Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, this documentary tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County, Alabama.
Marion Stokes secretly recorded television 24 hours a day for 30 years from 1975 until her death in 2012. For Marion taping was a form of activism to seek the truth, and she believed that a comprehensive archive of the media would be invaluable for future generations. Her visionary and maddening project nearly tore her family apart, but now her 70,000 VHS tapes are being digitized and they'll be searchable online.
In 1930s Alabama, nine young black men are accused of raping two white women. The judge in the case, unlike the rest of the town, comes to believe that the boys are innocent and, against all advice from his friends and family, sets them free, which turns the entire community against him.
An animated satire on the question of self-image for African American women living in a society where beautiful hair is viewed as hair that blows in the wind and lets you be free. Lively tunes and witty narration accompany a quick-paced inventory of relaxers, gels, and curlers. This short film has become essential for discussions of racism, African American cinema, and empowerment.
The mass murder of Jewish people by the Nazi regime is chronicled, with a warning that anti-Semitism is on the rise and the events of the Holocaust could happen again. The history of European Jewish culture and events before and during the Holocaust are seen in newsreels, photographs, and animated segments. The words of the victims of the era are read, and footage from the liberation os a concentration camp is shown.
Wings Over Water tells the fascinating story of naval aviation's critical role in making the U.S. a world power. Film highlights include archival footage of some of the most terrifying and intense airspace battles fought and the intriguing interviews of the veterans who took part in them. This is the story of naval aviation from its conception to the important role it played in battles fought, won, and lost, all the while examining American foreign policy, foreign relations, and long-simmering international conflict. An evocative, powerful, and informative documentary, Wings Over Water is the story behind the story: how and why America developed maritime aviation technology, what it meant to our past, and what it means to our future.
For many, the name Malvinas/Falklands evokes an absurd war between England and Argentina in 1982. For Julieta Vitullo, the protagonist of this film, this tragic history becomes deeply personal 25 years later when she suffers a loss associated with her search to uncover that past, unfolding into a life-affirming struggle for renewal and rebirth. This film tells the story of two trips, one made in 2006 and the other in 2010. In the space between one trip and the next, between past and present, between the public and the private, between what can and cannot be told, the movie reflects on the possibilities of conveying extreme life experiences, presenting landscapes and sounds that suggest subtle contours of that shape, 'The Exact Shape of the Islands.'
A documentary about the making of John Lennon's seminal solo debut album, "Plastic Ono Band," featuring historical analysis and playbacks of the original multi-track session tapes. Includes interviews with the musicians and personnel involved with the recording sessions as well as Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and other associates of the Lennons.
How does art survive in a time of oppression? During the Soviet rule artists who stay true to their vision are executed, sent to mental hospitals or Gulags. Their plight inspires young Igor Savitsky. He pretends to buy state-approved art but instead daringly rescues 40,000 forbidden fellow artist's works and creates a museum in the desert of Uzbekistan, far from the watchful eyes of the KGB. Though a penniless artist himself, he cajoles the cash to pay for the art from the same authorities who are banning it. Savitsky amasses an eclectic mix of Russian Avant-Garde art. But his greatest discovery is an unknown school of artists who settle in Uzbekistan after the Russian revolution of 1917, encountering a unique Islamic culture, as exotic to them as Tahiti was for Gauguin. They develop a startlingly original style, fusing European modernism with centuries-old Eastern traditions.
Documentary about Brazilian music circa 1969, with extremely rare scenes, such as the only color footage of Pixinguinha, images of João da Baiana, one of the fathers of Samba, Maria Bethânia rehearsing at Barroco nightclub, Baden Powell playing his acoustic guitar, Paulinho da Viola showing his masterpiece "Coisas do Mundo, Minha Nega", that he had just finished, and Márcia, a singer from São Paulo.
The last years of Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), rock legend and frontman of Queen, a band that conquered the world of music in the seventies and eighties: what was his lifestyle and the path that led him to a tragic death due to AIDS when he was only 46 years old.
Franco-American film pioneer Maurice Tourneur is a forgotten name in cinema history. This film traces the incredible journey of this crucial innovator from Paris to Hollywood. He inspired many of his peers and was also a mentor to some great filmmakers, including his son Jacques. Using previously unseen home movies, this film reveals the private man as well as the inspired artist whose career spanned four decades and two world wars.
From Washington to Saigon, Rome to Mexico, Paris to Prague, a wave of protests shook the world. 68 looks back at the looks back at the Vietnam War, the Prague Spring and the Soviet Invasion, the Paris riots, Dubcek, Che Guevara, De Gaulle, Cohn-Bendrik and more. A dive into the chaos of a turbulent year, featuring fantastic colour footage and the music of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrisson and Bob Dylan.
The story of how Everett Leroy Jones became Amiri Baraka, from his childhood to the mid '60s, is told through interviews recorded in the late '90s.
Using original footage and interviews, this documentary tells the nail-biting story of Apollo 13 and the struggle to bring its astronauts safely home.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s iconic Eurovision victory, a milestone that calls for a celebratory cinematic tribute fitting for the ultimate pop band. ‘ABBA: Against the Odds’ unveils the epic journey of ABBA’s rise to global fame. Starting with the moment they won Eurovision, it tells the story of how they overcame critical backlash, societal attitudes and marital break-up to deliver their ground-breaking music and prove themselves as a live act.
On the eve of the publication of a biography of Claude Jutra, one of the most famous and celebrated filmmakers in Quebec and Canada, a leak leaked to the press reveals that the book contains anonymous allegations of pedophile acts committed by the filmmaker. The rumor spread like lightning, suddenly igniting the entirety of Quebec society. By finding today some of the main witnesses propelled overnight into the heart of an unparalleled media tornado, the documentary reconstructs with archive images and other previously unpublished images, the sequence of events which led to a rewriting of the story.
Art Kane, now deceased, coordinated a group photograph of all the top jazz musicians in NYC in the year 1958, for a piece in Esquire magazine. Just about every jazz musician at the time showed up for the photo shoot which took place in front of a brownstone near the 125th street station. The documentary compiles interviews of many of the musicians in the photograph to talk about the day of the photograph, and it shows film footage taken that day by Milt Hinton and his wife.