The Pearl Throne (2024)

Statues Also Die

Commissioned by the journal Présence Africaine, this short documentary examines how African art is devalued and alienated through colonial and museum contexts. Beginning with the question of why African works are confined to ethnographic displays while Greek or Egyptian art is celebrated, the film became a landmark of anti-colonial cinema and was banned in France for eight years.

Dahomey

Thousands of royal artifacts of Dahomey, a West African kingdom, were taken by French colonists in the 19th century for collection and display in Paris. Centuries later, a fraction returned to their home in modern-day Benin. This dramatized documentary follows the journey of 26 of the treasures as told by cultural art historians, embattled university students, and one of the repatriated statues himself.

Restitution? Africa's Fight for Its Art

There is an interlinking history of violent European colonialism and the cultural legacy of ethnographic collections in institutions. This documentary traces the progression of colonial history from the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 to the systematic elimination of cultural traditions, religions and lifeways which would occur sporadically through genocides and warfare until the early 20th century throughout the African continent—surveying the inquiries and movements for historical justice, the relationships between European institutions and colonial violence and following enduring struggles against these organisations to regain what was taken.

The Rumba Kings

In the fifties, when the future Democratic Republic of Congo was still a Belgian colony, an entire generation of musicians fused traditional African tunes with Afro-Cuban music to create the electrifying Congolese rumba, a style that conquered the entire continent thanks to an infectious rhythm, captivating guitar sounds and smooth vocals.

Africa Rising

How African artists have spread African culture all over the world, especially music, since the harsh years of decolonization, trying to offer a nicer portrait of this amazing continent, historically known for tragic subjects, such as slavery, famine, war and political chaos.

Burkinabè Rising - The Art of Resistance in Burkina Faso

BURKINABÈ RISING: the art of resistnace in Burkina Faso showcases creative nonviolent resistance in Burkina Faso. A small, landlocked country in West Africa, Burkina Faso is home to a vibrant community of artists and engaged citizens, who provide an example of the type of political change that can be achieved when people come together. It is an inspiration, not only to the rest of Africa but also to the rest of the world. Through music, film, ecology, visual art, and architecture, the people featured in this film are carrying on the revolutionary spirit of Thomas Sankara. After assuming the presidency in 1983, Sankara was killed in a 1987 coup d'état led by his friend and close advisor Blaise Compaoré, who subsequently ruled the country as an autocrat for twenty-seven years. In October 2014, a massive popular insurrection led to his removal. Today, the spirit of resistance is mightier than ever in Burkina Faso.

Delivery

A peaceful neighborhood, a peaceful home, a peaceful couple who is about to celebrate the arrival of their new piece collection of African Art.

Tango Kabaree

A fictitious biography of Aira Samulin, the goddess of dance and importer of all the international dance crazes to Finland for some fifty years. The life story of this extravagant ever-teen, well beyond the usual retirement age, is told inside a fictitious plot about a Master of Ceremonies trying to persuade Aira to stage a show at his cabaret restaurant. Besides Aira Samulin, many other Finnish celebrities appear among the eccentric lineup auditioning for the show, playing more or less their fictionalised selves.

Aileen Wuornos : Mind of a Monster

Serial killer Aileen Wuornos writes down her darkest secrets for her best friend while on Florida's death row; now, for the first time, those secrets are revealed in detail.

Landmarks

In 2009, a man and two accomplices try to evict members of the Indigenous community of Chuschagasta in northern Argentina. Claiming ownership of the land and armed with guns, they kill the community’s leader, Javier Chocobar. The murder is caught on video. It takes nine years of protests before court proceedings are finally opened in 2018. During all this time, the killers remain free. The film combines the voices and photographs of the community with courtroom footage to explore the long history of colonialism and land dispossession that led to this crime.

lll

The diagnosis of mantle cell lymphoma not only ruined Albert Farkas' summer day when he received it. He narrates scenes from everyday life with the diagnosis. Josephine Ahnelt's short documentary shows Farkas' self-assertion through his humor, with which he defies the initial low point.

Une année au front : dans les coulisses de "Un long dimanche de fiançailles"

Plot unavailable

Microcosmos

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

Super Size Me

Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.

Starring Jerry as Himself

Jerry, an ordinary immigrant dad, retired in Orlando, is recruited to be an undercover agent for the Chinese police. Jerry’s family recreates the events on film and his three sons discover a darker truth. True crime meets spy thriller in this genre-bending docufiction hybrid about an immigrant’s search for the American dream. A Slamdance Film Festival Grand Jury and Audience Award winner.

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.

Punk Rock Vegan Movie

The ongoing relationship between the worlds of punk rock and animal rights and how the music became a breeding ground for vegan activism.

Paul Newman, Behind Blue Eyes

From the very beginning, actor Paul Newman captivated the cinema audience with his exceptional azure eyes. The reserved Newman himself finds it trivial and even disturbing that everyone is so taken with his appearance. The actor and director - who has played in more than sixty films and directed twelve of them - prefers to focus on his work and family. And, at least as important, on his philanthropic ventures and political activism.

Earth Under Water

Miami, New Orleans and New York City completely under water it’s a very real possibility if sea levels continue to rise. In Earth Under Water we’ll see these events unfold as leading experts forecast how mankind will be impacted if global warming continues. They’ll break down the science behind these predictions and explore ways humanity could adapt, including engineering vast dams near San Francisco, or building floating cities outside of New York.

Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Everything Everywhere All at Once

A behind-the-scenes look at Everything Everywhere All at Once, with interviews from the directors/writers, cast and crew.

Time Passages

A pandemic rages across the globe. In the final months of his mother Elaine's late-stage dementia, gay filmmaker Kyle Henry uses his extensive family archive to travel back in time, exploring the complicated bonds of identity, history, and belonging in his large Texas family. Charting Elaine's promising early life through her years of motherhood and self-sacrifice, finally tracing their relationship to its inevitable end, Time Passages explores Kyle's conflicting feelings of love, grief, guilt, and helplessness. Beneath the Kodachrome smiles and grainy Super-8 home movies lie the difficult truths that so many families hide. With their unearthing, Time Passages becomes a memento mori: a testament to love, legacy and the things that carry us through life's most challenging times.

Terror und Champagner – Hitlers Stellvertreter in Paris

Between June 1940 and August 1944, Otto Abetz, German ambassador in Paris, and Fernand de Brinon, ambassador of the Vichy regime in Paris, met almost daily and developed official collaboration between the governments of Vichy and Nazi Germany.

Woodstock

An intimate look at the Woodstock Music & Art Festival held in Bethel, NY in 1969, from preparation through cleanup, with historic access to insiders, blistering concert footage, and portraits of the concertgoers; negative and positive aspects are shown, from drug use by performers to naked fans sliding in the mud, from the collapse of the fences by the unexpected hordes to the surreal arrival of National Guard helicopters with food and medical assistance for the impromptu city of 500,000.

In Dispute: Lively v. Baldoni

The special examines the legal complaint brought against Justin Baldoni by Blake Lively, alleging he engaged in sexual misconduct on the set of his film, It Ends With Us, and hired a PR firm to engage in an online smear campaign against her to keep her quiet. Baldoni denies the allegations and has responded with a $400m counter-suit, accusing her of defamation. With the trial set for March 2026, the special examines the evidence on both sides and the response to the dispute on social media.

Making 'Logan'

This six-part documentary covers a variety of subjects, which at least give fans the opportunity to clarify that Dafne Keen is not the devil child she appears to be in the film. Segments include: - Crafting the Story (12:19) - Casting the Film (20:36) - Designing the World (17:55) - Creating the Score (4:25) - Stunts and Fights (16:53) and - Wrapping Logan (4:06)

Lumdo Kolola

Plot unavailable

Heaven Can't Wait

The moving story of Carlo Acutis, a young British-Italian amateur computer programmer who died in 2006, aged 15, as a result of leukemia. However, even though he is no longer here, to this day Carlo continues to be a great symbol of strength among young people. The documentary brings together a series of reports from people who entrusted themselves to the intercession of the boy, beatified by the Catholic Church in 2020, and had their lives transformed.

Brazilian Dream

For the last 500 years, Edilson has been cutting sugar cane in Brazil. One day, the machines arrive and he leaves his job to engage in his first space mission. A small step for him, a giant leap for the nation.

Giorgio Mattia: From Kosovo to Iraq

Giorgio Mattia describes his experiences during the second attack on the Italian Army in Nasiriya, Iraq 2006.

My Courtyard

During the pandemic, a 14 year old boy remains stuck in his school dormitory while his mother tries to contact him.

Hunting the Essex Lorry Killers

It started with a 999 call from a lorry driver in Essex and ended in one of the UK’s biggest ever police investigations, a hunt for those responsible for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese migrants. Spanning Britain, Europe and Vietnam, this film shows how detectives cracked open a multimillion-pound international smuggling ring with its roots in a seemingly innocuous haulage business in the heart of Northern Ireland.

1991: The Year Punk Broke

David Markey's documentary of life on the road with Sonic Youth and Nirvana during their tour of Europe in late 1991. Also featuring live performances by Dinosaur Jr, Babes in Toyland, The Ramones and Gumball.

In a Silent Way

A film crew crisscrosses England trying to unravel the mystery surrounding a record released 30 years earlier, 'Spirit of Eden', that defined the passage from light to shadow of its makers, the band Talk Talk and its lead singer Mark Hollis. From overwhelming obstacles to unpredictable encounters, their journey soon turns into an organic quest. With silence as a horizon line. And punk as a philosophy, thinking that music is accessible to all and that the human spirit is above the technique.

ODE TO YOU IN SEOUL

ODE TO YOU — This is a recording of the September 1st, 2019 concert at Seoul, South Korea's KSPO Dome.

Hitler's Teen Killers

They grew up under the Nazi regime. They pledged to give their lives for Hitler. They were fanatics who would not be stopped. They were the 20,000 teenagers who made up the 12th SS Panzer Division. Unleashed in France to halt the Allied invasion, they would sow terror and destruction in their wake. Historical colorized archives and a handful of survivors tell us this story.

The Long Goodbye

This is a touching documentary film about some elderly people who suffer from dementia, and their families.

Making Fun: The Story of Funko

From a small garage in Redmond, Washington, to the furthest corners of the earth, Funko's story is one that is centered around the fans and the global community that arose from their unique passion - a story that spans twenty years full of joy, ambition, adversity, and... well... toys.

All Creatures Welcome

All Creatures Welcome explores the world of hackers and nerds at the events of the Chaos Computer Club, Europe's largest hacker association. The film dispels common clichés and draws a utopian picture of a possible society in the digital age.

2001: A Space Odyssey - A Look Behind the Future

A short documentary about the making of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and its impact on the '60s view of the future.

The Making of Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'

Cast and crew take viewers behind the scenes into the production and creation of his 1993 stop-motion classic The Nightmare Before Christmas

Road to Portmagee

Six friends document their trip from Cork to Portmagee, County Kerry for the May the 4th Sci-fi film festival where one of their short films is screening.

vvvamor

A formally free poetic documentary filmed through a summer depression in northern Portugal.