Hell Bento: Uncovering the Japanese Underground(1995)

Haack ...The King of Techno(en)

A look into the underground world of Bruce Haack, a genius whose past work continues to garner recognition with time. The homespun musician couldn't have done it without the support of his family, friends, lovers, and the neighborhood kids he called "starchildren," all of whom paint the big picture of Bruce's life legacy and so-called dimension of imagination. In addition, various musicians of many genres have joined in today showing worldwide support, thus contributing to Bruce's objective, "Sure it's nice to be famous, but I'm more interested in obtaining a telepathic following." As for the music world, history's future king is coming from the past.

La película(es)

A photographer shoots a documentary film in a small town in Argentina (Uribelarrea) about the filming that a foreign producer is doing on the spot.

Gate of Woman(ko)

In 1900, there lived two widows in a village : Mrs. Seo and her daughter-in-law Ok-Nyeo. Water carriers, new job in those days, decide not to deliver a bucket of water to Mrs. Seo because they don't like her. Ok-Nyeo is saved by Hyo-jin when she is almost raped by water carriers at night to get some water in secret. Sun they fall in love each other and Mrs. Seo gets angry with her daughter-in-law. But she sends them away to live together after she realizes their love is true. Then she devises a plot that her daughter-in-law committed suicide for honor of family and even held a funeral. Therefore two gates of woman are built in the widow's house.

The Secret Six(en)

Bootlegger/cafe owner, Johnny Franks recruits crude working man Scorpio to join his gang, masterminded by crooked criminal defense lawyer Newton. Scorpio eventually takes over Frank's operation, beats a rival gang, becomes wealthy, and dominates the city for several years until a secret group of six masked businessmen have him prosecuted and sent to the electric chair.

The King's Trial(pt)

At the time Portugal presented a strange spectacle to the rest of Europe. D. Afonso VI, son of the fortunate D. João de Bragança, was in possession of the throne and was an insane imbecile. His wife, daughter of the Duke of Nemours and cousin of Louis XIV, dared hatch a plot to oust her husband from the throne. The king's stupidity justified the queen's bravado. Despite being master of unusual strength and having slept with his wife for a long time, she accused him of being impotent. Marie Françoise had acquired through artfulness what Afonso had lost in anger in the kingdom. She had him imprisoned ( November 1667 ) and quickly obtained a papal bull from Rome to confirm her virginity and bless her marriage to her brother-in-law Pedro. Portugal's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1990.

1:11(pl)

Tomek is a young doctor specialised in obstetrics sonography. He lives lost among the women around him. One night he is abruptly woken up by a dead call from his father. This seemingly unimportant event gradually gains significance.

Aphelion Point(en)

A damaged ship floats through deep space, pulled towards a giant glowing sun. As the malevolent star draws ever closer, it begins to exert a terrifying influence upon the remaining crew members.

Miss Pots(nl)

A new teacher in class always takes some getting used to, but Miss Pots beats it all. Kaya and Simon can't get along with her so they decide not to rest until they have gotten rid of Pots...

Ma mondialisation(fr)

A business leader from Haute-Savoie explains his relationship to globalization.

Kiss Me!(en)

A high board fence is shown covered with theatrical posters. The one in the center shows the head and shoulders of a pretty girl. An old farmer and his wife are strolling along, the old gentleman being a little ahead. He looks at the picture of the girl and fancies he sees the eyes winking at him. He puts on his glasses to make sure that he is not dreaming, when the girl leans forward with an expression as if inviting him to have a kiss. (Biograph Catalog)

Cinema Pameer(en)

Cinema Pamir is where the people of Kabul come to escape and dream away the war that surrounds them. This is the story of the cinema itself, the many inspiring characters surrounding it, how everyday life has been torn apart, and how film can inspire and catalyze change even in the struggling and poor society of wartime Afghanistan.

Mishimasaiko(fr)

Mishima lives in the shadows surrounded by worms in his underground lair. Early one morning, he discovers a rose in the sun in which the beautiful Saiko awakens. Mishima will do everything he can to satisfy her needs. But worms are not supposed to live in the sun...

Hindsight(en)

Things heat up when a promising young actor begins an affair with a glamorous model in order to advance his career.

Diorama(uk)

Life flows in its everyday reality, but then suddenly something elusive changes its course. All that is left is the chance to plunge into memories where everything is preserved, as if in a museum.

25 Kille(pa)

Four brothers receive news of an inheritance and must contend with an unscrupulous landowner to receive their birthright.

Sushi Corner(es)

El hombre sin rostro(es)

First Daughter and the Black Snake(en)

The “Prophecy of the 7th Fire” says a “black snake” will bring destruction to the earth. For Winona LaDuke, the “black snake” is oil trains and pipelines. When she learns that Canadian-owned Enbridge plans to route a new pipeline through her tribe’s 1855 Treaty land, she and her community spring into action to save the sacred wild rice lakes and preserve their traditional indigenous way of life. Launching an annual spiritual horse ride along the proposed pipeline route, speaking at community meetings and regulatory hearings. Winona testifies that the pipeline route follows one of historical and present-day trauma. The tribe participates in the pipeline permitting process, asserting their treaty rights to protect their natural resources. LaDuke joins with her tribe and others to demand that the pipelines’ impact on tribal people’s resources be considered in the permitting process.

Hafu(es)

A journey into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experiences in modern day Japan. For some hafus, Japan is the only home they know, for some living in Japan is an entirely new experience, and the others are caught somewhere between two different worlds.

Victory in Soviet Ukraine(ru)

Dovzhenko and Solntseva's documentary about the end of the war.

Ukraine in Flames(ru)

A 1943 Soviet war propaganda film by Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva. It is Dovzhenko's second World War II documentary, and dealt with the Battle of Kharkiv. The film incorporates German footage of the invasion of Ukraine, which was later captured by the Soviets.

The Pixar Shorts: A Short History(en)

The story of Pixar's early short films illuminates not only the evolution of the company but also the early days of computer animation, when a small group of artists and scientists shared a single computer in a hallway, and struggled to create emotionally compelling short films.

Microcosmos(fr)

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

Jaha's Promise(en)

A documentary about the life and activism of Jaha Dukureh, a Gambian anti-female genital mutilation campaigner who returns to her country of birth to confront the harmful tradition that she and 200 million women and girls have undergone globally.

I Am Evidence(en)

The modern criminal justice system is hindered by the fact that countless rape kits remain untested in police evidence storage facilities across the United States. Only eight states currently have laws requiring mandatory testing of rape kits.

Towards Tenderness(fr)

An intimate exploration of the masculine territory of the high-rise projects at the edges of Paris. By following a group of young men, we wander through a world where female bodies are nothing more than ghostly and virtual silhouettes. The characters lead us inside everyday places where we hunt down the staging of their virility. Off-screen, narrated personal tales openly reveal the unexpected side to the characters' histories and personalities.

Tough Love(en)

Fighting to reunite with their children, 'Tough Love' chronicles the lives of two parents with cases in the United States child welfare system as they attempt to prove to the courts and the system that they deserve a second chance to be a parent and have a family.

The Aryans(de)

THE ARYANS is Mo Asumang's personal journey into the madness of racism during which she meets German neo-Nazis, the US leading racist, the notorious Tom Metzger and Ku Klux Klan members in the alarming twilight of the Midwest. In The ARYANS Mo questions the completely wrong interpretation of "Aryanism" - a phenomenon of the tall, blond and blue-eyed master race.

My Name Is Salt(en)

Year after year, just after the monsoon season has finished, thousands of families travel to a bleak desert in Gujerat, India, where they will stay for an endless eight months and extract salt from the earth, using the same painstaking, manual techniques as generations before them. Director Farida Pacha spent a season with one of these families, observing the very particular rhythms of their lives.

The Decent One(de)

Through previously undiscovered private letters, photos and diaries that were found in the Himmler family house in 1945, the "The Decent One" exposes a unique and at times uncomfortable access to the life and mind of the merciless "Architect of the Final Solution" Heinrich Himmler.

Iverson(en)

Iverson is the ultimate legacy of NBA legend Allen Iverson, who rose from a childhood of crushing poverty in Hampton, Virginia, to become an 11-time NBA All-Star and universally recognized icon of his sport. Off the court, his audacious rejection of conservative NBA convention and unapologetic embrace of hip hop culture sent shockwaves throughout the league and influenced an entire generation. Told largely in Iverson's own words, the film charts the career highs and lows of one of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.

Art and Craft(en)

For several decades, gifted and incredibly prolific forger Mark Landis compulsively created impeccable copies of works by a variety of major artists, donating them to institutions across the country and landing pieces on many of their walls. ART AND CRAFT brings us into the cluttered and insular life of an unforgettable character just as he finds his foil in an equally obsessive art registrar.

Toots(en)

The '40s and '50s were a classic period in New York City nightlife, when the saloonkeeper was king and regular folks could drink with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Jackie Gleason. In this documentary, Kristi Jacobson profiles her grandfather, the king of kings: Toots Shor of the eponymous restaurant and saloon, which was once the place to be seen in Manhattan. Edward R. Murrow called Toots Shor the owner of America’s greatest saloon. He became the unlikely den-mother to the heroes of America's golden age. Politicians and gangsters, sports heroes and movie stars - Sinatra, Gleason, DiMaggio, Ruth, Costello, Eisenhower, Nixon, Warren - for 30 years, they all found their way to Toots' eponymous saloon on New York's West 51st Street.

Love Hotel(en)

Pensioners, lawyers, married couples and teenagers are all customers at the Angel Love Hotel in Osaka Japan. With unprecedented access into one of the most private and anonymous spaces in Japanese society, this film follows the love hotel's struggling manager and staff as the try to keep their hotel running, as well as revealing the intimate and private lives of the customers who visit.

The Corporation(en)

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

Meet the Patels(en)

Finding love is never easy. For Ravi Patel, a first generation Indian-American, the odds are slim. His ideal bride is beautiful, smart, funny, family-oriented, kind and—in keeping with tradition—Indian (though hopefully raised in the US). Oh, and her last name should be Patel because in India, Patels usually marry other Patels. And so at 30, Ravi decides to break up with his American girlfriend (the one who by all accounts is perfect for him except for her red hair and American name) and embark on a worldwide search for another Patel longing to be loved. He enlists the help of his matchmaker mother, attends a convention of Patels living in the US and travels to wedding season in India. Witty, honest and heartfelt, this comedy explores the questions with which we all struggle: What is love? What is happiness? And how in the world do we go about finding them?

The Whale and the Raven(en)

Director Mirjam Leuze’s The Whale and The Raven illuminates the many issues that have drawn whale researchers, the Gitga’at First Nation, and the Government of British Columbia into a complex conflict. As the people in the Great Bear Rainforest struggle to protect their territory against the pressure and promise of the gas industry, caught in between are the countless beings that call this place home.