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| At the beginning of the last century nine out of ten people killed in war were soldiers. At the beginning of this century nine out of ten people killed in war are civilians. Most of them are children. A CHILD'S CENTURY OF WAR takes the viewer on a journey through the past century from the perspective of children and told in their voices. |
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| An exploration of exile, memory, longing and democracy, as seen through the eyes and life experiences of writer, Ariel Dorfman ( "Death and the Maiden") Born in Argentina, growing up in New York and then Chile, Dorfman became cultural advisor to Chile's socialist president, Salvador Allende. When the Allende government fell in the military coup of September 11, 1973, Dorfman had to make the most crucial decision in his life. Later he was told that his life was spared because "someone had to live to tell the story". |
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| The History of American Punk Rock 1980 - 1986 There would be no Nirvana, Beastie Boys, or Red Hot Chili Peppers were it not for some hardcore Punk pioneers in the Eighties. Based on Steven Blush's book AMERICAN HARDCORE, we capture the spirit of the bands and a social movement created by Reagan-era misfit kids that said "f-k you" to politicians, music labels, and anyone else who got in their way. |
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| Chilling... Intelligent... Hilarious. These are the elements of this classic collage documentary. Artfully culled from newsreel footage and government archives of the 1940`s and 50`s, The Atomic Cafe serves up the dark side of Cold War America in all its fear and paranoia, and manages to blend this with a deep black humour. A darkly comic look at a defining period in the 20th century. | |||||
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| Well-known Italian American actors, directors, writers and other film artists share what it's like being a 'Hollywood Italian', and, with film clips and insider commentary on Hollywood history, show how they use their background to make art from the alchemy of mob movies, Hollywood politics, and American pop culture. |
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| On March 24th 1989 the Exxon Valdez super-tanker runs aground in Alaska and becomes the biggest environmental catastrophe in North American history. For twenty years Riki Ott and the fishermen of the little town of Cordova, Alaska have waged the longest legal battle in U.S. history against the world's most powerful oil company - Exxon Mobil. |
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| Just imagine that we are able to get in touch with extraterrestrials in our lifetime! A small group of people are taking this unlikely scenario very seriously and make listening to the sky practically their daily job. |
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| Heddy Honigmann's long awaited return to Peru in a film about poverty and poetry in a country plundered by the powerful. But also a film where the powerless resist being consigned to oblivion ( Awarded Silver Dove/ Fipresci Prize and Oecumenical Award at Leipzig 2008) |
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| She was beautiful, smart, and searching. He was an emerging genius in the world of photography. When they met, they fell instantly in love. Charis Wilson and Edward Weston transformed photography, and each other. | |||||
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| A light-hearted, whimsical look at our relationship with our closest and most romantic neighbor in the sky: The Moon. This year (in July) it is 40 years ago when man set foot on the moon and now in 2009 the relationship is hot again |
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| The world of marijuana, reported to be a $10 Billion to $30 billion industry in North America, comes vibrantly alive in this fact-filled and fascinating story of our love-hate relationship with this resilient weed, also known as grass, pot, or dope. GRASS is about the history of a hysteria and the longest-running and most disobeyed prohibition in the history of the USA. It is an epic tale of how Government bureaucrats created a climate which turned and continues to turns literally millions of users, at least technically, into criminals. | |||||
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| On December 21, 1975, six terrorists led by Carlos 'The Jackal' forced their way into OPEC headquarters in Vienna and took seventy ministers hostage. After a gun battle, three people killed and one terrorist seriously wounded, the terrorists managed to escape to Algiers. The wounded terrorist was HANS-JOACHIM KLEIN. For the first time he retraces his steps and tells his life story. | |||||
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| Italian born Laura Huxley, a teenage violin virtuoso, left the concert stage to become a renowned psychotherapist and author. In 1956 Laura married Aldous Huxley, literary giant and prophet of the 20th century. Huxley wrote BRAVE NEW WORLD in 1933. Laura and Aldous maintained a compelling personal and professional union until his death in 1963. Laura Huxley continued writing and giving seminars until her death in 2007 at the age of 96. Laura Huxley's candid recollections offer a compelling glimpse of her life with Aldous. |
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| Imaginary Witness tells for the first time the fascinating story of the American film industry's complex and contradictory responses to the horrors of Nazi Germany. Retracing 60 years of Hollywood filmmaking, utilizing carefully selected excerpts and told through first-hand accounts of directors, actors, writers, and producers, the film covers all of Hollywood's most important movies dealing with the issue. With Steven Spielberg, Sydney Lumet, Dan Curtis, Rod Steiger and many others. | |||||
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| Infinite Space traces the lifelong quest of visionary genius John Lautner to create "architecture that has no beginning and no end." It is the story of brilliance and of a complicated life - and the most sensual architecture of the 20th century. |
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| When John F. Kennedy launched his bid for the presidency, Robert Drew was there, always a step behind him, catching history on camera as it happened. In the years that followed, Kennedy continued to allow Drew and his team unprecedented access-to his office, to the members of his administration, and to his high level briefings on such signal matters as nuclear disarmament and civil rights. Though much of that footage has been seen before, this new, tightly edited documentary composed from the Drew archives provides a timely "view of a President widely respected by his fellow countrymen and celebrated across the world." |
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| From early 1970 to the mid-80s, ordinary Japanese citizens disappeared without a trace. KIDNAPPED! tells the extraordinary story of 3 families' dramatic 25-year struggle in search for the truth. In 2002 it was finally revealed that their family members, had been abducted by North Korean spies in a sinister plot of espionage! This is one the most controversial issues in Japan today and unveils a tangled web of political manoeuvrings and international espionage. | |||||
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| If there was one photograph that captured the horrific nature of the Vietnam War it was that of a nine-year-old girl running naked down a road, screaming in agony from napalm burns that had eaten into her flesh. But ironically, the picture that moved millions all over the world to tears, and that played a major part in the success of the anti-Vietnam War movement, ultimately made a victim of Kim Phuc all over again. This is her life's story. |
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| When the story and images of the unspeakable have been heard and shown a thousand times, where do you go from there? Mauthausen today: How does it feel to be a tourist at a former concentration camp? How does it feel to work here as a guide? How does it feel to live here as a local? And what of those who've chosen this town to be their new home? | ||||||
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| For over forty years, South Africa was governed by the most notorious form of racial domination since Nazi Germany. When it finally collapsed, those who had enforced apartheid's rule wanted amnesty for their crimes. Their victims wanted justice. As a compromise, the Truth & Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was formed. As it emerges from its tragedy, this deeply moving OSCAR NOMINATED film shows a South Africa to the rest of the world that proves that even the most bitter of conflicts can be addressed through honesty and communication. | ||||||
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| Homosexuals were one of the least known groups targeted for persecution by the Nazis, and one of the last to come forward with their stories. Both intimate in its portrayals and sweeping in its narrative PARAGRAPH 175 features elderly homosexual men who vividly describe their experiences during the Nazi era -- and reveal the long-term consequences of this hidden chapter of history. | ||||||
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| In a language tinted with irony and peppered with shocking facts, the film examines the origins and reality and future of the militarization of space and opens a debate that until now has been reserved for the specialists, some of whom maintain that the arms race in space can only lead to apocalypse. |
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| <b>REPORTER</b> is a feature documentary about Nicholas Kristof, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the New York Times, who almost single-handedly put the crisis in Darfur on the world map. Now Kristof wants to do the same for Congo, a humanitarian disaster zone where 5.4 million have died in the last decade as a result of the unceasing warfare over territory, resources and tribal hatred. But Nick knows that statistics deaden his readers' interest and compassion. So to get the world to care, he goes in search of individuals whose stories will reflect the country's desperate crisis and mobilize readers worldwide. He journeys through ravaged villages and displacement camps, and makes a harrowing visit to one of Congo's reigning rebel warlords at his jungle hideout. |
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| Definitive bio doc on ROBERT CAPA, the world's preeminent documentarian of 20th century war who photographed five epic conflicts on three different continents. A handsome, dashing figure, Capa was a life-long pacifist who wore military uniforms, rode in tanks, jumped out of planes and marched in the front lines. The only photographer who touched land with soldiers at Omaha Beach on D-Day, his shocking pictures inspired Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan more than 50 years later. | |||||
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| Powerful Oscar nominated documentary about when fate places people in the wrong place at the wrong time and when fear and suspicion fuel injustice. The once-famous case of the nine Scottsboro Boys is the tale of such a dramatic miscarriage of justice that started in the early 1930s: nine poor young black men, charges of white rape, a fancy New York Jewish defense lawyer, an all-white Alabama jury, sentences of death culminating in a dogged international (Communist inspired) campaign to free the "Scottsboro Boys". | ||||||
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| The memories of the extreme violence and his sense of guilt haunt him to this day. This is the emotional journey back to Rwanda of Canadian Lt-General Roméo Dallaire, who commanded the U.N. peacekeeping mission in 1994 during the infamous genocide during which moreas than 800.000 Rwandans were slaughtered, which he was powerless to stop. | ||||||
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| Born in response to the liberal counter-culture of the '60s by the ultra-conservative religious sect, Moral Re-Armament, SMILE TILL IT HURTS explores the clean-cut, smile-drenched singing phenomenon Up With People. Since 1965, this peppy youth group has sung to 20 million people worldwide, performed at four Superbowl halftime shows, and been parodied on The Simpsons and South Park. Talent was not required of its members, just a common enthusiastic vision to change the world one squeaky-clean song at a time. But its cheery façade concealed the more complicated reality of an organization founded on conservative American ideals and cult-like utopian ideology. |
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| With unprecedented access to Davis' vast personal archives, STARDUST illuminates the tempestuous life and career of one of the most gifted actresses to emerge from the Hollywood studio system. Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon, STARDUST features original interviews with Bette's son Michael Merrill, Jane Fonda, Ellen Burstyn, Gena Rowlands and James Woods who make this documentary a complete and entertaining biography. | ||||||
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| A country faces a terrorist threat and in a desperate search for security, transforms its democracy into a state of fear. The country is Peru, but the story is disturbingly familiar in today's world as the current U.S. war on terror unfolds with startling parallels - the terrorist threat, anti-terrorist legislation, an attempted military solution, the roles of intelligence and the media in the use of fear to manipulate public opinion, and the assault on democracy. | ||||||
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| This is the unusual story of a beautiful elegant woman Maria Altmann, and her incredible courage and tenacity to reclaim 5 KLIMT paintings from the Austrian government, which were stolen by the Nazis from her family. A David and Goliath tale that takes her from the glittering world of fin-de-siecle Vienna through Nazi terror in Europe to the United States Supreme Court. And after 60 years of state deception she won! Austria finally returned the paintings to Maria in 2006. |
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| In 2001, the Taliban in Afghanistan issued an edict that all non-Islamic statues be destroyed: The 53 meters high, world famous Bamiyan Buddha's, were blown to bits. International outrage ensued and the hypocrisy of it is one of the subjects of Christian Frei's (Oscar Nomination for WAR PHOTOGRAPHER) beautiful inquiry, a mesmerizing essay about terrorism and tolerance, ignorance and identity, fanaticism and faith. | ||||||
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| On May 26, 2002, filmmakers Hayes and Bruce were in Colombia to document the campaign of controversial presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt. But on Election Day, Ingrid never arrived. Earlier that morning, Ingrid was kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This is her story and her family's desperate quest to free her and keep her campaign alive Ingrid Betancourt is still captive and there has been no news from since years. |
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| THE LAST CIGARETTE aims at smokers, ex-smokers, non-smokers, and potential smokers - in short: everyone. One billion people smoke every day. They are not, for the most part, ignorant of the dangers. Why do they do it? Simple physical addiction to nicotine explains why many continue to smoke, but, knowing the dangers, why did they ever start? Hollywood clips, vintage cigarette commercials, anti-smoking scare-films, Congressional battle-footage, and much more address these questions in a lighthearted (but clear!) way. |
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| Courage, persistence and confidence in his own skills explain how John A. Alonzo went from being the son of a poor Mexican migrant worker to become one of the most acclaimed Hollywood cinematographers. |
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| 1971: America is embroiled in a dirty war based on lies and deceit. A president is abusing the power of his office, ignoring the will of the people, congress and the courts. One man, Daniel Ellsberg, at the center of power leaks the truth about the Vietnam war to the New York Times. Henry Kissinger called him, "the most dangerous man in America" And 3 decades later, he's still at it. WORLD PREMIERE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2009 |
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| A group of Greenpeace pioneers looks back on their activists' life. Once the crew of the famous ship Rainbow Warrior bombed by French agents in 1985, now they are living together on Waiheke Island in New Zealand. Age causes them to make up the balance: have their ideals proven to be tenable, and what has their activist past achieved for the world and for themselves? |
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| We trace the evolution of international law and justice from the tribunals of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, through the arrest of General Pinochet in London, to the opening of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This film also looks at the US, who opposes the new court, and visits Iraq, Kosovo, Northern Uganda, and Darfur. As the perpetrators of unspeakable war crimes largely operate with impunity we are charting a path to international justice. |
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| Leni Riefenstahl has secured her place in cinema history, but her story remains a sensitive topic as one of her most ardent admirers was Adolf Hitler. TRIMPH DES WILLENS and OLYMPIA glorified the Nazi Party and later would bring an abrupt end to her filmmaking career. Riefenstahl became an outcast after the war, but tried to pursue her artistic endeavors with characteristic determination and enthusiasm. Leni Riefenstahl died at the age of 101 in 2003. | ||||||
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| In Japan, WWII Kamikaze are still revered as self-sacrificing heroes. Internationally, they remain a potent symbol of fanaticism. Until now, few outsiders knew that many Kamikaze actually survived their suicide missions. The candid, heartbreaking testimony of surviving Kamikaze conveys the true depth of war's travesty. Sixty years later, these humble men tell us about the horrors of the cockpit, their dramatic survival and the survivor's guilt still haunting them. |
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| A documentary musical about the rise and fall of the Revolutionary Model Operas during the Cultural Revolution in China, based on traditional Chinese stories and adapted to the likes of Maos wife. We see these propaganda operas with those who performed in it, and look at their renewed popularity in modern day China. They are performed again by young people and are now also available in Karaoke versions in the Chinese Supermarket. A marvellous mixture of high and low culture. | ||||||
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