The Shadow of Heaven(2008)

Die Wechsler im Tempel(de)

A visual allusion of the cleansing of the temple to numerous crimes. The film draws an arc from the Crusades to the Holocaust and the Vietnam War.

Posted by: İlhan Sami Çomak(tr)

The story puts İlhan Çomak at the center, even though he is not physically present in the film. It focuses on the 21 years that İlhan spent in prison and his family’s experience of those years without him. The narrative is constructed through the letters İlhan wrote and aims to describe his life, his emotions and longings. The film constructs İlhan’s history through a chronology in the prison but refrains from restricting it only to a “prisoner’s quest for justice”, and rather tells a story of the situations he finds himself in over the years and his emotions and their equivalents in life.

Red Terror on the Amber Coast(en)

Red Terror documents the soviet occupation of Lithuania and the resistance movements that sprang up in opposition to the brutal tactics used by the communists from 1941 up to 1991. Stories of deportation, life in the Gulag, exile to Siberia, KGB prison torture, confiscation of land are told by living survivors. Resistance fighters and those who aided them also share their stories for the first time to an American audience. Rare historical photos and moving images are used to bring these stories to life.

Images of Asian Music (A Diary from Life 1973-74)(en)

A contemplative, seemingly timeless record of the years Hutton spent in Southeast Asia while working as a merchant seaman. Jon Jost writes, "The film is rich with truly wonderful visions: a thick, white porcelain cup perched on a ship's rail, the tea within swaying gently in sync with the ship while the sea rushes by beyond…the faces of crewmen posing awkwardly but also movingly for the camera; a cockfight on ship; scenes from a bucolic pre–Pol Pot Phnom Penh. Images has the haunting elegiac resonance of Eugène Atget's Paris, the echo of a time and place that was." - MoMA

Bullfight(fr)

The film evokes all the aspects of bullfighting - its history, the bulls, the toreros, the arena, the audience - and involves numerous matadors from the era.

Fulano de Tal(pt)

Sono Guido e non Guido(it)

Antigravitation(lt)

An isolated village in the Lithuanian countryside. Seated in her house, an elderly woman recites an old folk story. Then she climbs up the tall ladder that takes her to the rooftop of the church.

Paul Robeson: 20th Century Renaissance Man, Entertainer & Activist(en)

Paul Robeson was a celebrated African-American Actor, Athlete, Singer, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist. Robeson's many achievements are chronicled in this program, ranging from playing with the NFL to graduating from Columbia Law School, performing on Broadway and in Hollywood films to founding the American Crusade against Lynching as well as Council on African Affairs. Robeson was one of the most talented performers of his time and a dedicated humanitarian who ultimately sacrificed fame and fortune for what he believed in. His association with Leftist Politics during the era of the Cold War, and frequent denouncing of American political parties led to his eventual blacklisting with other prominent writers and artists during the McCarthy Era. His talents in all areas are remarkable, and his dedication to attaining a peaceful coexistence between all the people of the world is truly admirable.

Excelsior(de)

An expedition through the mountains of Nepal, during which 9 peaks are climbed.

Great Poets: In Their Own Words(en)

A journey into the BBC archives unearthing glorious performances and candid interviews from some of Britain's greatest poets.

Something About Halfdan(da)

A moving portrait of one of the most loved and read Danish poets, Halfdan Rasmussen. The film covers both the early years with poverty and wartime on to success and the humorous nonsense verses that has made Rasmussen one of the most read authors in Denmark.

experimento de tiempo y Trufas(en)

Four unrelated moments following a young cat wandering the living room of her house.

Decasia: The State of Decay(en)

A meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality, constructed from decaying archival footage and set to an original symphonic score.

Monga ma loba - Der Götterberg(de)

The film documents the ascent of Monga ma loba, the mountain of the gods in the Cameroon Mountains, and a visit to the town of Buea. The material was shot on an expedition to Cameroon in 1934.

Bantu weiss nichts von Europa(de)

A visit to the Bantu in Cameroon and the indigenous town of Kumbo. The living and working conditions of the Bantu and Bororo tribes are shown as part of this expedition.

Still(de)

The documentary tells the story of Uschi, a farmer living free and recluded in the bavarian alps. Shot in epic black and white pictures, Still follows Uschi's life over a ten year period. From an untroubled summer of making cheese through pregnancy and the uncertain future of the parental farm, Matti Bauer portrays Uschi's struggle to keep alive the dream of a way of life that has become rather untypical in this day and age.

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?(en)

Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker. Through animation, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments, director Barbara Caspar explores Acker's colorful history, from her well-heeled upbringing to her role as the scribe of society's fringe.

Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man, Celebrated Writer(en)

Ralph Ellison was an African-American writer and essayist, who's only novel Invisible Man (1953) gained a wide critical success. Ellison's ambitious journey from a childhood of hardship and poverty to celebrated African American writer is chronicled in this inspiring program through exclusive interviews and personal recollection.

Leopardi. The Infinity Poet(it)

Showcases the life of Giacomo Leopardi, an Italian poet known for his melancholic verses on fleeting happiness, existentialism, and human suffering.