Link Voices

A documentary exploring Denmark's secret to happiness. “Hygge" has exploded in popularity amidst growing division and distrust around the world, but the Danish word and its definition are complicated. For those who seek happiness, this film explores the true meaning of "hygge” and how to find it.

The West African country of Mali is a birthplace of the blues, a musical tradition later carried by the transatlantic slave trade to America's cotton fields. Yet today, the music and musicians of Mali are in grave danger. As fundamentalist Islam and sharia law become more widespread, dance and secular music are prohibited, musical instruments are destroyed, and musicians are forced to flee their homeland.

An epic journey through the Amazon in a traditional dugout canoe comes with a surprisingly immersive glimpse into the lives of the rainforest’s indigenous inhabitants, where the filmmakers live as their hosts do – from banana broth breakfasts to basket weaving sessions – while crafting their canoe out of a large tree entirely by hand.

Sepideh is a young Iranian woman who dreams of becoming an astronaut. At night, she stares up at the sky while taking lessons from a space fanatic who teaches schoolchildren about astronomy. At home, full of hope and longing, she watches recordings of the world's first female space tourist, Iranian-American, Anousheh Ansari.

When Sepideh's father died suddenly six years ago, she discovered that she could feel closer to him by watching the stars, and so her dream was born. But not everyone around her appreciates her boundless ambition.

After returning home from battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan, American soldiers are developing serious illnesses as a result of past exposure to open-air burn pits on their own military bases.

Herman Wallace spent 41 years in a 6-by-9-foot cell in Louisiana, making him the the longest-serving prisoner in solitary confinement in the United States. Imprisoned in 1967 for a robbery he admits, he was subsequently sentenced to life for a killing he vehemently denied. Herman was released in 2013 and died of liver cancer within days. "Herman's House" is a moving account of the remarkable expression his struggle found in an unusual project proposed by artist Jackie Sumell.

Walaa has her sights set on becoming one of the few women to join the Palestinian Security Forces. She has to fight to survive police training boot camp with her wildly rebellious spirit intact.

Sonia Warshawski, a Holocaust survivor, is served an eviction notice for her tailor shop, which has thrived for 35 years. She must choose between setting up a new shop or retiring.