Like the best USIA films, The Wall distills political events into an emotionally clear and compelling ideological "story". In 1962 Walter de Hoog gathered footage from U.S. and German newsreel sources and crafted this taut short film about the first year of the Berlin Wall. Straightforward, keenly balanced narration portrays Berliners as "accepting the wall but never resigned to it". The extraordinary footage of the first escapes was propaganda enough-- His challenge was to make the politics human.
A visually striking and meditative study of a team of athletes, including British Olympic finalists Jeanette Kwakye and Sarah Claxton, filmed over the two months leading to the start of the 2007 outdoor season. Sprinters is an intimate and arresting portrayal of the frequently brutal world of top level athletics, revealing the mental and physical barriers confronted by the runners as they pursue their dreams, and a world in which agony, ecstasy, winning and losing are separated by a hundredth of a second.
A look at the horror movies of the 1980's.
In February 2012, I went to Ishinomaki, a town North of Tokyo that was half destroyed by the tsunami of March 11th, 2011, to meet the disaster victims who now live in temporary housing. I spent several days in the North, under the snow, listening to these people talk candidly about what they had lived through, telling their own stories without the media as an intermediary. Their testimonies were terrifying, harsh and sad, but at the same time touching, sincere and human. From the pictures and interviews that I collected, I decided to make a film, not to reflect how awful the events were, but to communicate the singular and even surreal nature of each person’s experience. My intention wasn’t so much to focus on this particular event in Japan, but rather to make these stories more universal as a way of paying tribute to all the victims of natural disasters throughout the world.
This "March of Time" entry examines the many problems, both human and economic, that faced the Allies in their respective zones of Germany -- USA, England and Russia -- following the end of World War II, and the Allied occupation of what was left of the country following the Nazi reign of Adolf Hitler. The Cold War issues had not yet fully surfaced, so this entry, with fleeting glances into each Zone of the time, traced what economic recovery had been made by the end of 1946, and how the average German citizen of 1946 was living...or getting by.
Nannies combines autobiographical elements with a reflection on the presence of nannies in Brazil. With a subjective narration, the film incorporates photographs, domestic footage and newspaper adds from the 20th century, as well as contemporary images of nannies and children, building a personal narrative about the presence of nannies in the daily lives of many Brazilian families. A situation where the affection is genuine, but does not dissolve violence and racism.
Generously included as a bonus DVD alongside the 502-page Bolaño salvaje, a book of essays about and reminiscences on the Chilean novelist/poet published by the Barcelona-based Editorial Candy. Bolaño cercano [a difficult to translate title approximating something like Bolaño, Up Close and Personal], which offers up a sympathetic portrait of Bolaño as a loving family man and tireless reader and writer and teases with ever so brief glimpses of his personal library and countless spiral notebooks filled with rough drafts of his novels and poetry and even comic book-like drawings and illustrations.
The world is made of boxes. We live in them, we move within them, we see the world through them and we wind up in them in the end. Huacal City introduces us to the empty containers market at the Supply Center in Mexico City, where every day thousands of wooden boxes are bought, sold and repaired.
Armed with a camera and eighteen clean pairs of underwear, Josefien Hendriks hitchhikes The Netherlands and askes passengers questions about faith, friendship, love and death.
Zoli earns his livelihood abroad by skinning chinchillas in a Danish fur factory. The film begins with the story of Zoli's return to the periphery, to the small Hungarian village of Jaba. Zoli's family, settled Romas, struggle to earn their living by hiring themselves out as day-laborers. For Zoli, Jaba has no work and no prospects, so he kills time and waits. Standstill. "Jaba" tells the story of survival in one of Europe's poorest regions.
Explores the hot-button issues around the striking gender gap in Hollywood. Both women and men in the entertainment industry share first-person insights, questions, and anecdotes about the place of women in Hollywood.
Skateboarder Sam Sarratori gives a look into his experience with the sport, and how he has evolved it over the years to better fit his life.
Follows Iwao Ichikawa, a second-generation Japanese Mexican, navigating racial segregation in Mexicali, Baja California during WWII, offering a poignant exploration of identity and belonging amidst adversity.
Three arrested and detained undocumented immigrants must navigate the system to fight impending deportation.
Kyabakura is a type of hostess club in Japan, inspired by French cabaret. There exists an ambiguous relationship between the clients, the men, and the hostesses, that should never materialize into a sexual relationship...There are strict rules, which of course, are designed to be broken.
Thoughts on the Purpose of Friendship follows two friends and their effortless friendship. The subtle interplay and hidden expressions between them remind us, in our increasingly transaction-based society, of the true and simple foundations required to build a friendship.
In the world's first media interview, shot in Paris in August 1886, the great photographer Nadar interviews the famous scientist and sceptic Chevreul on his 100th birthday. In their own words - originally recorded in shorthand - they discuss photography, colour theory, Moliere, the scientific method, the crazy ideas of balloonists, and - of course - how to live for 100 years. These two legends of the 19th century have a lively and interesting conversation. One was born before the French revolution; the other was destined to see the marvels of the aeroplane and the movies.
Shokri is in prison because of a debt, he wasn't able to repay. One day during his day pass out of the prison he found a black purse full of money and he tried to find the owner, in order to return the money back. Shot in 2015.
Three young people circulate in different mobility categories. The newly emancipated city goes through its everyday experiences.