Palestine Blues (2006)

Tantura

The tape-recorded words “erase it” take on new weight in the context of history and war. When the state of Israel was established in 1948, war broke out and hundreds of Palestinian villages were depopulated in its aftermath. Israelis know this as the War of Independence. Palestinians call it “Nakba” (the Catastrophe). In the late 1990s, graduate student Teddy Katz conducted research into a large-scale massacre that had allegedly occurred in the village of Tantura in 1948. His work later came under attack and his reputation was ruined, but 140 hours of audio testimonies remain.

The Woman Pastor

In a community of a Muslim majority, the first woman pastor in the Middle East leads a parish in one of the poorest city of the Mediterranean, in the heart of Tripoli, North Lebanon.

Dogtown and Z-Boys

This award-winning, thrilling story is about a group of discarded kids who revolutionized skateboarding and shaped the attitude and culture of modern day extreme sports. Featuring old skool skating footage, exclusive interviews and a blistering rock soundtrack, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS captures the rise of the Zephyr skateboarding team from Venice's Dogtown, a tough "locals only" beach with a legacy of outlaw surfing.

No Other Land

Made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, this documentary shows the destruction of the West Bank’s Masafer Yatta by Israeli authorities and the unlikely friendship that blossoms between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.

The Wild Blue Yonder

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

Palestine Is Still the Issue

A documentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has lasted for more than 50 years. Contains some interviews with the children in this conflict.

Night and Fog

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

Gaza

GAZA brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict. Throughout its entire history the Gaza Strip has been witness to conflict and upheaval. From ancient times this tiny coastal territory, located at a crossroads between continents, has been a pawn whose fate rested in the hands of powerful neighbours.

No tan nuestras

The Falklands/Malvinas War has proved a powerful motif in contemporary Argentine film-making and Ramiro Longo's new documentary offers a unique take on the conflict and its pervasive legacy. While Argentina suffered 649 casualties during the War, subsequently over 350 ex-servicemen have committed suicide while attempting to come to terms with civilian life in the aftermath of the 1982 defeat. Longo's film is structured around an extended interview with War veteran Sergio Delgado who provides a moving testimony on the conflict and the ways in which it has subsequently haunted his life and aspirations. As much an insider's view of the conflict as a tale of the legacy of trauma, Not Really Ours offers a reflection on memory, fear and the shaping of a nation's psyche. Longo's deft editing juxtaposes telling footage alongside Delgado's story. The result is both a moving tapestry of war and its scars and a telling reflection on the ways in which official history is constructed.

Beyond Borders: Arab Feminists Talk About Their Lives... East and West

In the Arab world, women are fighting a two-front war against repressive internal constraints and intrusive Western interference. In this program, a feminist delegation composed of author Nawal Saadawi and other renowned activists from the Middle East and North Africa gathers at the UN, on college campuses, and in church basements to speak out about deterioration of women's rights in the Arab states in an effort to heighten awareness of the Arab feminist struggle for equality--and the effects of U.S. foreign policy on their efforts.

Waltz with Bashir

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

Cirque du Soleil: Quidam

A young girl has already seen everything there is to see and her world has lost all meaning. Her anger shatters her world and she finds herself in the universe of QUIDAM, where she is joined by a playful companion, as well as another mysterious character who attempts to seduce her with the marvelous, the unsettling and the terrifying.

Control Room

A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.

Dust to Glory

An action-adventure documentary chronicling the most notorious and dangerous race in the world--the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Rivaling the Indy 500 and 25 Hours of Daytona, the race across Baja's peninsula is unpredictable, grueling and raw--just like the uncharted American West of yesteryear.

Videocracy

In a country where bella figura is a national pastime, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the maestro of media manipulation. Having risen to political primacy with the aid of his Mediaset empire, he now controls 90% of the bel paese’s television channels including the state-run RAI network. Quantity, it seems, does not equal quality. Fed on a diet of semi-naked dancing girls, inane competitions and rickety reality shows built around the most ridiculous of premises, is it any wonder that Italians are becoming a nation of fame-hungry wannabes?

Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus

Filmmaker and evolutionary biologist Randy Olson tries to figure out if it is the Darwinists or Intelligent Design supporters who will become a flock of dodos.

Into the Deep

An underwater exploration beneath kelp forests in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. The film captures the birth of a shark, squids mating, a lobster molting, a fish protecting its nest from an octopus and a sea urchin, and the sea bed covered with brittle stars.

Alex Grey & The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors COSM The Movie

A cinematic pilgrimage through the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors gallery in New York City, where the art work of Alex Grey, world reknowned painter sculptor and author combines science and spiritual wisdom.

Fados

A series of musical performances showcasing the diverse facets of fado, a musical genre from Lisbon.

Discordia

In the fall of 2002, it was announced that Benjamin Netanyahu would deliver a speech at Concordia University in Montreal, and reaction from the student body was swift and sudden.

We Are Not Princesses

We Are Not Princesses is a documentary film about the incredible strength and spirit of four Syrian women living as refugees in Beirut as they come together to tell their stories of love, loss, pain and hope through the ancient Greek play, Antigone.

Bukowski: Born Into This

Director John Dullaghan’s biographical documentary about infamous poet Charles Bukowski, Bukowski: Born Into This, is as much a touching portrait of the author as it is an exposé of his sordid lifestyle. Interspersed between ample vintage footage of Bukowski’s poetry readings are interviews with the poet’s fans including such legendary figures such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Fante (wife of John), Bono, and Harry Dean Stanton. Filmed in grainy black and white by Bukowski’s friend, Taylor Hackford, due to lack of funding, the old films edited into this movie paint Bukowski’s life of boozing and brawling romantically, securing Bukowski’s legendary status.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States.

American Swing

Chronicles the rise and fall of 1970s New York City nightclub Plato's Retreat.

Occupation 101: Voices of the Silenced Majority

A thought-provoking documentary on the current and historical causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. political involvement.