I’d Rather Be Dead Than Silent
After 9/11, fear and Islamophobia grip America. Into this storm steps Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl — Islamic jurist, human rights advocate, and one of the fiercest critics of Wahhabism and the Saudi regime. His refusal to stay silent makes him a lightning rod: vilified, threatened, and nearly killed for his words. Surrounded by a private library of half a million books — some banned for centuries — Khaled fights for an Islam rooted in pluralism and democracy. At his side is Grace Song, his wife and partner, who shares in the danger and the defiance. Together they confront assassination attempts, smear campaigns, and the loneliness of standing against power. I’d Rather Be Dead Than Silent is a visceral portrait of courage under siege — a film that dares to ask what silence costs in an age of rising hate.
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FACE TO FACE - DON BACHARDY
Face to Face is a deeply personal documentary exploring the life and art of Don Bachardy, one of the most distinctive portrait artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Known for his striking, intimate drawings, Bachardy's career is inseparable from his life with writer Christopher Isherwood. Through candid interviews and rare access to Bachardy's Santa Monica studio, the film reveals his creative process and the extraordinary figures who have sat for him—from Hollywood icons like Ginger Rogers and Henry Fonda to public figures such as Jerry Brown. Friends and sitters speak to his singular ability to capture a person's essence with honesty and empathy.
The film's most powerful thread follows Bachardy's final portraits of Isherwood as he was dying. Over six months, he completed 448 drawings—an act of devotion that remains one of the most remarkable artistic testaments to love and loss.
Now in his later years, Bachardy continues to evolve, recently celebrated in a major retrospective at The Huntington. His growing body of self-portraits charts his own aging with stark candor.
Face to Face is a portrait of an artist who has spent his life looking—deeply, relentlessly, and without compromise—revealing not only Bachardy's extraordinary body of work but the humanity, curiosity, and courage that have guided him for more than six decades.