People Who Make Things

Interview with Robert Kramer(en)

This last testimony of Robert Kramer (1939-1999) is a moving documentary with the independent American film director, in which he speaks of his political activism, his way of filmmaking, his relationship with Portugal and the revolutionary movements.

Allegory of Prudence(pt)

A short film made for "Venezia 70 - Future Reloaded". A homage to Paulo Rocha and Kenji Mizoguchi, filming the director's two tombs, one in Tokyo and the other in Quioto.

Goya(it)

Presents life in 18th century Spain as the painter Francisco de Goya showed it to us.

En Rang Par Deux(it)

The idea for this film comes from the encounter with two African boys who live in Rome, and is based on their music. Tunisian Afif and Senegalese Aliou tell their different stories, talk about friendship, immigration, freedom and, above all, about the fundamental value of making music together.

Dear Chantal(es)

Pereda returns with a small, mysterious and moving tribute to Chantal Akerman, conceived as a series of joyful impossible letters addressed to the great disappeared from the cinema, to answer her fictional question about renting her bright apartment in Coyoacán.

The Birds Changed Names And The World Turned Into Ice(es)

Migrant families experience violence, but they also keep beautiful memories when they arrive in new lands. Fantastic and intimate stories, recalled from childhood, travel across time and space, magically intermingling with the help of the four elements and breaking the boundaries of cinema.

Ocharcoaga(es)

Filmed to praise the work of the Spanish Ministry of Housing in solving the problem of shanty towns in Bilbao, it was made to be viewed by General Franco and not for public screening or distribution through the NO-DO newsreel. Although the short film was commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, director Jorge Grau produced a subtly critical work.

Fallas 37: el arte en guerra(es)

In November 1936, a few months since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the government of the Second Republic moves to Valencia. In this situation, several Valencian artists and intellectuals decide to build four fallas — satirical plasterboard sculptures created to be burnt — to mock fascism.

Giger's Alien(en)

Documentary about Giger's work for the movie Alien (1979).

Acadiana(en)

May 2017. As the new President of the United States takes his ease in the White House, the city of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, is the theatre of the mythic Crawfish Festival. It's just another day, in America.

Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions: Behind the Scenes(en)

A documentary about the making of Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions.

Land Without Bread(es)

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.

Primary(en)

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.

Familiar Tale(es)

The memory lives on in Yukio Saeki's memory. At 83 years old, he still hears the echo of the sea in Japan, near Hiroshima, and the atomic bomb falling from the sky.

Gonzalo Suárez: Sam Peckinpah, director salvaje (TV)(es)

Time Keeps Marching On(en)

An undocumented immigrant explores his and his family's immigration trauma while grasping hope through a voicemail.

No Voice(en)

She now lives many miles away from her mother, who is waiting to hear from her. It is a bittersweet, restless, nostalgic moment, and she remembers those vanished years.

Shark Land: Welcome to Cocos Island(en)

“Entourage” star Adrian Grenier ventures to Cocos Island off the shore of Costa Rica to bring attention to the plight of endangered sharks who are being threatened by poachers and ocean pollution.

The Town(en)

The Town was a short propaganda film produced by the Office of War Information in 1945. It presents an idealized vision of American life, shown in microcosm by Madison, Indiana. It was created primarily for exhibition abroad, to provide international audiences a more well-rounded view of America, and was therefore produced in more than 20 translations. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.