This documentary on the effect the talent competition "Afghan Star" has on the incredibly diverse inhabitants of Afghanistan affords a glimpse into a country rarely seen. Contestants risk their lives to appear on the television show that is a raging success with the public and also monitored closely by the government.
The attempted ‘modernisation’ of Melbourne in the 1950s destroyed much of the city, including its elegant cinemas and picture palaces. Now, a new Melbourne-made documentary brings them back to life.
When gang leader Rob Brown is sentenced to prison for a fifth time, he must confront his role in bringing violent drug culture into his beloved American Indian community in northern Minnesota. As Rob reckons with his past, his seventeen-year-old protégé, Kevin, dreams of the future: becoming the most powerful and feared Native gangster on the reservation.
Rosa Luxemburg’s letters from prison form the backbone of Ghassan Salhab’s essayistic collage. Luxemburgs’s lyrical descriptions of nature bear witness to a joie de vivre undimmed by the political situation of the time and are not seen, but rather heard – in both German and Arabic. In connection with images of a wintry Berlin, a polyphony of different overlapping visual and acoustic layers is produced.
Oskar Gröning, known as the "Accountant of Auschwitz," was charged with the murder of 300,000 Jews. When he took the stand in 2015, at the age of 94, his trial made headlines worldwide.
This documentary film traces the entire history of New York's punk movement; the VU years, the Warhol influence, the Dolls reign, and the handover of power to the bands who shared the sensibilities and attitude introduced to the city by Warhol and the Velvets a decade before. With the aid of performance footage, rare archive, exclusive interviews and some of the most exciting music ever recorded, this programme offers an experience of these events second only to having lived through them. Features new interviews with Richard Hell, Suicide's Alan Vega, Blondie's Gary Valentine and many more.
Few remember the name, much less the historical achievements, of Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche. Yet, this African American mediator and United Nations diplomat was the first person of color anywhere in the world to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
The parallel stories of four Pakistani immigrants in Greece become the trigger for the director to explore the story of his father, a worker in the Perama Shipyard. The background unfolds a most deadly shipwreck, Libyan immigrants found in limbo, as well as a (possibly racist) crime, which was committed during the shooting of this film.
Mubiru Reagan's life depends on a football scholarship. His dream is to emulate his idol, Fernando Torres, and be able to score a goal that will take his country, Uganda, to their first African Nations Cup. But above all he wants to study. Featuring Fernando Torres, Sergio Ramos, Yaya Touré and Vincente Del Bosque, this inspiring story reveals the power of football to change the lives of some of the poorest children in the world.
The rough, unkempt facades in Prenzlauer Berg – as if the skin had been peeled off the houses, says photographer Tina Bara. Having grown up in a prefabricated building, the young woman was drawn to East Berlin. She quickly got in conflict with the state, just like the artists Cornelia Schleime and Gabriele Stötzer, whom director Pamela Meyer-Arndt questions in her film about memories, traumas and creative genesis.
More than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Early in the film, Charles Bukowski talks about the energy of poets and of a poem. These poets are the children of Walt Whitman and of Charles Olson, incantatory and oratorical, radical, sometimes incorporating contemporary political imagery. Black Mountain poets, the Beats, minimalists like John Cage, the wordless Four Horsemen, Tom Waits, and others capture aspects of poets as troubadours.
Punk rock devotees will welcome director Lech Kowalski's reflective video portrait of late bassist Dee Dee Ramone and his life as a music industry icon -- including his self-destructive bouts with heroin. The centerpiece of the hourlong documentary -- which is peppered with vintage performance clips -- is a 1991 interview with a clean Dee Dee, who talks at length about his storied career and penchant for living on the edge.
The extraordinary true story of Barney Miller, an emerging Pro-surfer who became a quadriplegic 17 years ago. Told by doctors he would never use his legs again, Barney defied all medical assessments through grit, self-belief, hard work and sheer guts. When Barney meets and falls in love with Kate, a girl with her own dreams of being a singer, he makes it his mission to only ask Kate to marry him when he can kneel down to propose, stand at the altar and dance at their wedding together.
Rules are made to be broken and in over three decades, the Sex Pistols lived this motto better than anyone. The Sex Pistols went from public enemy number one to national treasures, and influenced an entire generation along the way. With rare and exclusive interviews and live performances, band members tell their side of the story.
The story of young, brilliant African-American Anita Hill who accuses the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of unwanted sexual advances during explosive Senate Hearings in 1991 and ignites a political firestorm about sexual harassment, race, power and politics that resonates today.
How do 1.1 billion people around the world live on less than one dollar a day? Four young friends set out to research and live this reality. Armed with only a video camera and a desire to understand, they spend just 56 dollars each for 56 days in rural Pena Blanca, Guatemala. They battle E.Coli, financial stress, and the realization that there are no easy answers. Yet, the generosity and strength of their neighbors, Rosa, Anthony and Chino gives them resilient hope. They return home transformed and embark on a mission to share their new found understanding with other students, inspiring and challenging their generation to make a difference.