Popular Documentary Movies on Free Services - Page 480

Permanent Change: Plastics in Architecture and Engineering

2011

Permanent Change: Plastics in Architecture and Engineering

2011
"Permanent Change" looks at the history and development of plastic within the architectural world. Capturing both a series of lectures and a panel with prominent names such as Steven Holl, Beatriz Colomina and Werner Sobek, this documentation observes detailed examples and lively debates regarding the popularization of plastic as a construction material. Addressing a number of contributing factors including design, engineering and form, the participants of the conference present a wide range of theories, analyses and predictions pertaining to plastics as an architectural material.
Christo: Wrapped Coast

1969

Christo: Wrapped Coast

1969
In 1969, Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped 2.5 kilometers of coast and cliffs up to 26 metres along the coast of Little Bay, in Southeast Sydney, Australia.
Boran Women

1974

Boran Women

1974
Traditionally confined to the roles of life-givers, nurturers and homemakers, Boran women of Kenya are slowly realizing the importance of education and the difference it can make in their lives. They attach great importance to the traditional role of women in a herding society and perform dawn to dusk tasks with little deviation from customary ways. Remarkable though is the obvious independence they demonstrate in performing tasks which normally would fall under the male domain, like building their own houses. The film is principally observational with occasional segments in which the women speak directly to the camera.
Jarlmadangah: Our Dream

2007

Jarlmadangah: Our Dream

2007
Situated south of Derby in the West Kimberleys, Jarlmadangah is a unique community often hailed as 'a model community' for its many social and cultural achievements. At the centre of the story are two brothers, John and Harry Watson, Elders in the Nyikina and Mangala nations. The community was first formed in 1987 when John and Harry Watson set out to establish Jarlmadangah as a focus for strong family ties, traditional language, law and culture, with the main aim of passing these onto the next generations of young people in the two nations.
History of the VW Campervan

2011

History of the VW Campervan

2011
The History of the VW Campervan traces the evolution of the Camper and features campers from every generation and notable variant. This brand-new programme is filmed in stunning HD and uses never seen before archive footage from Volkswagen s own museum, including the original sketched design and rare TV commercials from the VW Campervans illustrious past.
Unity Through Culture

2011

Unity Through Culture

2011
Soanin Kilangit is determined to unite the people and attract international tourism through the revival of culture on Baluan Island in the South Pacific. He organizes the largest cultural festival ever held on the island, but some traditional leaders argue that Baluan never had culture and that culture comes from the white man and is now destroying their old tradition. Others, however, take the festival as a welcome opportunity to revolt against '70 years of cultural oppression' by Christianity. A struggle to define the past, present and future of Baluan culture erupts to the sound of thundering log drum rhythms.
Crocs of Katuma

2010

Crocs of Katuma

2010
Follow the story of two mothers, a crocodile and a hippopotamus, as they face the perils of raising a family in this beautiful, remote location. of Katuma.
Fate of the Lhapa

2007

Fate of the Lhapa

2007
Fate of the Lhapa is a feature-length documentary about the last three Tibetan shamans living in a Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal. Each lhapa requested that their story be filmed. Their fear was that the next heir might not appear until after their own deaths. Subsequently, with no lhapa alive to mentor the children, the documentary would be used to transmit the knowledge to the next generation. Their tales of nomadic childhoods, shamanic callings and apprenticeships, cosmologies of disease and treatments, and of their flight from Tibet during the Chinese occupation in the late 1950s is be juxtaposed with images of present-day life in the camp, current healing practices and shared concerns of the future and the fate of their tradition.
Asmara, Eritrea

2008

Asmara, Eritrea

2008
Asmara - capitol of the East African nation of Eritrea - is recognized as an architectural gem. In this film Asmarinos from different walks of life guide us through the streets of their city and bring us to places of their choice. In doing so, and by talking about 'their own' Asmara, each person locates personal memories in public spaces investing the urban environment with individual meanings. Through their narrations - a chorus of different experiences embodying the nation - the country's history from colonialism to independence comes to life.
Abdelkrim and the Rif War

2011

Abdelkrim and the Rif War

2011
Bunong's Birth Practices

2010

Bunong's Birth Practices

2010
On the basis of a social anthropological case study, this film documents the birth practices of the Bunong in Mondulkiri province, located in the northeast of Cambodia. Social, economic, and political changes are transforming the province tremendously and are affecting villagers' beliefs, perceptions and habits regarding pregnancy, delivery and early motherhood. Traditional midwives, pregnant women, mothers and their families give a personal insight into their present decision-making strategies, which are at the crossroads between tradition and modernity.
Where Birds Never Sang

2011

Where Birds Never Sang

2011
Short film about Ravensbruck concentration camp.
Nakagin Capsule Tower: Japanese Metabolist Landmark on the Edge of Destruction

2010

Nakagin Capsule Tower: Japanese Metabolist Landmark on the Edge of Destruction

2010
The Nakagin Capsule Tower, designed by Kisho Kurokawa and completed in 1972, is an exemplary work of post-war Japanese architectural movement Metabolism. Today, however, this historic building is in danger of demolition. Why do we need to preserve a building? What are the difficulties of preservation? Is demolition a tragedy or a natural phenomenon for modern architecture? Tracing the history of postwar Japanese architecture and reviewing the characteristics of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, this documentary examines the meaning of preservation and demolition from various points of view. The documentary includes interviews with residents of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, an architectural historian, a former Kurokawa office architect who was in charge of the Nakagin Capsule Tower project, Kurokawa’s son, and leading architects Arata Isozaki and Toyo Ito.
Our Disappeared

2008

Our Disappeared

2008
After learning that Patricia, a long-lost girlfriend, is among the desaparecidos, a filmmaker returns to his native Argentina to find out what happened to her and others he knew who mysteriously vanished during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
Piaget’s Developmental Theory: an Overview

1989

Piaget’s Developmental Theory: an Overview

1989
The work of Jean Piaget has become the foundation of current developmental psychology and the basis for changes in educational practice. David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child and Miseducation, and a student of Jean Piaget, explores the roots of Piaget’s work and outlines important vocabulary and concepts that structure much of the study of child development. Using both archival film of Dr. Piaget and newly shot sequences of Dr. Elkind conducting interviews with children of varying ages, this film presents an overview of Piaget’s developmental theory, its scope and content.
Uakari: Secrets of the English Monkey

2008

Uakari: Secrets of the English Monkey

2008
In the flooded forests of the Peruvian Amazon lives one of the world's rarest and most mysterious primates, the red-faced uakari monkey. Local people call them English monkeys because of their resemblance to sunburnt visitors. Now there is a new Englishman on the scene, Mark Bowler, a young biologist who battles through the forest in his quest to understand the monkeys' secret lives. The film shows the first footage of these extraordinary animals in the wild and reveals why ice cream could be the greatest threat to their survival.
Ngat is Dead: Studying Mortuary Traditions

2007

Ngat is Dead: Studying Mortuary Traditions

2007
What do anthropologists mean when they claim to study the cultural traditions of others by participating in them? This film follows the Dutch anthropologist Ton Otto, who has been adopted by a family on Baluan Island in Papua New Guinea. Due to the death of his adoptive father, he has to take part in mortuary ceremonies, whose form and content are passionately contested by different groups of relatives. Through prolonged negotiations, Ton learns how Baluan people perform and transform their traditions and not least what role he plays himself. The film is part of long-term field research, in which filmmaking has become integrated in the ongoing dialogue and exchange between the islanders and the anthropologist.
REALFilm

2008

REALFilm

2008
"This multimedia collage, which includes performances by pantomime artist and dancer Fine Kwiatkowski, painter and filmmaker Lutz Dammbeck and musician Robert Linke, is a reflection on the medium of film and its elements: sound, light and movement. Dammbeck’s goal is to cleanse these elements of ideology and commerce and compose a new film out of them. The process is played out in the space in real time." - DEFA Film Library
Friday on My Mind: The Story of the Easybeats

2009

Friday on My Mind: The Story of the Easybeats

2009
In the mid-1960s, Australia was gripped by a fever. The Easybeats became Australia's first international rock stars. Over four tumultuous years 'Easy Fever' spread around the world. But then, just as suddenly, they split. This is the story of five musicians who brought the world to Australia, then took Australian music to the world.
The Mean World Syndrome

2010

The Mean World Syndrome

2010
For years, debates have raged among scholars, politicians, and concerned parents about the effects of media violence on viewers. Too often these debates have fallen into simplistic battles between those who claim that media images directly cause violence and those who argue that activists exaggerate the impact of media exposure. Based on interviews conducted with George Gerbner before his death in 2005, the film urges us to think about media effects in more nuanced ways. In contrast to behaviorist models that see media violence as causing real-world violence, and limited effects models that question the impact of media altogether, Gerbner encourages us to move outside the frame of this debate to consider how the repetitive stories media tell constitute a pervasive cultural environment - a landscape of ritualized, often violent images that have the power to cultivate how we see and understand the world.