A look at the extensive work of the Austrian multimedia artist VALIE EXPORT. Her role as a key feminist figure and mediator between the international women’s movement and the artistic avant-garde and pioneer are at the center of the film.
The Muslims Are Coming follows a band of Muslim-American comedians as they visit big cities, small towns, rural villages, and everything in between to combat Islamophobia! These Muzzies not only perform standup at each tour stop but create ridiculous interventions in unsuspecting town squares, like the ol' classic, "Ask a Muslim Booth."
After Anschluss — the Nazi invasion and incorporation of Austria in 1938 — a group of Jewish children travel from Vienna to Oslo for summer camp. But when the time comes for them to return home, the political conditions on the continent have worsened and they can no longer return to their families. In Norway, an orphanage is established to look after these effectively homeless children, one of whom is director Nina Grünfeld’s father.
Alexandra Pelosi travels through the United States interviewing and filming several evangelical pastors and congregations.
The Beatles First US Visit uniquely chronicles the inside story of the two remarkable weeks when Beatlemania first ignited America. The pioneering Maysles Brothers who filmed at the shoulders of John, Paul, George and Ringo, innovated an intimate documentary style of film-making which set the benchmark for rock and roll cinematography that remains to this day.
In this entrancing documentary on performance artist, photographer and underground filmmaker Jack Smith, photographs and rare clips of Smith's performances and films punctuate interviews with artists, critics, friends and foes to create an engaging portrait of the artist. Widely known for his banned queer erotica film Flaming Creatures, Smith was an innovator and firebrand who influenced artists such as Andy Warhol and John Waters.
The Execution of Wanda Jean chronicles the life-and-death battle of Wanda Jean Allen, the first black woman to be put to death in the United States in the modern era.
An airstrip, a hangar and a classroom somewhere in rural Ghana: This is the place where 18-year-old Lydia and 20-year-old Esther hope to achieve their dream: learning how to fly. They have joined the first aviation school for girls in West Africa. There, an ambitious Englishman wants to train young women from rural areas to become pilots. Yet, during training and everyday life at the Aviation Academy Western ideals collide with African values, and the girls gradually realize, that their dream of flying comes at a price.
FAR FROM POLAND is probably the first American non-fiction film (Godmilow calls it a "drama-tary") to explode cinema verite's mythic claim to be the only trustworthy mode of representation for discussing the real world, and in particular, social and political issues, on film. Refused a visa to travel to Poland, "Jillski" (her Polish nickname in the film) has to literally re-invent the documentary to deal with the Polish situation and she does so with a particular eye to deconstructing not only documentary's specific claims to objectivity, but also the bourgeois audience's desire to sit comfortably in their seats, feel compassion, feel themselves part of the solution (not part of the problem) by having felt compassion for the poor oppressed Poles, who, Godmilow would argue, are far more acutely aware of their situation and what forces oppress them than the liberal American folk in the movie house.
What are the social climate and cultural traditions in Costa Rica which nurture "machismo" and allow the domination of women to continue in Latin America?
When Umi and Dwipa left Indonesia to work in an Ontario greenhouse as part of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program, they hoped the jobs would provide the opportunity and income for a better life. They didn't expect that fixers and false promises would lead to deception and exploitation. Sadly, their story is not uncommon. Min Sook Lee continues to speak truth to power with her commitment to providing a voice to the silenced, fulfilling documentary's capacity as a powerful tool for social change.
This heartfelt documentary from award-winning filmmaker Mai Masri explores the enduring friendship that evolves between two Palestinian girls—Mona, who was born and raised in the economically marginalized Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, and Manar, who lives in the Dheisha refugee camp under Israeli control. The two girls begin their friendship as penpals, sharing the similarities and differences of life in the two refugee camps. Mona and Manar are finally able to meet face-to-face at the Lebanese-Israeli border during Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon. But when the second intifada suddenly erupts around them shortly thereafter, both girls must face heart-breaking changes in their lives.
Straight from the front lines in Iraq, THE WAR TAPES is the first war movie filmed by soldiers themselves. These soldiers bypassed Pentagon supervised media to share their experience like never before. Funnier, spicier, and more gut wrenching than news reports, this is Operation Iraqi Freedom as filmed by Sergeant Steve Pink, Sergeant Zack Bazzi and Specialist Mike Moriarty. Steve is a wisecracking carpenter who aspires to be a writer. Zack is a Lebanese-American university student who loves to travel and is fluent in Arabic. Mike is a father who seeks honor and redemption. Each leaves a woman behind - a girlfriend, a mother and a wife. Through their candid footage, these men open their hearts and take us on an unforgettable journey, capturing camaraderie and humor along with the brutal and terrifying experiences they face. These soldiers got the story that 2,700 embedded reporters never could.
McLibel is a documentary film directed by Franny Armstrong for Spanner Films about the McLibel case. The film was first completed, as a 52 minute television version, in 1997, after the conclusion of the original McLibel trial. It was then re-edited to 85 minute feature length in 2005, after the McLibel defendants took their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
A farming community organizes to obtain hydro power under Manitoba's rural electrification plan. Energetic canvassing wins over those hesitant to share, for the good of all, the initial expense. The abundant return in comfort, convenience, efficiency and financial advantage is described in concluding sequences.
Thirteen Swiss filmmakers, each from their own point of view, chronicle and reconstruct the narrative of Swiss cinema, from its beginning to the present day, and in doing so, retrace the history of the country.
Documentary about the lives of worshippers from the congregation of the Greater Bethany Community Church in South Central LA and the sermons of its Bishop Noel Jones
A unique 1960s documentary on the traditional dirge sung by women in Griko, an ancient dialect of Salento, so old that it originates from the ancient Greeks who once colonized that part of southern Italy.
On a hot summer day, a group of boys of the Roman suburbs play and laugh in one of the many rivers that surround the city. The camera scrutinizes them, approaches them, reveals the gestures and glances, wraps them in a sort of visual dance, while the words of the commentary (entrusted to the poetic sensibility of Pier Paolo Pasolini) narrate the stories, desires, dreams, the future.
Chasing Asylum tells the story of Australia's cruel, inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and refugees, examining the human, political, financial and moral impact of current and previous policy.