THE PRICE OF SEX is a feature-length documentary about young Eastern European women who’ve been drawn into a netherworld of sex trafficking and abuse. Intimate, harrowing and revealing, it is a story told by the young women who were supposed to be silenced by shame, fear and violence. Photojournalist Mimi Chakarova, who grew up in Bulgaria, takes us on a personal investigative journey, exposing the shadowy world of sex trafficking from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and Western Europe. Filming undercover and gaining extraordinary access, Chakarova illuminates how even though some women escape to tell their stories, sex trafficking thrives.
MEN: A LOVE STORY is a feature-length documentary that sets out to explore how men feel about women and love. Filmmaker Mimi Chakarova, whose previous work includes The Price of Sex, travels 10,000 miles across America and pieces together a rich tapestry of vignettes, woven from stories shared by men of different race, age, and socio-economic background. The result is a stunningly honest, unapologetic glimpse into the minds of American men, and what the word 'love' means to them. From tiny blues bars of the Deep South to hedge funds of Manhattan. From ranchers in New Mexico to farmers in the Midwest, MEN: A LOVE STORY is, at times, a dark comedy. But ultimately it is a poignant, unforgettable journey of the heart.
Eleven years in the making, IN THE RED is a feature documentary about transformation, about growing up poor in one of the wealthiest areas in the United States and getting into trouble early on. Some find their way to a free program in Oakland, California that offers a lifeline – rigorous training to become firefighters and first responders. But the streets keep calling. What makes one person heed that call and another ignore it?
IN THE RED – raw, intimate and at times funny – follows the lives of six young people for more than a decade. Not everyone succeeds. But for those who do, their lives are forever changed.
THE APOLOGY investigates an incident in the 1960s in which Alameda County and the City of Hayward dismantled the entire community of Russell City, pushing 1,400 residents out of their homes and off their land – all to claim the 200 acres for an industrial park.
Most of the residents had ended up in Russell City in the first place because Black and Latino families could not purchase homes or land elsewhere. For them, the unincorporated area, located south of Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco, was a beloved village – with 13 businesses, seven churches and 205 families. All of this was lost in 1963.
Sixty years later, THE APOLOGY features the stories of twenty Russell City residents and their descendants. Using archival footage, animated photos and illustrations, the film explores the historical significance of an apology. What does it mean to make amends for a past that is very much present in the memories of the former residents?
LETTERS is an extraordinary collaboration between Canadian pianist and composer Kris Davis
and Bulgarian-born filmmaker Mimi Chakarova. Chakarova directed an hour-long silent
film with Davis composing and improvising live to picture.
In 2024, The New York Times describes this collaboration as "a humanist multimedia event not to be missed."
Chakarova’s work is a visual meditation on “what is both beautiful and ugly in our world today—issues of social justice, the environment and global warming, kindness and compassion, and the impact of technology on human relationships.”
LETTERS celebrated its world premiere at The Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin on October 9th, 2021. The U.S. premiere was on April 5, 2024 at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY.
WE ALL BREAK, directed and filmed by Mimi Chakarova, is a 50-minute film showcasing the music and collaborative process of Ches Smith and the making of the groundbreaking album "Path of Seven Colors." The film, exploring elements of Haitian Vodou and contemporary jazz in an exhilarating, alchemical mix of musical forms, premiered on WBGO on June 9th, 2021.
Featured is a collaborative octet of eight world-renowned musicians: drummer and composer Ches Smith, pianist Matt Mitchell, saxophonist Miguel Zenón, bassist Nick Dunston, vocalist Sirene Dantor Rene, and master drummers Daniel Brevil, Markus Schwartz and Fanfan Jean-Guy Rene.