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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 45 movies from Breakwater Studios
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.
Feb 2024
Mary McGee became the first American woman to race motorcycles. Mary’s pioneering journey of conquering sexism and her own fears paved the way for the next chapter in motorsports.
Jun 2024
Told by her daughter Wendy, MINK! chronicles the remarkable Patsy Takemoto Mink, a Japanese American from Hawai'i who became the first woman of color elected to the U.S. Congress, on her harrowing mission to co-author and defend Title IX, the law that transformed athletics for generations in America for girls and women.
Jun 2022
93-year-old documentarian Chris Hesse—personal cinematographer to forgotten African icon Kwame Nkrumah—races against blindness and time to rescue and repatriate a secret trove of over 1,300 films that captured the birth of African independence in the fifties and sixties. Yet unseen by the public, these films may not only rewrite Ghanaian and African history—but world history itself.
Sep 2025
A virtuoso jazz pianist and film composer tracks his family's lineage through his 91-year-old grandfather from Jim Crow Florida to the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Nov 2020
Jarrett Harper and his younger brother Baylon share raw memories of abuse in LA's foster system, their unshakeable bond tested when the elder takes violent revenge on their abuser and faces life behind bars.
Mar 2026
Six legendary film composers each write an original piece for a classic pianist to perform.
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Oscar®-winning director Ben Proudfoot brings the inspiring untold story of UNICEF to life through first-person interviews and UNICEF’s never-before-seen archive. Discover this story of optimism as UNICEF celebrates 75 years of defending the rights of the world's youngest and most vulnerable citizens.
Apr 2022
Part of the Almost Famous series. Kim Hill was a rising singer when she met a young rapper named will.i.am, but she quit the Black Eyed Peas just before they became famous.
Dec 2019
Part of the Almost Famous series. She was arguably the greatest women's basketball player. She won three national trophies; she played in the ’76 Olympics; she was drafted to the NBA. But have you ever heard of Lucy Harris?
Jun 2021
A devoted Philadelphia Phillies fan inspires his city to give a struggling shortstop a game-changing standing ovation in this rousing short documentary.
Oct 2024
Longtime resident Cynthia Yee embarks on an open-hearted walking tour of Boston’s Historic Chinatown in all its vibrancy—welcoming neighborhood newcomers while boldly confronting ghosts of her past with the help of an unexpected local compatriot: optimistic college student Gwen.
Nov 2025
A veteran glassmaker explains his work in avant-garde stained glass designs.
Sep 2017
Part of the Almost Famous series. In the mid-1960s, four teenagers from Liverpool were changing the face of pop music. Their names were Mary, Sylvia, Pam, and Val — the Liverbirds!
During World War II, Fred Conrad was taken from a troop train in Europe and sent home to Canada to use his pre-war chicken raising skills to stop war-time food shortages. Fred and his wife Hilda turn a misfortunate change-of-plans into a career in humane poultry science that proves to hold meaning and purpose beyond Fred's wildest dreams.
Mar 2011
Boxing gym owner Joe Buckner recalls his troubling history and how that's shaped him into the man he is today. In the United States, about two thirds of released prisoners are rearrested within three years. Joe was determined never to go back. This is Joe’s story of pugilism, prison, and perseverance in his hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Feb 2019
A world-renowned pastry chef, reflects on his relationship with his deceased father Milton Abel Sr., famed Kansas City jazz musician.
Jun 2019
The Final Copy of Ilon Sprecht is an intimate deathbed account of the unsung advertising genius who coined L'Oréal's iconic "Because I'm Worth It" slogan in 1971, a four-word feminist manifesto that, against all odds, changed advertising forever.
A portrait of master woodworker and Vietnam veteran Eric Hollenbeck
Nov 2013
In the late 1960s, Haddon Salt built a fast-food empire. Then Kentucky Fried Chicken came knocking.
Aug 2019