Assimilation Memories (2020)

Wedding Night

A journey into the wedding night, where an ultra-Orthodox Jewish couple gets to know each other for the first time.

D is for Division

1940. On the border between Latvia and the USSR, a woman is killed in front of her house as she tried to protect her son from the liberating attack of the Soviets. Almost 80 years later, the archive photo bearing witness to this news item and representing a collateral victim of the European Union’s founding conflict forms the starting point for a journey undertaken by Davis Sīmanis. He navigates from one side to the other of this border, which today represents another separation, one that is geographical but also cultural: between Europe and Russia.

Der Orient - Wiege des Christentums

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Fuck

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

One Man and His Shoes

'One Man and His Shoes' tells the story of the phenomenon of Air Jordan sneakers showing their social, cultural and racial significance and how ground-breaking marketing strategies created a multi-billion-dollar business.

Val

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.

Redefining China's Family: Women

10 May 2007 - China's staggering economic growth has overshadowed a more subtle shift in Chinese society. In domestic life, many women are now ignore the advice of their mothers and grandmothers, turning instead to counselling hotlines and, increasingly, divorce.

Highland Tower

In December 1993, a luxury condominium tower block collapse after ground erosion from the neighbouring hillside. About 50 people lost their lives and to this day has become one of the darkest and saddest tragic incidents in Malaysian history. Twenty years later in 2013, a group of documentary filmmakers venture into the remaining two blocks that is left standing to do a ghost hunting expedition. What they discovered is not for the faint-hearted.

Jurnal Risa by Risa Saraswati

When a woman becomes possessed by an evil spirit, a team of horror-mystery journalists goes to the village that the spirit came from to try to free her.

Bastidores de um Sonho

This is a DVD produced exclusively with images made by the players themselves and the coaching staff, during the journey in Japan (in the extras appear interviews made after the Mundial). They are images and sounds with the emotion of the hour of the conquest, without images from television stations or professional resources. A DVD to watch with your heart in your hand and a certainty in your chest: nothing will ever separate us, Colorado.

Letters from Wolf Street

A street in downtown Warsaw transforms into a kaleidoscopic portrait of Polish society. Behind the viewfinder is an Indian immigrant, who seeks to overcome the boundaries between himself and an anxiety-ridden country.

Let the Canary Sing

A chronicle of Cyndi Lauper's meteoric ascent to stardom and her profound impact on generations through her music, ever-evolving punk style, unwavering feminism and tireless advocacy. This documentary takes the audience on an engaging exploration of a renowned and pioneering artist who has left a remarkable legacy with her art.

The Last Days of Left Eye

Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes was the hip-hop voice of TLC, the best selling female R&B group of all time. On March 30th, 2002, Lisa decided to document her life. She filmed at a mysterious spiritual retreat deep in the jungles of Honduras, but 26 days later, after a tragic accident, she was dead and her unedited tapes were left behind. Last Days of Left Eye is the re-imagining of the film Lisa never got to complete. Revealing private moments from Lisa's journals and home movies, along with highlights from her celebrated career, this film is an intimate journey into the soul of a talented and still provocative young artist. Directed by Lauren Lazin, Academy Award nominated director of Tupac: Resurrection (2005, Best Documentary Feature), Last Days of Left Eye has screened to sold-out audiences at film festivals around the world.

Panoramas

In 1829 the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt attempted a russian-siberian expedition. Humboldt travelled to obtain a clear view of nature, people and life in this immense country. 2019 naturalists and humanists attempted a transdisciplinary expedition on the trails of Humboldt. To capture the events various cameras were taken along. A non-chronological narration.

And the Dogs Were Silent

For 'Et les chiens se taisaient' Maldoror adapted a piece of theatre by the poet and politician Aimé Césaire (1913–2008), about a rebel who becomes profoundly aware of his otherness when condemned to death. His existential dialogue with his mother reverberates around the African sculptures on display at the Musée de l'Homme, a Parisian museum full of colonial plunder whose director was the Surrealist anthropologist Michel Leiris.

Cannabis : Une enquête de Mathieu Kassovitz et Antoine Robin

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Apollo: The Forgotten Films

Recently discovered footage reveals the secret history of NASA's first landing on the moon, and using this brand-new evidence, former astronauts and experts challenge everything known about the Apollo missions.

We Were the Scenery

In 1975, soon after the end of the Vietnam War, Hoa Thi Le and Hue Nguyen Che fled the country on a small boat. After nine days at sea, they docked in the Philippines, where they were utilized as background extras for “Apocalypse Now.”

Aznavour by Charles

In 1948, French singer Charles Aznavour (1924-2018) receives a Paillard Bolex, his first camera. Until 1982, he will shoot hours of footage, his filmed diary. Wherever he goes, he carries his camera with him. He films his life and lives as he films: places, moments, friends, loves, misfortunes.

Hitler's Games, Berlin 1936

Summer 1936 - The Berlin Olympics, organized by the Nazi regime on the eve of World War II, acted as a grand showcase for a Germany that was athletic, peaceful and rejuvenated. The violence and hate that until then had reigned in the streets of Berlin suddenly vanished. Adolf Hitler became the triumphant host of European countries he would soon try to invade or face in a deadly global conflict.

Things We Won't Say About Race That Are True

Trevor Phillips confronts some uncomfortable truths about racial stereotypes, as he asks if attempts to improve equality have led to serious negative consequences.

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.

Broken Mary: The Kevin Matthews Story

It’s Chicago in the 1980s and ‘90s, and Kevin Matthews has it all as one of the nation’s most recognized on-air radio personalities. He’s partying with celebrities, rubbing shoulders with famous athletes, and the world is at his fingertips. Then everything changes – he’s diagnosed with a debilitating illness and the spotlight gradually slips away. At the height of his anguish, he stumbles upon a broken statue of the Virgin Mary, and his life takes an unexpected turn. In this moment of spiritual awakening, Kevin finds his true purpose and calling, discovering what matters most. Calling himself “Mary’s Roadie,” he offers his fans something deeper: inspiration and hope.

António Coimbra de Matos: O Olhar Nos Outros

"Thoughts on the moon, feet on the road, eyes on others": António Coimbra de Matos revolutionized psychoanalysis.

Horbitat

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Povo da Floresta

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Rewind & Play

The lack of respect with which the Black musician Thelonious Monk was treated in Autumn, 1969. At the end of his European tour, legendary jazz musician Thelonious Monk appears on an interview show in Paris for French state television.

The Birth of Saké

Through the unrelenting winter in the north of Japan, a small group of workers must brave unusual working conditions to bring to life a 2,000-year-old tradition known as sake. A cinematic documentary, The Birth of Sake is a visually immersive experience of an almost-secret world in which large sacrifices must be made for the survival of a time-honored brew.

The Stars Are Beautiful

We move back and forth between scenes of a family at home and thoughts about the stars and creation. Children hold chickens while an adult clips their wings; we see a forest; a narrator talks about stars and light and eternity. A dog joins the hens and the family, while the narrator explains the heavens. We see a bee up close. The narrator suggests metaphors for heavenly bodies. Scenes fade into a black screen or dim purple; close-ups of family life may be blurry. The words about the heavens, such as "The stars are a flock of hummingbirds," contrast with images and sounds of real children.

Long Live Hunting!

This documentary essay introduces a peculiar trio of men united by their passion for hunting. Each of them conceives of hunting in his own way, luring the viewer to an exotic safari, to an antlered trophy collection or to a sitting in the woods.

Treno di parole - Viaggio nella poesia di Raffaello Baldini

The œuvre of poet Raffaello Baldini (1924-2005) through the words of those who knew him, the poems he himself read, the fragments of his monologues, his beloved Romagna landscapes.

Hungarian Retro

A feature length, lively - montage style - documentary, capturing the essence of what life was like in socialist Hungary - dubbed the "The most cheerful barrack" back then - using contemporary music, interviews, adverts and news footages.

Dark Side of the Moon

A French documentary or, one might say more accurately, a mockumentary, by director William Karel which originally aired on Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the CIA with help from director Stanley Kubrick.

The 11th Hour

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse

Inhabitants

For millennia, Native Americans successfully stewarded and shaped their landscapes, but centuries of colonization have disrupted their ability to maintain their traditional land management practices. From deserts, coastlines, forests, mountains, and prairies, Native communities across the US are restoring their ancient relationships with the land. As the climate crisis escalates these time-tested practices of North America's original inhabitants are becoming increasingly essential in a rapidly changing world.

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.

Elsewhere, Everywhere

A computer screen, images from the four corners of the world. We cross borders in one-click while another trip’s story reach us in bits, through text messages, chats, phone conversations, and an immigration office’s questionnaire. It’s the journey of Shahin, a 20-year-old Iranian boy who, fleeing his country alone, lands in Greece, then winds his way to England where he claims asylum.

On the Way to School

These children live in the four corners of the earth, but share the same thirst for learning. They understand that only education will allow them a better future and that is why, every day, they must set out on the long and perilous journey that will lead them to knowledge. Jackson and his younger sister from Kenya walk 15 kilometres each way through a savannah populated by wild animals; Carlito rides more than 18 kilometres twice a day with his younger sister, across the plains of Argentina; Zahira lives in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains who has an exhausting 22 kilometres walk along punishing mountain paths before she reaches her boarding school; Samuel from India sits in a clumsy DIY wheelchair and the 4 kilometres journey is an ordeal each day, as his two younger brothers have to push him all the way to school…

His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th

A retrospective documentary about the groundbreaking horror series, Friday the 13th, featuring interviews with cast and crew from the twelve films spanning 3 decades.

Capitulation, the Final Hours that Ended World War II

A film made of archives mostly unknown, on the last day of the Second World War in Europe and on the events which preceded it. This film also shows the growing tension between the Allies and the Soviets at the time: May 8, 1945 is also the first day of the Cold War.

Island Home Country

A poetic cine-essay about race and Australia’s colonised history and how it impacts into the present offering insights into how various individuals deal with the traumatic legacies of British colonialism and its race-based policies. The film’s consultative process, with ‘Respecting Cultures’ (Tasmanian Aboriginal Protocols), offers an evolving shift in Australian historical narratives from the frontier wars, to one of diverse peoples working through historical trauma in a process of decolonisation.

Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality

In a world losing itself to screens, teenage mystic Carlo Acutis saw beyond our social media-addicted society and offered an answer—if we’re willing to listen. Carlo Acutis: Roadmap to Reality explores the life of the first millennial saint while following teens on a phone-free pilgrimage to his tomb, immersing them in his story, his passion for Christ, and a search for meaning in a digital age.

Rivers of Blood: 50 Years On

An exploration of immigration in Britain over the half century since Conservative MP Enoch Powell made his controversial speech. Issues surrounding race, religion, integration and multiculturalism are examined.

Dracula, l'éternel

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Rolling at The Tower

Dating back to the 1800s, Birmingham’s roller skating scene is a flourishing, diverse community - but it lacks dedicated spaces. This community documentary explores the history of one roller venue, The Tower Ballroom, and considers what it tells us about the power of community action.

Movie Hoarders: From VHS to DVD and Beyond!

Filmmakers and collectors lift the curtain on their manic media obsession that is not only a huge part of their lives, but the lifeblood of their existence!

Vowellet - An Essay by Sarah Vowell

This Pixar documentary short follows Sarah Vowell, who plays herself as the title character, on why she is a superhero in her own way. (This short piece is included on the 2-Disc DVD for "The Incredibles", which was released in 2005.

A Secret Love

Amid shifting times, two women kept their decades-long love a secret. But coming out later in life comes with its own set of challenges.

Feral

The mountains of Oaxaca harbor the remains of a ravaged and burnt shelter, once home to a psychoanalyst priest who used it to look after savage children, trying to re-integrate them into society. Through videotape diaries and interviews, the truth of what happened is shockingly revealed.

La grande histoire de la Bretagne

From time immemorial, the Bretons have fought many battles to safeguard their culture, rich in language, music and dance. However, Brittany was for a long time a forgotten land, neglected by the Republic which forbade its language. From the 1960s onwards, the agricultural revolution turned peasant life upside down. Its culture, which had long been supported by Catholic priests, was emancipated in the seventies, carried by a new breath of air that accompanied the Breton angers. The youth then reappropriated their language and culture. From the long years of relegation to their great anger, the Bretons have written a fascinating saga since the end of the 19th century.