Rec. Grade Levels Archives: 10

Strictly Ballroom

Competitive ballroom dancer Scott Hastings has been groomed his entire life by his dance-teacher mother and reclusive father to win the coveted Pan-Pacific title. However, he has grown bored performing classic dances and starts dancing unconventional steps, thus disqualifying himself from the winner’s circle. Quiet beginning dancer Fran, however, encourages Scott to dance his own steps, and she becomes his secret partner. Chaos breaks out at the championships as Scott is torn between dancing with established winner Tina Sparkle or taking a chance on Fran, though it is sure to cost him the win. Meanwhile, a cast of wacky characters grows out of control while trying to maintain tradition in this romantic comedy/mockumentary about competitive ballroom dancing in Australia.

Continue Reading

Real Women Have Curves

Real Women Have Curves is the story of Ana, a first generation Mexican American teenager on the verge of becoming a woman, who’s torn between her mainstream ambitions and her cultural heritage.

Continue Reading

Refugee

Refugee follows three young Cambodian American men, raised on the streets of San Francisco’s tough Tenderloin district, as they travel to Cambodia to meet their families for the first time. These family reunions reveal the quagmire of Cambodian political upheaval and military invasion, as well as the heavy toll of years spent apart in different worlds.

Continue Reading

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

In April 2002, the democratically elected Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, faces a coup d’état by an American-backed opposition party. The two-day coup fails to topple Chávez, but the tumultuous event proves to be great dramatic material for two Irish filmmakers who happen to be making a documentary about Chavez as the coup erupts. They capture footage of the massive opposition and pro-Chavez crowds and analyze how Venezuelan TV manipulated images for propaganda purposes.

Continue Reading

Ringside

Ringside looks at the dangerous, volatile world of Chicago’s South Side from the perspective of two remarkably gifted young boxers and the fathers who train them ; as one begins a rising career in the ring, the other serves an eight-year-prison sentence for criminal trespass and burglary.

Continue Reading