Century of Smoke (2019)

The Story of a Slough

When the Tanana River bridge was installed in Salcha, Alaska, the community worried about the levee's effects on fish wildlife. Salcha Elementary School, along with the help of Tanana Valley Watershed Association, conducted a 10-year scientific project with students to study the effects the levee had on Piledriver Slough. Tori Brannan - the filmmaker's mother - is a retired principal at Salcha Elementary and was the project's centerpiece. She shares her experiences with the project, the community, and how her daughter's involvement strengthened their relationship.

TMZ Presents: Hollywood is High

From ayahuasca retreats to ketamine therapy, celebrities and scientists alike explore the healing powers and potential pitfalls of modern-day drugs.

I Am Paul Walker

Exploring the life and legacy of actor Paul Walker, the Southern California native who cut his teeth as child actor before breaking out in the blockbuster Fast and Furious franchise.

Top Gear Festival: Sydney

Top Gear: Festival Sydney was a special episode of the BBC motoring show Top Gear, featuring the regular presenters Jeremy Clarkson and James May alongside Top Gear Australia presenters Steve Pizzati and Shane Jacobson.

Steal This Film

Steal This Film focuses on Pirate Bay founders Gottfrid Svartholm, Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde, prominent members of the Swedish filesharing community. The makers claimed that 'Old Media' documentary crews couldn't understand the internet culture that filesharers took part in, and that they saw peer-to-peer organization as a threat to their livelihoods. Because of that, they were determined to accurately represent the filesharing community from within. Notably, Steal This Film was released and distributed, free of charge, through the same filesharing networks that the film documents.

Spain: A Country Divided

Obsessively referring to the traumas and wounds that the Spanish civil war (1936-39) and Franco's dictatorship (1939-75) caused in their day no longer serves to explain the impassable abyss of incomprehension and hatred that the abject policies and radical positions adopted by both the right and the left in recent decades have opened up before the citizens of a country that is barely known beyond hackneyed cultural clichés.

Welcome Home Freckles

After four years away, Huiju returns home to South Korea. Exchanges with her loved ones are awkward and clumsy. Huiju turns once again to her familiar rituals: pruning the trees, preparing a sauce, tying a braid.

A Night of Knowing Nothing

L, a student in India witness to the government's violent response to university protests, writes letters to her estranged lover while he is away.

Young At Heart

Documents the true story of the final weeks of rehearsal for the Young at Heart Chorus in Northampton, MA, and many of whom must overcome health adversities to participate. Their music goes against the stereotype of their age group. Although they have toured Europe and sang for royalty, this account focuses on preparing new songs for a concert in their hometown.

A Family Is a Family Is a Family: A Rosie O'Donnell Celebration

What is a family? Rosie O'Donnell looks at the many answers to this question in this documentary that features original songs and thoughtful kids musing on love and family. The show provides a less than moving portrait of the remarkable diversity of so called families today, including same-sex parents, mixed-heritage families, and stories of adoption. Animated songs and musical performances by kids and families spice up the festivities along with performances and recordings by artists including Ziggy Marley, Bonnie Raitt, Doris Day, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Frank Sinatra, Rosie O'Donnell and They Might Be Giants.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Him

What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)

Making Dust

Making Dust is an essay film, a portrait of the demolition of Ireland's second largest Catholic Church, the Church of the Annunciation in Finglas West, Dublin. Understanding this moment as a 'rupture', the film maps an essay by architectural historian Ellen Rowley on to documentation of the building's dismantling. Featuring oral interviews recorded at the site of the demolition and in a nearby hairdressers, the film invites viewers to pause and reflect on this ending alongside the community of the building. The film is informed by Ultimology, and invites its audience to think about the life cycles of buildings and materials, how we mourn, what is sacred, how we gather, what we value and issues of sustainability in architecture.

The Colonel's Stray Dogs

In 1981, seven Libyan exiles formed the core opposition group to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Thirty years later, they are back to their country only to inherit the mess he left. The film is an intricate blend of rare first-hand accounts, propaganda archival material turned on its head, evocative cinematography and an untold history of a country.

Arise

A film that captures the portraits and stories of extraordinary women around the world who are coming together to heal the injustices against the earth, weaves together poetry, music, art, and stunning scenery to create a hopeful and collective story that inspires us to work for the earth. The list of impassioned, indefatigable female environmental activists featured in this film includes Winona LaDuke, a Native American who has championed the use of solar and wind power on reservations; Theo Colborn, head of The Endocrine Disruption Exchange, who fights against toxic chemicals in our water supplies; Beverly Grant, who’s created a vibrant farmer’s market in a black neighborhood of Denver, Colo.; Dana Miller, who spearheads an “urban agriculture movement” in the same city; and Vandana Shiva, who champions organic farming in India.

The Most Secret Place on Earth

After 30 years of conspiracy theories and myth making, this film uncovers the story of the CIA's most extensive clandestine operation in the history of modern warfare: The Secret War in Laos, which was conducted alongside the Vietnam War from 1964 -1973. While the world's attention was caught by the conflict in Vietnam, the CIA built the busiest military airport in the world in neighboring and neutral Laos and recruited humanitarian aid personnel, Special Forces agents and civilian pilots to undertake what would become the most effective operation of counterinsurgency warfare. As the conflict in Vietnam grew, the objective in Laos changed from a cost effective low-key involvement to save the country from becoming communist into an all-out air war to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail and bomb Laos back into the Stone Age that it had never really left in the first place. Conventional bombs equivalent to the destructive power of 20 Hiroshima-type weapons fell on Laos each year - 2 million tons

The Pool

Bondi Icebergs is the most photographed pool in the world. This is where generations of children have learnt to swim, where the diehard have braved the frigid waters of one hundred winters, where the young and beautiful have come to bond and bake in the hot sun. THE POOL is a stunning cinematic experience with a soundtrack that harks back to the 1960s and a cast of characters who each have a story to tell. It speaks to the enduring power of community and our collective longing to find it. No matter your background or where you’re at – everyone is equal in their swimsuits.

Porn to Be Free

Italy, 1970. An increasing legion of harmless warriors begins a peaceful struggle for sexual freedom through pornography, shaking and shocking religious authorities and conservative political institutions. They are ironic, happy, crazy. They are dreamers, defenders of definitive communion between body and soul. But they were censored and humiliated. They were mistreated and arrested for demanding loud a new cultural renaissance.

We Have Boots

The Umbrella Movement of 2014, also known as the Occupy Movement, paved the way for Hong Kong’s current upheavals, but unfolded in significantly different ways. This creative documentary focuses on the intellectual, political, and discursive underpinnings of the social and political actions of 2014, before fast-forwarding to 2019. A range of thoughtful and engaged intellectuals, students, scholars, activists, and artists including Benny Tai, Chan Kin-man, Ray Wong, and Agnes Chow (many of whom are facing imprisonment for their democratic activism) articulate a range of philosophies, viewpoints and emotions, set against Hong Kong’s spectacular urban background of skyscrapers, night lights, and street-occupying mass movements.

Dig!

A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.

My Life in China

In America, everyone has a family story of immigration. Every family, at some point, has had somebody leave their native country behind to search for a better life. How did they hold onto their identity? How did they adapt to their new life? Every family has a special story. In my case, it's my Chinese-American story. My father would always tell us his story about walking for 7 days and 6 nights, before swimming for 4 hours to Macau to escape communism in 1966. His story would fall on my deaf ears until I returned to China with him.

The Yes Men

A comic, biting and revelatory documentary following a small group of prankster activists as they gain worldwide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization (WTO) on television and at business conferences around the world.

Arctic Tale

Arctic Tale is a 2007 documentary film from the National Geographic Society about the life cycle of a walrus and her calf, and a polar bear and her cubs, in a similar vein to the 2005 hit production March of the Penguins, also from National Geographic.

To Be and to Have

The documentary's title translates as "to be and to have", the two auxiliary verbs in the French language. It is about a primary school in the commune of Saint-Étienne-sur-Usson, Puy-de-Dôme, France, the population of which is just over 200. The school has one small class of mixed ages (from four to twelve years), with a dedicated teacher, Georges Lopez, who shows patience and respect for the children as we follow their story through a single school year.

Stále spolu

Petr and Simona have been living together for twenty-five years. They have nine children, with whom they live in caravans on a meadow in Šumava – without television, computers, or running water. The authoritarian Petr calls himself a "professional father." He guides his offspring toward freedom and harmony with nature, while trying to protect them from the harmful influence of consumer society. The children only go to school for exams—their college-educated parents teach them at home. At first glance, the family cohesion, which is practically unparalleled in today's Western world, seems idyllic. Upon closer inspection, however, doubts begin to arise. The film Still Together explores the price of a free life outside of society and asks: is there a recipe for the ideal family?

Silver's Uprising

Raised in an orthodox home, Amos Dov Silver dreams of becoming Prime Minister. But when the State continues to shun him, he soon finds unexpected solace in the velvety smoke of Marijuana. Spreading his new Torah, he establishes an online community using a mobile app called "TeleGrass" that turns into the largest marketplace for drugs in Israel, raising Silver to Messiah status. Through exclusive footage of Silver, his family and his partners’ investigations, as well as secretly filmed footage of Silver in the Ukrainian prison, a polarizing portrayal of the man charged with heading a crime organization emerges. Champion of the people, or a lost soul corrupted by power?

Capturing the Friedmans

An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.

The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down

Tongue-in-cheek look at 20-something singles clubbing and partying in L.A. Voice-over narration, charts and graphs, and visits to a research laboratory punctuate the story of a single night when groups of friends go out, drink alcohol, take drugs, dance and talk, and look for someone to go home with.

Baraka

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

Manifesto

Over three pivotal years in party politics, activists in the safest Labour seat in the country campaign for change under the banner of Jeremy Corbyn's 'For The Many' manifesto.

The New Greatness Case

Anya was an ordinary Moscow teenager who found a chat group of her choice online. They talked about animals, the stars and social issues. A man called Ruslan D joined the group, who set up an office space for the online group to meet. Step by step, he began to lead young people who were critical of the Putin's regime towards political activism. Ruslan D placed a camera in the meeting room, and when he had enough footage, he handed it over to the prosecutor. The police raided the teenagers' homes and they were arrested on charges of planning to overthrow the government and terrorism. Three years of legal proceedings transformed Anya's mother from a loyal follower of Putin to a hunger-striking activist. Moscow-based director Anna Shishova followed Anya and her mother's life throughout the event and eventually revealed the true identity of Ruslan D.

The State Against Mandela and the Others

South Africa, July 11th, 1963. Several members of the African National Congress, an organization declared illegal, are arrested in Rivonia, a country house near Johannesburg. The detainees, along with Nelson Mandela, imprisoned since 1962, are charged with serious crimes for their radical activism against the apartheid regime.

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.

The Corporation

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

Oaxacalifornia: The Return

The Mejia family emigrated from Oaxaca to Fresno, California 40 years ago. Filmmaker Trisha ZIff filmed the family in 1996, and returns now to see the changes that have settled over them, and follows the family on their return to Mexico.

Nai Nai

Nai Nai follows the story of a Chinese immigrant grandmother, Chu-Ming Wu. Known as “Nai Nai,” Chu-Ming has always been a woman of control. But her grasp of reality and the control of her own mind is slipping away. Told through the lens of her grandson, the film focuses on the joyful, heartbreaking and intimate moments in the last chapters of her life.

Mother's Day Gift

A story about the special relationship between Jaana and her daughter Liisa who died in a traffic accident at the age of 16.

Occupation

Students seeking greater control over the hiring of faculty occupy the offices of the Political Science Department at McGill University. The film crew lives with the students and follows their action through confusion, argument, dissent, and negotiations with faculty. The result is an intimate view of a student political action.

All American

In this modern, coming of age documentary, Naomi, Jojo and Arham grapple with economic divides, gender roles, and family dynamics while competing in the fastest growing high school sport in the country: girl’s wrestling.

Anarchism in America

A colorful and provocative survey of anarchism in America, the film attempts to dispel popular misconceptions and trace the historical development of the movement. The film explores the movement both as a native American philosophy stemming from 19th century American traditions of individualism, and as a foreign ideology brought to America by immigrants. The film features rare archival footage and interviews with significant personalities in anarchist history including Murray Boochkin and Karl Hess, and also live performance footage of the Dead Kennedys.

Berkeley in the Sixties

A documentary about militant student political activity at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s.

Appartement proche Paris, charme atypique

Five floors. Forty apartments. Rats, leaks and debts. In Pantin, I live in a building with a danger order. Under court order, we have to renovate it. Between Dantesque arguments, missing money and humor as a fire extinguisher, I film our collective rescue.