The World's Best Sommelier (2018)

Memory Games

Without memory we are nothing. Memory makes us human. It’s who we are. Memory Games offers a thrilling insight into the lives of four athletes from the United States, Germany, and Mongolia as they compete for the title of World Memory Champion. Their unique approaches to memorizing and recalling mind-boggling amounts of information and their life stories form the basis for a visually stunning and thought-provoking documentary that looks at how memory permeates every aspect of our lives.

Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary

Filmmaker S.R. Bindler profiles Texas contestants trying to win a truck by keeping one hand on it longer than everyone else.

Beautiful Young Minds

This BAFTA nominated documentary tells the story of some of the brightest mathematical brains of a generation. Each year, exceptionally gifted teenagers from over 90 countries compete for medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad. The film follows a group of brilliant teenagers as they battle it out to become the chosen six selected to represent the UK.

Air Guitar Nation

If your bedroom has become too small a stage for your air guitar antics, take inspiration from the competitors featured here as they battle their way from the inaugural U.S. Air Guitar Championship to the world championship in Oulu, Finland. Along the way, filmmaker Alexandra Lipsitz documents the fierce rivalries that develop as would-be rock legends vie for top honors in technical accuracy, stage presence and "airness."

Wicker Kittens

Every January, the country's largest jigsaw puzzle contest is held in St. Paul, Minnesota. Choose your favorite team and watch them try to put the pieces back together.

Free to Play

Follow three professional video game players as they overcome personal adversity, family pressures, and the realities of life to compete in a $1,000,000 tournament that could change their lives forever.

Pumping Iron

Amateur and professional bodybuilders prepare for the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests as five-time champion Arnold Schwarzenegger defends his Mr. Olympia title against Serge Nubret and the shy young Lou Ferrigno.

Blood of the Ancient Vine

Two wine connoisseurs embark on a mission to discover and procure the finest wine in Spain and Portugal while learning of the history and culture of Iberian wine told by a world renowned historian and Vice Chancellor of the Royal Confraternity of Medieval Wines.

The Video Wine Guide with Dick Cavett

The Video Wine Guide is a critically-acclaimed 90-minute video reference to the fascinating world of wine. Presented in an information-packed, visually exciting format together with the characteristic style and humor of Dick Cavett, The Video Wine Guide both instructs and entertains.

Australia

How do seven young people, former street children from Romania, get to see the Pacific Ocean? On 1 December 2008, a Romanian national team participates for the first time in the Homeless World Cup in Melbourne, Australia. The film follows the team from the formation of the squad to the end of the championship. The young people are from Timisoara and Arad, runaway children who now live in abandoned houses or who have managed to get a job and live in rented accommodation after going through orphanages or prisons. After taking a beating from many teams, the young Romanians manage to beat the USA. They are happy. They are all thinking of never going "home" again. It's warm and nice here, the people are nice. "In case I stay, I kissed you all!" says one of them cautiously. But after taking pictures of themselves on the beach with the ocean behind them and beautiful girls by their side, the seven return to Romania and get on with their lives.

Stripper

A strippers' convention and a major contest. The movie focuses on a few strippers, each with her own strong motive to win.

Every Little Step

Follows the plight of real-life dancers as they struggle through auditions for the Broadway revival of A Chorus Line and also investigates the history of the show and the creative minds behind the original and current incarnations.

Burgundy: People with a Passion for Wine

Through a colorful mosaic of stories, this documentary film aims to demystify the world-famous French winemaking region and offers a rare insider glimpse into the lives of the passionate people working in Burgundy's wine industry.

Dust to Glory

An action-adventure documentary chronicling the most notorious and dangerous race in the world--the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Rivaling the Indy 500 and 25 Hours of Daytona, the race across Baja's peninsula is unpredictable, grueling and raw--just like the uncharted American West of yesteryear.

Bots High

Bots High is an exciting documentary following the adventures of three high school robotics teams battling for first place at a national robotics competition in Miami, Florida. It's a no-holds-barred fight to the death with robot carnage everywhere you look. Genius inventor Will builds robots so powerful they're unstoppable...if only they don't destroy themselves first. The Mechanical Misfits are an all girls team stumbling through their first foray into combat robotics and Elizabeth and Danielle are a formidable pair looking to reign supreme during their last year of high school. Bots High follows these students as they design, build and compete at Nationals - all while surviving high school, first love and teenager procrastination. A FilmBuff Presentation.

Senna

The remarkable story of Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna, charting his physical and spiritual achievements on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained, is the subject of Senna, a documentary feature that spans the racing legend's years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later.

Merci Bocuse

A young and ambitious team of chefs face the life-changing challenges of competing in the world's most prestigious culinary competition.

Kings of Pastry

The collar awarded to the winners of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France) is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef - it is a dream and an obsession. The 3-day competition includes everything from delicate chocolates to precarious six foot sugar sculptures and requires that the chefs have extraordinary skill, nerves of steel and luck. The film follows Jacquy Pfeiffer, founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, as he returns to France to compete against 15 of France's leading pastry chefs. The filmmakers were given first time/exclusive access to this high-stakes drama of passion, sacrifice, disappointment and joy in the quest to have President Sarkozy declare them one of the best in France.

Afghan Star

This documentary on the effect the talent competition "Afghan Star" has on the incredibly diverse inhabitants of Afghanistan affords a glimpse into a country rarely seen. Contestants risk their lives to appear on the television show that is a raging success with the public and also monitored closely by the government.

Du vin dans les voiles

Olivier Verdier is a French winemaker who makes his wine using original experimental techniques.

Somm: Cup of Salvation

At the crossroads of Armenia and Iran, a father and daughter must overcome war, religion, and geopolitics to establish their wines on the global stage and reclaim a 6,000-year-old tradition of winemaking.

Spellbound

This documentary follows 8 teens and pre-teens as they work their way toward the finals of the Scripps Howard national spelling bee championship in Washington D.C.

Brooklyn Castle

Brooklyn Castle is a documentary about I.S. 318 – an inner-city school where more than 65 percent of students are from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level – that also happens to have the best, most winning junior high school chess team in the country. (If Albert Einstein, who was rated 1800, were to join the team, he’d only rank fifth best.) Chess has transformed the school from one cited in 2003 as a “school in need of improvement” to one of New York City’s best. But a series of recession-driven public school budget cuts now threaten to undermine those hard-won successes.

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time. In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children. Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual 'Prison Rodeo'. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it's one of the last of its kind - a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life. Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud

Joe Lycett: Summer Exhibitionist

Art-loving comedian Joe Lycett joins artists hoping to make it onto the walls of the RA Summer Exhibition 2022, the world’s largest open-submission art contest.

Langhe Doc

Three characters, three stories of "heretics", three food producers who think in a different way to describe the transformation of our Country in what in “Langhe Doc” Giorgio Bocca calls the Italy of warehouses. We're in Langhe, a unique territory, universally recognized as one of the most beautiful places in Italy, fresh candidate for Unesco World Heritage but afflicted by uncontrolled economic development, urbanization, overbuilding, abandonment of the less profitable areas. Those of Maria Theresa, Silvio and Mauro are stories of people who have insight into a future they do not like and have chosen to refuse it. Their challenges are still open, they're not yet fully met and perhaps they never will: these heretics move in one direction, while the world moves in another, quite the opposite one.

Barolo Boys: The Story of a Revolution

The story of a group of friends, the "rebel boys" who made italian wine become so great, between generational conflicts, brilliant insights and never silenced controversies.

Wordplay

From the masters who create the mind-bending diversions to the tense competition at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, Patrick Creadon's documentary reveals a fascinating look at a decidedly addictive pastime. Creadon captures New York Times editor Will Shortz at work, talks to celebrity solvers -- including Bill Clinton and Ken Burns -- and presents an intimate look at the national tournament and its competitors.

Choir. Conductor. Kamēr…

A documentary about the well-known Latvian youth choir “Kamēr...” and its journey to the Tolosa Choral competition. A debut from a 20 year old singer of the choir, the film offers a deeply personal insight into the most difficult challenge the choir has ever faced. After the head conductor leaving, the choir has just 2 months to get used to a new leader. A test for the new conductor who has to prove his worth at one of the most important competi-tions of the choir’s history. It’s do or die, as nothing less than a victory will be accepted. Following the choir every step of the way, the director puts the audience in a first-row seat at rehearsals, performances, discussions and spectacular moments that can only be seen through the eyes of a singer. An unprecedented view of the personal battles and achieve-ments, that lead up to a real-life story, never captured before.