Back to the Land(1976)

Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment(en)

A documentary about direct-cinema from its very beginnings (Nanook of the North) to the fake-direct-cinema of the Blair Witch Project. All the important direct-cinema filmmakers are portrayed and/or interviewed: Leacock, Wiseman, Maysles, Pennebaker, Reisz and others.

Cesar's Bark Canoe(fr)

"This documentary depicts a canoe being built in the traditional manner. Cesar Newashish, a 67-year-old Attikamek of the Manawan Reserve North of Montréal, uses only birchbark, cedar splints, spruce roots, and gum. With a sure hand he works methodically to fashion a craft unsurpassed in function or beauty of design. Building a canoe solely from the materials that the forest provides may become a lost art, even among the Native Peoples whose traditional craft it is. The film is free of spoken commentary but text appears on the screen in Cree, French, and English." - Anthology Film Archives

The Things I Cannot Change(en)

"This feature documentary is considered to be the forerunner of the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. The film offers in inside look at 3 weeks in the life of the Bailey family. Trouble with the police, begging for stale bread, and the birth of another child are just some of the issues they face. Through it all, the father tries to explain his family's predicament. Although filmed in Montreal, the film offers an anatomy of poverty as it occurs throughout North America." - NFB

Little Burgundy(fr)

"This film is one of the first French Unit productions of the “Société Nouvelle/Challenge for Change” program. When an old area of Montréal is to be demolished to make way for a new low-income housing development, is there anything the residents can do to protect their own interests? The film documents such a situation in the Little Burgundy district of Montréal and shows how the residents organized themselves into a committee that successfully influenced the city’s housing policy." - Anthology Film Archives

Friday: About Cars(en)

"Montréal under the snow and the cold winter. It is the period of the year when the garage owners strike it rich. The automobile at the service of man? This small opus would rather show the contrary. This is one in a series of eight films titled “Chronicle of Everyday Life,” a project that filmmaker Jacques Leduc took four years to realize, and whose goal was to revisit Direct Cinema at a moment when it was already heavily “contaminated” by mainstream TV." - Anthology Film Archives

Belle famille(fr)

A working class family leaves St-Henri quarter in Montréal to build a new home in the countryside.

Michel Brault, l'instinct de vue(fr)

Bowlingtreff(de)

The “Bowlingtreff” is a bowling alley situated right in the centre of Leipzig opened in July 1987. At that time the quality of life in Leipzig and the whole GDR got worse. Houses collapsed because of poor conditions, public life and amusement was on a very low level. The “Bowlingtreff” was not merely an urban entertainment centre but a revolution in those days. Built with the help of hundreds of volunteers without permission of the state authorities in Berlin the building expresses a free and international architecture known as postmodernism. It is an architecture that was never seen before in Leipzig. Marble and parquet on the floor, a glass roof and beautiful pink pillars. The atmosphere was western as time witnesses remember it.

François Mitterrand, à bout portant : 1993-1996(fr)

"What could be more unsettling than a man close to death whose profound arrogance drives him relentlessly to hang onto both his power and his writing, to the bitter end?" In the twilight of his second seven-year term, François Mitterrand was alone. Ravaged by illness and abandoned by a large majority of the Socialist Party, who would not forgive him for the disastrous outcome of the March 1993 elections, the Head of State was preparing to tackle a second round of cohabitation with the right wing. However a series of unexpected tragedies and revelations would arise, casting a shadow over the end of his reign…

Hubert Butler Witness to the Future(en)

Hubert Butler smuggled Jewish people into Ireland before WW2, then exposed the scale of the genocide of Serbs in war-time Croatia. He was silenced in Ireland, but went on to become an overnight publishing success at the age of 85.

L’enfer de Matignon(fr)

In a series of long interviews, 12 prime ministers talk about their experience in the upper echelons of power. The function of prime minister, torn between the president and the parliament, appointed without necessarily being elected but responsible for everything, is at the center of debate. With the exception of Jacques Chirac (1974-1976 and 1986-1988), deliberately left out because of his image as French President, those who governed France for the past 35 years agreed to discuss the exercise of power, as seen through archive footage, but also how they experienced it personally. Filmed in the same studio and sitting in the same chair, 12 French prime ministers talk freely about their time in office, from their appointment until their resignation.

Bert Newton: Let Me Entertain You(en)

A celebration of the incredible career of Australian television legend Bert Newton. With reflections from Tracy Grimshaw, Hamish Blake, Shaun Micallef and Eddie McGuire.

Cezanne(en)

A film record of an exhibition of the late work of Paul Cezanne, organized by The Museum of Modern Art and the Reunion des Musees Nationaux in Paris. The camera moves across details of paintings, as well as details of Cezanne’s studio, providing an intimage, close-up view of the artist’s work. The narration is provided by Cezanne’s own words, taken directly from records of correspondence. 22nd Annual San Francisco International Film Festival Participation- Communication Competition, 1978.

The Baudis affair, the murderous rumor(fr)

In 2002, serial killer Patrice Alègre was sentenced to life imprisonment for five murders. Gendarme Roussel, the main investigator of this case, believes that he will make him confess to other unsolved crimes in Toulouse. Two ex-prostitutes give a series of names of presumed accomplices of the killer, among them Dominique Baudis, then president of the CSA. He decides to face the case alone. Around him, it is silence: not an official support of his political family. Almost twenty years later, we return to the Baudis affair to try to understand it, with the testimonies of Pierre and Benjamin Baudis, his sons, François Hollande, Camille Pascal and the main protagonists.

U2: Lovetown(en)

Documentary of U2's 1989 tour of Australia.

Project Happiness(en)

Happiness, I want more! From the alleys of Nigeria and the beaches of California to the mountains of India, ordinary young people lead us on an extraordinary journey to explore the nature of lasting happiness and end up starting a movement.

Tom Kristensen - Fra Mou til Le Mans(da)

Tom Kristensen is not only Denmark's best racing driver of all time, he is also considered among the world's best. He has won the classic 24-hour race at Le Mans four times, has the existing track record, and earlier in his career he has taken international Formula 3 titles in both Germany and Japan. He has started in a myriad of racing series around the world and has managed to be the fastest in all classes! From Mou to Le Mans, with pictures that have never been shown in Denmark before, reveals why the world's fastest Dane is candidate to be the best of all time at Le Mans and why he has already secured a place in the motor sports super league. In a cornucopia of spectacular overtures from a unique career, features include Formula 3 and Formula 3000 in Europe and Japan, the many Formula 1 test runs, the world's toughest standard car series in both Japan, Germany and England, and of course Le Mans and the American Le Mans series. Commented by Tom Kristensen.

By the River(en)

A young man travels cross country by train, gathering sounds, and recording conversations about life, creativity, and personal growth with people he meets along the way.

In the Game(en)

Through the stories of a Hispanic girls soccer team at Kelly High School in Chicago, IN THE GAME illustrates the enormous challenges facing inner-city girls in their quest for higher education and, most importantly, success in life.

They Came from Manchester: Five Decades of Mancunian Pop(en)

A selection of performances by Manchester-based acts culled from the BBC archives.