Against all odds and polar advice, a mirthful Muslim chaplain, a shy French biologist, a defiant Qatari princess and eight other women from the Arab World and the West attempt to ski across the melting Arctic sea ice to the North Pole. Director Holly Morris and crew capture the struggle of these audacious explorers, led by veteran polar explorer Felicity Aston, as they navigate everything from frostbite and polar bear threats, to sexism and self-doubt. Ultimately, EXPOSURE is an intimate story of resilience, survival and global citizenry in what may be the last-ever over ice expedition to the North Pole.

Calliope Musicals is a cheerful psychedelic party folk band from Austin, TX. Their high-energy live performance focuses on involving the crowd. A psychedelic squad of musicians fill in their folksy roots with a mix of vibraphone, tribal drums, bass, lead guitar and explosive vocals. The band exudes feel-good vibes that aim to swallow listeners and spit them out as happier versions of their former selves. Calliope Musicals is a group in every sense of the word. Loyal to their members and actively involved in a local artists’ collective they helped start, Circus on the Moon, they are truly entranced by the possibility of genuine freedom that the prospect of making music promises. They aspire to be the greatest show on earth that comes to town to delight and wow. Lock up your children or join them in running away with the circus. You know you want to…

DON'T PUT HER DOWN explores how Hazel Dickens, along with her musical partner Alice Gerard, became the first women to front a bluegrass band and reflects on the role of women in bluegrass today. The film covers Hazel’s migration to Baltimore from coal country West Virginia, her activism for coal miners and working people, and the impact her upbringing had on her songwriting. Lifelong collaborators and up-and-coming musicians share what it means to have bluegrass songs written from a woman’s point of view and keep Hazel’s memory alive.

"The nine-piece collective formed in 2000 in Austin, Texas consists of Jose Galeano (timbales, vocals), Kino Esparza (vocals, hand percussion), Beto Martinez (guitar), Greg Gonzalez (bass), John Speice (drums), Matthew “Sweet Lou” Holmes (congas), Gilbert Elorreaga (trumpet), Josh Levy (baritone saxophone) and Mark “Speedy” Gonzales (trombone). Grupo Fantasma has been praised as one of the most important independent acts in the Latin genre and has continually defied expectations to create one of the most unique musical voices to come out of the United States in the 21st century. In 2011, they garnered further acclaim by winning a Grammy (their second such nomination) for their self–produced release El Existential on Nat Geo Music which the Wall Street Journal called “Latin music both new and traditional…vibrant fusions that transcend easy classification.” The band’s incendiary live show, declared by NPR as “seamless whenever and wherever they’re on stage” has brought the band to major festivals and venues internationally including Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, North Sea Jazz Festival (Curacao and Rotterdam) and Lowlands in the Netherlands, Kennedy Center, London’s O2 Arena, Montreal Jazz Festival, WOMEX, WOMAD, Tempo Latino (France) as well as two tours to Kuwait and Iraq to entertain US troops and a recent tour in Pakistan and Qatar. Their diverse spectrum of devoted fans speaks to the ensemble’s universal appeal beyond just Latin or world music."

In the northeast of Kyrgyzstan, perched in high mountains, Lake Issyk Kul is one of the five deepest lakes in the world. On its shores, dark constructions of cement and steel meddle with olds wrecks. It is the port of Balyktchy, abandoned for years and slowly starting now its conversion into a resort. Here lies the pride of an admiral of the Soviet navy : Boris Vassilievitch Chumakov. Joyful, restless, yet terribly melancholic figure, the Admiral reveals himself to be some sort of allegory of what remains of the soviet man 30 years after the fall of USSR.