Discover Movies

Modern forensic science re-examines the evidence. Walter Cronkite narrates. Definitive investigation. Written, directed and produced by Robert Richter.

A Century of Struggle chronicles the hundred-year history of the NZ Seamen’s Union from its formation in 1879. Using original film and archive footage, it examines the working lives of seamen and the battles fought by their union from the sailing ships of colonial days to the modern turbine-powered container vessels. Because the Seamen’s Union was frequently at the forefront of working-class struggle in New Zealand, its story involves most of the crucial issues and events in the history of the union movement generally, including the great maritime strikes of 1890 and 1913 and the waterfront dispute of 1951.

This film documents painter Mizutani Isao’s creative process as he prepares for his solo exhibition “Between Ten Spiritual Worlds:Flies and the Dinner Table.” Mizutani’s method involves painting the surface of his canvases with water-soluble acrylics, then applying India ink and water and freezing them naturally. No sound was recorded for the film, which was projected silent with Mizutani himself narrating over the images.

From an ancient burial site at Honokahua, Maui, to the streets of Honolulu, the issue of protecting ancestral remains from development is brought passionately to the public’s attention by Hawaiian descendants. A few days before Christmas, 1988, a 24-hour vigil is held at the state capitol to protest the excavation of almost 900 ancient burials from the sands of Maui’s Honokahua bay by archeologists contracted to clear the area for construction of a new Ritz Carlton resort. The effort to stop the desecration is met with overwhelming support from the community and soon an agreement is reached between the state government and the developer to move the hotel site and reinter the bones. This collective action eventually resulted in legislation to repatriate ancestral remains from universities and museums throughout the world and protect burial sites throughout Hawai‘i.

In 1982, Gore Vidal, one of America's greatest writers, challenged the American political establishment, and Jerry Brown, in his campaign for the California United States Senate seat.

Follows the Mariel boatlift, a mass emigration of Cubans who traveled from Cuba's Mariel Harbor to the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980.

A documentary about the elementary school children as they start their first year in Merihaka, Helsinki.

The juxtaposition may seem strange, but the Cash clan’s roots are in Scotland—even if Johnny’s speculation about descent from the 12th-century King Malcolm may be more guesswork than genealogy. Andy Williams guest-stars.

Francis Bacon revolutionised figurative painting in the 20th century. The English painter unmasked his subjects in a provocative and ruthless manner. Deformed bodies, grimacing faces and the materiality of colour make us aware of brutality and sexuality, existential abysses and the fears of existence. Author Melvyn Bragg accompanies the painter throughout his day. This begins in his London atelier, leads us on to his favourite pub and ends up in gambling club in Soho.

Hans: Het Leven voor de dood (Hans, Life Before Death) is a documentary feature film about the life of the young composer Hans van Sweeden (1939-1963) and those who knew him intimately. The film is about the harrowing life of the musician, poet and actor Hans van Sweeden (1939-1963), who ended his life at the age of 24. Simultaneously, the film offers a poignant portrait of his contemporaries in the turbulent fifties and sixties and the children of the Nazis. It won the Golden Calf for Best Feature Film in 1983. Award of the Dutch film critics, 1983; the Belgian film critics Award, 1984; Best Dutch Documentary 1980-1990. (Wikipedia)

Buried Alive exposes some of the ugly truths about the nature of Western Democracy, the world media and third world colonialism. But the story of East Timor also presents the potential for individuals to effect change. The history of East Timor from its time as a Portuguse colony, rise of Fretilin Party, declaration of independence, civil war, desertion by Portugal and the rest of the world and invasion by Indonesia. Shows the struggle of Jose Remos-Horta to draw attention and support at the United Nations for the plight of East Timor.

Ayşe Polat grows up in Hafenstraße in Hamburg in the 1980s. The 15-year-old is surrounded by crime and is quickly pigeonholed by outsiders because of her living situation. However, the criminal environment doesn't say much about the person.

A short film about a single tree in the forest which has been cut and used as wood.

Short film about oriental dancers.

A 65-year-old cleaning woman for a professional dancers' exercise studio performs her job while telling us in voiceover about her life, hopes, goals, and feelings. A challenge to mainstream media's ongoing stereotypes of women of color who earn their living as domestic workers, this seemingly simple documentary achieves a quiet revolution: the expressive portrait of a fully realized individual.

Shot in a retirement home over a period of two years, this film raises the question of "how to take care". The director films with great tenderness, not only the daily life of patients with senile dementia, but also the work of caregivers. Widely broadcast, the film sparked lively debate on the care and support society in Japan.

A short documentary

The coastal "motorway" that links the Icelanders together is usually referred to less euphemistically by continental tourists who are used to asphalt or concrete. But to some Icelandic off-road enthusiasts it is much too smooth and unchallenging. Therefore they decided to cross the country through the uninhabited highlands from the est to the east. 800 kilometers of lava, strong rivers, mud and glaciers required specially adapted vehicles, but when winter suddenly fell with thick snow and serious accidents, the future of even the most carefully prepared expedition was thrown into jeopardy.

Shot mostly at Uluru, the rock in the heart of Australia. The extreme heat damaged the emulsion of the film which is subsequently incised by the filmmaker. A ceremonial death and rebirth. The soundtrack was made by the Orchestra of Skin and Bone comprising of Ollie Olsen and John Murphy. The aborigines were from Narwietooma Station. 16mm.

A film that takes laundry seriously as a form of folk art, a fraught social signifier and lens for women to reflect on the joys, pains and ambivalences of household chores.

An autobiographical video essay by Vietnam veteran Daniel Reeves exploring the psychological roots of war through memories of combat, childhood media imagery, and reflections on violence in American culture.

A film by Hugh King and Lamar Williams - a powerful mix of archival material, news clips and documentary footage chronicles impassioned community response to decades of deadly force against people of color by members of the Philadelphia police force. Community leaders, politicians, police officers, survivors of police brutality and sympathizers unravel a pattern of biased violent police behavior from the tenure of Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo to the bombing of Osage Avenue. This documentary is a testimony to long-standing tensions between police and people of color in communities throughout the United States.

Film by Barbara Hammer.

A documentary covering the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

Documentary presenting the theory and application of the Theology of Liberation via interviews to priests from humble parishes in the slums of Lima. A fruitful labor of a Catholic Church sector committed to address social issues.

Amy Johnson was the first woman to fly solo from Great Britain to Australia. Mulvey and Wollen’s experimental documentary combines newsreel footage of the aviator’s arrival, dramatic recreations of events from her life and contemporary discussions by feminist groups on the subject of heroism in this most unconventional biopic.

This provocative and profound film documents the Choqela ceremony, an agricultural ritual and song of the Aymara Indians of Peru. By offering several different translations of the proceedings, the film acknowledges the problems of interpretation as an inherent dilemma of anthropology.

Remember the skateboard craze? Made at its peak in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. With Tom Burckhardt, whose song "I'm a Skateboard Junkie" is played by Vincent Katz.

In the fall of 1987, Philippe Haas accompanied the sculptor Richard Long to the Algerian Sahara and filmed him tracing with his feet, or constructing with desert stones, simple geometric figures (straight lines, circles, spirals). In counterpoint to the images, Richard Long explains his approach. Since 1967, Richard Long (1945, Bristol), who belongs to the land art movement, has traveled the world on foot and installed, in places often inaccessible to the public, stones, sticks and driftwood found in situ. His ephemeral works are reproduced through photography. He thus made walking an art, and land art an aspiration of modern man for solitude in nature.

This entry in the "Reel Moments" video series contains newsreel and archive footage of famous 20th century disasters, including: the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge, various ship sinkings, racecar crashes, and assassinations, with emphasis on the assassinations of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy.

Volker Koepp documents life in the Dorotheenstadt in Berlin-Mitte, which was called "Feuerland" in the 19th century.

A live performance from Kate Bush's critically and commercially successful The Tour of Life, recorded on May 13th, 1979.

Ten-year-old Sébastiana recounts the history and legends and explains the local customs of Andahuaylillas, Peru, a small village located high in the Andes. Their simpler way of life has persisted for over three centuries, undisturbed by modern society's technology and materialism.

Neat Records, the Tyne & Wear based label that gave us many notable Geordie metal acts like Venom and Raven here present a showcase of some of their 1985 roster. Featuring video performances from Venom, Warfare, Saracen and Avenger interspersed with candid and "humorous" skits between.

A portrayal of Finnish deep ecologist Pentti Linkola’s lost childhood surroundings on the shores of Lake Vanajavesi.

The 15th "Paul Hornick" Tank Regiment Cottbus, a unit of the "Heinrich Rau" Air Wing in Trollenhagen and the People's Navy are presented. In addition to the introduction of the units and a biographical outline of the namesakes, the garrison towns of Rostock, Cottbus and Neubrandenburg are also presented - urban and economic development in the region as well as cultural life.

In his New York City landscape, Cohen finds inspiration in disturbance. Looking to life for rhythm and to architecture for state of mind, he locates simple mysteries. Just Hold Still is comprised of an interconnected series of short works and collaborations that explore the gray area between documentary, narrative, and experimental genres.

This documentary covers Soviet women's efforts for peace, friendship, and mutual understanding between peoples.

From the series “Portraits of Survival.” "Cucharita" or Miguel Martínez, is an acrobat and popular musician, who tours restaurants delighting the public with an unusual instrument: a pair of spoons. Behind the few coins that he collects are the painful memories of his childhood, the effort to raise his large family and his religious faith in Sarita Colonia, a saint of marginal towns.

Comedy about Harry Ackerman's nightmares about fun seekers and their skiing adventures. Rodney Mullen and Robby Naish are also included.

Resistance fighter under the occupation, committed to the FLN during the Algerian war, member of the Medvedkine group after May 1968 and defender of Breton autonomy, René Vautier was a committed filmmaker, author of an anti-colonialist work in which he denounces the repression, torture and racism. In 1983, René Vautier discovered, by the light of a flashlight, his films cut up and scattered at Fort du Conquet. Police also came to check the damage.

American cowboys have been writing poetry for over a century. This little-known literary tradition both belies the macho image of the Western heroes and serves as an imaginative form of oral history. Cowboy Poets travels to the big sky country of Nevada, Montana, and Arizona to explore the tradition and to introduce three working cowboys, and the poetry they write about the lifestyle and land they love: Waddie Mitchell, Slim Kite, and Wally McRae.

The film profiles the Christian Riders motorcycle club, a group of bikers in Toronto who converted to Christianity.

A documentary about the 1984 restoration of Metropolis undertaken by Giorgio Moroder.

Charles Gatewood's tour video of the weird and wild in southeast Asia. Featuring sex shows, opium smoking, primitive piercing rituals, spitting cobras and "Exotic Erotic Bangkok, Sin City of Asia!".

Evidence that the United States and Britain knew beforehand of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

A film about the island of Viðey in Kollafjörður and its manifold role in Icelandic history.

A ski run in Italy, a supermarket manager in Luton, a sandwich bar in London EC2, Arena opens the bonnet of the Ford Cortina, Britain's most popular, most stolen, and most misunderstood car. 'Dagenham dustbin'? 'Poor man's Rolls-Royce'? In the year that may well see the end of a legend, some of the motoring public, including Sir John Betjeman, Tom Robinson, Alexei Sayle, Sir Terence Beckett and Magnus Magnusson take apart the Ford Cortina: Life and Works 1962-1982.

Examines the aims and accomplishments of the New Jewel Movement and the reasons for the Fall 1983 U.S. military invasion. The film puts these events in perspective by tracing Grenada's early history, from the annihilation of the indigenous Carib Indians by the European colonial powers which vied for control of the region and then imported African slaves to grow cash crops for European export, to the evolution of modern Grenadian society, including the oppressive regime of Eric Gairy (1974-79).

This feature length documentary by Jacques Godbout tackles a topic all too rarely explored in the media: terrorism in Canadian society. From Montreal to Vancouver, and Quebec City to Toronto, exasperated individuals find a new calling as self-style saviours of humanity and decide to mete out their own justice. Part reportage, part essay and part critical analysis of the phenomenon, this film includes first-hand accounts by Serge Daoust, Franco Piperno, François Schirm, Pierre Vallières and young militants from the journal Révoltes.

The Who reunite for the first time at Wembley

A documentary about the town of Mercur, Utah, and its history of mining.

To anyone outside the Atlantic provinces, K. C. Irving is virtually unknown. Yet he is reputed to be the richest man in Canada, patriarch of a New Brunswick-based industrial empire involving oil, transportation, newspapers, lumber and much more. This one-hour documentary marks the first time a filmmaker has gained access to the legendary Irving, whose business career began in 1924 with the purchase of an oil truck. It is an absorbing look at a man who amassed great wealth as a by-product of his main objective: "to see wheels turn."

A very short film on the dangers of organized religion as experienced by a little Chinese girl.

This is an instructional video for amateur videographers produced by JVC in 1989 and supplied with JVC Videomovie Letter package.

The life and work of Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, playwright, writer and poet Chico Buarque de Hollanda.