Cinemafile

IVY, 17, is a cancer survivor, in remission. Once one of the popular girls at school, she’s now angry and withdrawn, riddled with survivor’s guilt. She hates pity and she definitely doesn’t want to be a Make-A-Wish kid. Her parents are worried and convince her to go to CRF Camp, or Children Run Free Camp, a four week long summer camp for teenagers affected by cancer to help her “find herself”. When she reluctantly agrees to go to this ‘Chemo Camp’, after seeing the impact her illness has had on her family, she discovers that it really is as disappointing as she thought; a faded, washed out, activity camp which is quite frankly not where a teenage girl wants to spend her final summer before she turns 18. Director, writer and producer George Jacques joins us to talk about his second feature film, Sunny Dancer.
About the filmmaker - Writer, Director & Producer George Jaques S is a 25-year-old director, actor, writer and producer from South London. At 16, he founded his production company, Athenaeum Productions. George’s debut feature film BLACK DOG World Premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was nominated for the ‘Best First Feature’ award. It was executive produced by Oscar Winning David Parfitt (The Father) and was also showcased as part of the Great8 competition at Cannes Film Festival. BLACK DOG released onto Apple/Amazon with a limited number of theatrical screenings. It won two awards at Riviera International Film Festival (Best Film and Best Actor) as well as being featured in Vogue. Prior to this, George directed and wrote a number of short films which caught the attention of Sony, Sky and Warner Brothers as well as several sell-out theatre shows including a show at The National. In 2022, George was also the winner of the Breakthrough Filmmaker Award at the inaugural Soho House Awards. He has also just directed a commercial starring Dermot Crowley (Luther) and Sarah Greene (Bad Sisters) for BAFTA winning agency Don’t Panic. As an actor, George starred opposite Jude Law in HBO/Marc Munden’s 12 Hour Epic THE THIRD DAY: AUTUMN, played Francis II in Justin Haythe Lionsgate’s series THE SERPENT QUEEN opposite Samantha Morton, and a lead in Sky/Nick Love’s gangster show A TOWN CALLED MALICE. More recently he Executive Produced and played the lead in Emmy Nominated director Huse Monfaradi’s film ONE PUNCH. George’s sophomore feature film (SUNNY DANCER) as a director, writer and producer opened Berlin International Film Festival as one of the opening night films. It stars Emmy nominee Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), Ruby Stokes (Rocks), Earl Cave (The Sweet East), BAFTA nominee James Norton (Happy Valley), Golden Globe winner Jessica Gunning (Baby Reindeer) and five-time Emmy winner Neil Patrick Harris (A Series of Unfortunate Events).

Bolivia’s entry for the 2027 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, THE CONDOR DAUGHTER, tells the story of Clara, a teenager growing up in a small indigenous community high in the Andes. Her adoptive mother, a midwife who took her in as a baby, has taught her the ancient songs used to guide women through childbirth, melodies passed down for generations, believed to bring new life safely into the world. But while her voice carries on this tradition, her dreams lie elsewhere: she longs to leave the mountains behind and become a folkloric music star in the big city. Director, writer and co-editor Alvaro Olmos Torrico joins us for a lively conversation on his latest work.
About the filmmaker - Álvaro Olmos Torrico was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His debut feature, “Wiñay” (2019), was among the first Bolivian films to be released globally via Amazon Prime. He has produced both documentaries and fiction features, including “The Ones from Below” by Alejandro Quiroga (Mar del Plata IFF, 2022) and “The Visitor” by Martín Boulocq (Tribeca, 2022). He is the founder of BoliviaCine.com, the first SVOD platform dedicated to Bolivian cinema, and has taught at the Bolivian Private University and the Andean School of Cinematography. “The Condor Daughter” is his second feature film and was awarded in the Work in Progress sections of Ventana Sur and Cinélatino Toulouse during its development.

A global race to develop a new male contraceptive that could revolutionize family planning and improve women’s lives globally. Give It A Shot follows the indomitable 83-year-old Dr. Sujoy Guha in India, the California-based team of Elaine Lissner and L.R. Fox, as well as Kevin Eisenfrats in Virginia, on a quest to successfully launch the first reversible male contraceptive since the modern condom, invented 200 years ago.It is a funny, moving and ultimately urgent film. This film is a timely, intimate and character driven story of the quest to successfully launch the next reversible birth control for men. According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are currently only three methods for men — condoms, vasectomy, and the “pull out” method — compared with at least 15 options for women. This advancement could revolutionize family planning and profoundly impact gender equity. GIVE IT A SHOT provides a window into this high-stakes scientific and social experiment, from the roster of scientists and developers to the implications on society at large.
About the filmmaker - Vaishali Sinha (Director/Producer) is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and director of the feature documentaries Made in India (PBS) and Ask the Sexpert (PBS, Netflix). Her work has earned numerous honors, including the Critics Choice Award in India, a Grierson nomination for Best Entertaining Film, and a Ridenhour Peace Prize nomination for Excellence in Truth-Telling. Made in India became a case study at Harvard Business School in a course on ethics, while Ask the Sexpert achieved wide distribution across major platforms, including Netflix India. Vaishali was also a development consultant for the Academy Award–winning short documentary Period. End. Of. Sentence. and is currently on the producing team for multiple projects. She is a Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center and co-founder of Bitchitra Collective: Indian Women in Documentary, a peer-driven support network. She has mentored emerging filmmakers at Firelight Media Doc Lab, Kartemquin Film’s Diverse Voices in Docs, BAVC, and the Video Consortium. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and a diploma in 16mm film production from The New School, New York. Vaishali lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their child.

Every year, the top under-18 braille readers and writers from across the English-speaking world gather in Los Angeles to compete in the Braille Challenge. For one weekend, blind and low-vision kids are no longer the minority in the room. They're competing, forming friendships, going head-to-head against rivals, and being recognized not for their disability, but for their skill. In the captivating documentary film, BRAILLED IT, the camera is placed directly in their hands. As the kids document the competition themselves, their fragmented imagery and candid moments of nerves, boredom, joy, and triumph invite audiences to experience the event on their terms. Designed with audio description and accessibility at its core–not as an afterthought but as a fundamental creative tool–the film shifts authorship and perspective to the community on screen, revealing a world defined not by limitation, but by mastery, ambition, and the transformative power of literacy. Co-director David Grabias joins us to talk about this raucous and heartwarming film about a group of young people who want to be seen and heard.
BRAILLED IT will open in select theaters nationwide beginning September 2026, with additional markets and community screenings to follow. Live brailling demonstrations, where audiences can have their name or short phrase brailled for them, will be held at many screenings, along with same-day filmmaking workshops for blind/low-vision youth. Screening dates and information can be found at brailledit.com.
About the filmmakers - Suncatcher Productions is a women and disabled-led boutique film distribution company that amplifies intentional, representative stories to awaken audiences. Suncatcher specializes in theatrical distribution and prioritizes films about women, people with disabilities, and the environment. Since 2023, Suncatcher has led the theatrical release for thirteen feature films, including To Kill A Tiger, an Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Feature, and Slamdance winner Good Bad Things, a disability-themed rom-com that Suncatcher sold to Hulu and Music Box Films.

YOU HAD TO BE THERE is a hilarious, emotional, and revelatory documentary about the legendary 1972 Canadian production of Godspell that changed entertainment forever. The Toronto production of the musical about the life of Jesus starred a then-unknown cast of Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, et al, with Paul Shaffer serving as musical director – a crazy confluence of talent rivaling ‘Paris in the 20s.’ The production lit the spark that ignited the comedy revolution that followed, leading to Saturday Night Live, SCTV, and a host of movies and TV shows all the way up to Schitts’ Creek and Only Murders in the Building. The film features interviews with all the surviving members of the cast, plus Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mike Myers, and other show business luminaries who testify to the production’s profound and lasting influence. YOU HAD TO BE THERE is a hilarious, emotional, and revelatory documentary about the legendary 1972 Canadian production of Godspell that changed entertainment forever. The Toronto production of the musical about the life of Jesus starred a then-unknown cast of Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, et al, with Paul Shaffer serving as musical director – a crazy confluence of talent rivaling ‘Paris in the 20s.’ The production lit the spark that ignited the comedy revolution that followed, leading to Saturday Night Live, SCTV, and a host of movies and TV shows all the way up to Schitts’ Creek and Only Murders in the Building. The film features interviews with all the surviving members of the cast, plus Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mike Myers, and other show business luminaries who testify to the production’s profound and lasting influence.
About the filmmaker - Nick Davis is a filmmaker and writer. Most recently he directed and produced YOU HAD TO BE THERE, a documentary about the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell. His film TED WILLIAMS: “THE GREATEST HITTER WHO EVER LIVED,” aired in 2018 on PBS’ American Masters series. Among his other films are BLOOD, SWEAT + GEARS, a documentary about a cycling team devoted to riding clean, JACK: THE LAST KENNEDY FILM, an Emmy-Award winning portrait of John F. Kennedy, which Davis directed for CBS. He performed with Gotham City Improv and You And What Army, and graduated from Harvard, where he was a founding member of the improv group On Thin Ice. He and Jane Mendelsohn recently formed Series of Dreams, whose current film is THIS ORDINARY THING, a film about non-Jews who helped Jews during the Holocaust. Featuring the voices of Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, Stephen Fry, Carrie Coon, and F. Murray Abraham among others, the film was nominated for a Cinema For Peace Dove Award and is currently streaming on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and other major streamers.