It Takes a Circus (2020)

Lightning Before Thunder

A short documentary about how "Fulton" the Ukrainian Football Club came together.

Stained Night

The light and the noise stain the dark night.

Birdman

A portrait of Robert, a troubled but poetic soul struggling with his purgatorial existence in a hackney scrapyard.

Invisible River

On a journey through the interior of the earth, we learn about the life and dreams of a swiss explorer who searches for caves and underground rivers in a sector marked by violence and armed conflict in Colombia. This underground labyrinth is a metaphor about a dark past, buried deep within the soul, where old war wounds heal with the infinite passage of time.

The Unseen Crisis: Vaccine Stories You Were Never Told

In the climate of a global pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out under emergency use authorization after a much shorter than normal testing period. Millions of people rolled up their sleeves because they were told they were doing their part to end the pandemic. But for some—it didn’t go as expected. The Unseen Crisis is a feature-length documentary that provides an intimate, uncensored look into the lives of those who live with the debilitating after-effects of the COVID-19 vaccines. It examines the issue of COVID-19 vaccine injury claims in a fresh, honest, and comprehensive manner with expert interviews, whistleblowers’ statements, and government health statistics.

The Role of Chance

"The Role of Chance" ("La part du hasard") focuses exclusively on drawing and painting techniques used by the painter Henri Dimier. Shot over several weeks in the same artist's studio, the film shows works in their different phases, processes rarely explained or little known. It also addresses many practical issues (choice of paper, pigment grinding, reports drawings, put the tiles, cliches, etc) as well as broader questions of method and inspiration (use of space, the role of contours, power of suggestion perspectives, use of random processes). Patrick Bokanowski sought with this film to restore the spirit of this teaching, showing how to bend a note or sometimes revealing an essential mystery of creation.

Notes about identity

Plot unavailable

Land Without Bread

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Se habla de Gabriel

Documentary essay based on portraits of five women, their different ways of living motherhood, challenges and particularities.

Men Of Capricorn

The way of life for people living along the tropic of Capricorn in Queensland 1965. Farming and mining are the main industries in this area of Australia and the only way to get around is by road train, train or plane. The hard way of life for these people is portrayed in this film.

School of Fine Arts. Juniper Landscape

About the tragic fate of the Estonian artist Julo Sooster and his work.

USA: danger from the right. Demoniac from Wisconsin

Professor Valentin Zorin, political observer of the USSR State Television and Radio Broadcasting, talks about Joseph McCarthy, an American politician, a senator from Wisconsin, who held an extremely anti-communist position, who advocated an intensification of the Cold War with the USSR. The name of McCarthy is associated with a reactionary trend in the political life of the United States of the early 1950s, dubbed "McCarthyism" and consisted in the persecution of people only suspected of sympathizing with communism and not committing any crimes.

The Artist in Me

A short documentary following 19-year-old Amanda Dunbar, who shares her thoughts on being an artist alongside a group of children in her art class. This documentary is included as a special feature on the 2002 Barbie as Rapunzel DVD.

Jean-Pierre Mocky, libre et sentimental

A journey into the mind of French actor and director Jean-Pierre Mocky (1929-2019), author of films both playful and profound, of an impressive richness.

Urban Solutions

An european artist writes about his experience in portraying life in Brazil during the colonial period. Aporteiro – concierge and security guard in one – watches the surveillance cameras in a residential building, while reflecting on his profession and the relationship with his employers. Between the exotic idyll of front yards and deterrent technology, his task is to establish security and normality. Brazil’s troubled past and complicated present come together in this highly charged film.

The End of Summer

A 16 year old girl recalls the last moments of her summer vacation, spent with friends in the Laurentians north of Montreal. She reminisces about their talks on life, death, love, and God. Shot in direct cinema style, working from a script that left room for the teenagers to improvise and express their own thoughts, the film sought to capture the immediacy of the youths presence their bodies, their language, their environment.

Islands in the City

Like ghosts, the temporarily shut down cruise ships lie in the port of Hamburg. A young man comes into town and is stranded on the riverbank, waiting for a message. He watches couples strolling along in the sunset and gets himself some sweets. In a moment of collective pause, ISLANDS IN THE CITY captures a fragile romance. There is a departure in the air, the destination of which no one seems to know.

To Go Away and Come Back

While a mother is in intensive care with little hope of survival, her son is on another continent without the possibility of seeing her. Combining subconscious memories of his mother in induced coma with images of his constant house moves all the while, the director composes an essay-letter on death, family and distance.

Sing Me a Lullaby

Captured over 14 years across two continents. Sing Me a Lullaby is a story about a daughter's search for her mother's birth parents and the complex tensions between love and sacrifice.

Scars

Alex Anna’s body is a canvas: her scars come to life to tell a new story of self-harming.

BL: Broken Fantasy

A documentary about the behind the scenes of BL or commonly known as "Yaoi series." Where does BL series come from? Why Yaoi fangirls are physically and financially dedicating themselves to BL?

An Apology to Elephants

Elephants are among the most majestic and intelligent creatures on Earth--but for hundreds of years, they have suffered at the hands of humans. Narrated by Lily Tomlin, this documentary short traces our long history with elephants and explores the many problems that arise when they are brought to live in captivity in zoos and circuses.

Positively Naked

No clothes. No apologies. This film marks artist Spencer Tunick's third 'Naked' documentary which feature photo shoots that create art from the naked bodies of men and women. In this shoot, 85 HIV-positive men and women gather in a downtown Manhattan bar where they bare it all for Tunick's camera, creating an unsentimental look at life with AIDS in America today.

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, one veteran dies by suicide in America every 80 minutes. While only 1% of Americans has served in the military, former service members account for 20% of all suicides in the U.S. Based in Canandaigua, NY and open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Veterans Crisis Line receives more than 22,000 calls each month from veterans of all conflicts who are struggling or contemplating suicide. This timely documentary spotlights the traumas endured by America’s veterans, as seen through the work of the hotline’s trained responders. CRISIS HOTLINE captures extremely private moments, where the professionals, many of whom are themselves veterans or veterans’ spouses, can often interrupt the thoughts and plans of suicidal callers to steer them out of crisis.

Flying Stewardess

A short documentary depicting a typical day in the life of a 1940s era flying stewardess.

Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience

A celebration of the universe, displaying the whole of time, from its start to its final collapse. This film examines all that occurred to prepare the world that stands before us now: science and spirit, birth and death, the grand cosmos and the minute life systems of our planet.

Conversation Behind the Scenes

A documentary that follows the story of Dario Pasquarella, deaf director and actor, and his company. Through his work, Dario seeks to bring together the deaf and hearing community, who are usually separated by a lack of communication. In his shows he uses both languages, LIS, sign language and spoken language, to tell stories in which the deaf and hearing can live in symbiosis.

Lost World

As Singapore dredges sand from beneath Cambodia's mangrove forests, an ecosystem, a communal way of life, and one woman's relationship to her beloved home are faced with the threat of erasure.

The Beloved Child, or I Play at Being a Married Woman

A young mother, alone with her daughter, confides in a friend who happens to be the director herself. Chantal Akerman, although she sympathizes with the mother, does not say a word.

things that won't die

After finding some videos she uploaded to YouTube when she was a child, Manuela attempts to follow the trail she herself has left on the Internet. A search that looks into all that things that won't never die and that, especially, thinks about the way we look at ourselves.

Caucasian Gates

Short documentary about the Georgian Military Road. Captures Ingush and Ossetian settlements of the early 20th century

Grazing the Sky

Grazing the Sky is a compelling look at the lives of trapeze artists and other circus performers. The film was shot for over two years covering 11 countries, including the Americas, Europe and the Near East. It follows the nomadic lives of circus performers. The audience follows 10 protagonists as they try to reach perfection and meet their lofty goals. The documentary sheds light on the contemporary circus world, and focuses on performers who devote themselves to the greatest show on earth.