Manhattan Film Festival

Finally, Erin Fogel has everything pretty much where she wants it. She and her ex are successfully co-parenting their son. Her best friend just moved in. She's dating again. Her parents are healthy. And while she's still sad about closing her yoga studio, she has a fantastic community of moms at her son's school to sustain her. But when a new mom joins their group, and she clearly has an axe to grind with Erin. Suddenly, everything Erin has worked so hard to build is in jeopardy.

Deb Cotton, Black and Jewish, leaves “hard-hearted Hollywood” for New Orleans. Entranced by the parading culture, rooted in 19th century burial rites, Deb blogs as "Big Red Cotton," posting her videos. Alongside Deb's explorations, Dr. Michael White, a prolific jazzman, plays “the widow’s wail” on clarinet in funeral marches, lamentation giving way to joyous peals for the soul’s cutting-loose. White, too, is on a journey, seeking clues of his ancestor who played at the dawn of jazz. With stunning dramatizations of African burial dances, the film spotlights a parade shooting that plunges Deb and Michael into a search for the city’s soul.

Over six decades, the forces at work--deindustrialization, city-suburb distress, depopulation, loss of political power and bad decision making--contributed to the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. When it became clear that the Detroit Institute of Arts and its magnificent collection were assets that could be liquidated, the conflict between selling art and funding pensions for municipal retirees became the central point of tension in the case. The nation's major philanthropies together with the State of Michigan finally brought to the table the missing ingredient--cash. Gradually, Then Suddenly traces the Detroit's path into insolvency and bankruptcy and the extraordinary plan that created a future this once great city.

Diane, an aspiring actress, finds herself in the office of psychiatrist Dr. Hiller. As part of a ground-breaking if controversial study, Dr. Hiller hires Diane to role play as the deceased partner of one of his clients. Desperate for work, Diane accepts the job and finds herself in a position where she must act out a scenario in which to bring emotional closure to someone else's pain. However, when Diane realizes the selfishness of her assigned client, she is thrust into a dilemma of continuing her usual behavior of people-pleasing or to finally stand up for herself.

Pastor Donald Gray’s life-long quest to save children trapped in the darkness of economic and societal despair began when he honored his spiritual and moral convictions years ago. Turning his back on a lucrative business career, he entered the ministry and created an organization to lead children out of a cycle of poverty, violence, drugs and family disintegration. “Long ago somebody reached out and helped me and I plan to give back and help everyone I can for as long as I’m able,” he says. Donald brings us into “his world” where he fights for and beside the children struggling against hunger, drug dealers, gangs and a system seemingly rigged against them depending on “their zip code.”