Following the 1884–85 Berlin Conference resolution on the partition of Africa, the Portuguese army uses a talented ensign to register the effective occupation of the territory belonging to the Cuamato people, conquered in 1907, in the south of Angola. A STORY FROM AFRICA enlivens a rarely seen photographic archive through the tragic tale of Calipalula, the Cuamato nobleman essential to the unfolding of events in this Portuguese pacification campaign.
How African artists have spread African culture all over the world, especially music, since the harsh years of decolonization, trying to offer a nicer portrait of this amazing continent, historically known for tragic subjects, such as slavery, famine, war and political chaos.
Feisty, fiercely independent and firmly rooted in place, 90 year-old Mabel Robinson broke barriers back in the 40s when she became the first woman in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, to launch her own business—a hairdressing salon where she still provides shampoo-n-sets over 70 years later. Weaving animation and archival imagery with intimate and laugh out loud moments in the salon, the film celebrates the power of friendship, doing what you love and staying active. With no desire to retire anytime soon, Mabel gives voice to a generation who are not front and center of cinema or the pop hairstyles of the day, and subtly shifts the lens on our perception of beauty and the elderly.
Twelve talented young mountaineers, five geologists from the University of Lausanne and four mountain guides take an unprecedented risk in Patagonia. Trained by the great climbers Ralf Weber, Ueli Steck, Denis Burdet and David Fasel, the young people are collecting rock samples from the granite walls of the Paine Towers, which are up to 1000 meters high, on behalf of science. The challenges are enormous: Climbing a big wall at the highest level of difficulty, cloudy weather, relentless wind that tears at material and nerves - and an urgency that also pushes the group to their emotional limits. "Flying High" not only documents an extraordinary undertaking, but also shows up close what happens when something happens that can happen after every meter of altitude climbed: a fall.
If Only I Were That Warrior is a feature documentary film focusing on the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in 1935. Following the recent construction of a monument dedicated to Fascist general Rodolfo Graziani, the film addresses the unpunished war crimes he and others committed in the name of Mussolini’s imperial ambitions. The stories of three characters, filmed in present day Ethiopia, Italy and the United States, take the audience on a journey through the living memories and the tangible remains of the Italian occupation of Ethiopia — a journey that crosses generations and continents to today, where this often overlooked legacy still ties the fates of two nations and their people.
Angolan director and screenwriter Pocas Pascoal reminds us that it’s time for a change, proposing through this film a look at colonialism, capitalism, and their impact on global biodiversity. We observe that the destruction of the ecosystem goes back a long way and is already underway through land exploitation, big game hunting, and the exploitation of man by man.
Lord Lytton takes up the post of Governor of Bengal.
This short documentary is the portrait of an 88-year-old woman who lives alone in a log cabin without running water or electricity in the Williams Lake area of British Columbia. The daughter of a Shuswap chief, Augusta lost her Indian status as the result of a marriage to a white man. She recalls past times, but lives very much in the present. Self-sufficient, dedicated to her people, she spreads warmth wherever she moves, with her songs and her harmonica.
Pacific Mother journeys from Japan, to Hawaii, Tahiti, Rarotonga and Aotearoa to share interwoven stories of formidable women who live at one with the Pacific Ocean – freediving, spearfishing and paddling waka through its depths and playing with their children in its shallows – a stark contrast to fast-paced lifestyles of larger towns or cities. These women are all mothers who experienced diverse births in hospital, at home and by the sea, with and without medical assistance. Fukumoto also meets Māori and Japanese midwives who share indigenous traditions and rituals around birth that have been lost over recent generations, and are now gradually being reclaimed. Their stories demonstrate just how disconnected the global default maternity system is from the instinctive and cultural needs of mothers and families. They inspire a call to action on birthing rights, as well as a call for parents’ reconnection with their role as nurturers and protectors of their natural environment.
Life on the road in India, showing the traffic, people and animals.
Hindu temples at Benares and Belur and the mythologies associated with them.
Huiju learned of her biopsy test results, but lied to her mum about them. Feeling guilty about the lie, she embarks on her journey to find cancer patients who have the same diagnosis as hers and learns about their experiences. After hearing their stories, she finds the courage to tell the truth to her mum.
Women are sexually insulted and threatened by men every day. Experts around the world are registering an anti-feminist backlash that seems to be on the verge of becoming socially acceptable. Particularly affected: women in publicly visible positions – such as politicians, actresses or entrepreneurs. Who is behind the attacks and what are the motives?
Women’s voices rise to deliver testimonies of victims of sexual violence. By reconstructing a story with these fragments of experience, a societal portrait is painted throughout the documentary. Like a mosaic, the pieces stick together to build a unique story that could belong to any human.
From time immemorial, the Bretons have fought many battles to safeguard their culture, rich in language, music and dance. However, Brittany was for a long time a forgotten land, neglected by the Republic which forbade its language. From the 1960s onwards, the agricultural revolution turned peasant life upside down. Its culture, which had long been supported by Catholic priests, was emancipated in the seventies, carried by a new breath of air that accompanied the Breton angers. The youth then reappropriated their language and culture. From the long years of relegation to their great anger, the Bretons have written a fascinating saga since the end of the 19th century.
Montezuma is a 2009 BBC Television documentary film in which Dan Snow examines the reign of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II.
Guillermo Gómez Álvarez explores the identity politics of Puerto Rico via archival footage from various sources that clash with nine original songs from local independent musicians and a thematic analysis from a psychoanalyst and a historian. From the juxtaposition the absurd becomes coherent and the coherent becomes absurd as Puerto Rican identity is defined and rejected almost simultaneously.
They raised children, baked cakes... and built world-class fighter planes. Sixty years ago, thousands of women from Thunder Bay and the Prairies donned trousers, packed lunch pails and took up rivet guns to participate in the greatest industrial war effort in Canadian history. Like many other factories across the country from 1939 to 1945, the shop floor at Fort William's Canadian Car and Foundry was transformed from an all-male workforce to one with forty percent female workers.