Correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer Zach Fannin take us inside Vladimir Putin's Russia, with an in-depth look at the resurgent national identity, the government's propaganda machine, the risk of being a Kremlin critic and much more.
Himself
A documentary about the poisoning of political opponents by Russia. Focuses on specific cases of politically motivated assassinations by poisonings, including the attempted murder of Victor Yuschenko, the candidate and eventual President of Ukraine, using the deadly Dioxin. The film explains that Russia has not stopped this activity and its "Lab X" is still in operation. Originally created for the UK by FremantleMedia's production company talkbackTHAMES, "Poisoned" aired on Sky One in April 2005. (This documentary was made before the well-publicized poisoning by Russia of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.)
An inspiring look at how wonderful birth can be when your right to choose how, where and with whom you give birth is respected & protected. Every woman has the right to be informed about their options in childbirth. Through an exploration of home birth, this 87 min film looks at what natural, physiological childbirth really is. Is birth a medical emergency waiting to happen or a profound, natural and physiological event that women are designed for? The most comprehensive film ever made on home birth and a voice of reason in the debate, The Face of Birth outlines the importance of education in birthing and the right of a woman to choose the best and safest birth method for her and her baby.
Jo Yang, a celebrity radio guest, receives a phone call while on air and sets in motion a series of events that threaten her life and her family. Forced to choose between saving a prostitute or a loan-shark, her choice is confronted by public outcry. This film is loosely inspired by real-life events in Singapore, and explores how it is more choice rather than chance that shapes our lives.
Peter, the hero, aged 20, finds himself on a deserted Greek island with no other men in sight. The women of the island, regardless of age harass him sexually. What starts off as a typical male sexual fantasy turns out into a nightmare
A humorous animated 'Op-Doc' explores the rich history of adaptation, plagiarism, and other forms of appropriation in art.
Comical exploits of two Navy pals, at sea and on shore.
In a fishermen's town in Texas, the kids Amy and Raul are close friends. Andrew, uncle and guardian of Amy is alcoholic, but she loves him. The three of them have to face the autorities when they try to take Amy away.
Summertime at the beach. Swimming, yelling, playing, tanning. 25-year-old Marie who came alone to lie in the sun and swim in the sea, loses the bottom half of her bathing suit.
When the Alaska fishing season ends, a crooked cannery owner, who owes a huge delivery of salmon to a Seattle company, manipulates local Natives, who have unlimited fishing rights, into illegally selling their catch to him.
Naan Avanillai 2 (English: I am Not Him) is a 2009 Tamil romantic mystery film directed by Selva. It is the sequel to the Naan Avanillai (2007). Jeevan reprises the lead role, while the female roles are enacted by Sangeetha, Lakshmi Rai, Shweta Menon and Sruthi Prakash and Rachana Maurya. D. Imman, who did the film score for the first part of the film, replaced Vijay Antony as the music director. The film was released on 27 November 2009 to extremely negative reviews
A musical portrayal of the nativity of Jesus Christ that delivers the true message of Christmas.
When two tough guys leave a bar to fight, their search for the right spot becomes an adventure.
After a stranger murders her brother, Dag sets out on the road to avenge his murder, toting a shotgun and leaving any restraint behind.
Polly Shannon takes a job as a maid to earn money to go to Paris and study opera. She becomes embroiled in a scheme by her two employers to help their friend in the love of a woman who does not fancy him: She will pretend to be interested in their friend instead. The film has been lost.
Eight gay shorts culled from top film festivals - A cross-section of some of the best recent gay shorts culled from top film festivals including Slamdance, Outfest, Frameline and more. Included are the award-winners BEDFELLOWS, CURIOUS THING, MY NAME IS LOVE, and STEAM. Whether inspired by a poem about teenage longing or a melange of interviews with gay men in New York, the shorts collected here share one thing in common: they were among the crowd favorites at film festivals across the country.
In 2012 two members of anarchistic female band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in a Mordovian labor camp for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". Russian film collective Gogol’s Wives follow each step of the feminist punk band’s battle against Putin including their first disruptive performances on a trolley bus, shooting a video about transparent elections, a controversial performance in a Red Square cathedral, and footage shot in a jail cell. Support comes from many corners including Madonna who painted the words "Pussy Riot" on her back and wore a balaclava during her Moscow show. The documentary portrays the grim state of present-day Russia, a country starkly divided between conservatism and anarchy. Pussy Riot believes that art has to be free and they're willing to take it to extremes. "Pussycat made a mess in the house," they say, and the house is Russia. The filmmakers do not seek to moralize, they simply edit events and leave viewers to draw their own conclusions.
“There’s a bus stop I want to photograph.” This may sound like a parody of an esoteric festival film, but Canadian Christopher Herwig’s photography project is entirely in earnest, and likely you will be won over by his passion for this unusual subject within the first five minutes. Soviet architecture of the 1960s and 70s was by and large utilitarian, regimented, and mass-produced. Yet the bus stops Herwig discovers on his journeys criss-crossing the vast former Soviet Bloc are something else entirely: whimsical, eccentric, flamboyantly artistic, audacious, colourful. They speak of individualism and locality, concepts anathema to the Communist doctrine. Herwig wants to know how this came to pass and tracks down some of the original unsung designers, but above all he wants to capture these exceptional roadside way stations on film before they disappear.
Dr. Zhivago is one of the best-known love stories of the 20th century, but the setting of the book also made it famous. It is a tale of passion and fear, set against a backdrop of revolution and violence. The film is what most people remember, but the story of the writing of the book has more twists, intrigue and bravery than many a Hollywood blockbuster. In this documentary, Stephen Smith traces the revolutionary beginnings of this bestseller, to it becoming a pawn of the CIA at the height of the Cold War.
Jeremy Clarkson tells the dramatic story of the Arctic convoys of the Second World War, from Russia to the freezing Arctic Ocean.
Kunashir, one of the biggest islands of the Kuril Archipelago, is situated 16 kilometers from Japan. It was occupied by the Soviet army in 1945. One year later, after a short period of cohabitation, 17.000 Japanese and Ainu people who were living in the Kurils and on Sakhalin were deported to the island of Hokkaido. Since that time Japan has been demanding the return of the Kuril Islands. A peace treaty between the two countries still has not been signed.
Ukraine in Flames is a documentary produced by Oliver Stone that reveals American and NATO participation in the 2014 coup d'état in Ukraine and its aftermath. The renowned American director, who in recent years has made several productions within the genre of political cinema, investigates the origins of the current conflict that currently keeps the entire European continent and the entire planet in suspense. In the film, Stone interviews, among others, the former president of Ukraine, Víktor Yanukovych; Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Ukrainian Interior Minister Vitali Zajarchenko.
A documentary feature film about the biggest global corruption scandal in history, and the hundreds of journalists who risked their lives to break the story.
This lesson in political revelation focuses on the shooting down of the Malaysian passenger jet MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014. A meticulous, investigative exposé that lays bare the mechanisms of Russian warfare.
The multiple, award-winning television author Hubert Seipel, accompanied Vladimir Putin in Russia, over a period of many weeks. He not only conducted several interviews with him, but was also present when Putin shouldered judo opponents, or challenged his bodyguards during a game of ice hockey.
Located on the shores of the Baltic Sea, between Poland and Lithuania, Kaliningrad is a piece of Russia in the heart of Europe. A curious territory, isolated from Moscow after the fall of the USSR, today transformed into a military fortress facing NATO. In Kaliningrad, headquarters of the Russian Baltic fleet, there are 30,000 soldiers, hypersonic missiles and nuclear capability.
This FitzPatrick Miniature visits the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the largest geographically unbroken political unit in the world, covering one-sixth of the world's land mass.
With unprecedented access, this documentary looks into the hidden world of one of Russia's most impenetrable and remote institutions - a maximum security prison exclusively for murderers. Deep inside the land of the gulags, this is the end of the line for some of Russia's most dangerous criminals - 260 men who have collectively killed nearly 800 people. The film delves deep into the mind and soul of some of these prisoners. In brutally frank and uncensored interviews the inmates speak of their crimes, life and death, redemption and remorselessness, insanity and hope. The film tracks them though their unrelenting days over several months, lifting the veil on one of Russia's most secretive subcultures to reveal what happens when a man is locked up in a tiny cell for 23 hours every day, for life. A startling insight into inscrutable minds and the forbidding world they have been condemned to. (Storyville)
'Veterans', focuses on WW2 veterans, once fighters in the Red Army and now uprooted immigrants, fighting for their place in society. These people, who experienced the twentieth century's bloodiest war as Soviet soldiers, immigrated to Israel after the collapse of the Soviet Union and found themselves in a society that is totally indifferent to their glorious past. The film offers a close and compassionate look at the veterans' lives, fueled by complexity, pain, and an almost silent insult, alongside joy and self-deprecating humor. The feeling of living on borrowed time drives the veterans to embark on what may be their last adventure.
Hitler's invasion of Russia was one of the landmark events of World War II. This documentary reveals the lead-up to the offensive, its impact on the war and the brinksmanship that resulted from the battle for Moscow. Rare footage from both German and Russian archives and detailed maps illustrate the conflict, while award-winning historian and author John Erickson provides insight into the pivotal maneuvers on the eastern front.
In Northern Russia, a few dozen people still live in their traditional houses surrounded by water, stone, and sand. Cut off from vital infrastructure, almost forgotten by regional governance, these people have to cope with their everyday struggles.
Trains travel through the night without stopping. The clatter of the carriages quickly disappears, along with the wail of the locomotive. The people at the station are all asleep. But why are they so exhausted ? And what are they waiting for? Set inside an isolated train depot, The Train Station is one of Sergei Loznitsa's most haunting films. It is also one of his most pointed social critiques. In this film, we are brought to a remote train station deep in the Russian woods. It's nighttime. In the distance, we hear the clatter of locomotives. The station, a small wooden building, sits silently, surrounded only by snow and train tracks.
Pussy Riot make a comeback after a long absence to stand with Ukraine. Their story and their struggle are told through archival footage and interviews with the group’s members.
September 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Summit Series, the iconic hockey tournament that pitted the best players from Canada against the best from the Soviet Union. It has been universally acknowledged as a defining event in Canadian history. This inspiring new documentary enlarges the canvas to tell the story from the unique perspectives of a diverse cast of participants who are rarely if ever heard: diplomats, NHL hockey legends, Soviet players, journalists, fans, broadcasters, business leaders and Team Canada’s Chairman – all reveal untold, exclusive stories about what happened before, during, and after September ‘72.