Do Rocks Dream of Flying ? (2024)

Iceland: The Quest for Origins

The fascinating landscape formations of Iceland in the North Atlantic bear witness to the beauty and primal power of nature. They were created through the interaction of powerful volcanic, geological and biological processes that have been changing the face of the earth for billions of years. This is what the Earth might have looked like four billion years ago. Iceland is the realm of ice and fire. Nowhere else is there such a high density of volcanoes. The landscapes, which are continually reshaped by eruptions, make the island a natural laboratory full of clues about the formation and development of the earth. The documentary follows a group of scientists through the most active areas of Iceland, along a mountain range that has emerged from the ocean. On the slopes of the volcanoes, in the fog of the fumaroles and on streams and rivers, the three researchers explore how the first forms of life populated the earth's surface and in what evolutionary steps they took over the earth.

Behemoth

Scientists discover a giant creature under the Earth that is wrapped around the entire planet. When the creature wakes all grumpy, it causes worldwide destruction.

Supervolcan Yellowstone : Menace sur la planète ?

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Mission Méditerranée, le musée des Abysses

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Grand Canyon - Un voyage au centre de la Terre

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The Black Scorpion

Volcanic activity frees giant scorpions from the earth who wreak havoc in the rural countryside and eventually threaten Mexico City.

The Monolith Monsters

Rocks from a meteor which grow when in contact with water threaten a sleepy Southwestern desert community.

Celebrating the Rice Media Center

Through the Fondren Fellows program, the Rice Media Center Archive Project has spent the past few months sifting through material stored at the now-defunct Rice Media Center. The team has identified several films as especially notable and will be presenting them in conjunction with documentary footage the team shot of people involved with the films. From lectures featuring Roberto Rossellini and Werner Herzog to films from former Rice students and faculty, the film presentation will tell the narrative of the Rice Media Center through the films and filmmakers that passed through its corridors.

Big Bang in Tunguska

At 7:14 am on 30 June 1908, the largest explosion recorded in human history to date reverberated throughout our planet. The force of the explosion was two thousand times that of the Hiroshima bomb. A woodland area the size of Luxembourg was eradicated in the Siberian taiga. This incident is recorded in history books as the Tunguska catastrophe. To this day, internationally renowned scientists of various disciplines argue about the causes of this disastrous explosion. The documentary discusses the latest and most controversial insights of these leading scientists. It identifies the reasons why Tunguska has evolved into a phenomenon and points out the curious results produced by this mythical event in culture and economy.

Baie de Naples, la colère des volcans

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Alice's Birthday

Adapted from a novel from sci-fi series by Kyr Bulychev about a little girl Alice. It's Alice's birthday and as a present she is invited by an old alien friend archaeologist Gromozeka to join him on an expedition to an alien planet Coleida which population was destroyed by a space plague a hundred years ago. Arriving at the planet they decide that Alice, using a time-traveling device, will go back in time to the day when the plague was brought in by their space expedition to try and save the planet from destruction by spraying the astronauts with a vaccine. To achieve that, she and another alien scientist professor Rrrr, who looks just like a cat, must make a long and perilous journey to the planet's spaceport.

The Living Stones of Sacsayhuamán

Sacsayhuamán, an ancient citadel amidst the Peruvian Andes, is an architectural marvel. It was built more than 900 years ago, and no living person knows how such large rocks were fitted so perfectly into walls. This documentary takes us on a tour of Sacsayhuamán, offering a brief history of the site, and clues that may help to its understand how it was made. It was edited from photos and video taken in July 2012, when Russian geophysicists conducted soil research there, at the request of Peru's Ministry of Culture.

Voyages au centre de la Terre : Dans les pas de Jules Verne

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Annihilation

A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog’s everyday life, rare archive material and in-depth interviews with celebrated collaborators – including Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, and Robert Pattinson, we are given an exciting glimpse into the work and personal life of the iconic artist.

Rocks: Where They Come From

Follows Don as he sees different kinds of rocks at a granite quarry, sandstone cliff and museum. Demonstrates the effects of water, heat and pressure in the formation of rocks.

The Life of a Rock Smasher

The inspiring story about the professional rock smasher Clive Tapps. A devoted man who plans to fulfill his dream, to smash the biggest rock he has ever faced.

Japanese Story

Sandy, a geologist, finds herself stuck on a field trip to the Pilbara desert with a Japanese man she finds inscrutable, annoying and decidedly arrogant. Hiromitsu's view of her is not much better. Things go from bad to worse when they become stranded in one of the most remote regions on Earth.

A Tale of Momentum & Inertia

In this original CG short, a Rock Giant literally holds in his hands the fate of a small coastal village. Can he forgive and forget?

What's Up, Doc?

The accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations.

Nine Miles Down

In the Sahara desert, a sandstorm batters a deserted drilling station. A security patrolman battles through the high winds to investigate why all contact with the station has been lost. Originally built for gas exploration, and then abandoned, the site had recently been taken over by a multi-national research team intent on drilling deeper into the earth’s crust than ever before.

Walkabout

Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.

Rocks

The stone-people Hew and Kew have seen a lot in their everlasting lives on top of their mountain. Therefore they're only mildly amazed by the ongoings in the valley below, they've got their own little problems to deal with - But all of a sudden, Mankind is discovering and inventing, instead of just woozeling, and this new behavior starts to threaten Hew's and Kew's stoic peacefulness...

Silver Night

It seemed like a typically quiet night... but the most unexpected encounter leads Chris to a difficult choice.

Where the Green Ants Dream

The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.

A Place in the World

Mario and Ana, in voluntary exile from Buenos Aires, live in a remote Argentine valley with their 12-year-old son Ernesto. Mario runs a school and a wool cooperative; Ana, a doctor, heads a clinic with Nelda, a progressive nun. Into this idealistic family comes Hans, a jaded Spanish geological engineer -- surveying the land for the local patron, to see if it can be dammed for hydro-electric power, which would drive the peasants from the land into the cities.

Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals

A team of geologists attempt to remove a native population from an island to perform atomic research. But their female Cannibal leader disposes of them one by one.

Focusing on the Turquoise Mountain

It tells about the collaboration of Mongolian-Czech geologists who are discovering treasure deposits in Mongolia, and shows the events that happen to them in a humorous tone.

The Wave

Although theorised, no one is really ready when a mountain pass above the scenic and narrow Geiranger fjord in Norway collapses and creates a tsunami over 300 feet high. A geologist is one of those caught in the middle of it.

Letter Never Sent

Four geologists are searching for diamonds in the wilderness of Siberia. After a long and tiresome journey they manage to find their luck and put the diamond mine on the map. The map must be delivered back to Moscow. But on the day of their departure a terrible forest fire wreaks havoc, and the geologists get trapped in the woods.

Roaring Ranch

Cowboy fights to keep his ranch after oil is discovered on it.

Magma: Volcanic Disaster

When a volcano expert becomes convinced that a cataclysmic natural disaster is about to unfold, a volcanologist Professor John Shepherd and his graduate students believes that recent unexplainable volcanic activity as all of the volcanoes in the world are going to erupt and kill every living thing on the planet! They try to convince the government that their theory is true not a joke while also trying to figure out how to stop it before time runs out!

Love & Savagery

In 1969, a visiting geologist from Newfoundland arouses scandal in a small Irish village when he romances a local girl who’s destined for the convent.

The Money Jungle

When four geologists who form a combine of five industrial companies turn up dead, the race is on to determine whether the culprit is a group of high-powered industrial interests or the government. A trouble-shooter is hired to find a net of deadly intrigue and treachery. The prize: a field to be leased to private industry by the state.

Beyond Sleep

A young geologist ventures out into the vast tundra of northern Norway to finish his research on meteorite craters, only to get hopelessly lost in both the wilderness and his own mind.

The Quake

A geologist races against time to save his estranged wife and two children when a devastating earthquake strikes Oslo, Norway.

Mineral Bar

Mineral Bar is a meditative short film shot on location along the North Fork of the American River in Colfax, California. The film focuses on the natural interplay between rocks and rushing mountain runoff, capturing the hypnotic dance of crystal-clear water as it flows, ripples, and reflects light in ever-changing patterns. Through lingering shots and immersive sound design, the film highlights how the cold Sierra Nevada waters sculpt and animate the riverbed, creating a quiet yet dynamic visual experience.

Journey into Fear

U.S geologist discovers something about Oil that proves VERY threatening to the Turkish and Arab business people.

Kansas Cyclone

The irrepressible Donald Barry is twice falsely accused of murder in this typical low-budget but well-mounted Republic Western. Barry plays Jim Randall, a lawman assigned to investigate a series of gold shipment robberies. Arriving in the middle of a hold-up, Randall finds himself accused of killing the driver (Yakima Canutt). Wells Fargo agent Cal Chambers (Milton Kibbee) vouches for his innocence, however, claiming him to be a noted geologist. Along with several of the prospectors, Jim devises a plan to prove that Jud Parker (Harry Worth) is using his dummy mine as a cover for stealing ore.

Astronaut

A lonely widower battles his family, ill health and time to win a competition for a golden ticket to space.

Campus Code

The college experience - studying, dating, partying... but when one of their classmates disintegrates right before their eyes, Ari, Becca, Izzy, Greta and Arun must battle security, the Griefers and each other to uncover the incredible truth about themselves and this other-worldly campus before they are all eliminated.

Project Eliminator

A scientist working in a top-secret government weapons technology research becomes so disillusioned that he destroys his latest creation: an ultra-sophisticated flying attack laser. Soon, terrorists who want him to re-create the invention kidnap him. A shady government contact recruits two veteran Special Forces operatives Ron Morrell and John Slade who soon find themselves in a frantic race against the clock to rescue the scientist and keep his deadly knowledge a secret.

Agreste

Drylands could be anywhere, just as Marcélia Cartaxo could be many women (including herself). The actress is placed in a situation in which she encounters nature and other female figures, in some instances, her doubles. Out of these encounters spring other possibilities that operate in the world of representation, which, in the film originate from the same imaginary power as children's games in empty lots.

Godzilla 2000: Millennium

An independent group of researchers called the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) actively track Godzilla as he makes landfall in Nemuro. Matters are further complicated when a giant meteor is discovered in the Ibaragi Prefecture. The mysterious rock begins to levitate as it's true intentions for the world and Godzilla are revealed.

Howard the Duck

A scientific experiment unknowingly brings extraterrestrial life forms to the Earth through a laser beam. First is the cigar-smoking drake, Howard, from the duck's planet. A few kids try to keep him from the greedy scientists and help him back to his planet, but then a much less friendly being arrives through the beam...

Jesus Christ Saviour

Klaus Kinski has perhaps the most ferocious reputation of all screen actors: his volatility was documented to electrifying effect in Werner Herzog’s 1999 portrait My Best Fiend. This documentary provides further fascinating insight into the talent and the tantrums of the great man. Beset by hecklers, Kinski tries to deliver an epic monologue about the life of Christ (with whom he perhaps identifies a little too closely). The performance becomes a stand-off, as Kinski fights for control of the crowd and alters the words to bait his tormentors. Indispensable for Kinski fans, and a riveting introduction for newcomers, this is a unique document, which Variety called ‘a time capsule of societal ideals and personal demons.’

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

A terrified toy salesman is mysteriously attacked and brought to the hospital clutching the year’s most popular Halloween costume. Dr. Dan Challis, investigating the strange events, finds himself thrust into a nightmarish conspiracy.

Iron Sky

In the last moments of World War II, a secret Nazi space program evaded destruction by fleeing to the Dark Side of the Moon. During 70 years of utter secrecy, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress with a massive armada of flying saucers.

WALL·E

What if mankind had to leave Earth and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? After hundreds of years doing what he was built for, WALL•E discovers a new purpose in life when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report to the humans. Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most imaginative adventures ever brought to the big screen.

Space Truckers

John Canyon is one of the last independent space transport entrepreneurs. Rough times force him to carry suspicious cargo to Earth without questions being asked. During the flight the cargo turns out to be a multitude of unstoppable killer robots.

Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms

With the UniSol program budget cut by the government, a gang of mercenaries takes control of the new line of Universal Soldiers for their own nefarious ends. In doing so, they clash with Luc Deveraux, survivor of the first incident with the UniSols, alongside his long-lost and newly-resurrected brother Eric and reporter Veronica Roberts.

Mimic 2

Detective Klaski investigates the death and mutilation of three men and soon crosses paths with Remy, an entomologist. Soon, he discovers that she is being stalked by a giant shape-shifting insect who is bent on taking over New York.

Firefox

The Soviets have developed a revolutionary new jet fighter, called 'Firefox'. Worried that the jet will be used as a first-strike weapon—as there are rumours that it is undetectable by radar—the British send ex-Vietnam War pilot, Mitchell Gant on a covert mission into the Soviet Union to steal the Firefox.