It's Just Better (1982)

Land Without Bread

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

Sarajevo Film Festival

Sarajevo in the twentieth month of its besiegement. The situation is critical, but the city chooses to organise an international film festival. Dutch filmmakers Johan van der Keuken and Frank Vellenga present Van der Keuken's documentaries Face Value and Brass Unbound there, and one of the festival organisers asks a festival visitor: "What is the significance of film in war?" In Sarajevo Film Festival Film, a reflection on film, war and daily life, fictional images are juxtaposed in a disconcerting way with the gruesome reality of the life of a festival visitor.

Cracking the Shakespeare Code

Norwegian researcher Petter Amundsen claims to have deciphered a secret code hidden in legendary playwright William Shakespeare's works that reveals a map leading to the location of certain treasures. British Shakespearean scholar Robert Crumpton embarks on a mission to prove he is spectacularly wrong. (A remake of “Shakespeare: The Hidden Truth,” including new discoveries.)

Flora

A metacinematic reflection on the nature of representation and the ongoing drug war in Mexico, Nicolás Pereda’s Flora revisits locations and scenes from the mainstream 2010 narco-comedy El Infierno, exploring the paradoxes of depicting narco-trafficking on film—its tendency both to romanticize and to obscure. To screen is both to project and to conceal.

Lesser Choices

The bleached palette and home-movie aesthetics of Super 8 footage provide the image track for this testimonial about an illegal abortion in Mexico City in the 1960s, delivered in voiceover by the filmmaker’s mother. In its account of this intimate and disorienting memory, Lesser Choices summons a time of profound uncertainty—a moment from an era without rights—and offers a warning to the present.

Remembering Surrounded Islands

For the 35th anniversary of Surrounded Islands - a monumental temporary art installation by world renowned environmental artists Christo & Jeanne-Claude that wrapped eleven small islands in Biscayne Bay with 6.5 million square feet of bubble gum pink woven polypropylene plastic - Perez Art Museum Miami presented a documentary exhibition about the work entitled Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980–83 | A Documentary Exhibition. This was the first time the exhibition was on display in North America.

Glass Life

A dynamic configuration of images and videos overlaid with musings on human existence.

Convicts

The short registers a sports spectacle of great importance (probably of soccer). We never see the spectacle itself but the people watching and reacting at the stadium.

Gun Killers

Written and directed by Jason Young (Animals, Inside Time), Gun Killers takes us into the rural, secluded paradise that retired blacksmiths John and Nancy Little call home. As the tranquil light of a typical day of harvesting vegetables descends into night, we experience the secret work that John and Nancy are sometimes called upon to undertake for the RCMP.

Exploring the Reef

Jean-Michael Cousteau's documentary about the Great Barrier Reef keeps getting interrupted by characters from Disney's Finding Nemo.

Speeding, of Course

70-year-old Timo makes the most of his short ride to work. Speeding up on a bicycle ends up in a ditch, but the adrenaline rush leaves a feeling of pleasure.

Bears

From polar bears in the arctic tundra to black bears in the Northern Rockies, you'll see some of the most spectacular footage ever shot of these enterprising omnivores. Catch salmon with a group of hungry grizzlies on the McNeil River in Alaska. Crawl inside a den with a mother black bear and her cubs. Learn about the challenges facing each of these species as their habitat diminishes.

Little Potato

Wes Hurley's autobiographical tale of growing up gay in Soviet Union Russia, only to escape with his mother, a mail order bride, to Seattle to face a whole new oppression in his new Christian fundamentalist American dad.

La Belle Époque de Michel Ocelot

Plot unavailable

Mystery of the Nile

Filmed in IMAX, a team of explorers led by Pasquale Scaturro and Gordon Brown face seemingly insurmountable challenges as they make their way along all 3,260 miles of the world's longest and deadliest river to become the first in history to complete a full descent of the Blue Nile from source to sea.

Volcanoes of the Deep Sea

12,000 feet down, life is erupting. Alvin, a deep-sea mechanized probe, makes a voyage some 12,000 feet underwater to explore the Azores, a constantly-erupting volcanic rift between Europe and North America.

No Voice

She now lives many miles away from her mother, who is waiting to hear from her. It is a bittersweet, restless, nostalgic moment, and she remembers those vanished years.

A Slice of Lynch

David Lynch, Mädchen Amick, Kyle MacLachlan and John Wentworth reminisce about "Twin Peaks" while seated at a diner counter.

The First Emperor of China

This historical drama tells the story of Qin Shihuang, who unified China's vast territory and declared himself emperor in 221 B.C. During his reign, he introduced sweeping reforms, built a vast network of roads and connected the Great Wall of China. From the grandiose inner sanctum of Emperor Qin's royal palace, to fierce battles with feudal kings, this film re-creates the glory and the terror of the Qin Dynasty, including footage of Qin's life-sized terra cotta army, constructed 2,200 years ago for his tomb.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Giri Chit

GIRI CHIT tells a tale of the subtle trace of irreconcilable worlds. A worker driving a mobile sweeper in hypnotic circles across an already immaculate surface. The high drama of cosplay aficionados clamoring to be seen. A cast of thousands toiling hundreds of feet above the street. Giri translates as ‘duty’ in Japanese, but the concept is in fact far more complicated. Giri is a sort of interpersonal political capital that informs careers, family relations, and much more. Its presence and flow is palpable in Japan, where this film was shot. A “giri chit” then may be a hypothetical voucher for this intangible flow (with a tip of the cap to Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland”). Selected Screenings and Awards: DaVinci Film Festival (Best Experimental Film), Chicago Underground Film Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival, Dallas Videofest, ICDOCS Film Festival, NewFilmmakers at Anthology Film Archives, Oxford Film Festival, Director’s Lounge Berlin

Bob's Funeral

Searching for the root of generational trauma, the director takes a camera into his estranged grandfather’s funeral.

Solarmax

Solarmax is a 40-minute giant-screen documentary that tells the story of humankind's struggle to understand the sun. The film will take audiences on an incredible voyage from pre-history to the leading edge of today's contemporary solar science.

Innovations in Film: 65mm Black and White Film in Oppenheimer

FotoKem gives in-depth tour of the new scientific and artistic workflows that had to be invented in order to realize Christopher Nolan's unique vision of using both color and black & white 65mm film in the same motion picture

Speed

A documentary on the history on mankind's attempts to reach high speeds. Starting with the invention of the bicycle, going on to sports cars, cars with jet engines, rocket-powered cars, attempts to break the sound barrier, and rocket-engine airplanes. Each achievement is documented by title card indicating the speed reached in miles per hour.

Cherry Pop

Cherry Pop was no ordinary cat. Beloved by her wealthy socialite owners, she lived life in the lap of luxury. Her taste for filet mignon and the comfort of Rolls-Royces made Cherry Pop a celebrity before her death in 1995. This delightful story will tickle your funny bone and touch your heart.

Glamour Reel Docs: Dreamland

Tommy Hilfiger Dreaming Perfume campaign - Coney Island, the playland of New York City, documents the preservation of the lifestyle, joys and history of this iconic Brooklyn neighborhood.

Glamour Reel Docs: Soul Tigers

Soul Tigers Marching Band, Inc. has stepped into the breach to offer not just music education and the arts but the development of integrity, honorable personal conduct, and patience & respect for others, for some New York’s most underserved youth populations.

In Song: Arturo Chacón-Cruz

Journey to the sunny coastline of South Florida, where Chacón-Cruz — one of opera’s leading tenors — invites you inside his home, his artistry and his history to show how he’s embraced his identity as fuel for his work.