Rikers

Nov 12, 2016

1h 10m

★ 6.0

AN AMERICAN JAIL

Overview

This film from Bill Moyers is the first documentary to focus exclusively on people formerly detained in New York City’s notorious Rikers Island Jail. They tell their compelling stories direct to the camera, revealing the violent arc of the Rikers experience – from the trauma of entry to extortion and control by inmates, to oppressive corrections officers, violence and solitary confinement.

Genres

Documentary

Rikers Trailers

Cast

Host

Bill Moyers

Self

Tariq Barnes

Barry Campbell

Hector Custodio

Candie Hailey-Means

Robert Hinton

Kathy Morse

Five Mualimm-Ak

Ismael Nazario

Marcell Neal

Ralph Nuñez

Damian Stapleton

Preschool to Prison is a compelling examination of how the United States public school system is built and operated like prisons. Zero-tolerance policies are used to justify suspension and arrests that set up a pathway to send children of color and children with special needs from school to prison. Children are being suspended, restrained, dragged, physically manhandled, and subsequently arrested for minor offenses such as throwing candy on a school bus. These personal accounts from people affected by the school-to-prison pipeline give riveting tales about the generational impact on society.

3.5

Xiara's Song

Jun 19, 2005

Xiara Trujillo is a precocious seven-year-old who moved from the Bronx to Maryland with her mom, Aracelli Guzman, four years ago. Though she seems happy hanging out and playing with her pal Melissa, Xiara becomes defensive and emotional when talking about her father, Harold Linares. As we see and learn, Harold is in jail serving a ten-year sentence for weapons possession; Xiara seems to blame his incarceration on her mother, whom she says "kept calling the police." Xiara, who has always been extremely close to her father, acts out with her mother.

0.0

Home Feeling: Struggle for a Community

Jul 13, 1983

This feature documentary takes us to the heart of the Jane-Finch "Corridor" in the early 1980s. Covering six square blocks in Toronto's North York, the area readily evokes images of vandalism, high-density subsidized housing, racial tension, despair and crime. By focusing on the lives of several of the residents, many of them black or members of other visible minorities, the film provides a powerful view of a community that, contrary to its popular image, is working towards a more positive future.

7.1

March of the Penguins

Jan 26, 2005

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

6.8

The First Wave

Nov 19, 2021

When Covid-19 hit New York City in 2020, filmmaker Matthew Heineman gained unique access to one of New York’s hardest-hit hospital systems. The resulting film focuses on the doctors, nurses, and patients on the frontlines during the “first wave” from March to June 2020. Their distinct storylines each serve as a microcosm to understand how the city persevered through the worst pandemic in a century

8.6

32 Pills: My Sister's Suicide

Nov 29, 2017

Traces the life and mental illness of New York artist and photographer Ruth Litoff, and her sister's struggle to come to terms with her tragic suicide.

6.0

America's Greatest Prison Breaks

Dec 27, 2015

A look at the prison breakout of Richard Matt and David Sweat from Clinton Correctional facility, as well as a look back at some of the most daring and ingenious prison breaks in American history.

0.0

The Blinding of Isaac Woodard

Mar 30, 2021

In 1946, Isaac Woodard, a Black army sergeant on his way home to South Carolina after serving in WWII, was pulled from a bus for arguing with the driver. The local chief of police savagely beat him, leaving him unconscious and permanently blind. The shocking incident made national headlines and, when the police chief was acquitted by an all-white jury, the blatant injustice would change the course of American history. Based on Richard Gergel’s book Unexampled Courage, the film details how the crime led to the racial awakening of President Harry Truman, who desegregated federal offices and the military two years later. The event also ultimately set the stage for the Supreme Court’s landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, which finally outlawed segregation in public schools and jumpstarted the modern civil rights movement.

6.0

Prisoners of the War on Drugs

Jan 8, 1996

From its beginning during the Reagan years through current times, the War on Drugs has left many victims stranded in the prison system. PRISONERS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS reveals life behind bars in the nation’s prisons. Each prisoner has his or her own story, but for most, the story is predictably similar; they have been criminalized for drugs or drug related offenses, locked up with easy access to substances, and given little opportunity for rehabilitation. This film provides an inside look at the prison system, its prisoners and a war on drugs we do not seem to be winning.

0.0

Open Secret

Apr 30, 2025

This riveting documentary investigates allegations of systemic racism and child sexual abuse in the New Hanover School District.

0.0

Cannibal Island

Jun 23, 2009

A disturbing chapter in Russian history is explored in this documentary. In 1933, Joseph Stalin sent 6000 "unwanted" citizens of Moscow and Leningrad to a desolate Siberian island - with no food or clothes to speak of. Decades later this documentary returns to the island.

3.9

Miracle on Everest

Jul 1, 2008

2006 was one of the deadliest Everest seasons on record. Experienced mountaineer Lincoln Hall was invited to join an expedition as a high altitude cameraman. It was his second attempt to summit the mountain, having turned back just short 22 years earlier. Shortly after reaching the summit, Hall began to behave irrationally, suffering from lack of oxygen. Aided by his loyal Sherpas for over 9 hours, he eventually collapsed and they declared him dead. His family were informed and the news hit headlines. But something happened that night that science cannot explain. The next morning Lincoln Hall was found alive by approaching climbers and his dramatic rescue began. Never before has a man been declared dead so high on Everest and survived. This is the remarkable true story of Lincoln Hall’s extraordinary journey back from beyond.

No Image Available

9.0

Das Dorf der Freundschaft

Aug 25, 2001

A German Documentary about the “village of friendship” that was created by American Veteran George Mizo to help the Vietnamese kids suffering from the Vietnam War.

7.9

CORONA.FILM - Prologue

Mar 23, 2021

As the first part of our investigation, the CORONA.FILM prologue will delve into the science behind the pandemic. Starting at the very beginning, we shine a light on the responses. The aim is not to point the finger; our aim is to tell the whole story in all its complexity, as we believe that justice cannot prevail if only one side of the story is told.

6.6

The Capote Tapes

Sep 10, 2021

A portrait of the brilliant American writer Truman Capote (1924-84) and the New York high society of his time.

4.0

Tales of the American

Nov 30, 2017

Seemayer Studios presents a new documentary about the American Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District that surrounds it. Since 1979, the American Hotel has been the beating heart of a rich community of artists who began moving into the deserted factory buildings between Alameda and the Los Angeles River.

7.7

LA 92

Apr 28, 2017

Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.

7.0

Susanne Bartsch: On Top

May 1, 2017

Dubbed New York's "Queen of the Night," proto–club kid Susanne Bartsch has been throwing unforgettable parties for over 30 years and is still going strong.

5.0

Bronx, New York, November 2019

Oct 21, 2021

No overview available.