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

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)

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

Germany: A Summer's Fairytale(de)

A documentary of the German national soccer team’s 2006 World Cup experience that changed the face of modern Germany.

Riding Giants(en)

Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.

Dave Chappelle's Block Party(en)

The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio mans moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party.

Partido de homenaje a Joaquín(es)

Edith Head(en)

A light-hearted, toe-tapping portrait of the well-known 8 Oscar winning Hollywood costume designer filmed in her opulent house and garden. Edith Head presents some of her famous designs using glamorous models to impersonate Mae West, Barbara Stanwyck, Dorothy Lamour, Ginger Rogers, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly. They move to the music of the films for which she was the designer as Head recalls the times and places that served as inspiration for the famed looks.

Kaagaz Ki Kashti(hi)

Documentary on the life of ghazal samrat Jagjit Singh, who changed the landscape of Indian Music.

Re: A Pier(en)

A documentary charting the history of Hastings Pier from its construction in 1872 through two major fires and also its use as a significant British music venue, playing host to gigs by Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, Tom Jones, Pink Floyd and The Sex Pistols.

Takeda(es)

Takeda is a film about the universality of the human being seen thru the eyes of a Japanese painter that has adopted the Mexican culture.

Cinema Iran(en)

Tracing the history and influence of Iranian cinema and its filmmakers.

Rita, the documentary(es)

An aesthetic and politic portrait of Mexico ́s 90s decade through the biography of artist Rita Guerrero (1964-2011), who developed in different fields, mostly music and theater. She was the vocalist of Santa Sabina, a rock band in which she was the most remarkable figure. She committed herself to different social movements such as the Zapatista Army Movement (EZLN) and the Electoral Left. She died at 46 from breast cancer. Her voice and music left a mark on a generation.

Bowie, Man with a Hundred Faces or The Phantom of Hérouville(fr)

The best way to follow Bowie's trail, the phantom, was to start at a place he haunted: the mythical Hérouville Castle Studios. It was there, partly, that the 1970s rock wrote its legend, of which Bowie is one of the main protagonists.

Plutocracy II: Solidarity Forever(en)

The film, which is the second part of an ongoing historical series, covers the seminal labor-related events which occurred between the late 1800's and the 1920's. Its subtitle refers to a 1915 song composed by Ralph Chaplin as an anthem for unionized workers. The film itself is the cinematic version of that anthem, as it allows us a comprehensive understanding of the need for these early labor unions, and the enormous sacrifices of its members to ensure fairness, safety, and equality in the workplace.

The Conclave and Election of Pope Pius XII(it)

A short documentary covering the conclave and election of Pope Pius XII.