You Don't Back Down (1965)

You Are on Indian Land

The territory of Akwesasne straddles the Canada-U.S. border. When Canadian authorities prohibited the duty-free cross-border passage of personal purchases - a right established by the Jay Treaty of 1794 - Kanien'kéhaka protesters blocked the international bridge between Ontario and New York State.

Arabesques on the Pirosmani Theme

Short film from Sergei Parajanov, a personal view of the director on the spectacular heritage of Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918), a Georgian primitivist painter.

Tiny Giants 3D

A short about what happens under and around us. A chipmunk and a small mouse go on an adventure; they grow and learn about life and its obstacles.

Hollywood: Style Center of the World

This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.

Madu

From practicing barefoot on the streets of Lagos to performing on stage in England, twelve year old Anthony Madu leaves his home in Nigeria to study at one of the most prestigious ballet schools in the world. Anthony, who had barely left his neighborhood in Lagos, finds himself thrust into a new world where his wildest dream is suddenly within reach. His journey is a story of extraordinary obstacles, courage, growth, and ultimately, his search for belonging.

Short Plays

Football seen through the eyes of some of the best directors of the world.

Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy Headed People

An animated satire on the question of self-image for African American women living in a society where beautiful hair is viewed as hair that blows in the wind and lets you be free. Lively tunes and witty narration accompany a quick-paced inventory of relaxers, gels, and curlers. This short film has become essential for discussions of racism, African American cinema, and empowerment.

Bill Hicks: Reflections

Comedy Dynamics sits down with Bill Hicks' brother, Steve, who tells old stories, squashes old rumors and reveals the brother and son behind the late comedian. Told amidst old and rare footage, it’s a must watch for any fan.

Obāchan

Obāchan is Japanese. She left her native archipelago in 1941 to marry one of her compatriots, 17 years older, settled in Mexico. Through fragments of family films, manga and sequences that she has shot, Nicolasa Ruiz sculpts a complex and delicate memory landscape between the two shores of the Pacific.

My Dead Body

The extraordinary moving story of Toni Crews, a young mum with a rare terminal cancer who charted her illness online before donating her body for medical research and public dissection.

One

Collected as part of the Fluxfilm Anthology (a multi-reel compendium of 37 short films assembled by Fluxus founder and central operator George Maciunas), One captures the lifespan of a single match recorded at 2,000 frames per second using a 16mm high-speed camera. The frame rate is then decelerated to the standard 24fps for presentation. The film emphasizes each gesture, sway and flare of flame as the small pinewood carrier ignites across the landscape of the filmstrip and screen, signalling the drama and poetics of this ”minor” event before the fire is extinguished. One also stands as an unassuming beacon, immortalizing on film the essence of some of Ono’s early concerns as an artist. At the slightest touch of fire, they burst into flame. Strike everywhere. Strike often.

Cosmetic Criminals

A short mockumentary detailing the rise of intergenerational cosmetic theft through the eyes of an affected family.

Auschwitz

Auschwitz is synonymous with the Holocaust, but it’s also a place on the map with a surprising history preceding World War II. Narrated by Meryl Streep, this short documentary tells the story of Auschwitz, from its construction to its infamy.

Overfed & Undernourished

Overfed and Undernourished examines a global epidemic and our modern lifestyles through one boy's inspiring and personal journey to regain his health from the inside out.

200,000 Phantoms

In 1914, the Czech architect Jan Letzel designed in the Japanese city of Hiroshima Center for the World Expo, which has turned into ruins after the atomic bombing in August 1945. “Atomic Dome” – all that remains of the destroyed palace of the exhibition – has become part of the Hiroshima memorial. In 2007, French sculptor, painter and film director Jean-Gabriel Périot assembled this cinematic collage from hundreds of multi-format, color and black and white photographs of different years’ of “Genbaku Dome”.

Open Water

Nikki is no professional athlete. Still, she swims the English channel to raise money for a good cause.

Quay

In 2015, Christopher Nolan curated a selection of short films by the surrealist animators the Quay Brothers to be distributed as a touring 35mm presentation. The three films—"In Absentia" (2000), "The Comb" (1991) and "Street of Crocodiles" (1986)—were accompanied by this brief portrait of the brothers at work in their London studio.

My Depression (The Up and Down and Up of It)

Based on Elizabeth Swados’ picture book of the same name, this animated short film charts one woman's struggle with depression.

The Greater Good

The film looks behind the fear, hype and politics that polarize people into emotionally charged pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine camps with no room for middle ground. Verite stories of individuals and their families, whose lives have been forever changed by vaccine choices, interwoven with interviews from leading experts in the field, will re-frame the vaccine debate and offer, for the first time, the opportunity to have a rational, scientific and factual discussion on how to create a more effective vaccine program in America today.

Room 666

During the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, Wenders asks a number of global film directors to, one at a time, go into a hotel room, turn on the camera and answer a simple question: "What is the future of cinema?"

Rain

A lyrical portrait of Amsterdam and its changing appearance during a rain-shower.

Ostriches

An ostrich pulls a cart carrying young women wearing ostrich-feather hats.

A Diary for Timothy

A narrator recounts the state of Great Britain near the end of WWII via a visual diary for the titular baby boy born in September 1944.

Core of a Nature

Experience a mystical journey through nature performed by a movement artist. Felix faces the whirling challenges of his inner turbulence with an emotionally charged dynamic, delicate strength, graceful dignity, as well as ecstatic devotion. Behold the fire dancer in the night.

Sous le bio, la malbouffe

Sales of organic products have increased tenfold in 20 years. In 2020, the market will have exceeded 13 billion euros in sales. The heavyweights of the food industry are surfing on this consumer craze for healthy food by offering more and more "green" products. But organic does not necessarily mean nutritionally balanced.

Our Cinema

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Chambre 12, Hôtel de Suède

Claude Ventura's documentary Chambre 12, Hotel de Suede, was made for the French television channel Arte in 1993. Ventura checks into room twelve in the hotel's final week of operation: it is demolished the day after he checks out. Room twelve was one of the principal locations for Jean-Luc Godard's New Wave masterpiece Breathless, and Ventura's documentary investigates the production of Godard's film.