Faux Reel Podcast

US Air Force JAG Attorney Yvonne Bradley volunteered to defend a man named Binyam Mohamed who was facing a death penalty case at Guantanamo Bay in 2005. Believing the detainees at Guantanamo were ‘the worst of the worst’ in the war on terror, Yvonne’s world was turned upside down as she arrived in Cuba and began to untangle an unimaginable case. Spending the next 4 years batt

“Home is the center of everything. It is the issue where everyone can come to the table.” - Sara Terry    In this episode we explore the compass that developers, bankers and real estate executives use when making decisions on land use and rights when it comes to others' housing security. Mobile home parks are the lowest rung on the pole of the American Dream, but for

A visually stunning narrative documentary, NAKED GARDENS immerses audiences in the complex, unseen world of a family nudist resort in the Florida Everglades. Filmed over one season at this lush tropical campsite, the film follows the stories of individuals drawn to an unusual community, which promises both non-conformist values and, more importantly for some, a cheap place to live.

Wildcat follows the emotional and inspiring story of a young veteran on his journey into the Amazon. Once there, he meets a young woman running a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center, and his life finds new meaning as he is entrusted with the life of an orphaned baby ocelot. What was meant to be an attempt to escape from life, turns out to be an unexpected journey of love, dis

RANGER is a story about rite of passage.  Set within Kenya’s Maasai homeland, an intimate and contemporary story of self-discovery unfolds, as 12 women become East Africa’s first all-female anti-poaching unit. Upending the male-dominated, reliance upon military-style training to make a wildlife ranger, Virginia, Liz, Momina and Damaris instead undergo a year-long program o

Emelie Mahdavian's sweeping documentary BITTERBRUSH follows Hollyn Patterson and Colie Moline, range riders who are spending their last summer herding cattle in remote Idaho. Totally off the grid with only their dogs as companions, Hollyn and Colie brave inclement weather and perilous work conditions while pondering their futures. A portrait of friendship, life transitions, and the

At the heart of THE HOLLY is Terrance Roberts, an ex-member of the Bloods, who had since raised funds to open a youth center in his neighborhood, The Holly. Gang-member-turned-activist Terrance ends up shooting a man at a community event he organized focusing on non-violence. What unfolds is not black and white. The film reveals multi-level corruption in Denver's government, p

When a young woman turns to the camera for refuge, she ends up with a firsthand account of what will become the deadliest man-made epidemic in United States history. Filmed over thirty years, ANONYMOUS SISTER is director, Jamie Boyle's chronicle of her family's fall into opioid addiction, providing a poignant and timely study of what it means to experience life in all its beauty an

After the inconclusive death of his young niece, filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown, preparing to make a film about a broken criminal justice system. Instead, he pivots to excavate the depths of generational addiction, Christian fervor, and trans embodiment. Lyrically assembled images, decades of home movies, and ethereal narration form an idiosync

SPIRIT OF THE PEAKS is a film about the struggle for balance between two worlds. For Hunkpapa Lakota skier Connor Ryan, skiing in Ute Territory has always raised questions about being in reciprocity with the land and its people. As a skier who connects with the land through sport, he empathizes with the injustices that have displaced the Utes and ongoing colonization, erasure and e