dThe September Issue (2009)
Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for twenty years, is the most powerful and polarizing figure in fashion. Hidden behind her trademark bob and sunglasses, she has never allowed anyone to scrutinize the inner workings of her magazine. Until now. With unprecedented access, filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s new film takes the viewer inside a world they only think they know. Every August a record-breaking number of people can’t wait to get their hands on the September issue of Vogue. The 2007 issue was and remains the biggest ever, weighing over four pounds, selling thirteen million copies, and impacting the $300-billion global fashion industry more than any other single publication. He takes us behind the scenes at Fashion Week, to Europe, on shoots and re-shoots, and into closed-door staff meetings, bearing witness to an arduous, entertaining, and sometimes emotionally demanding process. At the eye of this annual fashion hurricane is the two-decade relationship between Wintour and Grace Coddington, incomparable Creative Director and fashion genius. They are perfectly matched for the age-old conflict between creator and curator. Through them, we see close-up the delicate creative chemistry it takes to remain at the top of the ever-changing fashion field.
Captures the drama and spectacle that play out every year at the X Games events, highlighting the behind-the-scenes stories of the featured athletes and the sacrifices they make in pursuit of glory and the advancement of their sports on the industry\’s biggest stage.
The history of the electric guitar as seen from the point of view of three significant musicians: Led Zeppelin\’s Jimmy Page, U2\’s The Edge and the White Stripes\’ Jack White. It tells the personal stories, of three generations of electric guitar virtuosos. It reveals how each developed his unique sound and style of playing his favorite instrument. Concentrating on the artist\’s musical rebellion, traveling with him to influential locations and provoking rare discussion as to how and why he writes and plays.
Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation\’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that\’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government\’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation\’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won\’t go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli–the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually.
Unorthodox Culinary Arts teacher Mrs. Stephenson is a tyrant known throughout her Philly public high school for her hoarse rebukes of her students\’ creations. She may be disarmingly blunt, but she cares about the final product. Last year, 11 of her seniors totaled $750,000 in scholarships to top culinary schools across the nation. Here, we follow three of Stephenson\’s dedicated inner-city kids with circumstances stacked against them whose best hope for the future depends on the perfect results.
Explores the journey of A Chorus Line from its initial idea to its current Broadway revival and goes behind the scenes with exclusive interviews and footage of the revival\’s audition process, revealing the dramatic journey of the performers.
Filmmaker Kate Churchill is determined to prove that yoga can transform anyone. Nick Rosen is skeptical but agrees to be her guinea pig. Kate immerses Nick in yoga, and follows him around the world as he examines the good, the bad and the ugly of yoga. The two encounter celebrity yogis, true believers, kooks and world-renowned gurus. Tensions run high as Nick\’s transformational progress lags and Kate\’s plan crumbles. What unfolds and what they discover is not what they expected.
Filmmaker Jake Rademacher sets out to understand the experience, sacrifice, and motivation of his two brothers serving in Iraq, risking everything–including his life–to tell his brothers’ story. Jake embeds with four combat units in Iraq and is given unprecedented access to U.S. and Iraqi combat units that takes him behind the camouflage curtain with secret reconnaissance troops on the Syrian border, into sniper “Hide Sites” in the Sunni Triangle, through raging machine gun battles with the Iraqi Army. He also follows his brothers home where separations and life-threatening work ripple through their parents, siblings, wives and children.
How far would you go for your beliefs? That question, along with many others, is pondered in this thought-provoking film. The man of the title is on a mission to promote the death penalty in America. As a professor at Manhattan\’s New York Law School, Robert Blecker champions the importance of capital punishment, espousing the idea that the death penalty is justice for the worst of crimes. But when Blecker meets death-row inmate Daryl Holton, his ideals are put to the test. Daryl Holton committed the atrocious crime of killing his four children (earning him four death sentences), but the man is also well-spoken and he and Blecker bond, even as Blecker supports Holton\’s death. This complex documentary addresses a variety of issues and goes beyond just the death penalty debate. 
It’s been a while since the sharp-witted Jay McCarroll was dubbed “the next great American designer” on season one of reality TV’s “Project Runway” and he’s anxious to finally show his first line of clothing. The feature documentary ELEVEN MINUTES chronicles his year-long journey preparing his first independent runway show for New York’s Fashion Week in Bryant Park and the subsequent selling of his line to stores. The result is an in-depth, painfully raw and humorous exploration of the creative process and the constant balancing of commerce with art, fame with talent and reality TV with actual reality. 