Discover Movies

The Spanish sculptor meditates about his life and work

Made over a span of eight years, this documentary is structured as a conversation between anthropologist Mabel Prelorán and Zulay Saravino, who has left her Ecuadorian mountain village to explore opportunities in Los Angeles. Working the land and making textiles to sell, Zulay’s industrious family sent all of their daughters to school — at the time an unusual move in Quinchuqui — and raised an intelligent, independent daughter whose literacy, business sense and introduction to the Preloráns led her to try her luck in the States. Devoted to her village, she relates a mesmerizing account of Otavaleñan traditions and reflects on her experiences in the US.

A documentary film about a tour of three Finnish rock bands around Saimaa lake system in a steam boat in 1981. The bands (Juice Leskinen Slam, Eppu Normaali and Hassisen Kone) are shown playing songs in their gigs and, in between, the members give intimate interviews or just act plain silly and have a good time.

Documents the destruction caused by American bombings. Compares the cities of Torola and Morazán, and Berlín and Usulután.

Dancing in Dulias was made by members of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) and Lesbians Against Pit Closures during and immediate after the 1984/85 minders strike. Like the forthcoming movie, Pride, it documents the interactions between lesbians and gay men and the miners and their families in Dulais in South Wales - only this time it's the real thing. As well as some memorable footage that includes the Blaenant Lodge banner leading the 1985 Lesbian and Gay Pride march and LGSM members struggling with bingo at the local community hall, the film documents the wider political impact of this seemingly unlikely alliance. (cont. http://www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.uk/films/2014/dancing-in-dulais#sthash.HScQCj7E.dpuf)

Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra is a 1985 Canadian short documentary film directed by Larry Weinstein. A small-town orchestra and choir are the focus of this loving and humorous portrait. The film unveils the musician's passion for performance, their imaginative fund-raising methods and collective will to survive. This film includes a colorful cast of characters ranging from students to seniors, from business executives to hog farmers. Holding it all together is the outrageously flamboyant conductor who inspires everyone with his endless enthusiasm. Making Overtures reveals how an entire community us enriched by its orchestra. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Anatomie d'un depart is a remarkable short documentary produced by Elf Aquitaine in 1986. This film illustrates the technical preparations and tension just before the start of a Formula 1 race, featuring iconic drivers of the era such as Michele Alboreto, Stefan Johansson, Nigel Mansell, and Alain Pros.

Made in collaboration with the Inuit Tungavingat Nunamini, this film focuses on those dissident members of the Inuit community who rejected the agreement signed on November 11, 1975, between the Northern Quebec Inuit Association, the Québec and federal governments, the James Bay Energy Corporation, the James Bay Development Corporation, Hydro-Québec and the Grand Council of the Crees, which took away Native rights to a territory of almost one million square kilometres. By their words and actions, the dissident Inuit of Povungnituk, Ivujivik and Sugluk express their strong desire to retain their land and their traditions. The filmmakers go into their homes, on the ice and the sea to record first-hand the lives of these northern people.

Mining and oil industry impacts within Indigenous local economies in Canada's northern territories.

The film begins as a portrait of a man classified as "mentally ill." During filming, the dynamics shift, and the film becomes the story of a relationship.

Presents a check-passer describing the tricks of his trade. Explains how a conscientious check-out clerk can easily trip him up.

This short documentary focuses on a man-made island that became the first federal sanctuary for wildlife in Canada. Situated an hour east of Edmonton, it houses one of the world's densest collections of wildlife, maintained by Parks Canada. Elk Island offers a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes activity of the island.

Examines laughter, its representation in film and its day to day function. Well known people from various backgrounds discuss the issue and what it means to them.

Documentary chronicling the career of Grace DeCarlton Ross (1890-1983) from her days acting in silent movies to the 1980s when she was living in Portland, Maine and still dancing in her nineties.

An interview by Anna Maria Federici with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in June 1985, created for Italian TV channel RAI.

A look at 1984 life in Sweden, with perspectives from the youth and elder members of society on the value of work and opportunities for social planning.

Everyday life of a bizarre bookseller who sees his main occupation in stacking and sorting paperbacks.

The fur trade is Canada's oldest industry, but today some people challenge the morality of killing animals for their fur. This film examines the public relations war raging between the industry and its opponents and takes an objective look at the ethical, environmental and economic issues raised by the debate. The struggle to win over public opinion has been joined by Indigenous peoples in Canada who fear that their way of life will be jeopardized if the fur industry is destroyed. The cycle of the industry is followed from the trapper's bush camp and the fur ranch to the final sale of a coat in the furrier's salon. Throughout the film, the conflicting opinions of fur industry representatives, animal rights activists and Indigenous people challenge the viewer to consider all aspects of this complex debate. —NFB

The film, set in Barnet, Vermont, details the workings of the Thresher Mill on the Stevens River, including how energy from the river is used to drive a multitude of leather belts and various machines. The film focuses on the steps one man, Ben, uses to make one of his white pine watering tanks, and then a horse-drawn sled for different members of the Barnet community.

Documentary film about the extraordinary life story of the Protestant theologian Martin Niemöller. The film links Niemöller's biography with the development of Germany during the 20th century.

Documentary about nudism in the Netherlands.

Documentary which looks at the history of the welfare state in Britain, from the point of view of women. Using 1940's newsreels to examine the picture portrayed of women in the welfare state, the reality of the 1980s is discussed by women from Tyneside. The reality of their lives contrasts sharply with the hopes and aspirations of the 40s and 50s, shown through films and songs of the period when the welfare state was first established.

Copland himself is the key explicator of his own extraordinary musical career, from piano lessons in Brooklyn and study with Nadia Boulanger, a fling as a wild-eyed modernist, and finally to his preeminence in the American musical world. The program features a wealth of Copland music, including ballet sequences with Agnes de Mille dancing in Rodeo and Martha Graham in Appalachian Spring, scenes of Copland conducting, and interviews with Leonard Bernstein and Ned Rorem, who said of Copland, "He invented out of whole cloth what it means to be American." Written by Vivian Perlis and produced by Ruth Leon.

The story of Madagascar from 1895 to 1975: colonization, war, revolt, independence. Since the movie is a historical drama, the Malagasy government forced the director to modify the film so that it was in accordance with the Socialist Revolutionary ideas.

The film deals with an imigrant woman from southern Italy, who lives in Frankfurt in the 1970s. Unusual about this film is the way of the storytelling. The original plan was to make a documentary, but none of the female protagonists were willing to be seen in front of the camera. The fear to expose their own family was too big. The law of “omerta” exists in the diaspora as well. A southern italian proverb states: “The girls greatest value is her beauty - the womans greatest value is her silence”. For this reason, in the film only the sound of Maria M. from Basilicata, can be heard. She remains anonemous. In the movie, southern italian emigrants act in Maria's story. In fact, they end up playing themselves, which gives the film several layers and adds a refreshing sense of humor.

Gravity is a film about four graduate students working in an experimental astrophysics lab at MIT.

Gil Cardinal searches for his natural family and an understanding of the circumstances that led to his becoming a foster child. An important figure in the history of Canadian Indigenous filmmaking, Gil Cardinal was born to a Métis mother but raised by a non-Indigenous foster family, and with this auto-biographical documentary he charts his efforts to find his biological mother and to understand why he was removed from her. Considered a milestone in documentary cinema, it addressed the country’s internal colonialism in a profoundly personal manner, winning a Special Jury Prize at Banff and multiple international awards.

A TV special documentary made by CBS for the release of Super Trouper.

Documents the work of youth work action on construction sites in East Berlin.

Silence - the stuff of assumptions and confusion - is a legacy inherited by many grandchildren of Japanese Americans interned during WWII. Shortly after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Masuo Yasui, a respected figure of Hood River Valley, Oregon was arrested by the FBI as a "potentially dangerous enemy alien." In A FAMILY GATHERING, Lise Yasui, a granddaughter that Masuo never knew, shows that courageous journeys into the past can bring greater understanding of family and personal history to the present.

Documentary about a group of alcoholics on welfare around Kortedala square in Gothenburg, Sweden, the perceived problems this comes with, along with proposed solutions.

Welcome to the dawn of extreme skiing and riding as we know it. Watch skiers and riders like Stein Eriksen, Phil Mahre, Billy Kid, Craig Peterson, and plenty of others shape modern skiing into what it is today. Travel with them as they go coast to coast across the U.S., fly all the way over to France and Japan, and finally journey down under to New Zealand and ski head to head down the steep and deep.

A short documentary (30 min) for the NOS about a Nepalese anthropologist who is researching the care of elderly people in the Dutch countryside. He chose Schoonrewoerd for this, a strict reformed village with 1500 inhabitants in the Vijfherenlanden 30 km under the smoke of Utrecht. The main street divides the village in two directions within the same faith: Calvinist and Dutch Reformed. Rajendra Pradhan tries to understand the village, he learns Dutch and goes to live there for a year. He gradually discovers that the village is studying him instead of the other way around. Every minute of his actions is being watched.

Documentary about the life of an elderly Tatar couple who live in Kruszyniany village in Podlasie. While Islam and the proximity of a mosque are still important to older people, youth are fleeing from the countryside to the city.

A documentary comedy about extras in Hollywood and how their dreams reflect the society they live in. The film's stage is an old hotel in the middle of Hollywood. Dilapidated inside as well as outside, but the passing of time hasn't eradicated all traces of an elegant past. Until the beginning of the 1960th the Stars from Broadway lived in Montecito Hotel on Franklin Avenue when they flew in from New York to film at the big studios. But the Stars have disappeared and those who dream about being Stars have moved into their hotel rooms, the extras, the hookers, the pimps, the restless dreamers stuck in a hotel with a dying elevator that slowly drives them crazy.

From pond to plate, we are shown the journey and destiny of one carp among many. This particular carp will be eaten stuffed during a family meal. Carp stuffed (in the Polish fashion), also called in yiddish (Gefilte Fish) is a traditional dish eaten by Ashkenazi Jews. It is cooked, sweetened and served as a cold dish at the start of the meal. The head is reserved for the head of the family. The film, set in Brussels, on the day of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), aims to show the culinary preparation together with the accompanying prayers and ritual. It focuses particularly on the sacrifice of the fish and on the issue of mass extermination.

Mangroves are plant formations that live and grow in saline swamps and in Tumbes they cover a large area, creating a varied and original flora and fauna that is very attractive for the development of tourism in northern Peru.

Documentary about the daily life and struggle of workers from the 1930s generation in Brazil. Told through the memories of a feminist and four union members, the film shows the different faces of the workers' organization experience at that time, from Vargas' influence to communism, culminating in the common trait of their relationship with the workers' bases.

A.I.D.S has become a convenient excuse to desexualize gay culture and to terminate the gay liberation movement. This film confronts the viewer to these facts. A.I.D.S.C.R.E.A.M. was selected for the A.I.D.S. Media: Counter - representations program of the Whitney Museum, 1989.

This short film takes viewers on a whirlwind tour of the history of air combat, from World War I through the Vietnam War. It was produced by General Dynamics sometime prior to 1990 and re-released by Lockheed Martin in the mid-nineties. As a promotional short for the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the film reviews the development of aerial combat to place the F-16 in historical context. Informational narration is supplemented with snippets from interviews of top fighter aces. The aces focus on the characteristics that make great fighter pilots and great fighter aircraft. The interviewees include World War I ace W.C. "Bill" Lambert; World War II aces Douglas Bader, Stanford Tuck, Adolf Galland, Erich Hartmann, Gabby Gabreski, Tex Hill, and Svein Heglund; Korean War ace Ralph Parr; and Vietnam War ace Steve Ritchie. The film includes historical footage and stills, along with opening and closing segments briefly featuring the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

A locomotive journey traversing the North to the South of the German Democratic Republic on the eve of its dissolution. Labourers, punks, mothers, intellectuals, young and old are implored to reflect on their life choices, the sacrifices they've made, and their place in the world. Despite everything, hope persists.

Documentary about painter Víctor Lewis, from Colón, Panama.

An investigation into the serious problem of bullying in Britain's schools, including accounts from victims and complaints that the issue is ignored by schools.

The literal title of this film by Nikos Koutelidakis, loaded as it is with layers of irony and secondary meaning, serves as an early inkling of what will become overtly apparent right from its opening shots. The camera contemplates the abandoned mansions in the town of Galaxidi, focusing first on the damage done by wear and tear to their exteriors, and then on their vacant interior spaces that once were filled with a human hustle and bustle. The storied past of this place, including details that evoke its former commercial shipping glory, becomes mired inside Galaxidi's listing around that time as a protected traditional settlement, one that tries to shake off the quaint, nostalgic air imposed upon it by a pivotal decade at its dawn, only to become trapped once more within the guise of the vintage tourist attraction it remains to this day.

Swedish documentary about music and counter-culture in the United States.

Successful British band Japan filmed live in concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London on 16th November 1982.

In 1982, one year after the Soviet submarine U-137 had been found beached in Swedish waters, the Swedish government claimed to have captured another submarine in its waters. As time went on and no submarine turned up the shouts for proof grew louder and luder.

A brief history of the emergence and artistic innovations of tango in 19th-century Argentina and Europe. The film offers a mosaic of tango melodies, art works, dance performances, historical footage, photographs of Buenos Aires at the turn of the 20th century, and texts by Celedonio Flores and Enrique Santos Discépolo.

A black ethnologist explores aspects of German life in West Germany in the early 1980s with a foreign eye - and meets with rejection because she dares to look at Europeans with the same tools as they have used for centuries in Africa.

This documentary film shows the development of the wool industry in Iceland, and the old ways to work the wool, used on Icelandic farms throughout the centuries are demonstrated. In the film, visits are made to modern wool factories and the process of the production is followed from the beginning to the finished product.

Filmic study of time by Estonian director Mark Soosaar.

An experimental mix of thriller and documentary exploring the scandal centred on the one-time Newcastle Council Leader, aka The Mouth of the Tyne, who was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 1974 for corruption. A dynamic and visionary politician, Smith collaborated closely as Amber unpicked the story of a leftwing group of ex-war resisters who took control of the city council in 1960, the socialist and civic ambitions and the betrayals; the claims of MI5 involvement, of ministerial cover-ups and the unseen role of the Privy Council. With Smith appearing as himself and filmmakers Murray Martin and Steve Trafford as two journalists, the film interrogates the interviews and archive footage, weaving them together with a fictional scandal unfolding on the streets around them…

A singular and poetic evocation of what Alexandria was, a multifaceted city, when it was at the heart of the Arab and European worlds. The men of letters Cavafy and Lawrence Durell are evoked by a few quotes describing the city, scattered throughout the film. The mixture of cultures and languages is the very essence of Alexandria, its inhabitants testify to the memory of a lush and harmonious cosmopolitan city, under the eye of the director's camera...