The Making of a Japanese (2024)

Underground Entertainment: The Movie

On the 20th anniversary of their edgy little 90's cable show Underground Entertainment, the authors, along with many SF, horror and B celebrities in cameos, remember how they pushed the envelope, shocked, entertained, but also introduced the audience to many movies, comics and conventions.

Film

Amateur filmmaker Kemal Mutlu captures scenes of everyday life with plans of making a film. He lives with his housemate Nuri in a small flat in Istanbul. One day,Nuri's friend from orphanage, Izzet, comes to visit unannounced. Just out of prison, Izzet's colorful character grabs Kemal's attention, and he decides to make a film about him. Unfortunately, it soon turns out that underneath his friendly exterior, Izzet is a psychopath. When he is refused entry into a bar, he gets in by force and kidnaps actress Oznur Kula. Kemal is happy to have found an actress to star in his film, however things soon get out of control as Izzet's sick plans unfold.

Hanni & Nanni 3

The Lindenhof School is expecting a busload of proper young English ladies as exchange students. The shock is great when the students turn out to be teenage boys! But while Mademoiselle Bertoux is delighted to stage “Romeo and Juliet” with real boys, both Hanni and her sister Nanni fall for their “Romeo,” Clyde.

Moments: Six

A serial killer and the detective who tracked him down find themselves in an unexpected stalemate.

Days and Hours

Fuke visits his uncle Idriz and aunt Sabira to fix a broken boiler. He soon finds out there's a lot more that needs to be repaired. Idriz and Sabira aren't ready to accept the loss of their only son in the Balkan war, seven years earlier. When Fuke's car refuses to start, Fuke has to stay over in their house. He meets a lot of old friends and neighbors there.

Boys on the Outside

Young men with no future have little in the present as well. Natale is released from prison: he takes up with his friends again but none can find work. Claudio, from Palermo, gets out of juvenile detention in Naples and he's met by Vita, a girl who's come from home to run away with him. Where can they go? A young dad, whose potato stall at the market is shut down because he has no permit, takes his two small children to the beach and yells at them. Mario, gay, a prostitute in drag, gets a visit from his mom; he offers tea, then finds the water to his apartment is shut off. Social workers drop by, parole officers file reports. What hope is there? What options besides crime?

Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise

When Jesse Stone looks into the murder of a teen-age girl whose body is found floating in a local lake, it brings him up against the Boston mob and into the affluent world of a bestselling writer who exploits troubled teens.

Barfly

Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

Nise: The Heart of Madness

After being released from prison, Dr. Nise da Silveira is back at work in a psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro where she refuses to employ the new and violent electroshock in the treatment of schizophrenics. Ridiculed by doctors, she is forced to take on the abandoned Sector for Occupational Therapy, where she would start a revolution through paintings, animals and love.

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

"Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city, and three times was he snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it." Thus begins H. P. Lovecraft's epic tale of the courageous dreamer Randolph Carter and his search for the mystical sunset city by petitioning the gods of Kadath. During his journey, he travels deep into the world of dream, to the edge of the world, to the moon and back, and to the heights and depths of human and... inhuman experience. Written by Edward Martin III

Men in the City 2

The sequel of the "Men in the city" movie which reunites all the characters.

The Canterbury Tales

Glimpses of Chaucer penning his famous work are sprinkled through this re-enactment of several of his stories.

Gourmet Detective: Eat, Drink and Be Buried

Henry and Maggie attend the birthday party of a local publisher, where his son and stepson reenact a historical 18th century dual. Someone, however, has loaded the antique pistol with a real musket ball, so when son pulls the trigger, he kills his stepbrother in front of a roomful of witnesses. Henry and Maggie have to figure out who wanted the stepson dead and why.

Re-Births

A documentary film depicting five intimate portraits of migrants who fled their country of origin to seek refuge in France and find a space of freedom where they can fully experience their sexuality and their sexual identity: Giovanna, woman transgender of Colombian origin, Roman, Russian transgender man, Cate, Ugandan lesbian mother, Yi Chen, young Chinese gay man…

Patlabor 2: The Movie

A Japanese police unit who use giant anthropomorphic robots (called Labors) is caught up in a political struggle between the civilian authorities and the military when a terrorist act is blamed on an Air Force jet. With the aid of a government agent, the team gets close to a terrorist leader to stop things from going out of control when after the military is impelled to impose martial law.

Dave Chappelle: For What It's Worth

Comedian Dave Chappelle does what he does best in this outrageous and hilarious standup performance, which allows him to push the envelope far beyond what he does on his TV show. Taped in San Francisco at the famed Fillmore, Chappelle lets loose on such topics as black celebrities, what it's like to have raunchy fans of his TV show approach him while he's trying to enjoy Disneyland with his kids, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant... and crackheads, of course. It's comedy Chappelle-style and, for what it's worth, no one is safe from his barbs. But you already knew that!

The Three Musketeers

The young D'Artagnan arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming a King's musketeer. He meets and quarrels with three men, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, each of whom challenges him to a duel. D'Artagnan finds out they are musketeers and is invited to join them in their efforts to oppose Cardinal Richelieu, who wishes to increase his already considerable power over the King. D'Artagnan must also juggle affairs with the charming Constance Bonancieux and the passionate Lady De Winter, a secret agent for the Cardinal.

Come Follow Me

Come Follow Me dramatizes the relationship between Jesus and the Apostle Peter. From the day Peter heard Jesus call his name to the post-resurrection conversation in which Jesus charges...

Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular

Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular is a musical show that plays at Disney's California Adventure. Based on the Disney film by the same name, the show plays inside Hyperion Theater Hollywood Pictures Backlot. The show is located right next to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Il Posto

With his family mired in financial troubles, Domenico moves to Milan, Italy, from his small town to get a job in lieu of furthering his education. A lack of options forces him to take a position as a messenger at a big company, where he hopes to receive a promotion soon. There, Domenico meets Antonietta, a young woman in a similar situation as himself. The two form a tentative relationship, but the soulless nature of their jobs threatens to keep them apart.

Judgement

At the identification of a dead body, a couple and a morgue employee both claim to be related to the deceased, and therefore the rightful recipient of an indemnity of at least 520,000.

How I Unleashed World War II, Part III: Among Friends

Disguised as an Italian medic, Dolas finds himself on a ship evacuating wounded Axis soldiers to Italy. He leaves the ship disguised as a Nazi soldier, but is found out, declared a deserter and sent to the Eastern Front. However, on the flight to Russia, he is able to escape with a parachute, and finds himself back in Poland, now occupied by Nazis.

The Bonfire of the Vanities

After his mistress runs over a black teen, a Wall Street hotshot sees his life unravel in the spotlight; A down-and-out reporter breaks the story and opportunists clamber to use it to their advantage.

Ex-It

Freely inspired by the work Catatau, by Paulo Leminski, the plot begins with the historical hypothesis imagined by the poet from Curitiba: “What if René Descartes had come to Brazil with Maurício de Nassau?” The film materializes this hypothesis and joins the father of modern philosophy in his journey through the tropics. Under the effect of hallucinatory herbs, he investigates questions revolving around geometry and optics in the face of an absolutely strange world. Known for his famous sentence “I think, therefore I am”, Descartes faces his doubt towards phenomena reason doesn’t explain. René, Renatus, Re born.

The Afterman

"The Afterman" is about a guy who lived alone in an atomic fallout shelter after the A-Bomb was dropped, so he can't read, write or speak. 20 years later the shelter opens and he wanders into a barbaric world full of sex and depravity. The film is done completely without dialogue and it offers some wall-to-wall sleaze including graphic nudity, homosexual rape and forced blow-job.

Five Star Day

One man's journey to disprove the theory of astrology leads him to answer some bigger question about life, love, fate and destiny.

Woman

The film is based on interviews with 2,000 women from 50 countries, and covers the status of women all over the world. The topics covered include forced marriages, sexual assault, female genital mutilation, acid attacks, motherhood, sexuality, menstruation, education and the professional success of women.

Leo & Claire

In 1933 Nuremberg, successful Jewish businessman Leo Katzenberger owns an apartment building and runs a shoe store. A devoted family man, he has a good relationship with his loving wife Claire. As the climate in Germany grows increasingly dangerous, bombshell Irene moves to the neighborhood. After forming an unlikely friendship, his relationship with Irene is immediately regarded with suspicion.

One Wonderful Sunday

Yuzo and his fiancée Masako spend their Sunday afternoon together, trying to have a good time on just thirty-five yen. They manage to have many small adventures, especially because Masako's optimism and belief in dreams is able to lift Yuzo from his realistic despair.

Three Little Sew and Sews

The stooges are sailors working in a ships' tailor shop. When they can't get passes to go ashore, they steal officers uniforms and go to a party with Curly passing himself off as Admiral Taylor and Moe and Larry as his aides. Two spies, one of them a beautiful woman, trick the stooges into stealing a new submarine. The boys turn the table on the spies and capture them. When the real Admiral shows up, Curly's reenacts the capture and accidentally detonates a bomb, blowing them all to kingdom come.

Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now

Comedian and actress Ellen DeGeneres brings her honesty and off-the-wall wit to this stand-up special taped live at NYC's Beacon Theater.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

After taking a bullet to the head, Salander is under close supervision in a hospital and is set to face trial for attempted murder on her eventual release. With the help of journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his researchers at Millennium magazine, Salander must prove her innocence. In doing this she plays against powerful enemies and her own past.

Tokyo Idols

This exploration of Japan's fascination with girl bands and their music follows an aspiring pop singer and her fans, delving into the cultural obsession with young female sexuality and the growing disconnect between men and women in hypermodern societies.

The Panafrican Festival in Algiers

Festival panafricain d'Alger is a documentary by William Klein of the music and dance festival held 40 years ago in the streets and in venues all across Algiers. Klein follows the preparations, the rehearsals, the concerts… He blends images of interviews made to writers and advocates of the freedom movements with stock images, thus allowing him to touch on such matters as colonialism, neocolonialism, colonial exploitation, the struggles and battles of the revolutionary movements for Independence.

The 11th Hour

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse

Modern Life

For ten years, Raymond Depardon has followed the lives of farmer living in the mountain ranges. He allows us to enter their farms with astounding naturalness. This moving film speaks, with great serenity, of our roots and of the future of the people who work on the land. This the last part of Depardon's triptych "Profils paysans" about what it is like to be a farmer today in an isolated highland area in France. "La vie moderne" examines what has become of the persons he has followed for ten years, while featuring younger people who try to farm or raise cattle or poultry, come hell or high water.

The Society of the Spectacle

Guy Debord's analysis of a consumer society.

En avant guinguette !

Plot unavailable

Almost There

Three men embark on a journey in search of meaning and happiness in the autumn of their lives: Bob swaps his safe home for a camper van and tries to find himself in the barren Californian desert; Steve, drag queen and stand-up comedian, is fed up of England and makes amends with his past in Benidorm; Yamada rediscovers his smile by reading stories to children in Tokyo.

Enter the Anime

What is anime? Through deep-dives with notable masterminds of this electrifying genre, this fast-paced documentary seeks to find the answers.

Love Around the World

From the moment we got engaged and set a wedding date, we began thinking about the reasons we chose one another. What was so special about this relationship that we decided to spend our lives together? Would our love be the same if we were born in another time or at another place? What is love exactly? Driven by those questions, we decided to embark on a one year journey around the world to research whether love, one of the highest values in our lives, is universal, or it is completely conditioned by the circumstances around us.

Burn, Baby, Burn! - Wie Aerobic die Welt zum Schwitzen brachte

The saga of fitness, which exploded in the 1980s and contributed, in its own way, to liberating women's bodies.

Wild Tokyo

It may be the largest and most densely populated city on Earth, but Tokyo’s 14 million human residents share their home with an astonishing array of wildlife. From jewel beetles and goshawks in the city’s shrines to the forests of Okutama where bears, monkeys and tanuki feast, this film reveals the power of nature in Japan’s capital.

Girls State

What would American democracy look like in the hands of teenage girls? In this documentary, young female leaders from wildly different backgrounds in Missouri navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up.

Fighting Spirit: Fishmans

A documentary film chronicling the rehearsal, preparation and performance of a Fishmans concert performed on February 19, 2019 @Zepp Tokyo.

The Ukishima Maru Massacre

22nd of August, 1945. Japan lost the war and they loaded an 8,000 person Joseon laborer force onto a ship called the Ukisima to take them to the Busan Port. However, the ship sunk into the water due to an unknown blast. This is the story of thousands of Joseon people who dreamed of returning to their families and how they died.

Israël, les ministres du chaos

Plot unavailable

Sing Me a Song

As the Internet finally arrives in tiny Bhutan, documentarian Thomas Balmès is there to witness its transformative impact on a young Buddhist monk whose initial trepidation gives way to profound engagement with the technology.

The Cove

The Cove tells the amazing true story of how an elite team of individuals, films makers and free divers embarked on a covert mission to penetrate the hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The shocking discoveries were only the tip of the iceberg.

Bitter Sweet Ballad

This is a story about youth with music. It all happens at the Dandelion School, Beijing’s first middle school specifically established for the children of migrant workers. Every year when new pupils arrive, Ms. Yuan Xiaoyan, who has worked in the school choir for eight years, would choose a group of music-loving first-years with solid musical foundations to join the choir. A new group of children join the choir while those who have advanced to the second year have to discuss with their families their future choices. For choir members, their music career in middle school will eventually stop due to the pressure of high school entrance examinations and the inevitable parting. But along this journey accompanied by music, they have been savoring the joys and sorrows of their youth, burying them deep in their hearts, and transforming them into growth-promoting nutrients.

Awake, a Dream from Standing Rock

The Water Protectors at Standing Rock captured world attention through their peaceful resistance. While many may know the details, this film captures the story of Native-led defiance that forever changed the fight for clean water, our environment and the future of our planet.

Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger

The story of a young boy forced to spend all five years of his short life in hospital while the federal and provincial governments argued over which was responsible for his care, as well as the long struggle of Indigenous activists to force the Canadian government to enforce “Jordan’s Principle” — the promise that no First Nations children would experience inequitable access to government-funded services again.

Nous paysans

In barely a century, French peasants have seen their world profoundly turned upside down. While they once made up the vast majority of the country, today they are only a tiny minority and are faced with an immense challenge: to continue to feed France. From the figure of the simple tenant farmer described by Emile Guillaumin at the beginning of the 20th century to the heavy toll paid by peasants during the Great War, from the beginnings of mechanization in the inter-war period to the ambivalent figure of the peasant under the Occupation, From the unbridled race to industrialization in post-war France to the realization that it is now necessary to rethink the agricultural model and invent the agriculture of tomorrow, the film looks back at the long march of French peasants.

Objectified

A feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief

Welcome to The Great Happiness Space: Rakkyo Café. The club's owner, Issei (22), has a staff of twenty boys all under his training to become the top escorts of Osaka's underground love scene. During their training, they learn how to dress, how to talk, how to walk, and most importantly, how to fake relationships with the girls who become their source of income. Join us as Osaka's number one host boy takes us on a journey through the complex and heartrenching world of love for sale in the Japanese underground.

Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)

The story of young Afghan girls learning to read, write and skateboard in Kabul.

Carnalismo

In the heart of Durango, the Low Biker community has forged a unique bond through a shared love for cumbias and custom bicycles, uniting neighborhoods across the city in a vibrant, collective passion. Amid the joy of their culture, they face the harsh realities of discrimination and prejudice, navigating daily challenges from a society that struggles to accept their way of life.

The Whole Gritty City

Young members of 3 New Orleans school marching bands grow up in America's most musical city, and one of its most dangerous. Their band directors get them ready to perform in the Mardi Gras parades, and teach them to succeed and to survive.

The Shogun

With cunning and courage the japanese warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to unify Japan after 150 years of civil war.

Legacy

Ten years after the film Home (2009), Yann Arthus-Bertrand looks back, with Legacy, on his life and fifty years of commitment. It's his most personal film. The photographer and director tells the story of nature and man. He also reveals a suffering planet and the ecological damage caused by man. He finally invites us to reconcile with nature and proposes several solutions

The Story of the Swastika

In the week when Hindus celebrate the holy festival of Diwali, this documentary tells the story of one of their faith's most sacred symbols - the swastika. For many, the swastika has become a symbol synonymous with the Nazis and fascism. But this film reveals the fascinating and complex history of an emblem that is, in fact, a religious symbol, with a sacred past. For the almost one billion Hindus around the world, the swastika lies at the heart of religious practices and beliefs, as an emblem of benevolence, luck and good fortune.

The Sound of Identity

In the spotlight of global media coverage, the first transgender woman ever to perform as Don Giovanni in a professional opera, makes her historic debut in one of the reddest states in the U.S.

De Charles de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron, les gardiens de l'empire

Plot unavailable

Attack! The Battle for New Britain

Actual footage by the United States Signal Corps of the landing and attack on Arawe Beach, Cape Glouster, New Britain island in 1943 in the South Pacific theatre of World War Two, and the handicaps of the wild jungle in addition to the Japanese snipers and pill-box emplacements.

Risky Drinking

Are you a risky drinker? Nearly 70% of American adults drink alcohol and nearly 1/3 of them engage in problem drinking at some point in their lives. Produced with The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Risky Drinking is a no-holds-barred look at a national epidemic through the intimate stories of four people whose drinking dramatically affects their relationships.

Alone In Movie Theater

This documentary was written with passion and love for cinema, and on the other hand, he blamed her. Our fictional character for this documentary talks about her passion for cinema and how it affected her life and recounts the decades that passed on the cinema one after the other.

Croquantes

Plot unavailable

Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?

Morgan Spurlock tours the Middle East to discuss the war on terror with Arabic people.

The Stand

On a misty morning in the fall of 1985, a small group of Haida people blockaded a muddy dirt road on Lyell Island, demanding the government work with Indigenous people to find a way to protect the land and the future. In a riveting new feature documentary drawn from more than a hundred hours of archival footage and audio, award-winning director Christopher Auchter (Now Is the Time) recreates the critical moment when the Haida Nation’s resolute act of vision and conscience changed the world.

Kampai! Sake Sisters

Sake is a traditional alcoholic beverage from Japan and is otherwise known as rice wine. Women were prohibited from entering the many large and small sake breweries dotting Japan for centuries. However, times have changed and women are present on the sake scene today. In several cases, they are integral to the Japanese brewery business. The documentary depicts women who are not only enthusiasts, but also leaving their marks on the evolution of this Japanese mainstay.

Woman, Life, Freedom: An Iranian Revolution

On September 16, 2022, in Teheran, the murder by police of the young Mahsa Amini, arrested for "wearing a headscarf contrary to the law", sparked off an unprecedented insurrection. Within hours, a spontaneous movement formed around the rallying cry: "Woman, life, freedom". For the first time, women, joined by men and students, took the initiative and removed their veils, the hated symbol of the Islamic Republic. The Iranian population, from all regions and social categories, rose up in protest. Social networks went wild. The diaspora (between 5–8 million Iranians) took up the cause, and the whole world discovered the scale of this mobilization: could the theocratic regime be overthrown this time?

Cyborg Society

What does the looming A.I. revolution mean for us as individuals and as a society?

Seaspiracy

Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.

Vitalik: An Ethereum Story

Chronicles tech visionary Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum's community of builders as they fight for an open internet accessible to all.

Mafia Is Not What It Used to Be

Palermo, Sicily, Italy, 2017. Twenty-five years after the murders of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone, on May 23, 1992, and Paolo Borsellino, on July 19, 1992; and on the occasion of the tributes held in memory of both heroes, skeptical photographer Letizia Battaglia, chronicler of their titanic combat, criticizes the opportunism of shady characters who, like businessman Ciccio Mira, profit from the commemoration of both tragedies.