For Sama

In the movie, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the children's TV host Mister Rogers was on a mission to teach children that they mattered, that they could manage their difficult emotions and that they should treat others and themselves with kindness and compassion.

The authentic kindness of Rogers transformed people around him, ultimately leading to forgiveness in those he interacted with.

Social connection makes hope possible. This is the message in the film based on the life of 13-year-old William Kamkwamba. The story plays off in Malawi during a famine caused by a series of natural disasters.

William's family cannot afford for him to continue with school, and William is forbidden to return. But William sneaks back into school and gets permission to continue using the school's library. He develops strong ties with his science teacher, librarian, family, friends, and fellow villagers.

He ultimately discovers how wind energy can bring water to his village and save them from perishing.

The Farewell is about a first-generation Chinese immigrant, Billi. She wants to visit her dying grandmother, Nai-Nai, in China, to say goodbye.

Nai-Nai is unaware of the seriousness of her illness while the family believes it is kinder to keep her illness a secret and make her happy. Conflict ensues as Billi wants to tell Nai-Nai the truth. This is a tale of how people express love differently and the quiet wisdom and positive outlook of Nai-Nai.

For Sama is a documentary of the daily life in Aleppo, Syria, in 2016 during a war.

Sama is the baby daughter of Waad al-Kateab, a citizen journalist. The documentary is Waad's love letter to her daughter and describes how love prevails even during the suffering of an ongoing war.

Harriet Tubman brought slaves to freedom before and during the Civil War.

The movie Harriet shows how a willing woman with simple courage and fierceness could free her family and herself, and later hundreds of other slaves.

McMillian is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
The film - based on the memoir of attorney Bryan Stevenson - shows human lives stripped of dignity, and the reality of unfair convictions.

The real-life Stevenson and his team have saved over 135 other men from the death penalty.

This story is about Jimmie Fails (played by Jimmie Fails). The story is actually about who Jimmie initially thinks he is and how he discovers that the life he'd been living isn't good enough because it isn't true.

Though the movie depicts one young man's journey into self-knowledge, it reveals the forces that have made Jimmie who he is, while he tries to make a place for himself.

In this version, director Greta Gerwig combines the original text of Little Women with author Alcott's letters, to produce a story of fierce purpose and determination.
Jo's mother, Marmee, directs her anger into a sense of purpose that spills over into Jo, one of her children. Jo inherits a mansion from her Aunt March, who believes a woman's worth lies in the man she can marry. Jo determines to turn the house into a school to serve the next generation.

In Marriage Story, a stage director and an actress go through a divorce.

The characters are purposefully de-glamorized.

They're very ordinary, and say and do foolish things. The point is that regardless of who we are, we're all doing our best, while often failing.

Salvador Mallo is a once-famous film director who now suffers unbearable back pain, constant heartbreak, anger over failures and emotional separation from his mother.

When Salvador learns to forgive himself and others for their failures and shortcomings, he finds his drive and creativity again.

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho portrays two South Korean families, one very rich, the other very poor, to demonstrate how the two sides are pitted against each other in capitalist societies.

Parasite is a social commentary that helps the viewers to empathize with both sides of the story.

In Rise of Skywalker, the main character Rey ultimately offers compassionate action as an alternative to violence.

While superheroes normally kill all the bad guys, it puts being a hero out of our reach. However, we can all be compassionate and lend support to nurture others' pain and suffering. Compassion is a more realistic strategy for real-life heroism.