Social & External
The documentary starts with a diva of a tragic family history related to a history of migration. The rare archival footage reanimates her history reverberating with the current world crisis. Sound of Nomad: Koryo Arirang is a testimonial – a witness to injustice and tragedy, but it is also a declaration of survival – a survival that is not static but transformative – not brittle but fluid. The trains that displace, the deserts that separate form one harsh horizon – a historical limit – but within that limit, against it and across it are people, are a culture, not escaping but flourishing unofficially, with the affective majesty of a melody, a rhythm, an Arirang
The cherry trees planted where waves of history passed bear abundant fruit. Raisa, Tamara, Rafael, Sonya, Vladimir, Lera, Konstantin. We will not forget the names of the people we met on this journey. Nor the bittersweet taste of the cherries.
Leningrad, one summer in the early eighties. Smuggling LPs by Lou Reed and David Bowie, the underground rock scene is boiling ahead of the Perestroika. Mike and his beautiful wife Natasha meet with young Viktor Tsoi. Together with friends, they will change the destiny of rock’n’roll in the Soviet Union.
Stas is a young third generation Koryo-saram, a member of the Korean minority in Central Asia that was deported from the Russian Far East by Stalin. He and his three friends Kasoy, Shin and Said try to escape from the grim life in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, and one day, they also try heroin. Then, however, Kasoy gets killed by a gang. 6 years later, Shin has emigrated to South Korea, Said has become a drug addict and Stas is now a police officer. Said commits suicide by overdosing and Stas, who has has since then also become a drug addict, decides to turn over a new leaf. He follows Shin to South Korea, but can this be Hanaan for him, the Promised Land?
Pavlensky/Pawlenski, artist and activist, is leading the way in forging social change in Russia. Through an multiple courageous performances, he acts as society's conscience in the face of an increasingly totalitarian state. From lying naked in a coil of barbed wire, to nailing his scrotum to the floor of Red Square, his acts of defiance aim to spark debate and catalyse reform. This documentary follows his mission to challenge the state.
1914-1918, Burma, Turkish POW camp, and other side Turkey, British POW camp. Hidden truths that still remain silent despite the intervening century. Descendants of Turkish and British soldiers who crossed paths in Mesopotamia during the First World War think upon the unknown stories of their grandfathers and how it has affected their lives. The film progresses with testimonies from two different nations' prisoners of war, who have been left outside of the historical framework, and showcases the shared painful effects of war's cruelty upon individuals, and the bond that distinguishes the reality of history from memory and forgiveness. The film focuses on the tragic stories of W. C. Spackman, an English military doctor working in the Indian Army, and Colonel Suphi Bey, a Turkish officer, whose destinies intersect in Mesopotamia.
As a Greek tombstone of unknown origin is discovered underneath the floorboards in an old village house in Turkey, an almost forgotten story from the country’s creation unravels; the forced population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923. The engraved Cyrillic letters tell of a woman, Chrysoula Rodaki, who died in 1887. And so the search for her descendants begins: It leads director Kerem Soyyilmaz to local archives, where his own family's role in history is laid bare; to abandoned ghost towns and through the memories of older villagers - all while Soyyilmaz meets massive support for his quest from Greeks on the other side of the border. The stone becomes a portal to the past - and for a while, the trauma becomes redeemed when the previous owners of the village house return.
Authorities, journalists, and the cast & crew from "The Departed" (2006) talk about the film's influences. Among them is a real-life Boston gangster named Whitey Bulger, who is the mold for Jack Nicholson's character.
Get out, leave everyday life behind and experience a great adventure for once - student Lukas Borchers makes his dream come true and sets off on a journey through southern Europe in his kayak. He paddles from Geneva via the Rhône and the Loire once across France. In Saint-Nazaire he reaches the Atlantic Ocean and paddles south along the coast. When conditions become too difficult and dangerous in autumn, he continues his journey across the Bay of Biscay on an old sailing ship. The whole thing without any significant experience in sea kayaking or sailing, but with sometimes unexpected obstacles such as the dams on the Rhône and the notorious storms on the Bay of Biscay. Always with him: the camera to capture all impressions and experiences directly.
Acclaimed mixed-media artist Chong Gon Byun uses found and discarded objects to create intricate sculptures that explore the clash between post-industrial civilization and the present consumerist culture in his surrealist oeuvre.
Writer-actor Aaron Davidman embodies seventeen different characters in and around the sacred city of Jerusalem as he takes us on an eye-opening journey into the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian story. Exploring universal questions of identity and human connection, the film is about one man's effort to embrace a multiplicity of conflicting viewpoints, chronicling a brave exploration of the complex humanity at the heart of one of the world's most troubling conflicts.
Few historical characters have courted controversy as much as Oliver Cromwell: murderer of a monarch or revolutionary hero? From humble beginnings he rose to lead an army that would overthrow the British monarchy and gain himself the title of 'Lord Protector'. With comment from Tony Benn MP, this DVD examines the religious and political turmoil that would propel Cromwell to the pinnacle of his power, throw England into two civil wars and see Charles I sent to the block!
Seamus Murphy’s documentary examines Irish writer Pat Ingoldsby’s unique world. Ingoldsby’s poems and candid anecdotes bear witness to a visceral relationship with his beloved Dublin, fellow Dubliners and anything that catches his interest. Personal challenges, a sensitive humanity and a lifetime as a maverick have taught him to harness reality and reach well beyond it to avenge the banal with absurd magic. It heals him as it does us.
A documentary of the making of Yellowcard's fifth studio album "Lights and Sounds".
A documentary-style capturing of the life of Ab, a young struggling artist trying to find her way, all while dealing with unwanted company.
The life and work of Gabriel García Moreno, one of the most controversial presidents in the political life of Ecuador. For some he is a saint but for others he is a devil.
Set in the North Carolina Appalachians, Sprout Wings and Fly honors the fiddle playing of 82-year-old Tommy Jarrell of Toast, NC. Tommy was quirky, gregarious and generous, and this film shows him at his best, in fine fiddling form.
A toymaker in Poland specializes in building lifesize mechanical men. He builds a chess-playing "automaton" to hide a pretty young Polish activist who is being hunted by occupying Russian forces.
On the Guajira peninsula in northern Columbia the old traditions of the indigenous Wayuu still hold sway. As soon as they begin menstruating, young women have to go and spend a year in a simple hut where only a few women are allowed to visit them. Contact with men is taboo. The grandmother is chiefly responsible for preparing the girl for her role as a woman during this period of seclusion. Pili is 12 years old when, for her grandmother's sake, she decides to follow this custom. But does she really know what she is taking on?
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
Former United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, discusses his career in Washington D.C. from his days as a congressman in the early 1960s to planning the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its crimes were made taboo, and the complete story of Europe’s most murderous regime has never been told. Until now...
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
A documentary about the life and films of director John Ford.
Ross McElwee sets out to make a documentary about the lingering effects of General Sherman's march of destruction through the South during the Civil War, but is continually sidetracked by women who come and go in his life, his recurring dreams of nuclear holocaust, and Burt Reynolds.
A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.
Experience the events of September 11, 2001 through the eyes of President Bush and his closest advisors as they personally detail the crucial hours and key decisions from that historic day.
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
A documentary on the making of the three Godfather films, with interviews and recollections from the film makers and cast. This feature also includes the original screen tests of some of the actors for "The Godfather" film, and some candid moments on the set of "The Godfather: Part III."
Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
A courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.
Those who knew iconic funnyman John Candy best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery, and interviews.
Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” (“Le cinéma selon Hitchcock”), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.
Oliver Stone charts the history of the United States from the Second World War to the present.
Exuberant, eye-opening movie that serves up a dazzling hundred-year history of the role of gay men and lesbians have had on the silver screen. Film contains fabulous footage from 120 films showing the changing face of cinema sexuality, from cruel stereotypes to covert love to the activist triumphs of the 1990s.
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Clinton for President campaign, focusing on the adventures of spin doctors James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.
