A compilation of thirteen rare silent films digitized by the Library of Congress, selected for the 2022 Domitor conference theme “Copy/Rights and Early Cinema.” Drawn from nitrate and safety film, the program spans comedies, trick films, and dramas exploring censorship, invention, adaptation, and social rights. Titles include: Pruning the Movies (Nestor, 1914); Imperial Japanese Dance (Edison, 1894); Early Edison Camera Tests (Edison, c.1890s); Censorship and its Absurdities (Edison, 1915); In Wrong (Crystal, 1914, dir. Phillips Smalley); Tillie’s Tomato Surprise (Lubin, 1915, dir. Howell Hansell); Indian Land Grab (Champion, 1910); The Stolen Play (Falcon Features, 1917, dir. Harry Harvey); And the Villain Still Pursued Her (Vitagraph, 1906, dir. J. Stuart Blackton); The Doll’s Revenge (Hepworth, 1907, dir. Lewin Fitzhamon); The Disintegrated Convict (Vitagraph, 1907); The Mexican Joan of Arc (Kalem, 1911, dir. Kenean Buel); and Fads and Fashions of 1900 (U.S., 1940s).
Built upon a 14 hour interview, McKellen: Playing the Part is a unique journey through the key landmarks of McKellen's life, from early childhood into a demanding career that placed him in the public eye for the best part of his lifetime. Using an abundance of photography from McKellen's private albums and cinematically reconstructed scenes, a raw talent shines through in the intensity, variety and devotion to that moment in the light.
A gentle portrait of the mythical Spanish actor Arturo Fernández (1929-2019) in the hour of his passing, in his own words, through his latest interviews, not previously broadcast, and the words of those who knew him thorough decades of charming and good performance on stage, his true home, as well as in cinema and television.
Su Friedrich is a pioneering queer filmmaker who has been making ground-breaking personal films for decades. In Today, she again eschews conventional narrative, observing her world over a six-year period. It’s a time that includes a country vacation and a city cookout. Also the loss of loved ones and the spread of a pandemic—plus the brightness of flowers, both real and fake.
In a groundbreaking expedition on Mount Everest, dozens of scientists converge to investigate what secrets the world’s highest peak has to tell us about our changing climate. The notorious Khumbu Glacier is mapped in stunning detail, biologists study extreme lifeforms, and a team of Sherpas and climate scientists climb straight toward the “death zone” to install the highest weather station in the world.
The drastic economic development in South Korea once surprised the rest of the world. However, behind of it was an oppression the marginalized female laborers had to endure. The film invites us to the lives of the working class women engaged in the textile industry of the 1960s, all the way through the stories of flight attendants, cashiers, and non-regular workers of today. As we encounter the vista of female factory workers in Cambodia that poignantly resembles the labor history of Korea, the form of labor changes its appearance but the essence of the bread-and-butter question remains still.
Interesting short documentary on young athletes in a Soviet ice skating program, some of whom are barely past toddler age. Kinetic and up close, the doc focuses on movement with music, eschewing interview and conversation, and mostly submerging political and social commentary.
The documentary reveals the behind-the-scenes production process of the film “Ne Zha 2”, telling the story of director Jiaozi and more than 4,000 animators across the country striving to push the boundaries of creativity. Through moments of work and lighthearted interactions among the production team, the film showcases the relentless spirit, optimism, and boundless imagination of Chinese animation filmmakers as they continuously break through creative limits and personal barriers, embodying the philosophy that “life has no limits.”
Intimate, upbeat and honest look back at the life and work of Barry Humphries - the legendary comic trailblazer behind Dame Edna Everage and other characters - with incredible tributes from friends.
Puerto Rican American rapper Hamza Pérez ended his life as a drug dealer 12 years ago, and started down a new path as a young Muslim. Now he's moved to Pittsburgh's tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family, and take his message of faith to other young people through his uncompromising music as part of the hip-hop duo M-Team.
Produced and presented as evidence at the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Hermann Göring and twenty other Nazi leaders, this film consists primarily of dead and surviving prisoners and of facilities used to kill and torture during the World War II.
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
Exploring James Cameron’s beloved science-fiction epic from teeth to tail, Aliens Expanded is truly the most in-depth, passionate and innovative celebration of a movie ever attempted.
The film was originally conceived as a portrait of Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, the well-known Egyptian doctor, writer, and women’s rights activist. But the director was disappointed by the encounter with the woman who had been her great role model. Instead, she set out to discover what life means to Egyptian women by visiting her female relatives. Her mother, aunts, and neighbors talk about life as a married woman, about the traditional clitoridectomy of girls, about love and sexuality. The result is a very impressive and extremely personal film.
Through the anecdotes and stories of actors, directors, critics and experts, this documentary traces the career of Lamberto Bava, from his first steps in cinema with his father Mario to his 1980 debut with "Macabro" to his collaborations with Dario Argento to the big TV series successes of "Fantaghirò," "Desideria" and "Sorellina."