Arcadia Public Library

HOMME LESS is about the underbelly of the American Dream, the hidden backyard of our society. Mark’s life stands as a metaphor for the struggle of the vanishing middle class in America. But it’s also a film about the relationship between New York City and one of its residents. New York is not simply a beautiful backdrop for this story. She’s the antagonist that dictates the direction Mark’s life is going in. The joy and...

EAST LA INTERCHANGE follows the evolution of working-class, immigrant Boyle Heights from multicultural to predominantly Latino and a center of Mexican-American culture.

MASSACRE RIVER is a character-driven documentary that takes place in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, two ethnically and culturally distinct countries that have been forced to share an island since colonial times. The film follows Pikilina, a Dominican-born woman of Haitian descent, and her family. Racial and political violence erupt when the country of her birth, the Dominican Republic, reverses its birthright citizenship law and she is left stateless,...

Pulling back the curtain on the labor issues surrounding Uber and the gig economy, UBER LAND tells the story of a scandal-ridden company that upended transportation, defied regulators, decimated the taxi industry, and ended up cannibalizing its own drivers. From the ashes of the Great Recession came the gig economy, which promised independence and flexibility for workers. Now, more than ten years later, the veneer of the gig economy has faded as the...

This gently funny film follows Monem Salam as he enrolls in an open-minded flying school. Monem is the son of a Pakistani commercial pilot. His wife Iman’s family is Palestinian and although initially dubious about the marriage, now accepts the cultural differences. With three young children, Iman is happy to find time to cultivate her inner domestic diva. Monem’s “green” decision to commute by scooter only heightens his likeability. These...

As San Francisco’s gig economy grows, so does the city’s need for housing. The Tenderloin district, a historically black and queer neighborhood, becomes prime real estate for the city’s tech workers. Cookie, Janetta, and Ronjah bring you into their world as they fight San Francisco’s housing crisis.

Inspired by the groundbreaking book of the same name by Monique W. Morris, Ed.D, PUSHOUT: THE CRIMINALIZATION OF BLACK GIRLS IN SCHOOLS, takes a deep dive into the lives of Black girls and the practices, cultural beliefs and policies that disrupts one of the most important factors in their lives – education. Alarmingly, African American girls are the fastest-growing population in the juvenile justice system and the only group of girls to disproportionately...

In China, it is simply known as “The River.” But the Yangtze—and all of the life that surrounds it—is undergoing a truly astonishing transformation wrought by the largest hydroelectric project in history, the Three Gorges Dam. Canadian documentary filmmaker Yung Chang returns to the gorgeous, now-disappearing landscape of his grandfather’s youth to trace the surreal life of a “farewell cruise” that traverses the gargantuan waterway....

HEALING FROM HATE provides a riveting inside look at the bold work of the group Life After Hate – an organization founded by former skinheads and neo-Nazis who have dedicated themselves to transforming racist, white-supremacist attitudes. The film places special emphasis on Life After Hate’s explicit engagement with issues of masculinity, giving voice to white men who say the primary reason they turned to hate groups was to validate their sense...

In this revealing documentary, eleven people with a range of backgrounds discuss what it is like being of mixed racial heritage within the context of North America. Each of the participants presents their unique outlook on growing up mixed and the challenges they've faced in their lives. No two experiences are identical when speaking about their journey of how each person came to perceive themselves. Many speak of the difference between how they saw...