Golden Door

The story is set at the beginning of the 20th century in Sicily. Salvatore, a very poor farmer, and a widower, decides to emigrate to the US with all his family, including his old mother. Before they embark, they meet Lucy. She is supposed to be a British lady and wants to come back to the States. Lucy, or Luce as Salvatore calls her, for unknown reasons wants to marry someone before to arrive to Ellis Island in New York. Salvatore accepts the proposal. Once they arrive in Ellis Island they spend the quarantine period trying to pass the examinations to be admitted to the States. Tests are not so simple for poor farmers coming from Sicily. Their destiny is in the hands of the custom officers.

Kon-Tiki

"Kon-Tiki" was the name of a wooden raft used by six Scandinavian scientists, led by Thor Heyerdahl, to make a 101-day journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands. The purpose of the expedition was to prove Heyerdal's theory that the Polynesian Islands were populated from the east- specifically Peru- rather than from the west (Asia) as had been the theory for hundreds of years. Heyerdahl made a study of the winds and tides in the Pacific, and by simulating conditions as closely as possible to those he theorized the Peruvians encountered, set out on the voyage.

Shaping Bamboo

For the 'Are'are people of the Solomon Islands, the most valued music is that of the four types of panpipe ensembles. With the exception of slit drums, all musical instruments are made of bamboo; therefore the general word for instruments and the music performed with them is "bamboo" ('au). This film shows the making of panpipes, from the cutting the bamboo in the forest to the making of the final bindings. The most important part of the work consists in shaping each tube to its necessary length. Most 'Are'are panpipe makers measure the length of old instruments before they shape new tubes. Master musician 'Irisipau, surprisingly, takes the measure using his body, and adjusts the final tuning by ear. For the first time we can see here how the instruments and their artificial equiheptatonic scale-seven equidistant degrees in an octave-are practically tuned.

Sons from Afar

New Zealand hip-hop artist Che Fu and his father Tigi Ness travel to their island homeland Niue for the first time to unravel the shared histories. There they also wow the locals with a performance at the Niue Arts and Cultural Festival.

The Raft

In 1973, five men and six women drifted across the Atlantic on a raft as part of a scientific experiment exploring the origins of violence and sexual attraction. Nobody expected what ultimately took place on that 3-month journey. Through archive material and a reunion of the surviving members of the expedition, this film tells the hidden story of the project.

Lights and Shadows

A black-and-white short film about Heiva, a Tahitian folklore festivity.

Spain: The First Globalization

A new reading of the historical period that began with the reign of the Catholic Monarchs (1479-1516) and the discovery of America (1492), as well as an analysis of its undeniable influence on the subsequent evolution of the history of Spain and the world.

Ocean Souls

Ocean Souls Films and Wildlife Media unite 100+ filmmakers, scientists, and leading experts to shine a bright, new spotlight on humanity’s closest living relatives - cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). New footage and scientific discoveries reveal the extraordinary world beneath the ocean’s surface, where these majestic beings exhibit characteristics not unlike ours in terms of emotions, language, family, intelligence, and human interaction. Directed by Philip Hamilton, this multi-award-winning film inspires people to care and want to protect the oceans.

Alone at Sea

A feature-length documentary tracing Eric Bellion's psychological journey during his race on the Vendée Globe 2016-2017, a yacht race around the globe, single-handed and without assistance. Eric Bellion filmed himself during the 99 days of his race. He has never sailed solo for more than 6 days. This is an unprecedented immersive document of a man facing himself, loneliness and natural elements.

Devenir

Moana

Robert J. Flaherty's South Seas follow-up to Nanook of the North is a Gauguin idyll moved by "pride of beauty... pride of strength."

Pearl Harbor, le monde s'embrase

Hawaii, Pacific Ocean. In this heavenly place, one of the most memorable battles of the Second World War took place 80 years ago. On December 7, 1941, at 7:53 am, a Japanese air squadron struck the American fleet which anchored in the waters of Pearl Harbor. The United States were struck at the heart of their defensive system and entered the conflict the very next day. How Pearl Harbor changed the face of World War II and therefore the face of the world? What are the diplomatic undersides of Pearl Harbor? Was the attack really a surprise attack? Is it really a Japanese victory?

Trzy Sztuki w Antarktyce

An unprecedented venture in Polish culture, art and media world. The first-ever artistic voyage on a sailing yacht of Polish artists to Antarctica, and there extraordinary events broadcast on Polish Radio. In February 2017, a team including representatives of three fields of Polish culture and art (film, music and photography) sailed on the sailing yacht to Antarctica. A place that in a few years may become the center of events of global importance, and its condition is of vital importance for the future of the entire world. Inspired by the voyage, wildlife and extreme conditions at the edge of the world, the participants of the cruise faced unique artistic challenges in the areas of film, music and photography.

Journey to the South Pacific

An underwater voyage to Indonesia to learn about its inhabitants such as giant rays and whale sharks as well as efforts being made in the region for ocean conservation.

Becoming Cousteau

Adventurer, filmmaker, inventor, author, unlikely celebrity and conservationist: For over four decades, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his explorations under the ocean became synonymous with a love of science and the natural world. As he learned to protect the environment, he brought the whole world with him, sounding alarms more than 50 years ago about the warming seas and our planet’s vulnerability. In BECOMING COUSTEAU, from National Geographic Documentary Films, two-time Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus takes an inside look at Cousteau and his life, his iconic films and inventions, and the experiences that made him the 20th century’s most unique and renowned environmental voice — and the man who inspired generations to protect the Earth.

Dawn of the Great Steppe

In the 16th century, during the Kazakh Khanate, Kasym Khan was the fourth ruler, often viewed as the greatest leader to unite the Kazakh tribes.

Puerto escondido

In 1879, Bolivia lost its access to the sea in a war. When I was a child I did not understand how we had lost it; he thought the Chileans had taken him away in buckets. It is a diary towards interior landscapes, myths, characters and contradictions in a country that relives this loss every day.

The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific

In hand-built, double-hulled canoes sixty feet long, the ancestors of today's Polynesians sailed vast distances using only the waves, the stars, and the flights of birds to navigate. Anthropologist Sanford Low visits the Caroline Islands of Micronesia to meet Mau Piailug, the last navigator initiated on his island and one of few men still practicing this once-essential art. He demonstrates his skill by sailing a replica canoe 2500 miles from Hawaii to Tahiti with no modern navigational instruments.

Sozinho no Fim do Mundo

« Je ne suis pas chinetoque » : Histoire du racisme anti-asiatique

Journalist Émilie Tran Nguyen invites the viewer to follow her in her quest and discover, at the same time as her, the historical origins of this anti-Asian racism. Told in the first person, alternating archive images, interviews with historians, sociologists and field sequences, this film traces the making of prejudices in the French imagination and pop culture, to twist the neck of stereotypes, deconstruct and act.