The 11th Hour describes the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how humanity has arrived at this moment: how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course. The film which is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, features dialogues with experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolsey, and sustainable design experts William McDonough and Bruce Mau, in addition to over 50 leading scientists, thinkers and leaders who present the facts and discuss the most important issues that face our planet.

Directors: Nadia Conners, Leila Conners Petersen; Editor: Pietro Scalia; Producers: Leonardo DiCaprio, Chuck Castleberry, Brian Gerber, Peter Youngblood Hills

Four teenagers in the throes of their senior year of high school are the subjects of this deliciously fun and fast-moving documentary. The film, shot verité style, records pivotal moments in the lives of its main characters — the nerd and the jock, the homecoming queen and the arty misfit — so completely that at times the film seems like a scripted narrative film.

It is the expert storytelling by veteran documentarian Nanette Bernstein, however that shines through and shapes the film into much more than just a guilty pleasure. These kids are real, and their pain and indecision, heartbreak and triumph, resonate strongly and remind us of when our own world was defined by the strict codes of social conduct which permeate high schools. Moments when the characters demonstrate their growing individuality are captured almost miraculously in the movie, and provide a deeply rewarding window into the maturation process of
these young men and women and the life paths on which they will embark.

Director: Nanette Burstein; Editors; Nanette Burstein, Tom Haneke, Mary Manhardt; Producers: Nanette Burstein, Eli Gonda, Christopher Huddleston, Jordan Roberts

Victor Mancini, (Sam Rockwell) is a smart-talking, sex-addicted scam artist with serious mother issues. He works as an historical re-enactor with his best friend Denny (Brad Henke) at a colonial theme park. In his spare time, he relieves unsuspecting restaurant goers of their cash in order to keep his mother Ida (Anjelica Huston) ensconced in an expensive private mental hospital. Victor falls for the attractive Dr. Paige Marshall (Kelly Macdonald) who attends to his mother, in his attempt to learn the truth about his father’s mysterious identity.

Writer: Clark Gregg, adapted from the novel by Chuck Palahniuk; Director: Clark Gregg; Cast: Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald, Brad Henke, Clark Gregg; Producers: Johnathan Dorfman, Temple Fennell, Beau Flynn, Tripp Vinson

A divorced couple visits the home of their recently deceased daughter, Claire, to look through the things that their son-in-law has gathered for them. His sister is there to oversee things and an amusing argument erupts.

Written and Directed by Liz Tuccillo

The story focuses on struggling film producer Charlie Berns (Willaim H. Macy), who is on the verge of suicide when his aspiring screenwriter nephew Lionel arrives from New Jersey with a script about 19th century English statesman Benjamin Disraeli. Charlie agrees to make the film, but he converts it into an action adventure Middle Eastern espionage film called Lev Disraeli: Freedom Fighter. He casts African American Bobby Mason (LL Cool Jay), a recent convert to Judaism, in the title role, and proceeds to set up locations in South Africa. Along the way, Charlie meets his match in Deidre Hearn (Meg Ryan), a sharp-witted development executive who sees right through his games, but also recognizes that maybe his caution-to-the-wind philosophy has serious merit. When Mason gets kidnapped during filming, Charlie and Deidre devise a way to keep his project going. They move their crew to Prague and begin to film Lionel’s original script without advising studio heads of their plan.

Writers: William H. Macy, Steven Schachter; Director: Steven Schachter; Cast: William H. Macy, Meg Ryan, LL Cool J; Producers: Irene Litinsky, Keri Nakamoto, Michael Prupas

In this ‘love letter to music,’ a down-and-out musician gets one last opportunity to realize his dream, but must embark on a journey that takes him far beyond his comfort zone.

Written and Directed by Bill Block

Three years ago, honeybees mysteriously started disappearing. With bees helping to pollinate one in every three bites that we eat, everyone is at risk. This short sets out to discover what is plaguing these hives and learn how non-commercial beekeepers can help.

Written and Directed by Meerkat Media

Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. Flow: For Love of Water confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause. An inspired yet disturbingly provocative wake-up call, Flow focuses on pollution, human rights, politics and corruption: African plumbers reconnect shantytown water pipes under cover of darkness to ensure a community’s survival, a Californian scientist forces awareness of shockingly toxic public water sources, a ‘Big Water’ CEO argues privatization is the wave of the future. Filmmaker Irena Salina has constructed an exceptionally articulate profile of the precarious relationship uniting human beings and water and an impending crisis that can no longer be ignored.

Director: Irena Salina; Editors: Caitlin Dixon, Madeleine Gavin, Andrew Mondshein; Producers: Steven Starr; Gill Holland

FROZEN RIVER is set in a real-life smuggling zone on a Native American reservation between New York State and Quebec. Ray (Melissa Leo), struggling to support her two sons and reeling from the recent departure of her alcoholic husband, is unable to resist the lure of fast money that accompanies the smuggling of illegal immigrants across the frozen St. Lawrence River. Ray reluctantly teams up with Lila (Misty Upham), a widowed Mohawk Indian, and the two embark on a journey of survival and sacrifice that ultimately connects them as family.

The film transcends the difficulties of poverty and socio-economic struggle and succeeds as a universal tale that is ultimately built on courage, heroism and trust.

Writer: Courtney Hunt; Director: Courtney Hunt; Cast: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, Michael O’Keefe, Mark Boone Jr.; Producers: Chip Hourihan; Heather Rae; Molly Conners