American Santa (2023)

Frantz Fanon: His Life, His Struggle, His Work

It is the evocation of a life as brief as it is dense. An encounter with a dazzling thought, that of Frantz Fanon, a psychiatrist of West Indian origin, who will reflect on the alienation of black people. It is the evocation of a man of reflection who refuses to close his eyes, of the man of action who devoted himself body and soul to the liberation struggle of the Algerian people and who will become, through his political commitment, his fight, and his writings, one of the figures of the anti-colonialist struggle. Before being killed at the age of 36 by leukemia, on December 6, 1961. His body was buried by Chadli Bendjedid, who later became Algerian president, in Algeria, at the Chouhadas cemetery (cemetery of war martyrs ). With him, three of his works are buried: “Black Skin, White Masks”, “L’An V De La Révolution Algérien” and “The Wretched of the Earth”.

When We Were Kings

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

Beyond Borders

Pilot JP Schulze and filmmaker Louis Cole set off to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine, 1974 Cessna T210L airplane named Balloo. They had 90 days to complete the journey, and as they traveled they met people from many different cultures and asked them - is what divides us greater than what brings us together?

White Riot

Exploring how punk influenced politics in late-1970s Britain, when a group of artists united to take on the National Front, armed only with a fanzine and a love of music.

The Antifascists

A low-intensity war is being fought on the streets of Europe and the aim is on fascism. This critically acclaimed documentary takes us behind the masks of the militants called antifascists. In 2013 a group of armed nazis attacks a peaceful demonstration in Stockholm where several people are injured. In Greece the neo-nazi party Golden Dawn becomes the third largest in the election and in Malmö the activist Showan Shattak and his friends are attacked by a group of nazis with knives and he ends up in a coma. In this portrait of the antifascists in Greece and Sweden we get to meet key figures that explain their view on their radical politics but also to question the level their own violence and militancy.

The Price of Protest

United States, September 1st, 2016. American football player Colin Kaepernick kneels during the national anthem, protesting police brutality against black people. Part of the population regards the gesture as an unacceptable affront to the flag. Later, he loses his place on his team. Today, however, he is considered by many as a true hero.

The Ripple Effect

The Ripple Effect is a powerful documentary primarily centred around St Kilda legend and proud Noongar Nicky Winmar's generation-defining stand against racism at Victoria Park in 1993.

In France with Madonna

France is at the heart of Madonna's life. She is inspired by French culture and its values and has surrounded herself with French artists for many years. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Queen of Pop's career, this film revisits the close and unique bond between Madonna and France and features testimonials from close collaborators and French friends who have helped create her unique artistic universe: Maripol, Jean Paul Gaultier, Julien d'Ys, Nicolas Huchard, and Marion Motin. Today's artists such as Florence Foresti, Leïla Slimani, Victor Weinsanto and HollySiz talk about the influence of this emancipating figure, which extends far beyond music.

A Propos D'Un Crime

In 1967, Visconti came to Algiers for the filming of The Stranger with Mastroianni and Anna Karina. Camus, during his lifetime, had always refused to allow one of his novels to be brought to the screen. His family made another decision. The filming of the film was experienced in Algiers, like a posthumous return of the writer to Algiers. During filming, a young filmmaker specializing in documentaries Gérard Patris attempts a report on the impact of the filming of The Stranger on the Algerians. Interspersed with sequences from the shooting of Visconti's film, he films Poncet, Maisonseul, Bénisti and Sénac, friends of Camus, in full discussions to situate Camus and his work in a sociological and historical context. “The idea is for us to show people, others, ourselves as if they could all be Meursault, or at least the witnesses concerned to his drama.”

Totems and Taboos

In Brussels, Belgium, the Royal Museum of Central Africa is undertaking a radical renovation, both physical and ethical, to show with sincerity, crudeness and open-mindedness the reality of the atrocities perpetrated against the inhabitants of the Belgian colonies in Africa, still haunted and traumatized by the ghost of King Leopold II of Belgium, a racist and genocidal tyrant.

John Ford: The Man Who Invented America

Over a 50-year career and more than a hundred movies, filmmaker John Ford (1894-1973) forged the legend of the Far West. By giving a face to the underprivileged, from humble cowboys to persecuted minorities, he revealed like no one else the great social divisions that existed and still exist in the United States. More than four decades after his death, what remains of his legacy and humanistic values in the memory of those who love his work?

Black Thoughts

A man that is a stranger, is an incredibly easy man to hate. However, walking in a stranger’s shoes, even for a short while, can transform a perceived adversary into an ally. Power is found in coming to know our neighbor’s hearts. For in the darkness of ignorance, enemies are made and wars are waged, but in the light of understanding, family extends beyond blood lines and legacies of hatred crumble.

René Vautier, le rebelle

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Martin Luther King at Newcastle University

A remarkable event the great American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King makes a powerful speech on a unique visit to Newcastle University.

#standwithme

#standwithme examines the realities of modern-day slavery, the role we play in it as consumers, and the importance of knowing the story behind what we buy. After seeing a photo of two enslaved boys in Nepal, Vivienne Harr is moved to help in the only way she knows how: by setting up her lemonade stand. As Vivienne's vision begins to show promise for something greater, she and her family must fight to avoid supporting the very thing they are up against.

Antifa: Skinhead Hunters

A French documentary on how groups of youth in Paris generated a backlash against the NeoNazi skinhead subculture, and by doing so earned themselves the nickname Chasseurs de Skins or 'Skinhead Hunters'.

White Noise

Through a poetic language, "White Noise" seeks to reflect on the whitening processes that Brazil suffered for 130 years, after the abolition of slavery. How it affects our offspring and makes it difficult to search for the identity of black people in a historically racist country.

Becoming A Black Woman

A documentary about black women denouncing racism in Switzerland.

Arreda Homem Que Chegou Mulher

Documentary about terreiro women in Fortaleza who occupy the highest positions in the hierarchy, subverting the patriarchal tradition of religious communities.

Les Ajoncs

An unemployed Algerian worker leaves Paris by hitchhiking. He soon found himself in Brittany and, seduced by the beauty of wild gorse, eventually established himself as a gorse merchant. But for problems with parking his little cart, he had a rough explanation with a law enforcement officer. The happy intervention of factory workers, the eager kindness they showed him, saved him from despair. This film is part of a trilogy "Them And Us" with the films "Les 3 Cousins" and "Techniquement Si Simple".

The Perfect Holiday

Nancy Taylor, a divorced mother of three, feels especially lonely during the holidays. All she wants for Christmas is to meet a nice man - even just a nice compliment would make her day. Sensing her sadness, Nancy's little girl, Emily, has a plan to make her mom happy again. She shares her Mommy's wish with shopping mall Santa, Benjamin Armstrong. And Benjamin, who is also a struggling songwriter, knows exactly the right words to say.

Twitz from Pluto: Graff, Jackass and TV Casualty

The story of two teenage extraterrestrial refugees from the planet Pluto, who escape to Earth after their planet is destroyed by the US government, as it was deemed “insignificant.” For many years prior, tensions between the Plutonians and the Earthlings had seen a steady incline, as Pluto held camps where Earthlings were experimented on and tortured. The two aliens make their crash landing, undertake human form and undergo the aliases “Hugh Jainus” and “E. Rection”. In an effort to wage revenge on the nation, with their brainwashed sidekick Potator under their wing, the trio hijack television stations worldwide and broadcast mind-numbingly stupid and ridiculous, yet insane and often violent programs to dumb down and distract the nation’s citizens from their devious plans. The tube tells the story...

Madame Rosa

Madame Rosa lives in a sixth-floor walkup in the Pigalle; she's a retired prostitute, Jewish and an Auschwitz survivor, a foster mom to children of other prostitutes. Momo is the oldest and her favorite, an Algerian lad whom she raises as a Muslim. He asks about his parents; she answers evasively. As she ages and takes fewer children, Momo must do more for her; as money is tight, he tries to earn pennies on the street with a puppet. He's a beautiful man-child, and Madame Rosa makes him promise never to sell himself or become a pimp. A film editor, Nadine, befriends him, and his father appears as well. Madame Rosa reaches her last days in fear of hospitals, and Momo must act.

Escape from Pretoria

South Africa, 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee, two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime, put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.

Christmas Every Day

When little Lucy wishes it were Christmas every day, "forever and ever", her dad tells the cautionary tale of her grandmother Tilly, who, as a little girl, made the very same wish, and the dire consequences that occurred after her wish was granted.

Snowed Inn Christmas

Jenna Hudson and Kevin Jenner are polar opposites working for the same online publication in New York City. With both having nowhere they want to be for Christmas, they volunteer for a special writing assignment. After a snowstorm forces their plane to land in none other than Santa Claus, Indiana, the two are placed in a Christmas Wonderland and the focus of their story shifts to saving the historic town inn run by Carol and Christopher Winters. As the two overcome their differences, they also rediscover the magic of Christmas. But with the inn's fate in jeopardy and the return of someone from Jenna's past, Carol and Christopher lend a helping hand to bring Jenna and Kevin together.

The Night Before Christmas

On Christmas Eve, Santa feeds his reindeer and loads his sleigh, before going on his journey to deliver toys to the children of the world.

Love Is Everything

The Christmas fever of the December time starts with the arrival of an unusual Santa to the city. It will be a storm of exceptional events.

Rock N' Roll Christmas

An estranged mother/daughter country music duo reunite after 10 years apart to release a Christmas single after a video of them goes viral. Now, they’re going to need a lot of forgiveness and a little Christmas magic to write a song that perfectly captures the spirit of Christmas and brings their family back together.

Divide and Rule - Never!

This punk-infused documentary by the Newsreel Collective invites young working class Londoners to discuss their experiences of racism. First and second generation Black and Asian immigrants, as well as ex-National Front members, paint a detailed picture of discrimination in 1970s Britain. The film uses lo-fi animation, archive footage and a pulsating soundtrack to compare racial inequality in London to Britain's colonial 'divide and rule' policy, European fascism and the rise of Nazi Germany.

The Damned Of The Earth

Upon his death, a young African director, Abramo Malonga, bequeathed his first and last unfinished film to his former teacher, the Italian director Fausto Morelli. Morelli, who after seeing the work, is confronted with a confusing, complex and, in part, incomprehensible work. Helped by the young widow of Abramo Malonga and by the notes left by his deceased friend, and again by his personal memories, the Italian director attempts to reconstruct and complete the film. Fausto's work progresses with difficulty, not only because of the problems the film poses for him, but because of the problems that arise in his daily life. After a long crisis, after which he returns to Pisa with his former party companions and abandons himself to love and his own solitude, Fausto takes up the work of his African friend, closing it with a final invention, in which , with a bold metaphor, has refigured the human condition of our time.

Le Remords

A filmmaker witnesses an act of racist police violence in Paris. He discusses with a friend whether and how he should make a film out of this.

Good Stock On The Dimension Floor: An Opera

A collectively made filmic opera in 35 parts. The Black and predominantly queer art collective, an evolving line up of poets and artists from across the world, abstracts and reimagines opera in any traditional conception. Set to hip-hop, blues, noise, R&B and electronica, the piece uses the voice (chanting, singing, screaming; written by poet and activist Dawn Lundy Martin) as its primary tool, verbalising centuries of alienation, vulnerability and protest in the global African diaspora through its disruptive libretto.

Olhares sobre o racismo

Plot unavailable

How the West Was One

In a contemporary reimagining of the American West, three young women - a snake hunter, a New York artist, and a rodeo queen - challenge the idea of who is permitted to be a cowgirl.

American Royalty

The American Royalty docuseries showcases an in-depth perspective of the Miss America Pageant. Experience the hundred year history, influence, controversy, and evolution of this iconic institution.

Everest Unmasked

Record of the first ascent of Everest made without the use of oxygen equipment, made in May 1978 by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler. Could it be done? Would their blood vessels burst? Would they suffer brain damage leading to madness? Nobody was sure. Messner: 'I would never come here for trying Everest with oxygen. That is not a challenge for me.' A fascinating piece of history, well filmed by Leo Dickinson and Eric Jones (above the South Col Messner used a cine camera to continue the filming), featuring Messner and Habeler's thoughts. The film follows the usual sequence from Namche to Base Camp, through the Icefall, to Camps I, II and III. It also shows historical footage of the pioneering Mallory and Shipton expeditions.

The Men Behind the Mayhem: The Special Effects of James Bond

Documentary looking at the special effects from the bond movies and the men who created them. Narrated by Marie Clairu.

Germany: A Summer's Fairytale

A documentary of the German national soccer team’s 2006 World Cup experience that changed the face of modern Germany.

Riding Giants

Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party.

Welcome to Babel

Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen's plans to create an epic work depicting his homeland's tumultuous recent history.

The Platypus Guardian

In a time of hardship, Hobart resident Peter Walsh turns to the secretive platypus for solace, only to discover it is the platypus that need his help to survive in a habitat under threat.

Mixmania: 20 Years Later

After having glued hundreds of thousands of young people to their TV sets, what were the repercussions of the MIXMANIA craze and what legacy did it leave? In MIXMANIA : 20 ANS PLUS TARD, Bianca Gervais revisits this unique phenomenon that marked an entire generation by hosting a conventum evening with those who lived it 20 years ago.

When We Were Bullies

A mind-boggling "coincidence" leads the filmmaker to track down his fifth grade class – and fifth grade teacher – to examine their memory of and complicity in a bullying incident fifty years ago.