Josephine Decker’s “Madeline’s Madeline”

Madeline has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop’s ambitious director pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation rips out of the rehearsal space and goes through all three women’s lives.

STREAMING: Amazon Prime

Read our feature with filmmaker Josephine Decker about her upcoming film with Elisabeth Moss, “Shirley”

Zeina Durra’s “The Imperialists Are Still Alive”

A successful visual artist working in post-9/11 Manhattan, Asya lives the life of the hip and glamorous, replete with exclusive art parties, supermodels, and stretch limousines while she carefully follows the situation in the Middle East on television. Asya learns that her childhood friend, Faisal, has disappeared—the victim of a purported CIA abduction. That same night, she meets Javier, a sexy Mexican PhD student, and romance blossoms. Javier finds Asya’s conspiracy theories overly paranoid—but nothing in Asya’s world is as it seems. Asya’s life is reflective of the themes of cultural fusion, and the complications and humor that arise simultaneously out of everyday life.

STREAMING: iTunes

Read our feature with filmmaker Zeina Durra about her upcoming film “Luxor”

Alice Waddington’s “Paradise Hills”

On an isolated island, Uma (Emma Roberts) wakes up to find herself at Paradise Hills, a facility where high-class families send their daughters to become perfect versions of themselves. The facility is run by the mysterious Duchess (Milla Jovovich) where calibrated treatments including etiquette classes, vocal lessons, beauty treatments, gymnastics and restricted diets, revolve all physical and emotional shortcomings within two months. The outspoken Uma finds solace and friendship in other Paradise Hills residents — Chloe (Danielle McDonald), Yu (Awkwafina) and Mexican popstar Amarna (Eiza Gonzalez). Uma soon realizes that lurking behind all this beauty is a sinister secret. It’s a race against the clock as Uma and her friends try to escape Paradise Hills before it consumes them all.

STREAMING: Google Play, also find on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Vudu.

Read our feature with filmmaker Alice Waddington about her film “Paradise Hills”

Jennifer Reeder’s “Knives and Skin”

A small-town collapses into disarray after a teenage girl goes missing and her friends and their families become ensnared in a web of lies, suspicion, and depravity.

STREAMING: Hulu

Read our feature with filmmaker Jennifer Reeder about “Knives and Skin”

“Moonlight”, Hannah Beachler Production Designer

In this acclaimed coming-of-age drama, a young man who grows up poor, black and gay in a rough Miami neighborhood tries to find his place in the world.

STREAMING: Netflix

Read our feature with Oscar-winning production designer Hannah Beachler (“Black Panther”, “Moonlight”, “Lemonade”, “Fruitvale Station”)

Kitty Green’s “Casting JonBonét”

Local actors from JonBenet Ramsey’s hometown offer multiple perspectives on her 1996 murder as they vie to play roles in a dramatization of the case.

STREAMING: Netflix.

Read our feature with filmmaker Kitty Green about her recent release “The Assistant”

Rebecca Stern’s “Well Groomed”

“Well Groomed” is a documentary that explores the exuberant world of competitive dog grooming and follows the lives of dog owners who are challenging the definition of art.

The film offers a rare look into the lives of dog owners who are dedicated to transforming their poodles into living sculptures. It delves deep into an all-consuming subculture of America where the motivation to win drives them into devoting their lives to the competition.

STREAMING: HBO

Read our feature with filmmaker Rebecca Stern about her film “Well Groomed”

Ashley Shelton’s “Magnolia and Clementine”

A story about a stolen story. A struggling writer gets her story, she assumed she threw away, stolen. That event welcomes some unexpected visitors and sparks some unexpected changes.

STREAMING: Amazon Prime.

Read our feature with filmmaker and actor Ashley Shelton about her short-film “Magnolia and Clementine”