Im Land des Schamanen

I, Claude Monet(en)

From award-winning director Phil Grabsky comes this fresh new look at arguably the world’s favourite artist – through his own words. Using letters and other private writings I, Claude Monet reveals new insight into the man who not only painted the picture that gave birth to impressionism but who was perhaps the most influential and successful painter of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite this, and perhaps because of it, Monet’s life is a gripping tale about a man who, behind his sun-dazzled canvases, suffered from feelings of depression, loneliness, even suicide. Then, as his art developed and his love of gardening led to the glories of his garden at Giverney, his humour, insight and love of life is revealed. Shot on location in Paris, London, Normandy and Venice I, Claude Monet is a cinematic immersion into some of the most loved and iconic scenes in Western Art.

Athos(de)

The Athos peninsula in Greece is one of Europe's last secrets. Over 2000 monks live on Athos - cut off from the outside world. Access is denied to women, tourists are not welcome. Only workers and pilgrims can obtain a visa. The "Autonomous Monastic State of the Holy Mountain" attracts people who feel like they are missing something from their modern lives. With the help of three Athos monks, "Athos - A Taste of Heaven" tells the story of the island and its inhabitants in a unique filmed diary style. The film's guiding theme is the path we as people have to find and follow - each and everyone for themselves. "First we must heal our own souls, only then we can help others", is one of Father Galaktions core messages. He lives as a hermit on the holy mountain. Not all monks, however, live as secluded and demure as Father Galaktion. The film team is also received by Father Epiphanios - a gifted and poetic cook who certainly does not disdain the pleasures of life.

Cherub of the Mist(en)

The Film follows Indian biologist Dr. Sunita Pradhan who at that time had been studying red pandas for over 10 years.

Hermitage: The Power of Art(it)

Grizzly Man(en)

Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

Fantastic Fungi(en)

A vivid journey into the mysterious subterranean world of mycelium and its fruit— the mushroom. A story that begins 3.5 billion years ago, fungi makes the soil that supports life, connecting vast systems of roots from plants and trees all over the planet, like an underground Internet. Through the eyes of renowned mycologist Paul Stamets, professor of forest ecology Suzanne Simard, best selling author Michael Pollan, food naturalist Eugenia Bone and others, we experience the power, beauty and complexity of the fungi kingdom.

Quo Vadis 2020(en)

A post millennial journey to Italy before the coronavirus outbreak. While encountering various faces of the contemporary Italian decline, the trip turns into an existential experience arising doubts within a group of ambitious filmmakers, moved by the nostalgia of the humble life that they abandoned to follow their dreams.

Microcosmos(fr)

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

Pantanal: The Good Innocence of Our Origins(pt)

The daily life of residents of the largest floodplain in the world, in the heart of South America, one of the most challenging places for human beings. Starting from the eyes of the characters, we will better understand the fragile balance between man and nature in a place where it is impossible not to understand that we are part of something much bigger, in which the movement of droughts and floods determines the way of life.

Time Life Animal Oddities: The Meanest Animal Alive(en)

Shows the killer instinct in action in an African honey badger, a savage, relentless predator which will attack any animal, seemingly for pure sport.

Koyaanisqatsi(en)

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Semi Colin(en)

Challenging all notions of genre, Semi Colin is a living, breathing art installation. Part performance, part art, part social comment, Colin philosophizes on his life's obsessive work as an erotic artist.

Predators of the Wild: Wolf(en)

Wolf... archetypal symbol of untamed ferocity and elemental, almost supernatural cunning. Drawn to the chase by the eerie howls of their killing song, the pack forms a single, bloodthirsty entity, bent on relentless pursuit, inevitable capture and swift, certain death. Journey to the spectacular, isolated mountain realms of northern Spain, where the last remaining Iberian wolf pack wages a mortal battle for survival. The wolves' legendary intelligence, their lethally effective social hunting skills and awesome powers of endurance are all put to the ultimate test in a life and death struggle against man's most modern weapons... and most primitive fears.

The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism(en)

Taking its lead from French artists like Renoir and Monet, the American impressionist movement followed its own path which over a forty-year period reveals as much about America as a nation as it does about its art as a creative power-house. It’s a story closely tied to a love of gardens and a desire to preserve nature in a rapidly urbanizing nation. Travelling to studios, gardens and iconic locations throughout the United States, UK and France, this mesmerising film is a feast for the eyes. The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism features the sell-out exhibition The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920 that began at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and ended at the Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut.

The Last Trapper(fr)

Norman is not just an admirer of nature, he's a part of it. He survives the harshness of the climate and the wildlife by coexisting with it. With his wife Nebraska, they live almost entirely off the land, making money by selling their furs.

Alaska: Spirit of the Wild(en)

Alaska... Here, in this vast and spectacularly beautiful land teeming with abundant wildlife, discover the "Spirit of the Wild." Experience it in the explosive calving of glaciers, the celestial fires of the Aurora Borealis. Witness it in the thundering stampede of caribou, the beauty of the polar bear and the stealthful, deadly hunt of the wolf pack.

Joseph Cornell: Worlds in a Box(en)

This is a 1991 documentary film about the legendary artist and filmmaker, Joseph Cornell, who made those magnificent and strange collage boxes. He was also one of our great experimental filmmakers and once apparently made Salvador Dali extremely jealous at a screening of his masterpiece, Rose Hobart. In this film we get to hear people like Susan Sontag, Stan Brakhage, and Tony Curtis talk about their friendships with the artist. It turns out that Curtis was quite a collector and he seemed to have a very deep understanding of what Cornell was doing in his work.

Tears of the Sexten Dolomites(it)

In 1915, the First World War is in full swing and young men are called to military service in rows - including Franz and Peter. Both are sent to the Dolomite front, in order to fend off a threatened Italian attack. Comradeship and loyalty are needed in the fight, but Franz and Peter are ever enemies. Since Peter's romance with Anna, the competition between the two flares up more. But the circumstances of the war and the harsh weather in the mountains soon end those hostilities.

Stars at Noon(fr)

Les Etoiles de Midi is an engaging docudrama about some of the more spectacular exploits of French mountain climbers over the last several decades. In one re-enacted story, there is a wartime escape through the mountains, and in another, a daring rescue of a pair of climbers who had been missing. The actors themselves are adept at the sport of climbing, and they give the scenes an immediacy and real daring that brings the stories alive. A combination of their acrobatics and skill and the outstanding episodes in the history of French climbing creates a winning 78 minutes.

The Canary Islands(de)

There are few places on earth that have such a diverse variety of terrain and range of climates concentrated in a relatively small area - temperate coastline, scorching arid deserts and tundra, tropical rainforests and frozen snowcapped mountains. And there are few places that are as heavily exploited by humans, yet remain a wilderness.