The Codes of Gender

Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.

Endstation Glück

Taken Heart

When her daughter is kidnapped in Belize and held hostage to be used for human organ trafficking, Kate Johnson goes on a crusade to infiltrate the cartel and rescue her.

Luther and I

As a nun, Katharina von Bora lives the life destined for her until she comes into contact with a completely new world of thought in the early 20s through the writings of Martin Luther. She flees with some of her co-sisters and comes without legal status, without income and rejected by her family to Wittenberg, where she meets Martin Luther personally. Katharina decides to marry the reformer and, as his wife, becomes a respected housekeeper, an equal interlocutor and the mother of their children together.

Die Vierte Gewalt

Departure

Hilla grows up in the 60s, her father is a worker and her mother a charwoman. But she wants a different future for herself, wants to study. After a violent incident she needs a strong shoulder. Who of her life will do?

Blush: An Extraordinary Voyage

For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.

Unboxing

How do we represent the ideas of gender? This short reflects about this topic, as we see an unidentified character, suited up, and with a paper bag over his head, walking down the hallway of its high school.

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.

Adina Howard 20: A Story of Sexual Liberation

In 1995, Adina Howard made waves in the world of music with her hit song “Freak Like Me.” Never before had a solo R&B female artist made such a bold and controlling stance sexually through song. Along with becoming one of the highest selling singles and most played music videos on MTV and BET in 1995, Adina Howard’s performance allowed young women of color and future recording artist to express their sexuality without shame. “Adina Howard 20: A Story of Sexual Liberation” shares Adina’s story through her own words as well as the impact that she made during the 1990s and thereafter. Adina speaks on her relationship with Tupac Shakur, the banning of her music video from BET, landing a cameo role in the movie “Waiting to Exhale,” her encounter with legendary vocalist Nancy Wilson, working with Hollywood giants Jackie Chan and Jamie Foxx and the sudden halt to her stardom due to her comments about record exec Sylvia Rhone.

Engelmacher - Der Usedom-Krimi

High season on Usedom. Sophie Thiel has accepted a holiday job and waits tables in the café on the Heringsdorf pier. She becomes friends with her young Polish colleague Jadwiga Gryn. After work, they make their way home together on their bikes. Shortly after the girls have parted ways, Jadwiga is ambushed, drugged and kidnapped.The search for the missing person is the first job that inspector Julia Thiel takes on again after her serious accident. Jadwiga's friend Christoph Dierwald fears the worst.

Brief an mein Leben

Diagnosis burnout: The successful career woman Toni Lehmstedt can be referred to a psychiatric clinic after a physical breakdown. Urs Egger's free adaptation of the biographical novel of the same name by Miriam Meckel with Grimme award winner Marie Bäumer in the leading role.

American Reflexxx

American Reflexxx is a short film documenting a social experiment that took place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Alli Coates filmed performance artist Signe Pierce as she strutted down a busy oceanside street in stripper garb and a reflective mask. The pair agreed not to communicate until the experiment was completed, but never anticipated the horror that would unfold in under an hour. The result is a heart wrenching technicolor spectacle that raises questions about gender stereotypes, mob mentality, and violence in America.

I Am a Man: Black Masculinity in America

Award-winning filmmaker Byron Hurt explores what it means to be a Black man in America. Traveling to more than fifteen cities and towns across the country, Hurt gathers reflections on Black masculinity from men and women of a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds and a host of leading scholars and cultural critics. What results is an engaging and honest dialogue about race, gender, and identity in America. Features bell hooks, Michael Eric Dyson, John Henrick Clarke, Kevin Powell, Andrew Young, Dr. Alvin Poussaint, MC Hammer, Jackson Katz, and many others.

Uncensored Movies

A morals reformer returns from Hollywood to his small town, and shows his fellow citizens the results of his investigation.

Killing Me Tenderly

Cindy is a rising pop singer who, unbeknown to her, is being stalked by a crazy fan. In response, her "Foster Mother" calls in the police to help. Meanwhile, a young police sergeant, Lai Su-kan is tired of his life as the Head of his village in the New Territories. After putting in a transfer, he gets the protection of Cindy as his first job. Only problem, is that he has to pretend to be gay.