Humans and Other Animals(2024)

A Propos D'Un Crime(fr)

In 1967, Visconti came to Algiers for the filming of The Stranger with Mastroianni and Anna Karina. Camus, during his lifetime, had always refused to allow one of his novels to be brought to the screen. His family made another decision. The filming of the film was experienced in Algiers, like a posthumous return of the writer to Algiers. During filming, a young filmmaker specializing in documentaries Gérard Patris attempts a report on the impact of the filming of The Stranger on the Algerians. Interspersed with sequences from the shooting of Visconti's film, he films Poncet, Maisonseul, Bénisti and Sénac, friends of Camus, in full discussions to situate Camus and his work in a sociological and historical context. “The idea is for us to show people, others, ourselves as if they could all be Meursault, or at least the witnesses concerned to his drama.”

L'oreille décollée(fr)

Free Will? A Documentary(en)

Free Will? A Documentary is an in-depth investigation featuring world renowned philosophers and scientists into the most profound philosophical debate of all time: Do we have free will?

Mostashregh(fa)

Voyage of Time: Life's Journey(en)

A celebration of the universe, displaying the whole of time, from its start to its final collapse. This film examines all that occurred to prepare the world that stands before us now: science and spirit, birth and death, the grand cosmos and the minute life systems of our planet.

After Work(en)

Kuwait’s constitution says that every person has the right to a job, so in some places 20 people are employed for one person’s job. In South Korea, they work so much that a policy has been introduced to turn off computers at the end of the day so that employees can’t work any more. In the US, they give up over 500 million holiday hours each year, while Amazon’s drivers are trying to form a union. Meanwhile, robots are poised to take over most jobs and put the rest of us out of work. Work is so crucial to our identity and what we spend our waking hours on that it is barely noticed anymore. A lot has happened since a group of Puritan priests invented the concept of work ethic in the 1600s, and in the 21st century the very concept of work is in many ways disintegrating. A perfect situation for a filmmaker like Swedish mastermind Erik Gandini, who travels the world to explore what the concept of work means today – if it means anything at all.

Secrets of the Tribe(pt)

What happens when western anthropologists descend on the Amazon and make one of the last unacculturated tribes in existence, the Yanomami, the most exhaustively filmed and studied tribe on the planet? Despite their "do no harm" creed and scientific aims, the small army of anthropologists that has studied the Yanomami since the 1960s has wreaked havoc among the tribe – and sparked a war within the anthropology community itself.

Speak of the Devil(en)

But what is the Church of Satan? Who is Anton LaVey? Where is he from? Why does he do that? It does not take much to imagine the worst. Orgiastic ceremonies, where one revels in the blood of virgins, moonlight lamb sacrifices, noise concerts in the basement of a historical building… No, really nothing that amusing among the activities in the Church of Satan. Anton LaVey is nothing like a horned Charles Manson, and his path is all the more unexpected. Nick Bougas allows us to discover the artist, the musician, the philosopher, all through hallucinatory images retrieved from archives, making this rare documentary only two years before the author of the Satanic Bible disappeared.

Revolution(en)

The San Francisco scene in 1967-68. Documentary about hippies shot during the height of the movement . Viewpoints from many kinds of people. Music by Steve Miller Band, Mother Earth, Quicksilver Messenger Service and others.

Michel Foucault: Knowledge and Power at SOAS and beyond(en)

An insight into the life and works of Michel Foucault and how his work on Knowledge and Power still has an impact on daily life. This is applied practically to the real world of SOAS University and the online world of Social Media. Presented by Merle Tschirschnitz, Kiran Thomas and Adam Brocklesby

The Unanswered Question I : Musical Phonology(en)

This series comprised six lectures on music, which cumulatively took the title of a work by Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question. Bernstein drew analogies to other disciplines, such as poetry, aesthetics, and especially linguistics, hoping to make these lectures accessible to an audience with limited or no musical experience, while maintaining an intelligent level of discourse: Phonology is the linguistic study of sounds, or phonemes. Bernstein's application of this term to music results in what he calls "musical phonology".

The Pervert's Guide to Ideology(en)

A journey into the labyrinthine heart of ideology, which shapes and justifies both collective and personal beliefs and practices: with an infectious zeal and voracious appetite for popular culture, Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek analyzes several of the most important films in the history of cinema to explain how cinematic narrative helps to reinforce prevailing ethics and political ideas.

Carrière, 250 Meters(en)

A portrait documentary tracing the inspiration, philosophy and imagination of the celebrated theatre and screen writer - and Bunuel's long term collaborator - Jean Claude Carrière. Carrière predicts that between the house he was born in and the cemetery in which he will end there is a life journey of just 250 meters. "Carrière: 250 Meters" follows him as he reflects on the wealth of global traditions of storytelling, travelling through past and present, across countries and cultures from Paris to New York, Mexico and India and joined by his family, friends and collaborators. A testament to the life and work of an extraordinary man and a key architect in contemporary cinema.

The End of Quantum Reality(en)

Almost one hundred years ago, the project to reduce the world to mathematical physics failed suddenly and completely: “One of the best-kept secrets of science,” physicist Nick Herbert writes, “is that physicists have lost their grip on reality.” The world, we are now told, emerges spontaneously, out of “nothing,” and constitutes a “multiverse,” where “anything that can happen will happen, and it will happen an infinite number of times.” Legendary reclusive genius Wolfgang Smith demonstrates on shockingly obvious grounds the dead end at which physics has arrived, and how we can “return, at last, to the real world.” The End of Quantum Reality introduces this extraordinary man to a contemporary audience which has, perhaps, never encountered a true philos-sophia, one as intimately at ease with the rigors of quantum physics as with the greatest schools of human wisdom.

The Assembly(en)

Michael Sheen faces the interview of a lifetime with The Assembly, a group of autistic, neurodivergent, and learning disabled people. Expect revelation, chaos, and a lot of laughs.

Assholes: A Theory(en)

Some people grapple with the moral challenges of treating human beings decently. Others are just… assholes. Inspired by Aaron James’ New York Times bestseller of the same name, this documentary investigates the breeding grounds of contemporary ‘asshole culture’ — and locates signs of civility in an otherwise rude and nasty universe. Venturing into predominantly male domain, this film moves from Ivy League frat clubs to the bratty princedoms of Silicon Valley and the bear pits of international finance. Why do assholes thrive in certain environments? What explains their perverse appeal? And how do they keep getting elected?

Al-Ghazali: The Alchemist of Happiness(en)

Exploring the life and impact of the greatest spiritual and legal philosopher in Islamic history, this film examines Ghazali's existential crisis of faith that arose from his rejection of religious dogmatism, and reveals profound parallels with our own times. Ghazali became known as the Proof of Islam and his path of love and spiritual excellence overcame the pitfalls of the organised religion of his day. His path was largely abandoned by early 20th century Muslim reformers for the more strident and less tolerant school of Ibn Taymiyya. Combining drama with documentary, this film argues that Ghazali's Islam is the antidote for today's terror.

Lucescu Phenomenon(en)

A documentary film about the renowned football coach of our times Mircea Lucescu. The film examines the football philosophy of the world-class sports coach, tracks the influences on its formation (football player career, coaching in different teams and on different football tournaments). The film follows the process of formation of Lucescu's personality, his ability to defend his point of view, to learn from mistakes, and the dramatic and difficult way towards worldwide recognition. The portrait of the great coach is shaped by his family and the people with whom he worked at various times.

Notfilm(en)

NOTFILM is a feature-length experimental essay on FILM -- its author Samuel Beckett, its star Buster Keaton, its production and its philosophical implications -- utilizing additional outtakes, never before heard audio recordings of the production meetings, and other rare archival elements.

Simone de Beauvoir(fr)

Documentary on writer/philospher Simone de Beauvoir via interviews of herself and friends supplimented with archive footage resulting in an intimate portrait avaoiding the usual clichés.