Luminary (2024)

Blindsight

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

The Blind Child

With the use of montage sequences, voiced over with the observations of the children, van der Keuken was able to use artistic expression to portray the sightless children’s unique perspective of the world.

A Letter From The Fathers | Chapter II

The peaks, the valleys, and all the moments in between. Being a father is an extraordinary privilege that transforms your perspective on the world. "A Letter from the Fathers" is a touching, captivating, and emotive movie that presents the audience with the fatherhood journeys of four men. Gear up to experience laughter, tears, and reflection as these dads share insights from their parenting adventures. It's a profound, insightful exploration of how fatherhood doesn't just mould the children but also profoundly influences the men themselves.

The Coach

Oleg Kirillov - coach of the intuitive football team. It's hard to believe, but his wards are members of the national football team of the Republic of Belarus among the blind. Each of them appeared on the field for various reasons, but today they face a common task - to maintain their champion status in the national competition. Kirillov himself grew up in a disabled family and knows well how to communicate with his wards. He is not only a mentor, but also a friend of each of the athletes. An important element of the film is work with sound, it completely restored the sound environment that is natural for players, in which they focus on the noise made by the ball and the clear instructions of the coach.

Seeing Through the Darkness

The film follows five people who lost their sight in armed conflicts, gathering fragments of their present-day lives. Through an enveloping sound composition, veiled archival material, footage shot by the protagonists themselves, and a sensitive visual approach, the film explores memory, perception, and our relationship to the visible. Steering away from spectacle, it invites us to hear what often goes unheard, and to feel differently. In an age saturated with images, this documentary offers a sensory experience where listening becomes a gesture of resistance and human reconnection.

To the Sea

Before leaving for Rome with his mother, five year old Natan is taken by his father, Jorge, on an epic journey to the pristine Chinchorro reef off the coast of Mexico. As they fish, swim, and sail the turquoise waters of the open sea, Natan discovers the beauty of his Mayan heritage and learns to live in harmony with life above and below the surface, as the bond between father and son grows stronger before their inevitable farewell.

Britney Spears: Breaking Free

Almost four decades as the Princess of Pop, superstar Britney Spears, continues to be in the public eye on the brink of winning a legal battle with her father that would end a conservatorship and at long last give her control of her life.

Cobain: Montage of Heck

Hailed as one of the most innovative and intimate documentaries of all time, experience Kurt Cobain like never before in the only ever fully authorized portrait of the famed music icon. Academy Award nominated filmmaker Brett Morgen expertly blends Cobain's personal archive of art, music, never seen before movies, animation and revelatory interviews from his family and closest friends.

Arabic Secret

One who doesn't have roots won't be able to grow wings-a documentary project about a man tracking his origins to the Middle East and establishing a connection with his father, whom he have never met before.

The Other F Word

What happens when a generation's ultimate anti-authoritarians — punk rockers — become society's ultimate authorities — dads? With a large chorus of punk rock's leading men — Blink-182's Mark Hoppus, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, Rise Against's Tim McIlrath — The Other F Word follows Jim Lindberg, 20-year veteran of skate punk band, Pennywise, on his hysterical and moving journey from belting his band's anthem, "Fuck Authority", to embracing his ultimately pivotal authoritarian role in mid-life, fatherhood.

Tides of Tradition: The Life of Colonel Kong

Robert Kongaika runs from his family to join the military and becomes the first Tongan US Air Force Colonel. This is the true story of the island traditions, faith, and family that made him into the father he is today.

Maeterlinck in the dark

The story of a boy who suddenly lost his sight as a result of cancer. He has a hard time getting along with new people and spends all his time with horses. One day, the chairman of the local society of the blind calls him and offers him the main role in a play based on Maeterlinck’s play “The Blind,” where all the roles are played by blind people, and the play takes place in the forest.

A Sky Without Stars

A story of the love between a father who is losing his eyesight and his seven-year-old son who learns to become his father’s guide and his eyes. What the son sees for the first time, the father is most likely seeing for the last. Their unique relationship illustrates the saying that love is invisible to the eye.

Fathers Are Sons Too

After the loss of his father, Sammy embarks on a journey to understand him better through the stories of various men. "Fathers Are Also Sons" is a visual testament of this personal journey toward connection.

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?

In the Garden of Sounds

«Nel giardino dei suoni» («In The Garden of Sounds») is a touching, poetic exploration of the relationship between mind, body and sound, and a cinematic journey to the borders of communication. Nicola Bellucci tells the extraordinary story of Wolfgang Fasser, a blind musician and soundscape artist who works with severely handicapped children, helping them to find their place in a world not made for them. On his own way into the darkness, Fasser discovered the world of sounds, a parallel universe to our visual world. His far-reaching explorations of sound’s effect on mind and body led him to the field of music therapy.

Classic Albums: Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life

Musicians, producers, family, colleagues and the artist himself look back on the making of Stevie Wonders's classic album "Song In the Key of Life".

Notes on Blindness

After losing sight in 1983, John Hull began keeping an audio diary, a unique testimony of loss, rebirth and renewal, excavating the interior world of blindness. Following on from the Emmy Award-winning short film of the same name, Notes on Blindness is an ambitious and groundbreaking work, both affecting and innovative.

Werner We Love You

When Werner Herzog was still a child, his father was beaten to death before his eyes. His mother was overwhelmed with his upbringing and thereupon shipped him off to one of the toughest youth welfare institutions in Freistatt. This was followed by a career as a bouncer in the city's most notorious music club and an attempt to start a family. Today, the 77-year-old from Bielefeld lives with his dog Lucky in a lonely house in the country. Despite adverse living conditions, he has survived in his own unique and inimitable way.

The Genius of Lenny Breau

This documentary explores and celebrates the all-too-short, heartbreaking but triumphant life and unworldly talent of Lenny Breau, considered by many to have been the greatest guitar player of all time. Long before the term "fusion" was coined, Lenny was melting musical boundaries to produce original pieces that borrowed from styles as diverse as jazz, classical and flamenco. Through a combination of never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with family and colleagues, viewers are offered a close-up look at a sensitive, selfless but flawed musical genius who redefined what the guitar could do. - Telefilm Canada

Whispers in the Woods

In the heart of the tranquil Vosges forests, where lynxes, bears and deer roam freely, Vincent Munier accompanies his father on his expeditions. He not only seeks to capture the visual wonders of this forest kingdom, but also aims to make its sounds audible. Every whisper of the forest is a reminder of the knowledge of nature that his father once imbued in him – knowledge that Vincent now passes on to his own son. Vincent Munier combines breathtaking footage of nature and its sounds to create a fairytale-like cinematic experience that slows time down.

My Name is Hungry Buffalo

Jan calls himself Buffalo. He loves cowboys, he’s blind, and may lose his hearing. The documentary follows his journey to America to visit the chief of the Navajo tribe, who wants to perform a ritual to help his hearing. The film is full of unpretentious humor thanks to Jan’s charisma. In the USA, he’s like the Don Quixote of the Wild West - a naive adventurer in a world that is much more ordinary than his imagination. This observational, but not standoffish, film is also an example of how the medium of film can relate to blind people by constantly showing the difference between what Jan perceives and what we actually see.

Adam Sandler: Funny Guy

Adam remains a consistent favorite among fans who are comforted that they will always have a good time. Get the inside story on this fascinating actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, husband, father, and forever FUNNY GUY.

Show!

A surprisingly intimate portrait of how the dream of running one’s own business can take on monstrous contours. Managed by the father of one of the singers, over the course of five years the girl band 5Angels had reached the gates of pop fame. But it is a path paved not only with the songs of Michal David, but also with the dogged determination of a man who loses any notion of where his role as manager ends and his role as parent begins. An emotionally moved Karel Gott, five angelic girls, and one overly involved father, thanks to whom the behind-the-scenes pre-Christmas atmosphere melts away just as rapidly as the fat should disappear from the belly. “A singer can’t be a lard bucket!”

Per altri occhi

Impaired vision-friendly documentary about blindness.

Earth of the Blind

The film springs from at least three ideas connected to each other in an irrational way: the story of a cow being taken to the butcher, the description of simple pleasures, how to ascend to the top of a hill and descend in a wheelbarrow, and the portraiture of a several blind people. The great, big eyes of the cows are seen in contrast to the unseeing eyes of the blind people.

Resurrecting Hassan

Traces the lives of the Hartings, a blind Montreal family of three who make their living singing in the city's subway stations. The Hartings lost their only sighted child Hassan in a tragic drowning accident, and have since turned to the teachings of Russian mystic Grigori Grabovoi, hoping to resurrect their son. Resurrecting Hassan is an exploration of this family's legacy of grief, tragedy and abuse; the film will follow them on their path to redemption.

Vision Portraits

Filmmaker Rodney Evans embarks on a scientific and artistic journey, questioning how his loss of vision might impact his creative future. Through illuminating portraits of three artists: a photographer (John Dugdale), a dancer (Kayla Hamilton), and a writer (Ryan Knighton), the film looks at the ways each artist was affected by the loss of their vision and the ways in which their creative process has changed or adapted.