Launch Pad Astronomy

Are utopias doomed to failure? Are Thoreau and his children Eugene V. Debs, the 60s and B.F. Skinner nothing more then the stuff of textbooks barely read in undergraduate seminars? 'The Idiocratic Life' is a stylishly shot look at the counter-culture today that attempts to answer this question by capturing the faces, stories, and inner struggles of members of communes across America. Throughout the process the film shines a light upon a part of America rarely seen in film or anywhere else and proves that far from medias spotlight there are great social experiments from Egalitarianism to Anarchy continuing to percolate and sometimes thrive.

Farewell Ferris Wheel explores how the U.S. Carnival industry fights to keep itself alive by legally employing Mexican migrant workers with the controversial H-2B guestworker visa.

Putin's Olympic Dream is about the rapid transformation of the city of Sochi. In just a couple of years it has to be refashioned from a nostalgic Soviet holiday resort, filled with gorgeous sanatoriums, into a modern Russian city. The Olympic Winter Games are held here in February 2014, and literally everything and everyone has to yield in order to turn this status project of President Putin into a success.

Demerius 'Bus' Evens was one of the big-time drug dealers in Newark, Ohio. Kevin Scott had taken two trips to state prison for charges relating to his addiction to cocaine. Paul Garret had been doing crack for 20 years. All three had poor prospects in this post-industrial town where gossip spread fast. But when Chris Ramsey purchased the historic Sparta Restaurant a stone's through from the county courthouse, and sought to employ those looking for second or third chances, they each found a rare opportunity. And the Sparta became a lively meeting spot that enlivened the activist community across the county, fostering relationships with progressive churches, organizations, and the local liberal arts university. This film tells the story about the place and the people.

As the GOP prepares to nominate Donald Trump, one of the most controversial presidential candidates in history, activists, journalists and political operatives spend four days confronting America's divided sociopolitical landscape on the streets and inside the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio.

Sitting at God's Table - Given the current state of religion in our world, one filmmaker seeks the answers to why we do what we do in the name of God. She invites five religious leaders from different faiths (Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Baptist, and Episcopal) to join her for a 7-hour progressive meal as they 'break-bread' with one another, engaged in a surprising conversation based on their candid responses, marked differences, and surprising commonalities.