The city of Guangzhou is home to China's largest community of African immigrants. Despite facing prejudice and the risk of deportation, three African hip-hop artists strive to change perceptions and achieve a better life in their new land of opportunity. This short documentary explores China's burgeoning African entertainment industry through the lives of three African hip-hop artists who are trying to find success in the face of challenging labor and immigration laws in China's southeastern city of Guangzhou. The film follows the entertainers as they prepare for their shows, perform, and live their daily lives with their Chinese and African family members and friends.
A character study of, “the funniest comedian you’ve never heard of,” and an exploration of how we define artistic success, MENTALLY AL follows Al Lubel, a former Star Search grand champion as he struggles to get by, perpetually broke and sleeping on friends couches, as he continues to pursue his artistic dreams into his sixties.
A diverse group of elite Brewmasters from 65 breweries and 23 countries, battle it out in an intense competition to brew the world's most iconic American Lager -- Budweiser.
Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s quest to piece together Lincoln's complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, D.C. and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day -- relic hunters, re-enactors and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion.
Welcome to Ireland, a country that boasts a rich culture, diverse history and unparalleled natural beauty. But astonishingly, across the Emerald Isle, there’s a dark undercurrent of crime that casts a heavy shadow over society. In The Feared: Irish Gangsters, Bernard O’Mahoney returns to his home country to shine a light on the Irish underworld. With exclusive access to high-profile Irish ‘faces’, he enters unchartered territory when he discovers that there may be more to these crimes than meets the eye.
The best-selling true-crime author and former Essex gang member travels around the country to guide us through the workings of a dark criminal underworld with stories of extreme violence, the effects of poverty, and ultimately, the devastating consequences.
Hollywood movies are rapidly becoming vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners, rather than entertainment in their own right. Behind the Screens explores this trend toward "hypercommercialism" through phenomena such as product placement, tie-ins, merchandising and cross-promotions. It combines multiple examples taken directly from the movies with incisive interviews provided by film scholars, cultural critics, political economists, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Behind the Screens presents an accessible argument designed for school and college-age audiences-- precisely the demographic most prized by both Hollywood studios and advertisers alike. It features examples drawn from movies such as Wayne's World, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Summer of Sam, and Toy Story.
This film follows four artists living on the margins of society whose passionate discussions belie their stark and impoverished living conditions. The subjects are performance artist Li Wake, painters Wang Yongping and Ding Defu, and poet Motou Beibei, who is hailed online as a genius despite working as a security guard. Overcome by ennui, and lost in the uncertainties of their everyday lives and their artistic identities, the artists express certain hopelessness.
They wanted to build a game that let you touch the music as it played on the screen. That game was DJMAX TECHNIKA, and in creating it they wrote the rules of modern gaming years ahead of the rest of the gaming industry, and created a place for a community of life long friends to grow in a dim, neon-lit little corner of arcades, drawing eyes and hands with thumping bass and touching sound. From designer and player and from California to Tokyo, this is the story of a groundbreaking game and the people who came together to play it.
A large father and a psychologist are daily in a multi-week routine. It, like many residents of the metropolis, overcomes the fear of living a life in vain. He is trying to find a way out - gathers a group to hike in the Himalayas. But on his return from India to Moscow, another peak grows in front of him, and he must overcome it.
How far would you go to pursue your passion? At 87 years old, Hank Virgona commutes to his Union Square studio six days a week and makes art. Despite poor health, cancer, lack of revenue and obscurity as an artist, Hank is unrelenting in his quest to understand how life and art are the same.
The Polish village of Stare Juchy has been pulled apart. A third of the population left to work in Iceland, and those who stayed behind—most of them from the older generation—are hoping for their return. But by now their children and grandchildren are settling into new lives on the other side of Europe. The distance separating them is great and the journey expensive, so they don’t get to hug each other very often. The best alternative is intensive contact by Skype.
Jim Geiger, a retired forest ranger and amateur mountaineer, attempts to become the oldest American and first great grandfather to summit Mt. Everest, aged 68. His transformation from a weekend hiker to attempting one of the most extreme and physically demanding feats known to man is driven by a desire to prove that age is just a number. What ensued, however, forever changed Jim's life.
Spitfire Voices
The instantly recognisable Supermarine Spitfire is one of the most famous fighter aircraft used in the Battle of Britain in 1940. Had they not been there, the outcome of the Battle of Britain could have turned out very differently. While Spitfires couldn’t fly at night and there was a lack of communication, what the Spitfire couldn’t do was dramatically outweighed by what it could! There was a magic about this magnificent plane.
Dinner with Lloyd is a feature length documentary about the legendary independent film director Lloyd Kaufman and Troma Films. The documentary, captures the zany Lloyd Kaufman as he talks about his life, his work, independent film, and the state of the film industry.
Scientific methods of verifying works of art have drastically reduced the number of paintings attributed to Rembrandt (1606-1669). Many canvases, hitherto believed to be by the hand of the Master, are now thought to be the work of artists who learnt their craft in his studio by copying his style. The film is a fascinating study of modern scientific techniques, a comprehensive art historical view of Rembrandt’s work over the centuries and a reaffirmation of his genius.
A remarkable walk through the life and work of the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), one of the most important creators of the 20th century, revolutionary of arts, aesthetics and pop culture.