The Armor of Light(2015)

Guru Chela(en)

Guru Chela is a heartfelt short film celebrating the timeless bond between a teacher Guru and student Chela. The story revolves around a young Chela who invites his Guru to attend his Bratabandha ceremony, a significant event in Nepalese culture marking a boy's transition into adulthood and spiritual maturity. The ceremony takes place at the Southall Temple in the United Kingdom, bringing together tradition and diaspora life. The Bratabandha combines choodakarma tonsure and Upanayana samskara, symbolizing a promise vrata and a sacred bond bandhana. It is a moment of reflection on cultural identity and spiritual growth. As the Guru blesses the Chela during the rituals, the film delves into their profound relationship. The Guru, representing the source of wisdom and guidance, imparts teachings on life and spirituality, while the Chela demonstrates respect and gratitude for his mentor's influence.

Six Hours: Surviving Typhoon Yolanda(en)

In the middle of a broadcast about Typhoon Yolanda's initial impact, reporter Jiggy Manicad was faced with the reality that he no longer had communication with his station. They were, for all intents and purposes, stranded in Tacloban. With little option, and his crew started the six hour walk to Alto, where the closest broadcast antenna was to be found. Letting the world know what was happening to was a priority, but they were driven by the need to let their families and friends know they were all still alive. Along the way, they encountered residents and victims of the massive typhoon, and with each step it became increasingly clear just how devastating this storm was. This was a storm that was going to change lives.

F.O.T.O.G.R.A.F.(ru)

A short film based on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fictional universe, combining the “Picnic to the curb” of the Strugatsky brothers, “Stalker” by Andrei Tarkovsky and the “Exclusion Zone” location around the Chernobyl NPP. According to the scenario, an agent of the peacekeeping forces, nicknamed "The Photographer", arrives in the Zone to prevent a global scale catastrophe, which could be caused by an experiment that went out of control at a scientific lab.

NULL(en)

A hitman is tasked to take out ex-mobsters when he suddenly hears a voice that questions his morality.

(NULL)(xx)

An unknown girl breaks out of her daily grind by undergoing an intense audio-visual trip.

Jean Painlevé Through His Films(fr)

This documentary about the life and work of filmmaker Jean Painlevé was originally presented in eight parts on French television. It was edited to remove duplicated material from its original length of 240 minutes.

Jigen Daisuke(ja)

Feeling unhappy with his gun, Jigen is looking for the world’s best gunsmith. He finally finds out that Chiharu, who runs a watch shop, is the person he’s been seeking. Then, Jigen meets Oto, who comes to Chiharu’s shop looking for a gun. Jigen finds out about Oto's secrets and the mysterious organization that’s after her. After Oto is kidnapped, Jigen gets into a desperate battle to save her.

Older Gods(en)

After the disappearance of his troubled friend, American Chris Rivers travels to the remote Welsh countryside to investigate what happened – leading him to a dark apocalyptic cult.

Motherland(en)

In an alternate present society where the state frees parents from the burden of raising children, a rule enforcer learns a shocking truth that sparks her rebellion.

Dog Barbos and Unusual Cross(ru)

This is the very first silent slapstick comedy short about adventures of Worldly, Coward, and Fool. What's more fun: fishing with worms, or dynamite? Three friends decided to have a blast! Unfortunately their dog Barbos just loves playing fetch. And this time that stick was used for blast fishing. Barbos saw people throwing a smoking stick in a water, and fetched it right back to his owners. The "unusual cross" part begins when owners try to outrun the dog with dynamite.

The Lost Garden(ru)

Where does a garden go when it has nowhere to go to? A tale about wandering and exile.

Rich Hall's You Can Go to Hell, I'm Going to Texas(en)

Comedian Rich Hall goes to the Lone Star state in search of the real Texas and asks what it means to be a Texan. From the Alamo to the oil industry and everything in between, Rich explores the landscape, the people and the true heart of this historic state.

Hillbilly Hare(en)

While vacationing in the Ozark Mountains, Bugs Bunny encounters Curt and Pumpkinhead Martin, two dimwitted hillbillies who are duped by Bugs into a violent square dance.

Heartland(en)

This "Play on One" story depicts Jack and his farming family in West Wales. They have built up their dairy herd with vast loans and are then told they must cut back on milk production and slaughter some of the herd. The community launches a campaign against the quotas, but Jack takes the law into his own hands.

Jean Reno: The Road to 'Léon'(en)

Jean Reno discusses his career and his role in the film Léon: The Professional (1994).

Road to Boston(ko)

A rousing tale of the Korean athletes who ran the 1947 Boston International Marathon, the first international marathon held since World War II.

Captain Nulle(lv)

Valdis Nulle is a young and ambitious captain of fishing ship 'Dzintars'. He has his views on fishing methods but the sea makes its own rules. Kolkhoz authorities are forced to include dubious characters in his crew, for example, former captain Bauze and silent alcoholic Juhans. The young captain lacks experience in working with so many fishermen on board. Unexpectedly, pretty engineer Sabīne is ordered to test a new construction fishing net on Nulle's ship and 'production conflict' between her and the captain arises...

Refuge(e)(en)

Refuge(e) traces the incredible journey of two refugees, Alpha and Zeferino. Each fled violent threats to their lives in their home countries and presented themselves at the US border asking for political asylum, only to be incarcerated in a for-profit prison for months on end without having committed any crime. Thousands more like them can't tell their stories.

Il y a longtemps que je t'aime(fr)

Hundreds of excerpts from 60 French films produced by the NFB over the course of 50 years are assembled to offer a look at the evolution of how women have been portrayed on film.

Diana: The Woman Inside(en)

Diana The Woman Inside highlights Diana as a woman and mother, rather than just a tragic icon.

Welcome to São Paulo(pt)

All the feature is given prestige to by the narration in Caetano Veloso's voice, that also signs one of the segments of the project. São Paulo is the largest city of the Southern Hemisphere, with an incessant dynamics of cultural mixtures, with immigrants of all the world and migrants of all parts of Brazil. The gathering of these peculiarities are seen through the 13 film directors's sensibilities and their segments.

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.

The Deal(en)

Stop-motion animation on the arranging of marriages in 1950/60s set in the Eastern-Polish borderland. The script is based on a part of Mikołaj Smyk's diary, the director's grandfather. The biographical objects used in the animation, such as an authentic headscarf, Polish and Russian books, the copy of Mikołaj Smyk's diary and photographs help situate the story in its original environment.

History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige(en)

This film is a poetic composition of recorded history and non-recorded memory. Filmmaker Rea Tajiri’s family was among the 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. And like so many who were in the camps, Tajiri’s family wrapped their memories of that experience in a shroud of silence and forgetting. This film raises questions about collective history – questions that prompt Tajiri to daringly re-imagine and re-create what has been stolen and what has been lost.

Untold: Deal with the Devil(en)

Christy Martin broke boundaries and noses as she rose in the boxing world, but her public persona belied personal demons, abuse and a threat on her life.

Untold: Caitlyn Jenner(en)

Caitlyn Jenner's unlikely path to Olympic glory was inspirational. But her more challenging road to embracing her true self proved even more meaningful.

Chronicle of a Dream(es)

October 2004. Uruguay. After three years away Mariana returns to her country to be reunited with her family and also to vote. After the economic crisis that plunged the country into a terrible depression, Uruguay is on the brink of a real change. We are shown day to day life in Melo, a small provincial city, we are given an intimate insight into a family of militant leftists, and we accompany a Latin American people in the month leading up to a historic political event: the first ever election victory in Uruguay of a party from the political left, the Frente Amplio.

Des poules et des grosses voitures(fr)

China. The Arts – The People(de)

China marks the beginning of the extensive Asian theme in Ottinger’s filmography and is her first travelogue. Her observant eye is interested in anything from Sichuan opera and the Beijing Film Studio to the production of candy and sounds of bicycle bells.

The Devil Came on Horseback(en)

While serving with the African Union, former Marine Capt. Brian Steidle documents the brutal ethnic cleansing occuring in Darfur. Determined that the Western public should know about the atrocities he is witnessing, Steidle contacts New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who publishes some of Steidle's photographic evidence.

Air Guitar Nation(en)

If your bedroom has become too small a stage for your air guitar antics, take inspiration from the competitors featured here as they battle their way from the inaugural U.S. Air Guitar Championship to the world championship in Oulu, Finland. Along the way, filmmaker Alexandra Lipsitz documents the fierce rivalries that develop as would-be rock legends vie for top honors in technical accuracy, stage presence and "airness."

The Rock-n-Roll Farmers: Donnie & Joe Emerson(en)

From: Light In The Attic Records: ‘Baby’ has been a staple on just about every playlist/mixtape I’ve assembled in the past 3 years. It is nothing short of sublime.” – Ariel Pink Pacific Northwest isolation mixed with wide-eyed ambition, a strong sense of family and the gift of music proved to be quite the combination for teenage brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Originally released in 1979, Dreamin’ Wild is the sonic vision of the talented Emerson boys, recorded in a family built home studio in rural Washington State. Situated in the unlikely blink-and-you-missed-it town of Fruitland and far removed from the late 1970s punk movement and the larger disco boom, Donnie and Joe tilled their own musical soil, channeling bedroom pop jams, raw funk, and yacht rock.

The Rape of Recy Taylor(en)

Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. The film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story.

Mountain(en)

An epic cinematic and musical collaboration between SHERPA filmmaker Jennifer Peedom and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, that explores humankind's fascination with high places.

Waiting for August(en)

Georgiana Halmac is turning 15 this winter, but she has no time for teenage dreams when her mother, who's on unemployment, moves to Torino to find work. Georgiana is left in charge of her six siblings in a social housing condo on the outskirts of Bacau, Romania. Caught between adolescence and the responsibilities of adulthood, Georgiana does the best she can, improvising with parenting advice from the television and the occasional phone call with her mother. As she handles her own issues and high-school dramas, Georgiana must also deal with admonishing neighbours who threaten to turn the whole family into social services. With incredible calm and stoicism, Georgiana amazes as she holds everything together in an ingenious and delicate balance.

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.

Underwater Dreams(en)

Underwater Dreams, narrated by Michael Peña, is an epic story of how the sons of undocumented Mexican immigrants learned how to build underwater robots. And go up against MIT in the process.