Winner of a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and a Caméra d'Or for Best First Feature at Cannes. "Slam" stars Saul Williams as a young Black performance poet who is imprisoned for a petty marijuana charge. In jail, he meets a gang leader and a writing teacher who inspires him to use creative expression to fight for his freedom and avoid becoming a victim of the racist criminal justice system.

As a child growing up in Stockton, California, Michael Tubbs felt he was "set up" for either prison or death--instead, he forged another path, one that would "upset the setup." Now the mayor of Stockton, Tubbs draws on his experience growing up amid poverty and violence to create innovative change in his beleaguered hometown. This film follows the millennial mayor as he fights to reverse the fortunes of a city known as one of the poorest, most violent, and least literate in the nation.

"One Nation Under Stress" follows Sanjay Gupta as he tries to uncover the root causes of why American life expectancy is falling and is now shorter than all other major developed countries.

Take a compelling, behind-the-scenes look at the struggles of police and activists to hold the city of Baltimore together after a wave of community upheaval following the 2015 death of the Freddie Gray in this documentary from "The Wire" star Sonja Sohn.

The definitive story of the birth of the crack plague, told by the man at the epicenter of the CIA/Contra/cocaine connection: “Freeway” Ricky Ross. In South Central LA, he is an urban legend – a black godfather figure whom most people have never seen, but know by reputation. Once a promising tennis player, he lost his chance at a college scholarship after it became apparent he couldn’t read. At a vocational school, an instructor set him up with a Nicaraguan drug connection. Ross built a drug empire, and by1983 was sending five million vials of crack a month to streets across the country, taking in over a million dollars in cash a day. But he didn’t know that his supplier and friend, Blandon, was using some of the profits to help fund the Contras in Nicaragua and was part of a network connected to the CIA. He would later betray Ross in a DEA drug sting, sending him to federal prison with a life sentence. His story defies all odds and proves that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

Acclaimed filmmaker Marc Levin explores the effects of hyper-gentrification and rising economic disparity in the NYC neighborhood of West Chelsea in the final film of his documentary trilogy with producing partner Daphne Pinkerson (HBO's 'Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags' and 'Hard Times: Lost on Long Island').

In 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed by the U.S. government, their names seared into history as both martyrs and atomic spies. Today, they remain political icons—hailed by some as heroes and vilified by others as traitors. This film chronicles the efforts of filmmaker Ivy Meeropol to come to terms with the lives and deaths of the Rosenbergs—her grandparents. Meeropol weaves archival footage, family home movies and conversations with her father Michael, his younger brother Robert and other relatives and associates of the Rosenbergs. The result is a deeply personal and sometimes painfully emotional film that paints a never-before-seen portrait of a devoted couple who came to symbolize Cold War hysteria.

The realities of long-term unemployment have hit hard on Long Island, where countless residents have lost their jobs in the Great Recession. From Emmy(R)-winning filmmakers Marc Levin and Daphne Pinkerson comes this documentary that chronicles the growing difficulties and despair as several suburban men and women search in vain for employment, their dignity eroding and their plight ignored. Filmed primarily on Long Island—the birthplace of the post-WWII suburban American Dream—the film documents the challenges and frustrations they face as the representatives of an alarming crisis.

This is the true-life story of a junkie turned multimillionaire drug lord. With the first hand testimony of the Godfather himself, Nicky Barnes, who was the most powerful black drug kingpin in New York City history. From humble beginnings, he came to dominate the heroin distribution business. Trusted and trained by the Italians, he set up his own crime family – The Council. This is an epic tale of business, excess, greed and revenge.

Danny Hoch is the irrepressible Flip, the hip-hop poet of his own white boy crew. The son of a working class Iowa family, Flip just wants "to keep it real." In his mind that means moving into the Chicago ghetto to live and write million-dollar rap hits like his heroes. Flip and his friends; Trevor (Mark Webber), James (Dash Mihok) and college-bound girlfriend Sara (Piper Perabo), drink forty-ouncers, smoke Philly blunts, cruise around in James' truck and aspire to be gangsta rappers. Then they meet Khalid (Eugene Byrd), an upper-class black kid recently transplanted from Chicago. When Flip gets him out of a run-in with the law, Khalid owes him. He agrees to take Flip and the gang to Chicago, where Flip's fantasy gangster world meets reality in a way he never imagined. Featuring special appearances by Fat Joe, Dead Prez, Mic Geronimo, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, and Snoop Dog.