Defilada was made on the occasion of the 40th anniversary celebrations of state's founding in North Korea, which the regime intended to use to eclipse the 1988 Summer Olympics taking place that year in Seoul, South Korea. The North Korean regime invited filmmakers from countries then considered friendly (read: Communist), including People's Republic of Poland, which sent a team under Andrzej Fidyk. The documentary is primarily composed of declarative statements, as well as texts of North Korean newspapers and books. There was no author's commentary. Fidyk commented that he and his team were likely “the most disciplined” foreign team of filmmakers in North Korea, as they did not trouble the regime by looking under the surface - they were content with what they were given and asked to do. (Wikipedia)
Many people first became aware of the Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon after the shocking and horrific Sabra-Shatila massacre that took place there in 1982. Located in Beirut's "belt of misery," the camp is home to 15,000 Palestinians and Lebanese who share a common experience of displacement, unemployment and poverty. Fifty years after the exile of their grandparents from Palestine, the children of Shatila attempt to come to terms with the reality of being refugees in a camp that has survived massacre, siege and starvation. Director Mai Masri focuses on two Palestinian children in the camp: Farah, age 11 and Issa, age 12. When these children are given video cameras, the story of the camp evolves from their personal narratives as they articulate the feelings and hopes of their generation.
Directed by UK-horror scene stalwart Calum Waddell and hosted by scream queen Debbie Rochon (Terror Firmer, Tromeo and Juliet) Scream Queens: Horror Heroines Exposed features, in a change of pace for horror documentaries, especially those focusing on females in the genre, an all-female line-up, discussing horror movies from their perspective – exploring the challenges of being an actress in a genre predominantly made by and for men, from how they came about to be defined as a “scream queen”, about the vagaries of the genre: nudity, violence, misogyny, etc., and about how they feel about the genre and the label
"In Re-entry he successfully synthesizes the Yogic and the cosmological elements in his art for the first time by forcefully abstracting and playing down both of them..." P. Adams Sitney
Film directors with hand-held cameras went to the streets of Lisbon from April 25 to May 1, 1974, registering interviews and political events of the Portuguese "Carnations Revolution", as that period would be later known.
Nick Koenig, aka Hot Sugar, is in a hot mess. Considered a modern-day Mozart, the young electronic musician/producer records sounds from everyday life—from hanging up payphone receivers to Hurricane Sandy rain—and chops, loops and samples them into Grammy Award–nominated beats. He’s living the life every musician dreams of, complete with an internet-phenom girlfriend, rapper/singer “Kitty.” But when she dumps him, Hot Sugar is set adrift. Fleeing to Paris, he tries to regroup, searching for new sounds and a sense of self. Filmmaker Adam Lough mixes scenes of Hot Sugar at work on his vintage recording devices with surprising soul-searching reflections he offers to the camera. As tweets and posts about the broken couple blow up on the internet, Hot Sugar’s road trip presses onward, revealing even more exotic layers of the man and his music. Fun and flash, this lyrical journey offers audiences a fascinating peek into a modern artist’s creative process.
Bert Haanstra was commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make a short film about his own country. It had to be a piece of the work that mainly would be shown abroad, so that the rest of the world could make acquaintance with the beautiful countryside, with the modern side of the Dutch society and with historic building and old customs. After everything he had already made about these subjects, Haanstra was able to find a new angle, this time by observing the matter from the air. The result is a pretty mosaic of The Netherlands like it looked in the early eighties.
Insane Fight Club is back. This year the boys are taking their unique form of entertainment to England as they stage fight nights in Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool and Newcastle.
While his parents were out working four jobs, Cambo spent his time learning how to survive in the rough backwoods of Alabama. When they went through a brutal divorce, he naturally fled to the woods to be alone. No traffic, no people, no responsibility—just pure survival. The plan was to wait out his adolescence there until he could legally live life without his parents. He ended up spending two years alone in the wild. This episode of Profiles by VICE, from director Harmony Korine, tells Cambo's story.
Documentary.In its catalogue, a Czech travel agency offers a "journey into the unknown", a tour of North Korea. That spring was the second time since 1990 that a group of Czech tourists set foot in the DPRK. The film follows twenty-seven Czechs who have decided to spend approximately 2,600 Euros on a sightseeing tour of a country which cultivates a cult of personality, maintains concentration camps for its citizens and doesn't hide its development of nuclear weapons. Foreign visitors are only allowed a view of a carefully prepared illusion, thoroughly supervised by "guides". What is more, the North Korean system is starkly reminiscent of our own past. Which emotions do our travellers experience: sympathy, nostalgia or, in contrast, happiness that "we already have this behind us"? How does a Czech person, after being accustomed to eighteen years of freedom and democracy, come to terms with the directives and restrictions of a totalitarian system?
These materials document a double jubilee of emperor Nikola Petrović 'Njegoš' - 50 years at the Montenegrin throne and his golden wedding with empress Milena, which are accompanied by proclaiming Nikola to be the king, and Montenegro to be the kingdom. Nikola tried to bring noble guests and give this event as much publicity as possible.
For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, TX, from Piedras Negras, MX, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.
In Columbus, Ohio, a group of autistic teenagers and young adults role-play this transition by going through the deceptively complex social interactions of preparing for a spring formal. Focusing on several young women as they go through an iconic American rite of passage, we are given intimate access to people who are often unable to share their experiences with others. With humor and heartbreak, How to Dance in Ohio shows the daily courage of people facing their fears and opening themselves to the pain, worry, and joy of the social world.
Documentary about Brazilian filmmaker Glauber Rocha, one of the most important names in the Cinema Novo, with interviews with some of his friends and colleagues.