“When I was four-years old, I watched Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland in ‘The Nutcracker’ (1977) on TV and I distinctly remember turning to my mother and saying, ‘Mommy, I want to do that!’” recalls stage actor Maria Eberline, taking a break from a dress rehearsal at the Pasadena Playhouse. “I started out as a dancer and I think my passion for dance came out of a love of storytelling.”

Our bodies haven’t evolved much over the past 150,000 years, yet we’ve recently developed the ability to transmit our thoughts instantly across thousands of miles with a couple of hand motions. If we have a question we have split-second access to all of human knowledge, and if we’re lonely we can reach out to a network of billions of minds. Technology is our evolution and the Internet is one of its quantum leaps. Filmmaker Tiffany Shlain has been marveling at this weaving together of humanity since the Internet’s dawn in the mid-’90s, and her new film, Connected, is an ode to the age of interdependence. Shlain originally planned the documentary as a collaboration with her father, Dr. Leonard Shlain, a noted surgeon and author of books on the human mind. Yet when he was diagnosed with brain cancer, Shlain discovered a new perspective. The resulting work is an exploration of the vastness of our minds’ reach and the importance of cherishing those closest to us.

First time filmmaker Michael Brandt is no stranger to making movies. As a screenwriter, along with his writing partner Derek Haas, he has written hits such as Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma, and 2 Fast 2 Furious. This month will see the release of Brandt’s first foray behind the camera, directing the political thriller The Double (in theaters September 23rd) starring Richard Gere and Topher Grace.

“We all feel at some level at home in Africa. It’s where the human experiment began,” says director Lavinia Currier. Her remarkable new film, OKA!, is based on ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno’s memoir, Last Thoughts Before Vanishing from the Face of the Earth. Sarno traveled from New Jersey to Central Africa to record the music of the Bayaka Pygmies, the semi-nomadic people who traditionally survive in the forests of southwestern Central African Republic, northern Congo, and the western Congo River basin.

Listening to singer Nick 13’s self-titled, solo country debut, you might be surprised to learn that for the past 15 years he has been the singer/guitarist for the dark rock trio Tiger Army. A longtime admirer of country western and Americana music, a style that has occasionally found its way into Tiger Army’s music, Nick’s solo songs are more autobiographical and direct.

Documentary filmmaker, actress, and former first lady of San Francisco, Jennifer Siebel Newsom is all too familiar with the challenges of being a woman who’s trying to have it all — a successful career, healthy marriage, and motherhood. Along with the recent release of her first documentary film, Miss Representation, Newsom just gave birth to her second child, 11-week-old Hunter. Her daughter Montana is only 23 months old

Alice fell down the rabbit hole, Luke Skywalker met Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Harry Potter boarded the train. They faced challenges, met helpers, fought enemies, and grew into the heroes they were destined to be. Joseph Campbell found that cultures the world over have been telling the same story since the beginning of civilization. He called it “the hero’s journey.” The renowned scholar went on to suggest that this shared myth represents everyone’s potential to change the way they live, find success and happiness, and share their rewards with others. “He realized that it was a blueprint for the way that a human life should be lived,” explains Patrick Takaya Solomon, director of the new documentary, Finding Joe. “He found this pattern and realized that in the day-to-day living of it, it’s about pursuing a goal, a passion, your bliss!” If you’ve never heard of Campbell, you’ve probably heard his mantra: “Follow your bliss.”

When documentary filmmaker Heather Courtney visited her Northern Michigan hometown four years ago, she thought about making a film about rural America. She never dreamed she would find herself at war in Afghanistan filming the perils of a Michigan squad.