Sounds of the Desert

Behind the Burning Cross: Racism USA(en)

A key overview of twentieth-century American fascism and antifascism produced in 1991 by the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee.

John Deacon - Il Documentario(it)

This documentary explores Life and Art of Queen bassist John Deacon.

Song for My Children(id)

An elderly choir group brings back erased violent history by singing songs that were written in prison and have been silenced for more than 50 years.

Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution(en)

From the sweaty basement bars of 70s New York to the glittering peak of the global charts, how disco conquered the world - its origins, its triumphs, its fall and its legacy.

Niki‘s Music Shop(de)

"Niki's Music Shop" - a music shop that refuses to arrive in the present. For many years musician Tom Blankenberg has been passing by the shop regularly, and he is fascinated by the fact that absolutely nothing ever changes here. The collection of old instruments in the shop window has remained untouched for decades. And above all, the shop is always closed. When Blankenberg sets out to find out what's behind it, the shop is suddenly open...

Retrato em Preto e Branco(pt)

The documentary is structured as a video letter from a black man denouncing the persistence of racism in Brazilian society and media, a century after the official end of slavery. Thus, it presents the contradictions between two images of racial relations in Brazil: the image disseminated abroad, which spreads the myth of racial democracy, and the internal image, presented in textbooks and on television, in which negative stereotypes are perpetuated against the black population.

Be Water(en)

In 1971, after being rejected by Hollywood, Bruce Lee returned to his parents’ homeland of Hong Kong to complete four iconic films. Charting his struggles between two worlds, this portrait explores questions of identity and representation through the use of rare archival footage, interviews with loved ones and Bruce’s own writings.

Coded Bias(en)

Exploring the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini's startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the U.S. to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all.

Portrait of a Song(en)

A documentary looking at the making of the hit sing ‘Runaway’ for its 10 year anniversary, by AURORA

Postmodernism: The Substance of Style(en)

This film features some of the most important living Postmodern practitioners, Charles Jencks, Robert A M Stern and Sir Terry Farrell among them, and asks them how and why Postmodernism came about, and what it means to be Postmodern. This film was originally made for the V&A exhibition 'Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970 - 1990'.

Journey into Gaza(it)

“In Gaza you have to get there in the evening, in spring, lock yourself in your room and from there listen to the sounds coming in through the open window.... It's 2018. I am 25 years old and a foreign traveler. I meet young Palestinians my age..”

The Greatest Radio Station In The World(en)

A fun-filled documentary that tells the unique 60-year history of WPKN in Bridgeport, CT, through in-depth interviews and extraordinary film footage.

Racist Trees(en)

Can a tree be racist? A few years ago, debate on this issue reached as far as Fox News. The focus was a row of tamarisk trees along a huge golf course in Palm Springs, which screened off the neighborhood of Crossley Tract. This is a historically Black neighborhood, named after its founder Lawrence Crossley, who was one of the first Black residents to settle in the largely white tourist paradise, established on indigenous land over a century ago.

Joe Louis: America's Hero Betrayed(en)

An American story. Traces the career of Joe Louis (1914-1981) within the context of American racial consciousness: his difficulty getting big fights early in his career, the pride of African-Americans in his prowess, the shift of White sentiment toward Louis as Hitler came to power, Louis's patriotism during World War II, and the hounding of Louis by the IRS for the following 15 years. In his last years, he's a casino greeter, a drug user, and the occasional object of scorn for young Turks like Muhammad Ali. Appreciative comment comes from boxing scholars, Louis's son Joe Jr., friends, and icons like Maya Angelou, Dick Gregory, and Bill Cosby.

Raised on Rock - The Burnette Family Legacy(en)

Sally Steele is on mission to reunite the battling Burnette family while discovering one of the greatest untold tales of rock history with an amazing adventure.

Oachkatzlschwoaf(en)

Words are loaded with meaning. Certain ones conjure joyful memories and others remind us of less happy times. For Nenda Neururer, the word 'oachkatzlschwoaf' invokes a range of emotions. The German word is very hard to pronounce and is synonymous with the Austrian state of Tyrol where locals tease outsiders by asking them to pronounce it. Despite growing up in Tyrol, Nenda Neururer often felt like an outsider when confronted with this word. But when she moved to London she grew nostalgic for it and it became her little secret. Found in Translation is a series made as part of the In The Mix project, in partnership with BBC Studios TalentWorks, Black Creators Matter and the Barbican.

MEGUMI The Campaign(ja)

Megumi Odaka (小高恵美) idol VHS tape, Megumi the Campaign - Idol Roke Zenkoku Jyuudan, 1989. She is best known for the role of Miki Saegusa in six Godzilla films from 1989 to 1995.

Speakers for the Dead(en)

A film about small Ontario town's struggle to restore a desecrated African-Canadian cemetery and the resulting turmoil over it.

Briser le code(fr)

Dolly Parton: Here I Am(en)

Dolly Parton leads a moving, musical journey in this documentary that details the people and places who have helped shape her iconic career.