At the threshold of the 20th Century, a melting pot of adventurous immigrants, creative mavericks, and freedom-seeking African Americans shaped consumerism as we now know it. The new documentary THE CITY THAT SOLD AMERICA reveals, with intriguing insights and wistful nostalgia, the confluence of Chicago's creative talent, business savvy, grit and determination that changed the country and our relationship with popular culture.
Heiko, 29, is a fun-loving dance teacher from Berlin. For the past seven years he has battled with a fatal illness. Just when his family and his friends had begun to get used to Heiko’s continued survival in spite of all the prognoses, he receives the diagnosis that he does not have much longer to live. He decides to return to his parents’ house to die. But even now, Heiko and especially his father, Jürgen, refuse to give up hoping for a miracle.
In Le Livre d’Image, Jean-Luc Godard recycles existing images (films, documentaries, paintings, television archives, etc.), quotes excerpts from books, uses fragments of music. The driving force is poetic rhyme, the association or opposition of ideas, the aesthetic spark through editing, the keystone. The author performs the work of a sculptor. The hand, for this, is essential. He praises it at the start. “There are the five fingers. The five senses. The five parts of the world (…). The true condition of man is to think with his hands. Jean-Luc Godard composes a dazzling syncopation of sequences, the surge of which evokes the violence of the flows of our contemporary screens, taken to a level of incandescence rarely achieved. Crowned at Cannes, the last Godard is a shock film, with twilight beauty.
Karolina Kuras is a Toronto-based ballet and portrait photographer. In this piece, we explore her creative collaboration with Canadian National Ballet dancer/choreographer Brent Parolin and Tanya Howard, as well as make-up artist Ashley Readings. We wanted to encapsulate the essence rather than the information. There are many pieces where Karolina is featured as a photographer discussing her work, but we wanted to get underneath the surface, into the intangible matters that drive and inspire her to create and collaborate so intimately. This project was captured on 35mm film, with a small crew in Karolina’s home studio.
Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, known for its lemurs and unique biodiversity and as the setting of the popular animated films. But the real Madagascar is much different than the world imagines. 'Madagasikara' is the story of three resilient women fighting for the survival of their families and the education of their children against the overwhelming forces of domestic political instability, international political hypocrisy and the crushing poverty caused by both.
The spectacular avant-garde choreographies of flamenco dancer Rocío Molina push at the boundaries of dance and the visual arts. She travels the world to perform her partly improvised impulsos at unusual venues such as modern art museums. This bio-doc follows Molina in the months leading up to a new show at Chaillot National Theater in Paris.
The Fantasy Makers is a feature documentary which examines the profound impact fantasy pioneers C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and George MacDonald have made on popular culture to this day. This film interviews scholars, writers, filmmakers and lovers of the fantasy genre throughout the world.
Witness the daily realities affecting the management of human health-related systems under the Israeli blockade: access to clean water and hospital care as well as effective food and waste management.
An insightful look at the history of Hong Kong's exploitation cinema, from the early days of the Shaw Brothers and such shockers as "Killer Snakes" through to the advent of the Category III rating in 1988 and then the June 4th massacre in Beijing. The latter led to a panic in Hong Kong, before the Handover of the former UK colony to Mainland China, and a number of motion pictures proceeded to take freedom of speech (and sometimes political symbolism) to the extreme. This is the story of one of the most curious and invigorating periods in exploitation filmmaking.
'The Girl Who Cannot Speak' follows five women's true stories of sexual abuse. We began this project by meeting with women from all different backgrounds, ages, and walks of life. The level of sincerity, depth, and trust that is cultivated in this documentary is nothing short of impressive. Each woman has been involved with the Lenox Hill Women's Shelter in New York city. As the project moves forward we meet Charlotte a 13 year old girl who's story is depicted through visual images. She never speaks. Charlotte's image is a metaphor of innocence that ties all the women's unique stories together.
When the award-winning filmmaker of "An Ordinary Hero", Loki Mulholland, dives into the 400 year history of institutional racism in America he is confronted with the shocking reality that his family helped start it all from the very beginning.
An eye-opening documentary, The Creepy Line reveals the stunning degree to which society is manipulated by Google and Facebook and blows the lid off the remarkably subtle - hence powerful - manner in which they do it.
The little-known story of Ukrainian children torn from their homes in the crush between the Nazi and Soviet fronts in World War II. Spending their childhood as refugees in Europe, these inspiring individuals later immigrated to the United States, creating new homes and communities through their grit, faith and deep belief in the importance of preserving culture.
"Bias" challenges us to confront our hidden biases and understand what we risk when we follow our gut. Through exposing her own biases, award-winning documentary filmmaker Robin Hauser highlights the nature of implicit bias, the grip it holds on our social and professional lives, and what it will take to induce change.
Harvest Season delves into the lives of people who work behind the scenes of the premium California wine industry, during one of the most dramatic grape harvests in recent memory. The film follows the stories of Mexican-American winemakers and migrant workers who are essential to the wine business, yet are rarely recognized for their contributions. Their stories unfold as wildfires ignite in Napa and Sonoma counties, threatening the livelihoods of small farmers and winemakers who are already grappling with a growing labor shortage, shifting immigration policies, and the impacts of a rapidly changing climate.
The little known story of one of the worst non-combat disasters in the history of the US Navy, …AS IF THEY WERE ANGELS is a story of courage, heart, sacrifice and the heroism of miners & fishermen of 2 small towns, who risked their lives to save nearly 200 American sailors, shipwrecked on the rugged cliffs of Newfoundland. Narrated by Peter Coyote, it’s a deeply layered tale of navigation errors, courts martial mistakes, a steep loss of life, and resonates today as if the very telling of its deep humanity offers a lifeline for our fractured times.