Chez Schwartz takes us inside a year in the life of Schwartz's Deli - the unique 75-year-old landmark on Montreal's historic Main. Filmed through changing seasons, from the quiet of early morning preparation to the frenetic bustle of packed lunch times and never ending line-ups, to the more relaxed ambiance late at night - Chez Schwartz is an evocative, cinematic portrait of a small spunky deli known worldwide equally for its atmosphere and smoked meat.
The Great Northwest is a documentary film based on the re-creation of a 3,200 mile road-trip made in 1958 by four Seattle women who thoroughly documented their journey in an elaborate scrapbook. Fifty years later, Portland artist Matt McCormick found that scrapbook in a thrift store, and in 2010 set out on the road, following their route as precisely as possible and searching out every stop in which the ladies had documented. Patiently shot with an observational, cinema-vérité approach, The Great Northwest is a lyrical time- capsule that explores how the landscape, architecture, and culture of the Pacific Northwest has changed over the past fifty years.
Dubbed New York's "Queen of the Night," proto–club kid Susanne Bartsch has been throwing unforgettable parties for over 30 years and is still going strong.
Stage: The Culinary Internship follows a group of interns during a nine month apprenticeship at one of the best restaurants in the world, Mugaritz. While the restaurant’s notorious avant-garde cuisine and creative working environment elevates these young hopefuls to think outside the confines of a kitchen, the extremely high standards prove to be mentally and physically exhausting. Ultimately, not everyone can handle the heat.
It's a condition known as "hypertrichosis" or "Ambras Syndrome," but in the 1500s it would transform one man into a national sensation and iconic fairy-tale character. His name: Petrus Gonsalvus, more commonly known today as the hairy hero of Beauty and the Beast.
Seekers of Oblivion explores the exciting life and adventures of Isabelle Eberhardt. Born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1877, Isabelle left Europe for North Africa at a young age. While there, she consorted with tramps, prostitutes, soldiers, murderers and thieves, at times masquerading as a man in orde.
Josef Ganz, editor of trade journal Motor-Kritik, amazed Germany by appearing in a revolutionary tiny car in 1932. It was his dream: a people's car anyone can afford. The idea made its way to new Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler. But in Hitler's dream there was no place for Jewish inventor Ganz. This is the story of the man whose designs led to the invention of the Volkswagen Beetle, and who ultimately lost everything. In the film, Ganz's relatives and admirers bring his lost heritage back to life.
Venerable storytellers recount for the camera and their listeners the founding myths of Malagasy culture.
Roadsworth: Crossing the Line details a Montreal stencil artist's clandestine campaign to make his mark on the city streets. As he is prosecuted at home and celebrated abroad, Roadsworth struggles to defend his work, define himself as an artist and address difficult questions about art and freedom of expression. - Written by Loaded Pictures
The mavericks who pioneered the modern pit stop made it a raceday staple that takes less than two seconds.
He was the most prolific within the New Portuguese Cinema generation. He would try western spaghetti, esoteric allegory, supernatural, and science-fiction. Without state subsidies, he would quit filmmaking in the 1990s. Who remembers António de Macedo?
New Model Army have been one of the biggest underground music artists for over quarter of a century. To their global community of fans they mean everything. Yet mainstream success has so far eluded them. This film is the story of the band and in particular their charismatic and unconventional lead singer songwriter and founder Justin Sullivan.
Lost Heroes is the story of Canada's forgotten comic book superheroes and their legendary creators. A ninety-minute journey to recover a forgotten part of Canada's pop culture and a national treasure few have ever heard about. This is the tale of a small country striving to create its own heroes, but finding itself constantly out muscled by better-funded and better-marketed superheroes from the media empire next door.
Three years in the making in conjunction with the BBC. Using never seen before home movies, photos and eye witness accounts - this is the inside story of the world's biggest motorsport disaster.
Two countries, two restaurants, one vision. At Gabriela Cámara's acclaimed Contramar in Mexico City, the welcoming, uniformed waiters are as beloved by diners as the menu featuring fresh, local seafood caught within 24 hours. The entire staff sees themselves as part of an extended family. Meanwhile at Cala in San Francisco, Cámara hires staff from different backgrounds and cultures, including ex-felons and ex-addicts, who view the work as an important opportunity to grow as individuals. A Tale of Two Kitchens explores the ways in which a restaurant can serve as a place of both dignity and community.
Music documentary by director Rafael Marziano Tinoco from Venezuela
In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death.
This feature documentary is a fascinating and spirited portrait of the life and times of the legendary Quebec politician and four-time mayor of Montreal Camillien Houde. Using rare archival footage and interviews with ex-colleagues, aides and friends, the film presents a comprehensive profile of this incredible, and, to some, infamous, man.
Doomed attempt to get to California in 1846. More than just a riveting tale of death, endurance and survival. The Donner Party's nightmarish journey penetrated to the very heart of the American Dream at a crucial phase of the nation's "manifest destiny." Touching some of the most powerful social, economic and political currents of the time, this extraordinary narrative remains one of the most compelling and enduring episodes to come out of the West.