their roles are no longer valued. Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America is a comprehensive and timely exploration of the shocking persistence of domestic violence in our society. See New Day’s complete Women’s Studies collection here.
The Collector of Bedford Street
National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month calls on us to recognize the mixed-ability world in which we live, and the unique contributions, needs, and desires of every person. What does it mean for us to live in a world where people of all different abilities are supported and recognized? Explore New Day’s collection of excellent films on disability-related topics, including The Collector of Bedford Street, an Academy Award-nominated short documentary about a community activist and fundraiser with an intellectual disability, and the community that came together to support him when he was in crisis. The Key of Gis an award-winning documentary that follows Gannet, a charismatic 22-year-old with physical and developmental disabilities, as he leaves his mother’s home to share an apartment with a close-knit group of artists and musicians who support him as paid caregivers and as friends. See more films about disability here.
A Sentence Apart
National Criminal Justice Month calls attention to the need for an effective criminal justice system. A Sentence Apartfollows three families as they cope with the infinite ripple effects of incarceration in the U.S. AbUSed: The Postville Raidexposes the devastating effects of U.S. immigration enforcement policies on children, families and communities. Every Mother’s Sonhighlights three women who have lost their sons to police brutality, as they unite to fight for change. See the rest of our Law and Criminal Justice collection here.
Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
February is Black History Month, celebrating the lives, innovations, and struggles of African American individuals and communities. New Day has an excellent collection of films for Black History Month, including Faubourg-Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans; Silent Choices, a history of African American women and abortion; and Beauty in the Bricks, about four African American teenage girls growing up in an urban housing project 20 years ago. To see the full collection, click here.
The third Sunday in January is annually celebrated as World Religion Day. New Day has a wide collection of films dealing with religion, including the new release Call to Witness, a moving depiction of three pastors fighting for LGBT ordination in the Lutheran Church. View our whole collection here.
November is Native American Heritage Month, and New Day has many films that celebrate the cultures and histories of those who were here before the colonization of Turtle Island (aka North America), and those who survive and continue to build futures for themselves and their children. Tracing Roots follows master weaver and Haida elder Delores Churchill on a journey to understand the origins of a spruce root hat discovered alongside a 300-year-old traveler in a retreating glacier. Shellmound is the story of how one Bay Area location changed from a sacred burial ground to a toxic late-stage capitalist consumer zone. In Whose Honor? follows the story of Charlene Teters, a mother and activist who went up against the University of Illinois to ban the use of a racist mascot. Check out these films and more here.
Trinidad
Transgender Awareness Month
November is also Transgender Awareness Month, a time to celebrate, raise the visibility of, and expose the challenges faced by transgender and gender non-conforming people. New Day’s catalogue includes a number of films about trans people. Prodigal Sons reveals a surprisingly universal story about identity, gender, adoption, and mental illness. Trinidad acquaints viewers with three trans women whose paths cross in Trinidad, Colorado, the “sex-change capital of the world.” The Year We Thought About Love is a story about a queer youth theater project, and includes the coming out process of a young black trans woman. Check out these films and more here.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In hopes of helping victims through their pain and moving forward in the fight to eradicate domestic violence from our world, two New Day filmmakers are making their films available for free streaming the entire month. Kimberly Bautista‘s feature documentary Justice for My Sisteris a feature-length documentary that follows one Guatemalan woman as she pits herself against her country’s notoriously machista justice system in search of answers to her sister’s brutal murder.
Peter Cohn‘s Power and Control: Domestic Violence in America is a powerful and dramatic exploration of family violence in the US. The feature documentary is accompanied by two shorter, more specialized companion pieces: Domestic Violence in Law Enforcement and Domestic Violence and Health Care.
