Diamond Diplomacy

Director:

Yuriko Gamo Romer

Producer(s):

Yuriko Gamo Romer / Marc Smolowitz / Loi Ameera Almeron

Footage Archive Researcher:

Yuriko Romer / Ken Schneider / Loi Ameera Almeron / Michaelle McGaraghan

Footage Archive Producer:

Megumi Nishikura

Archival Sources:

Major League Baseball / Getty Images / Nisei Baseball Research Project / National Archives / Con Dempsey Collection, courtesy of Dave Dempsey

Production Company:

Flying Carp Productions

Country of Production:

United States

Original Release:

2025

Synopsis

Diamond Diplomacy traces the long, complex relationship between Japan and the United States through their shared passion for baseball, from 1872 to today. The film opens with American and Japanese children preparing for games, followed by a montage of baseball cards and Babe Ruth thrilling Japanese fans with a home run. 153 years of baseball becomes a cultural bridge between the two nations despite tensions rooted in isolationism, racism, war, and shifting global politics.

Introduced during the Meiji period by Horace Wilson, baseball quickly takes hold in Japan. Babe Ruth’s 1934 tour further ignites enthusiasm and softens anti-American sentiment. During World War II, while Japanese Americans are unjustly incarcerated, Kenichi Zenimura builds a baseball field in the Gila River camp, keeping the sport alive behind barbed wire. After the war, General Douglas MacArthur brings the San Francisco Seals to Japan to help repair relations.

1964, Masanori Murakami becomes the first Japanese Major Leaguer, but it is short-lived due to contractual disputes and exchanges halt until 1995, when Hideo Nomo’s signing with the Dodgers reopens the pipeline for stars like Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, and Shohei Ohtani. Blending history and personal stories, Diamond Diplomacy shows how baseball fosters connection across cultures.

Boy George & Culture Club

Director:

Alison Ellwood

Producer(s):

Trevor Birney / Andrew Tully / Ben Silverman / Howard Owens / Natalia Nastaskin / Lawrence Mestel / David Blackman

Footage Archive Producer:

Kate Griffiths / Mike Griffiths

Archival Sources:

BBC / Getty Images / Reelin' in the Years Productions / Bell Media / ITV Archives / Lola Clips

Production Company:

Fine Point Films

Country of Production:

United Kingdom

Original Release:

2025

Synopsis

With humor, heart and a lot of glitz and glam, Boy George & Culture Club is an endlessly charming documentary that dives headfirst into the chaos, charisma and enduring bond of one of the most iconic bands of the ‘80s. Straight from the mouths of its four legendary members, Boy George & Culture Club is a love story about the undeniable fondness that flowed beneath the surface of these musical legends — and the drama and heartbreak in between.

Je n'avais que le néant - "Shoah" by Lanzmann (All I Had Was Nothingness)

Director:

Guillaume Ribot

Producer(s):

Estelle Fialon / Dominique Lanzmann

Footage Archive Producer:

Guillaume Ribot"Shoah" by Claude Lanzmann (1985)

Archival Sources:

"Shoah" by Claude Lanzmann (1985)

Production Company:

Les Films du Poisson / Les Films Aleph / ARTE France

Country of Production:

France

Original Release:

2025

Synopsis

Claude Lanzmann spent 12 years creating "Shoah" (1985), a groundbreaking film that redefined Holocaust representation. 40 years later, filmmaker Guillaume Ribot explores 220 hours of unreleased footage.

Lanzmann’s quest to capture the reality of the Holocaust led him to interview victims, witnesses, and perpetrators from all over the world. Overcoming doubt, setbacks, and false leads, he embarked on an unparalleled journey culminating in a landmark masterpiece, now part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.

Only using Lanzmann’s own words drawn from his memoirs and never-before-seen excerpts, Guillaume Ribot pays homage to one of cinema’s masterpieces and to its director’s relentless pursuit of telling the untold.

Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story

Director:

Yemi Bamiro

Producer(s):

Joanna Boateng / Lizzie Gillett / Ian Bonhôte / Andrew Calof

Footage Archive Producer:

Emma Dempsey

Archival Sources:

Kwame Brathwaite Family Archive / WNET / ABC News / Historic Films / Imago

Production Company:

Misfits Entertainment / Wayfarer Studios / Mediawan Rights / Entourage Media / Shanakee Archive Agency

Country of Production:

United Kingdom / United States

Original Release:

2025

Synopsis

This feature documentary uncovers the extraordinary life, work, and legacy of the long-overlooked yet hugely influential photographer and activist Kwame Brathwaite, a central figure in the Black is Beautiful movement.

While ‘Black is Beautiful’ is now widely recognised as a slogan and concept, few people know where it came from or the people behind it and one of the key people to elevate the idea in public consciousness was Kwame Brathwaite. This film reveals Kwame’s profound impact on Black identity, culture and politics, tracing the lasting ripple effects of his work across generations and around the globe.

Spanning seven decades, the story begins in 1950s Harlem where Kwame began documenting a vibrant cultural scene, and continues to the present day, as his son, Kwame Jr., faces the challenge of preserving the vast photographic archive he has inherited. Through these images, we discover the depth of Kwame’s vision and achievements.

Though Black history is still often framed by pain and trauma, this film instead celebrates Black beauty through joy, pride, and creativity. It is both a tribute to a groundbreaking artist and an act of preservation in itself, securing Kwame Brathwaite’s rightful place in history.