This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when African American filmmakers and studios created “race movies” exclusively for black audiences. The best of these films attempted to counter the demeaning stereotypes of black Americans prevalent in the popular culture of the day. About 500 films were produced, yet only about 100 still exist. Filmmaking pioneers like Oscar Micheaux, the Noble brothers, and Spencer Williams, Jr. left a lasting influence on black filmmakers, and inspired generations of audiences who finally saw their own lives reflected on the silver screen.
Himself
This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when African American filmmakers and studios created “race movies” exclusively for black audiences. The best of these films attempted to counter the demeaning stereotypes of black Americans prevalent in the popular culture of the day. About 500 films were produced, yet only about 100 still exist. Filmmaking pioneers like Oscar Micheaux, the Noble brothers, and Spencer Williams, Jr. left a lasting influence on black filmmakers, and inspired generations of audiences who finally saw their own lives reflected on the silver screen.
2007-09-15
6.5
The true story of a lost era.
Several little boys run along a pier, then jump into the ocean.
Kathleen Madigan drops in on Detroit to deliver material derived from time spent with her Irish Catholic Midwest family, eating random pills out of her mother's purse, touring Afghanistan, and her love of John Denver and the Lunesta butterfly.
Exploring the relationship between man and technology, this day-in-the-life story concentrates on a computer programmer, inundated by technology, living a secluded lifestyle in Laurel Canyon with his two dogs. He struggles to maintain any real connection with friends, colleague or family, outside of communicating with them over the phone or computer.
An extraordinary group of artists and musicians, in the wake of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, creates an underground arts movement and transform a community.
Groot sets out to paint a family portrait of himself and the Guardians, only to discover just how messy the artistic process can be.
New summer adventure of the Crocodiles, who set up their detective skills to find out who is behind the accidents of the factory where Ollie and Mary's parents work , which could mean the closure of the plant, the move of the family and the dissolution of the gang.
When Pearl's younger brother becomes deathly ill, she travels back to the bayou to find Ruby and uncover the mysterious secrets of her past.
Because the world is never out of danger, three Reefside High students must rise up to meet their destiny head-on. While on a fossil-finding field trip, Conner, Kira and Ethan fall into a sinkhole and discover powerful Dino Gems that give them each awesome super abilities. But alarming evil is afoot as this new crew is confronted by terrifying Tyranodrones, Kira's sudden disappearance and Mesogog, a reptilian rogue and his robotic wrongdoers. Once Mesogog has unleashed his diabolical Zords, the teens' teacher and mentor, Dr. Tommy Oliver, has no choice but to reignite his past as the Black Power Ranger and morph them into full-fledged Rangers ready to tame the mutant terrors.
Jerome Josserand is a professional snow kiter. In 2007 he set the world record for the highest kite flight. It was 450 m above the ground. Jerome is in love with wind and its power to use it to mount high mountains. His home is a place called Col du Lautaret which is also his playground. On his way he found Iceland. He noticed that there is snow and wind all the time. And he thought:” What if I would cross Iceland from southern to northern Iceland in just one day, with just power of wind?” And so he did. Crossing Iceland in such winter conditions was extremely tough and demanding. He needed to be in great physical and psychical preparation. There was wind exceeding 80km/h, there was equipment failure at -25C while shooting the movie, there was snow and freezing Icelandic nature everywhere. Even though Jerome prepared himself well for this journey, in the end everything depends of the power of wind… The question is – did he succeed? Did he make his wish come true?
When Artem Kolchin, Denis Nikiforov, arrives in the U.S. to fight for the championship, he soon finds himself fighting for his life after he sends a young, aggressive boxer, who provokes him into sparring, into a coma and ultimately killing him. That is when Artem finds out that the young boxer was none other than the only son of Felix Mendez, the powerful Mexican mafia kingpin, played masterfully by Victor Herminio Lopez, and when the real fight begins.
In her forties, Juana is tired of working as a hairdresser. By chance, she discovers the crime of some clients and decides to blackmail them. But they have other plans, which include a wedding to cover up the crime and blame the groom.
A psychological story of a loner in lockdown who has been spending all his time in binge watching TV Shows, finds out he has been laid off and he has no source of income left for him.
A painter's life is changed forever when a mythical and deadly spirit from Celtic lore becomes his muse and lover.
In a post-apocalyptic future where humanity has fallen apart, a group of scientists and an animated sign complete the construction of a new human race and meet a groundhog climatologist who prepares them for their mission to restore balance to the decimated Earth.
A king exploits his people, hoarding buttons until a towering pile pierces the ceiling. Convinced the sun is the ultimate button, he ascends, but observant citizens notice a crucial button. Through teamwork, they topple the pile, sending the king crashing. Freed, they share the abundance of buttons, ending the oppression.
An hour-long discussion between Fritz Lang and Jean-Luc Godard in which they discuss a variety of art forms, the role of the cinema, their collaboration together, and much more. (Filmed in 1964 but released for TV in 1967.)
Documentary about the original 1986 film Critters. Features interviews with actors Dee Wallace, Don Opper, Terrence Mann, and Lin Shaye; producer Barry Opper; writer Brian Muir; critter designers and voice actors; and many more.
As the first "blonde bombshell," Mae West reigned supreme and changed the nation's view of women, sex and race — on stage, in films, on radio and television.
Known for his personification of the Western Hero, it was Montana-born Gary Cooper's horse-riding skills that first brought him bit parts in movies. And he never lost his love of the great American outdoors. Though he rarely played a villain and was an adept comedian, Cooper is best remembered for his strong, silent heroes. With his lanky country boy looks and shy hesitancy he created a unique screen presence, though his real life was one of sophisticated elegance.
He went from street-wise tough to art-collector liberal-activist, from circus-acrobat hunk to Academy Award winner. Burton Stephen Lancaster — later Burt Lancaster — was one of five children of a New York City postal worker. By eighteen, Burt was 6'2" and blessed with the athletic physique and dynamic good looks that helped make him famous. A stint in the Army introduced Burt to acting and led him to Hollywood where his first release, "The Killers" (1946), propelled him to stardom at age 32. He took control of his own career and seldom faltered.
A tribute to the late, great French director Francois Truffaut, this documentary was undoubtedly named after his last movie, Vivement Dimanche!, released in 1983. Included in this overview of Truffaut's contribution to filmmaking are clips from 14 of his movies arranged according to the themes he favored. These include childhood, literature, the cinema itself, romance, marriage, and death.
This documentary treats movie fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Max Keeble's Big Move, about a young boy who uses his imminent move to another town as his big chance for revenge on everyone who's tormented him, only to have his plan backfire. Included are interviews with the cast and crew who talk about the experience of making the film, as well as all of the effort that went into it.
When Francois Truffaut approached Alfred Hitchcock in 1962 with the idea of having a long conversation with him about his work and publishing this in book form, he didn't imagine that more than four years would pass before Le Cinéma selon Hitchcock finally appeared in 1966. Not only in France but all over the world, Truffaut's Hitchcock interview developed over the years into a standard bible of film literature. In 1983, three years after Hitchcock's death, Truffaut decided to expand his by now legendary book to include a concluding chapter and have it published as the "Edition définitive". This film describes the genesis of the "Hitchbook" and throws light on the strange friendship between two completely different men. The centrepieces are the extracts from the original sound recordings of the interview with the voices of Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, and Helen Scott – recordings which have never been heard in public before.
A documentary on the revolutionary life and career of director Juan Antonio Bardem, including interviews with many of his colleagues, including Luis Garcia Berlanga.
Documentary about the life and career of a comic genius, Peter Sellers.
Conrad Brooks discusses "Hellborn," his unfinished movie with Ed Wood, and other projects
The celebratory explosion of basketball history makers, legend shakers and lawbreakers; juxtaposed against important events in Civil & Human Rights. The 50 years of The Rucker's ripples reverberate throughout Basketball, Hip-Hop, Harlem, and life.
The shooting diary of a film shot in France and in the United States. Using photos of Paris and of New York City, excerpts of his former films, statements by friends of his and shooting sequences of the film itself, tormented filmmaker Marcel Hanoun has made a heterogeneous and unclassifiable film about the difficulty of filming.
How could the Cannes Film Festival become the biggest cinema event in the world? For 75 years, Cannes has succeeded in this prodigy of placing cinema, its sometimes paltry splendors but also its requirements of great modern art, at the center of everything, as if, for ten days in May, nothing was more important than it. This film tells how Cannes has become the largest film festival in the world by opening up to cinematic modernity while never forgetting that cinema remains a performing art, a popular art.
Four lives that could not be more different and a single passion that unites them: the unconditional love for their cinemas, somewhere at the end of the world. Comrades in Dreams brings together six cinema makers from North Korea, America, India and Africa and follows their efforts to make their audiences dream every night.
Co-curated by Jenni Olson and the late Black gay activist Karl Knapper, this entertaining showcase of vintage movie trailers traces the evolution of African American cinema through its most crucial period, 1952-1976. Filled with insights on race and social dynamics, this fascinating compendium of coming attractions explores an extensive range of stylistic approaches—Blaxploitation, Comedy, Music Bio, Plantation Drama and more—offering an outrageous joyride through motion picture history. Beyond mere camp, these marvelously condensed gems crystallize a range of African American identities and personalities, tracking the meteoric careers of Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Pryor, Pam Grier and others through their bold performances in movies both hugely popular and practically forgotten. Afro Promo provides a compact glimpse at the representation of African Americans through twenty-five dynamic years of American cinema history.
Released two years after James Dean's death, this documentary chronicles his short life and career via black-and-white still photographs, interviews with the aunt and uncle who raised him, his paternal grandparents, a New York City cabdriver friend, the owner of his favorite Los Angeles restaurant, outtakes from East of Eden, footage of the opening night of Giant, and Dean's ironic PSA for safe driving.
In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes, director Lubna Playoust asks Wim Wenders himself and a new generation of filmmakers (James Gray, Rebecca Zlotowski, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Nadav Lapid, Asghar Farhadi, Alice Rohrwacher and more) the same question: “is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?”
In 2016, DEFA celebrates its 70th anniversary: the film embarks on a journey into the exciting film history of the GDR. In a comprehensive kaleidoscope, the importance of DEFA productions is illuminated, the relevance of the films as propaganda productions for the GDR, which socio-political themes were in the foreground, but also which heroes DEFA brought to the screen and celebrated as people from the people.
As Hong Kong's foremost filmmaker, Johnnie To himself becomes the protagonist of this painstaking documentary exploring him and his Boundless world of film. A film student from Beijing and avid Johnnie To fan, Ferris Lin boldly approached To with a proposal to document the master director for his graduation thesis. To agreed immediately and Lin's camera closely followed him for over two years, capturing the man behind the movies and the myths. The result is Boundless, a candid profile of one of Hong Kong's greatest directors and a heartfelt love letter to Hong Kong cinema.