Stages(2015)

Echo of the Mountain(es)

Echo of the Mountain takes a look at the life and work of Santos de la Torre, a great Huichol artist who, like his people, lives in oblivion. Despite having made a great mural for the metro station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre, Santos lives isolated and ignored in his country. This documentary follows his pilgrimage to Wirikuta, where he asks gods for permission to make a new mural; his journey across 385 miles of the Peyote Route, and Santos's creative process during the making of a new mural which aims to illustrate the history, mythology and religious traditions of the Huichol people.

Zombies: When the Dead Walk(en)

Zombies are part of pop culture, but what are they? Where do they come from? To find real zombies we visit Haiti where Zombies are an integral part of the island's cultural and religious roots.

Kirk Douglas: Before I Forget(en)

Kirk Douglas recounts his remarkable life in a celebrated one-man theater performance augmented with rare film highlights. He shares memories of family, marriages, other Hollywood greats, breaking the blacklist and his life-altering stroke – all with honesty and humor.

John Farrow: Hollywood’s Man in the Shadows(en)

John Farrow: Hollywood’s Man in the Shadows is the first documentary ever made about one of Hollywood’s most prolific yet forgotten filmmakers, John Villiers Farrow (1904 -1963). Part mystery, part biography, part film noir – the documentary follows the stranger than fiction story of this Australian born, Oscar-winning filmmaker. As one of Hollywood’s most enigmatic f igures, Farrow was the director of some 50 films; a sailor, a poet, a war hero, best-selling author, a religious scholar, a family man and a philanderer – a man who lived many lives – yet who left behind no memoirs, no interviews and no archival footage – and who today is only a shadow in the pages of film history.

Dum spiro spero(hr)

Well-known Croatian author Pero Kvesić, who has been struggling with a severe lung disease, documents his death from his own point of view. Recording his everyday struggle, the picture resembles a peculiar blog filled with self-irony and witty comments about life and death. Although the world around continues to shrink, the hero and the director in one does not cease to fill it with sense.

Jean Vigo : le son retrouvé(fr)

Wilbur: The King in the Ring(en)

Wilbur: The King in the Ring is a comedic documentary, which wrestles with the worldwide obesity plight. Wilbur McDougall, a former pro-wrestler, agrees to let his best friend J. Ollie Lucks make a documentary about his gastric sleeve surgery and subsequent transformation. But in order to stay literally half the man he was, Wilbur will be forced to maintain a healthier lifestyle while Ollie’s altruistic intentions verge on exploitative.

Les voyages de L'Atalante(fr)

Michael Lost and Found(en)

When a feature film is made about them seven years after their break-up, Benjie Nycum visits his ex-boyfriend Michael Glatze and finally tries to get answers about his bewildering shift from gay activist to ex-gay evangelical.

Montgomery Clift(en)

A documentary incorporating footage of Montgomery Clift’s most memorable films; interviews with family and friends, and rare archival material stretching back to his childhood. What develops is the story of an intense young boy who yearned for stardom, achieved notable success in such classic films as From Here to Eternity and I Confess, only to be ruined by alcohol addiction and his inability to face his own fears and homosexual desires. Montgomery Clift, as this film portrays him, may not have been a happy man but he never compromised his acting talents for Hollywood.

Earth Under Water(en)

Miami, New Orleans and New York City completely under water it’s a very real possibility if sea levels continue to rise. In Earth Under Water we’ll see these events unfold as leading experts forecast how mankind will be impacted if global warming continues. They’ll break down the science behind these predictions and explore ways humanity could adapt, including engineering vast dams near San Francisco, or building floating cities outside of New York.

Round About Hollywood(en)

This short travelogue depicts snippets of locations in Hollywood, California, most of them as seen from the streets. Considerable time is taken showing the kinds of architecture of private homes. There are images of various important buildings, and a depiction of the Hollywood Bowl. Finally, there is a sequence revolving around the premiere of the film “Dirigible” (1931) at the famed Chinese Theatre.

The Satanic Verses Affair(en)

Twenty years ago, novelist Salman Rushdie was a wanted man with a million pound bounty on his head. His novel, The Satanic Verses, had sparked riots across the Muslim world. The ailing religious leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, had invoked a little-known religious opinion - a fatwa - and effectively sentenced Rushdie to death. This film looks back on the extraordinary events which followed the publication of the book and the ten year campaign to get the fatwa lifted. Interviews with Rushdie's friends and family and testimony from leaders of Britain's Muslim community and the Government reveal the inside story of the affair.

Scouting for Boys(en)

Lord Baden-Powell's 1908 handbook Scouting for Boys is one of the most influential and best-selling books of all time. In the 20th century, only the Bible, the Koran and the Thoughts of Chairman Mao sold more. But they had fewer jokes, no pictures and were useless at important stuff like tying knots. In this entertaining and affectionate film, Ian Hislop uncovers the story behind the book which kick-started the Scout Movement - a work which is very eccentric, very Edwardian and very English. Hislop discovers that the book is also very radical and addresses a variety of modern issues, such as citizenship, disaffected youth and social responsibility. He explores the maverick brilliance of Baden-Powell, a national celebrity after his heroism in the Boer War, and considers the book's candid focus on health and well-being.

Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping(en)

Reverend Billy, a.k.a. Bill Talen, is an actor/performance artist and a leading figure within the anti-globalization movement. His work combines the ideas of social and political change with the means of theater arts to counteract our media-laden culture. The film follows the Reverend's "shopping interventions/actions" into cultural dead zones such as Starbucks, Disney and the New York University construction site at Poe House.

The Pony Express(en)

The Pony Express delivered mail from coast to coast for only 18 months. Yet during its brief glory days, it became a legend of the American frontier. This fascinating and well-researched video recounts the history of the Pony Express, retraces the famous trail, and uncovers the reasons behind its demise and lasting legacy.

The Reindeer People(ru)

The Chukchi reindeer breeders are peculiar people. They are nomads. Reindeers are their welfare, the purport of life. The mother-reindeer is the main divine being; it protects the Chukchi from misfortune and troubles. Nature is not friendly towards people here. Only Chukchi can survive in Tundra. A rush period for the Chukchi reindeer breeders comes in winter, when the temperature rises up to 50 degrees Celsius at night and in the sunlight of the day it doesn't exceed 40 degrees Celsius in tundra: they should separate young deers from the rest of the herd, the weak from the strong. And this, considering that the herds of the Chukchi reindeer breeders number some thousand heads...

BP Underground - Hardcore / Punk(hu)

The Underground subcultures in Budapest are an integral part of the diverse and colorful Hungarian culture. The creators of the film - Esther Turan and Anna Koltay - wanted to explore what were the major youth music subcultures in the '90s and 2000s in Budapest. This film is a tribute to the underground subcultures of the city. In these series of films, these grass-roots groups deal with the social impact of their community building power and the role played by Budapest itself in the formation of these groups. The film explores the kind of atmosphere and unwritten rules, what were the dominant places, external signs, and symbols, or who were the central figures and what were the memorable stories. The film guides the viewer from the best bands to the message, from the typical attire to the cult bars. The new generation is a starting point, a complex retrospective of where it originated and why the colorful underground cultural life still characterizes Budapest today.

Kielings kalte Welt(de)

Andreas Kieling, a famous German documentary film maker, explores the coldest places in the world. He observes various animals in Patagonia, the Falkland Islands, Cape Horn, South Georgia and Antarctica.

Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn(en)

The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba