Four years after a military coup overthrew the Brazilian government in 1964, all civil rights were suspended and torture became a systematic practice. Using a mix of fiction and documentary this extraordinary film is a searing record of personal memory, political repression and the will to survive. Interviews with eight women who were political prisoners during the military dictatorship are framed by the fantasies and imaginings of an anonymous character, portrayed by actress Irene Ravache.
The Devil Never Sleeps is a “whodunit” documentary about family secrets. Filmmaker Lourdes Portillo received a phone call informing her of the mysterious death of her wealthy Mexican uncle Oscar. Officially ruled a suicide, Portillo’s relatives claimed murder, offering several possible suspects including a business partner, a ranch hand, and Oscar’s young widow who stood to inherit everything. Traveling to Mexico, Portillo attempts to learn the truth about her powerful uncle. Using interviews, old snapshots and home movies, she finds a complicated web of family secrets, intrigue, rumor and betrayal that makes her enigmatic uncle’s murder seem ever more likely, yet ever more obscure. As the Mexican saying goes, “When evil is lurking, the devil never sleeps.”
A dramatized documentary investigating accusations that "Forbidden Love" author Norma Khouri made up her biographical tale of a Muslim friend who was killed for dating a Christian.
World War II was not just the most destructive conflict in humanity, it was also the greatest theft in history: lives, families, communities, property, culture and heritage were all stolen. The story of Nazi Germany's plundering of Europe's great works of art during World War II and Allied efforts to minimize the damage.
A documentary about the village of Regoufe, threatened by wolves and endangered by human desertification.
A fascinating documentary focusing on backstage realities of art and business during the British synthesizer band's 1988 American tour.
A behind-the-scenes documentary about the Clinton for President campaign, focusing on the adventures of spin doctors James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.
The film follows the story of Jamie, a struggling butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film. The main plot is a romantic comedy between Jamie's male alter-ego, "Male Jamie," and Jill, a heterosexual woman on set. The film's subplots include Jamie's bisexual roommate Lola and her cat actor Howard, Lola's abrasive butch German girlfriend Andi, and Jamie's gay Asian friend David.
Iverson is the ultimate legacy of NBA legend Allen Iverson, who rose from a childhood of crushing poverty in Hampton, Virginia, to become an 11-time NBA All-Star and universally recognized icon of his sport. Off the court, his audacious rejection of conservative NBA convention and unapologetic embrace of hip hop culture sent shockwaves throughout the league and influenced an entire generation. Told largely in Iverson's own words, the film charts the career highs and lows of one of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.
This is the tale of a young woman, growing up in the age of the internet and turning the search for oneself into a public spectacle, allowing kids from all over the world to live their life through hers. Through her fragmented personalities you see the emergence of a new generation, in which the concept of a fixed identity has grown old.
"What if someone wrote your biography? Would there be horns and halos involved?"
Documentary on the great American Ballerina Wendy Whelan
The '40s and '50s were a classic period in New York City nightlife, when the saloonkeeper was king and regular folks could drink with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Jackie Gleason. In this documentary, Kristi Jacobson profiles her grandfather, the king of kings: Toots Shor of the eponymous restaurant and saloon, which was once the place to be seen in Manhattan. Edward R. Murrow called Toots Shor the owner of America’s greatest saloon. He became the unlikely den-mother to the heroes of America's golden age. Politicians and gangsters, sports heroes and movie stars - Sinatra, Gleason, DiMaggio, Ruth, Costello, Eisenhower, Nixon, Warren - for 30 years, they all found their way to Toots' eponymous saloon on New York's West 51st Street.
A hilarious and at times provocative film about a middle-aged American single-mother living in Switzerland and her quest to find out if she'll be invisible when she's no longer the woman with the biggest breasts in the room.
Acclaimed Montreal band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is one of a growing number of rock groups to have accepted an infant into their touring tribe. Touring with children is both costly and complicated, yet SMZ are determined to combine family life and being on the road with the band's deep political commitment.
Carole Laganière dives deeply into personal territory in this beautifully crafted exploration of absence and loss and its painful effect on daily lives. Inspired by her mother’s steadily advancing Alzheimer’s and the inevitability of her estrangement, Laganière weaves their story with the stories of others wrestling with loss: Ines, an immigrant who returns to her birth country of Croatia to find the mother who abandoned her during the war; Deni, an American author who’s finally able to search for his Quebec roots; and Nathalie, who’s desperately looking for her missing sister. Through their experiences the film ponders how absence is often the catalyst for a quest—a quest for information, understanding and often acceptance. Through its many voices, Absences speaks to us of the immense fragility and resiliency of human emotions.
This short film recreates the experience of Sylvie, a battered woman who seeks shelter in a Montréal transition house. Faced with the threat of violence, loneliness, the lack of financial resources or information about services, the victim is often understandably reluctant to seek help. Emphasizing the importance for women of speaking out, the film also points out the role of the transition house in putting victims of abuse in touch with appropriate legal and social services.
Both an activist and a documentarian, Valentina Pedicini also brings her background in anthropology to this impressively captured, claustrophobic nonfiction feature. Venturing beneath sea level, From the Depths profiles the lone woman at work in the last coal mine in Sardinia, Italy.
The first film in a Seven Up-like series examining the lives of three teenage girls in South Australia during the 1970s. It looks at issues such as boys and sex, abortion, marriage, pregnancy, career paths, and education.
When the lights dim and the stage is revealed, Meschke channels life through the strings of his puppets, triggering the spiritual connection between the creator and his alter-egos: the charismatic Don Quixote, the loving Penelope, the inquisitive Baptiste, or the mysterious Antigone. THE MAN WHO MADE ANGELS FLY is a poetic story about a master of his craft that has inspired audiences to reflect upon common issues of suffering and the mortal coil. Visionary and un-biographic, imaginary tribute to the puppeteer.
The movie is a fictionalized account of a disgruntled cop who has been wrongly implicated in a torture video that went viral. It begins on his last night of duty, as he is about to leave for abroad for better job prospects.
How to paint your life and choose colors to match your mood? What to make a palette and what brushes to use? How to deal with problems thanks to art therapy? When to reach for solvent? All this will show you Polish Bob Ross in his program.
A young girl is striving for stardom. In order to get a lead role in a new production, she agrees to stand-in for a famous star whose rich patron died in her arms one night. The real-life drama gradually comes to mirror the story of the play being performed by her.
Mother dies, and child is delivered to an orphanage. Will she find a home? And what about her birth father, he's out there somewhere... Adaptation of a 1971 telenovela.
A group of wannabe ghost hunters set out to shoot a pilot in the old Hewitt house which is rumored to be haunted, faking everything, and get more than they bargain for. Eventually, things begin to happen at the house that cannot be easily explained. Is the house really haunted? Can anyone be trusted? We are at our most vulnerable when presented with our greatest desires or confronted with our greatest fears.
An ackward triangle forms among Philipp, her girlfriend Henriette, and Johanna, Henriette's daughter. Mother and daughter know exactly which buttons to press to get on the other's nerves. Does Johanna want the best for Henriette?
Photographer Barnard Jacobs is dying and Ashley, the woman he loves, won't admit her feelings for him. She's too wrapped up in her cocaine addiction and desire to find a wealthy husband. When fashionista Madeleine begs Barnard to call Ashley for drugs, a party develops. Madeline pairs off with a rich tech executive named Boccaccio. Barnard goes home, where Ashley, seeking peace and solitude, joins him. In flashback, Barnard recalls how his best friend Pickering hired him to take photos of women's eyes. He hired Ashley and the two forged a deep connection. Back in the present, Boccaccio and Madeleine do drugs and become removed from the world. As Barnard learns death is near, he reaches out to Ashley in a final attempt to save both of them.
After marauding and sinking another ship, a band of pirates capture a female passenger, then send her overboard as punishment for her defiance. She vows revenge, and fortunately is rescued by a small passing ship carrying only its captain, his first mate and a cat. They cross paths with the pirates, but both sides - after seeming to have victory within their grasp - meet a fate neither could have predicted. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.
Unemployed jockey Tod Taylor gets a huge break when he is hired by Matt Riley. Within weeks, Taylor is riding Riley's horses to a string of victories. Success and the limelight go right to the jockey's head. Big-time gambler Tom Drake hires a blonde sexpot to seduce Tod and introduce him to the roulette wheel. Showing off, he starts playing for stakes way over his head. With Drake holding a huge note that Tod can't possibly pay off, he delivers an ultimatum — lose the big race tomorrow or a police detective will be waiting at the finish line to arrest him for passing bad checks.
Vasek, 8 years old boy is desperate to find a new "father" for his mother.
A teenager contemplates his relationship with God and others as his days are filled with loneliness.
Moscow writer ordered a story for the collection. At this time, his wife is going on a business trip to St. Petersburg. Writing imagination awakens jealousy in the main character.
TRACKLISTING: Chapter 1. A Finnish Summer With Turisas Documentary Chapter 2. Festival show live footage 2.1. As Torches Rise (Live at Ruisrock 2008) 2.2. To Holmgard And Beyond (Live at Nummirock 2008) 2.3. A Portage To The Unknown (Live at Ilosaarirock `08) 2.4. The Messenger (Live at Wanaja Festival 2008) 2.5. One More (Live at Nummirock 2008) 2.6. In The Court Of Jarisleif (Live at Ruisrock 2008) 2.7. Fields of Gold (Live at Ilosaarirock 2008) 2.8. The Dnieper Rapids (Live at Nummirock 2008) 2.9. The Land of Hope And Glory (Live at Voimasointu Festival 2008) 2.10. Miklagard Overture (Live at Nummirock 2008) 2.11. Sahti-Waari (Live at Ilosaarirock 2008) 2.12. Rasputin (Live at Ruisrock 2008) 2.13. Battle Metal (Live at Nummirock 2008) Festival show total running time: 80 min. 30 sec.