Mother & Baby

The tragic and shocking story of the notorious Magdalene Laundries, a shameful system, created by the Irish State but supported by all strata of Irish society, which enslaved more than ten thousand women between 1922 and 1996.

2022-03-02

Untold Secrets(en)

2021-07-25

Gives voice to the experiences of Irish institution survivors and focuses on the life and upbringing of one survivor, Anne Silke. Silke was fostered out of the St. Mary, Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam at the age of 9 to the Killileas, a prominent political family from Tuam. Untold Secrets recounts her often brutal and abusive treatment at the hands of her foster family and reveals never seen before interviews with fellow survivors. Although Silke is now deceased the documentary gives a posthumous voice to Anne and possibly some closure to her family.

2021-07-25

74%

Sex in a Cold Climate(en)

1998-03-16

Interlocking interviews of 4 women interred in various Magdalene asylums and/or orphanages because of out-of-wedlock pregnancies, being sexually assaulted, or just being "too pretty".

1998-03-16

74%

The Magdalene Sisters(en)

2002-08-30

Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum.

2002-08-30

Small Things Like These(en)

2024-11-01

While working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own; forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.

2024-11-01

73%

Sinners(en)

2002-03-26

Powerful drama set in 1960s Ireland about a young, unmarried mother-to-be whose family sends her to a convent. There, out of sight of society, her work in the laundry provides her with close friendships, which bring hope and relief from daily prayer and penance. (Radio Times)

2002-03-26

54%

The Devil's Doorway(en)

2018-07-13

In the autumn of 1960, Father Thomas Riley and Father John Thornton were sent by the Vatican to investigate a miraculous event in an Irish home for 'fallen women', only to uncover something much more horrific.

2018-07-13

Siberian Lesson

62%

Siberian Lesson(en)

1998-05-01

The first documentary by Wojciech Staroń. He just finished film school, his wife Małgosia just became a teacher. The year is 1997. They decide to go for a year deep into Siberia: she’ll teach Polish, he’ll shoot a film. And this is that beautiful film, narrated in the first person by Małgosia as she meets all sorts of colorful characters and reflects upon reality with her beautiful, monotone voice, seeing the good in people individually and collectively. This is also about her transformation in this travel undertaken in the centuries-old fashion of the observer who, by observing others, observes herself.

1998-05-01

65%

Argentinian Lesson(en)

2011-05-23

In 1998 Wojciech Staroń made the documentary film "The Siberian Lesson". The film told the story of a young teacher who emigrated to the vicinity of Lake Baikal in order to teach Polish deportees’ descendants their native language. Many years later, as a married couple with two children, the director and his wife are leaving for Argentina. For their little son, this trip will not only be an encounter with an unknown language. Influenced by their Argentinian friend, Janek enters the fascinating world of imagination, and is introduced to the bitterness of childhood prematurely contaminated by the problems of grown-ups.

2011-05-23

O Cortejo Histórico de Lisboa

O Cortejo Histórico de Lisboa(en)

1947-01-01

Commemorative procession celebrating the eighth centenary of the inbreak of Lisbon from the Moors in 1147 by the forces of D. Afonso Henriques with the help of the Crusaders en route to the Holy Land.

1947-01-01

Joplin, Missouri - A Tornado Story

Joplin, Missouri - A Tornado Story(en)

2012-11-09

Joplin native Chip Gubera's documentary JOPLIN MISSOURI: A TORNADO STORY is a comprehensive, informative account of the devastation wrought on his hometown by a natural disaster and its subsequent recovery. On May 21, 2011 the deadliest tornado ever recorded struck Joplin, an F5 in which wind gusts exceeded 200 mph. In fact, it was not a single tornado, but a multi-vortex tornado created by two converging storms. As local meteorologist Jeremiah Cook explained, this meant that the half mile wide tornado had several "fingers," each an individual tornado, and the rains were so heavy one could not see them before they struck. Narrator George Noory's jovial voice and the monotone recollections of survivors belie the overwhelming scope of the devastation.

2012-11-09

66%

Kids for Cash(en)

2014-02-07

Filmmaker Robert May chronicles the case of a once-respected judge who received kickbacks for sending juvenile offenders to prison, even for minor crimes.

2014-02-07

Netsilik Eskimo Series, I: At the Autumn River Camp

55%

Netsilik Eskimo Series, I: At the Autumn River Camp(en)

1967-01-01

It is late autumn and the Eskimos travel through soft snow and build karmaks, shelters with snow walls and a roof of skins, in the river valley. The geese are gone but some musk-ox are seen. The man makes a toy sleigh from the jawbones of a caribou and hitches it to a puppy. Next day the women gather stocks of moss for the lamp and the fire. The men fish through the ice with spears. The woman cooks fish while the men cache the surplus. Then the family eats in the karmak. The men build an igloo and the household goods are moved in. They begin the complicated task of making a sleigh, using the skins from the tent, frozen fish, caribou antlers and sealskin thong. The woman works at a parka, using more caribou skin, and the children play. Now the sled is ready to load and soon the family is heading downriver to the coast.

1967-01-01

Netsilik Eskimo Series, II: At the Caribou Crossing Place

50%

Netsilik Eskimo Series, II: At the Caribou Crossing Place(en)

1967-01-02

The time is early autumn. The woman wakes and dresses the boy. He practices with his sling while she spreads a caribou skin to dry. The boy picks berries and then the men come in their kayak with another caribou. This is skinned, and soon night falls. In the morning, one man leaves with his bow while the other makes a fishing mannick, a bait of caribou meat. The woman works at the skins, this time cleaning sinews and hanging them to dry. The man repairs his arrows and then sets a snare for a gull. The child stones the snared gull and then plays hunter, using some antlers for a target. His father makes him a spinning top. Two men arrive at the camp and the four build from stones a long row of manlike figures, inukshult, down toward the water. They wait for caribou and then chase them toward the stone figures and so into the water where other men in kayaks spear them. The dead animals are floated ashore and skinned.

1967-01-02

Netsilik Eskimo Series, III: At the Spring Sea Ice Camp

55%

Netsilik Eskimo Series, III: At the Spring Sea Ice Camp(en)

1967-01-03

Two Eskimo families travel across the wide sea ice. Before night falls they build small igloos and we see the construction in detail. The next day a polar bear is seen basking in the warming sun. A woman lights her seal oil lamp, carefully forming the wick from moss. The man repairs his snow goggles. Another man arrives dragging a polar bear skin. The boy has made a bear-shaped figure from snow and practices throwing his spear. Then he tries his bow. Now, with her teeth, the woman crimps the sole of a sealskin boot she is making. The men are hunting seal through the sea-ice in the bleak windy weather. The wind disturbs the "tell-tales," made of eider down or a hair loop on a bone, that signal when a seal rises to breathe. A hunter strikes, kills and drags his catch up and away. At the igloo the woman scrapes at a polar bear skin and a man repairs a sled. In the warming weather the igloo is topped with furs and a snow shelter is built to hide the sled from the sun.

1967-01-03

Netsilik Eskimos, IV: Group Hunting on the Spring Ice

50%

Netsilik Eskimos, IV: Group Hunting on the Spring Ice(en)

1967-12-23

Late June, and much of the land is bare. There are sounds of running water, and melt ponds shine everywhere. The woman carries heather and moss to camp and the man makes a whirling bullroarer for the boy. Another child pretends to drive a dog sled. A woman is working sinews into bowstrings, while another is busy with a seal skin. A woman prepares to cook a meal and a man makes a bow from bone and sinews. It is a demanding task to combine such materials into a strong supple weapon; the result is pleasing to the man. The next day the men move out on the sea ice with a dog to look for seal pups.

1967-12-23

Netsilik Eskimos, V: At the Winter Sea Ice Camp

47%

Netsilik Eskimos, V: At the Winter Sea Ice Camp(en)

1967-12-23

In late winter when the cold is severe, the people and dogs are glad to stop their trek and make camp. In the blue dusk the men probe the snow and then cut building blocks while the women shovel a site. Soon all are under cover, and in the wavering light of the stone lamp they sleep, their breath rising coldly. In the light of day the men test and refurbish their spears, harness dogs to the sled and strike out on the sea ice. Each man, with a dog or two, explores the white waste, seeking scent of a seal's breathing hole. When a dog noses the snow, the man probes for the hole and, when he finds it, suspends a single looped hair to signal when the seal rises to breathe. Then he waits, motionless, to make his strike. He kills, and the others gather to taste the warm liver of his catch. Then, as night comes, the vigil goes on.

1967-12-23

Netsilik Eskimos, VI: Building a Kayak

50%

Netsilik Eskimos, VI: Building a Kayak(en)

1967-12-23

Now it is July - summer. The run-off is in full spate and open water shows offshore. Ice cakes melt on the shingle. On the bay are ducks. It is time to build a kayak, a task shared by two men. They gather materials: valuable scraps of wood, bone, seal skins and sinews. Now there is much cutting, fitting, joining and binding. The woman helps by cutting additional thongs, scraping skins, providing food. She must also amuse the child who seems left out by the single-minded work of the men. Then the work breaks and a man harpoons a fish in a tide pool; all share the pleasure of fresh food.

1967-12-23

Netsilik Eskimos, VII: Fishing at the Stone Weir

55%

Netsilik Eskimos, VII: Fishing at the Stone Weir(en)

1967-12-23

Full summer, and the tundra is bare; skin tents are up and it is time to attend to the fishing as the fish move upstream. The men are in the river, lifting stones and placing them to form enclosures to trap the fish. A woman skins a duck and then braids her hair in the old way, stiffly around sticks. From a bladder she makes a balloon for the child. The men are fishing with the three-pronged leisters, spearing the fish and stringing them on a thong, until it is as much as a man can do to drag his catch from the water. The woman works quickly, cleaning the fish, and then all enjoy bits of the fresh raw fish.

1967-12-23

50%

Netsilik Eskimos, VIII: Jigging for Lake Trout(en)

1967-12-23

More signs of winter's end as more wildlife returns. The family makes an excursion for fresh fish from a lake. They build a karmak and move in the furs, cooking troughs, etc. The woman sets up her lamp, spreads the furs and attends to the children. There are signs of returning wildlife. The man moves out on the lake ice and chips a hole for fishing. He baits his hook and lowers it jigging the line to attract the fish. Crouched by the hole, he persists with his purpose and takes some fish, as does his wife who has joined him. Both remain at the hole through a severe blizzard. Please note that this is an archival film that makes use of the word “Eskimo,” an outdated and offensive term. While the origin of the word is a matter of some contention, it is no longer used in Canada. This film is therefore a time capsule of a bygone era, presented in its original version. The NFB apologizes for the offence caused.

1967-12-23