The dashing and dazzling Douglas Fairbanks was the movie star who "swashbuckled in Zorro, dueled exuberantly in Robin Hood and soared magnificently in The Thief of Bagdad"-- He was the "First King of Hollywood".
Visible Silence explores the lives of Thai lesbians striving for recognition, authenticity, and acceptance in a traditional Buddhist society. It is an intimate story of self and family, love and sexuality, and self-determination where conformity is prized.
Spanish scientist Tomeo L'Amo bought a painting in 1989 that he believed to be an original Dalí. After 25 years of searching for the truth, an art expert in Paris changes his life.
An uncommon motorcycle club led by Bosnian War veterans finds redemption helping their struggling small town heal and defending the threatened herd of wild horses they first met on the front line.
Part time capsule, part folk song, Phantom Cowboys follows three teenage boys as they approach adulthood in vastly different parts of the United States. Moving fluidly between the deserts of California, the valleys of West Virginia, and the sugarcane fields of Florida, the film explores the lives of these young men during two formative periods - transitioning forward and backward in time over a span of eight years.
Both in 2006 and 2007, the Gay Pride Parade attempts in Moscow are violently beaten down. For many observers, the attitude towards the sexual minorities seems to be the litmus test of the state of democracy in Russia. In January 2007, for the first time in Russian history, a Russian leader, president Vladimir Putin mentions the situation of the LGBT community: He won't criticize the politics of Moscow mayor Yuri Lushkov, who forbid the event, but he is concerned about the demographic future of the country. And Putins opinion seems to be repeated by the right wing contra demonstrators on the streets. The film shows both the organizers of the Pride events and also the survival strategies of the majority Russian lesbians and gays, to whom the fight for democracy on the streets doesn't seem to be an attractive alternative.
A man discovers a box of interviews with his father, a lifelong heroin addict who died of AIDS in 1997. What he finds will uncover generations of family secrets, forcing him to redefine his own past, doubt his present, and question his future.
Filmmaker Emily Railsback and award-winning sommelier Jeremy Quinn provide intimate access to rural family life in the Republic of Georgia as they explore the rebirth of 8,000-year-old wine-making traditions almost lost during the period of Soviet rule.
With credits including Strictly Ballroom, Muriel’s Wedding, The Dish, Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet and Road to Perdition Jill Bilcock is regarded as one the world’s great film editors. Axel Grigor’s hugely entertaining documentary traces Bilcock’s journey from Melbourne film student in the 1960s to working as an extra in Bollywood movies and learning her craft when Australia had virtually no feature film industry. Bilcock’s cheeky charm and illuminating appearances by key collaborators make this a must-see for film lovers.
Two men of faith, one a traveling Christian preacher, the other the ruler of a Muslim Empire, bucked a century of war, distrust, and insidious propaganda in a search for mutual respect and common ground. It is the story of Francis of Assisi and the Sultan of Egypt, and their meeting on a bloody battlefield during the period of Christian- Muslim conflict known as the Crusades.
Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect is a feature documentary film that considers many of the key architectural questions through the 70 year career of Pritzker Prize winning Irish-American architect Kevin Roche, including the relationship between architects and the public they serve. Still working at age 94, Kevin Roche is an enigma, a man with no interest in fame who refuses retirement and continually looks to the future regardless of age. Roche's architectural philosophy is that 'the responsibility of the modern architect is to create a community for a modern society' and has emphasised the importance for peoples well-being to bring nature into the buildings they inhabit. We consider the application of this philosophy in acclaimed buildings such as the Ford Foundation, Oakland Museum and at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art for whom Kevin Roche was their principal architect for over 40 years.
British surrealist Leonora Carrington was a key part of the surrealist movement during its heyday in Paris and yet, until recently, remained a virtual unknown in the country of her birth. This film explores her dramatic evolution from British debutante to artist in exile, living out her days in Mexico City, and takes us on a journey into her darkly strange and cinematic world.
Beyond Food explores the ways a group of extraordinary people live amazing lives, eat delicious food while extracting more energy and mental focus from their daily rituals. Biohackers, Paleo, Vegan, Neuroscientists, Athletes, Foragers, Ranchers, Farmers, Gut scientists. Some of our characters are Dave Asprey (Bulletproof Exec), Mariel Hemingway, Laird Hamilton, James Hardt (Biocybernaut Institute Advanced Neurofeedback) Our target audience is everyone who is desiring to learn how to fuel and create an extraordinary life. Our main purpose is to share the lessons from the journey we lived because it changed our lives.
The Museum is a film that observes, examines and ponders Israel's most important cultural institution, the Israel Museum. The film follows the visitors, observes the observers, listens to the speakers and descends to the storerooms, labs and conference rooms. The American museum director, the singing security guard, the Jerusalemite curator, the Haredi kashrut inspector, the Palestinian guide and the visitor who lost her vision are some of the characters that take part in a chain of activities which add up to the museum. For about 18 months director Ran Tal collected footage of the daily routine of the museum that seeks to both reflect and mold the Israeli legacy and culture.
For a few years now, scientists have known about the existence of another brain within our bodies. This second brain, or "brain down below" is none other than our stomach. The stomach's intelligence is a new avenue of research that is fascinating research teams the world over.
On March 11, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s 'A Raisin in the Sun' opened on Broadway and changed the face of American theater forever. As the first-ever black woman to author a play performed on Broadway, she did not shy away from richly drawn characters and unprecedented subject matter. The play attracted record crowds and earned the coveted top prize from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. While the play is seen as a groundbreaking work of art, the timely story of Hansberry’s life is far less known.
A sweeping chronicle of the entire exclusion era - the latter part of the 1800s, when anti-Chinese agitation led to federal laws targeting Chinese abroad and those already in the country. Go far beyond the legislation with the survival and growth of Chinese American communities in the face of prejudice and outright violence, the “paper” sons and daughters who emigrated despite the seemingly impassable barriers, and the legal challenges that produced some of the most momentous decisions in Supreme Court history.
The story of Italian cinema under Fascism, a sophisticated film industry built around the founding of the Cinecittà studios and the successful birth of a domestic star system, populated by very peculiar artists among whom stood out several beautiful, magnetic, special actresses; a dark story of war, drugs, sex, censorship and tragedy.