Vowellet - An Essay by Sarah Vowell

Fallas 37: el arte en guerra(es)

In November 1936, a few months since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the government of the Second Republic moves to Valencia. In this situation, several Valencian artists and intellectuals decide to build four fallas — satirical plasterboard sculptures created to be burnt — to mock fascism.

Walls(en)

A day in the life of Mr. Istvan and Ms. Magdi, neighbors for many years, is narrated by the building of Budapest where both live. The walls surrounding them reveal their small passions, stories and routines.

PaaPaa Chipskwenewh Sibii(fr)

Giger's Alien(en)

Documentary about Giger's work for the movie Alien (1979).

Rodar en Cuba(es)

Documentary - Short Film

Galicia(es)

Short documentary about social and economic situation in Galicia (Spain) in 1936

Goya(it)

Presents life in 18th century Spain as the painter Francisco de Goya showed it to us.

Telezonia(en)

Four children want to invite their friends to a picnic, but they don't know how to use the telephone. Suddenly, the room goes dark and the phone becomes large enough for them to climb into. They walk through a tunnel and meet a man named Telly, who takes them into the world of Telezonia, where they are shown various kinds of telephones. They meet several costumed characters, such as Question Mark, who teaches them how to answer the phone; Q and Z, who show them how to use the phone book; and Exclamation Point, who teaches them how to place a call. By the time they leave Telezonia, they are full-fledged telephone users.

Swinging Light(en)

An experience of a camera swinging in different gestures facing the optical distortion of the Sun. The last appearance of the smudge.

James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty(en)

The documentary will feature such frequent Ivory collaborators Emma Thompson , Helena Bonham Carter and Hugh Grant, as well as director Wes Anderson. The documentary will also draw from never-before-seen archival footage, film clips, vérité sequences, behind-the-scenes outtakes and sit-down interviews to form a comprehensive portrait of the filmmaker.

The Portrait(en)

It’s the opportunity of a lifetime for artist Phil Richards, who’s been commissioned to create Canada’s official portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her Diamond Jubilee. Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Hubert Davis follows Richards over months of painstaking preparations, as he works to capture Her Majesty’s likeness and spirit on canvas.

Day of the Fight(en)

Stanley Kubrick’s debut documentary, following Irish-American middleweight boxer Walter Cartier on April 17, 1950—the day of his bout with Bobby James. The film traces Cartier’s quiet morning rituals, training, and anxious hours before the match, culminating in his swift victory that night in Newark. Opening with a brief history of boxing, Kubrick’s tightly crafted short captures the discipline, isolation, and tension behind a fighter’s daily routine.

Flying Padre(en)

Stanley Kubrick’s short documentary about Father Fred Stadtmueller, a Catholic priest serving a vast 4,000-square-mile parish in rural New Mexico. To reach his scattered congregation, he pilots his own Piper Cub aircraft, the Spirit of St. Joseph. Over two days, Kubrick follows the “flying padre” as he conducts Mass, mediates between quarreling children, attends a funeral, and airlifts a sick child to medical care—capturing both the challenges and quiet heroism of his daily mission.

Flying Monsters 3D with David Attenborough(en)

220 million years ago dinosaurs were beginning their domination of Earth. But another group of reptiles was about to make an extraordinary leap: pterosaurs were taking control of the skies. The story of how and why these mysterious creatures took to the air is more fantastical than any fiction. In Flying Monsters 3D, Sir David Attenborough the world’s leading naturalist, sets out to uncover the truth about the enigmatic pterosaurs, whose wingspans of up to 40 feet were equal to that of a modern day jet plane.

Remains(fr)

Something takes us underground, where gods and monsters are active, amid the ruins of a world they move around with their innumerable hands. Inspired by Fritz Lang and Richard Wagner, Remains is a daydream.

Badger Creek(en)

Badger Creek is a portrait of Native resilience as seen through a year in the life of three generations of a Blackfeet family living on the rez in Montana. The Mombergs are a loving, sober family who run a successful ranch, live a traditional worldview and are re-learning their language.

Kobe Bryant's Muse(en)

Documentary that goes behind the stats to reveal the story of Kobe Bryant's career, exploring the mentorships, allies and rivalries that have helped shape his stellar 18-year tenure in the NBA, and offering access to his daily experiences, his lifelong inspirations and the battle with his greatest personal challenge yet.

A Prayer for Beslan(en)

Beslan will forever be synonymous with the murder of hundreds of innocent children. One year on, how is the town coping? Our documentary this week is a harrowing and powerful new film on the school siege and its enduring legacy.

White Flame(nl)

The original screenplay told the story of a young man from the countryside with a city education: a boorish, violent character filled with a desperate, purely urban unease. Dekeukeleire transformed him into a butcher who commits an act of rebellion during a political demonstration at the foot of the Yser Tower (with authentic images of the 1930 meeting) which is being suppressed brutally by the authorities. White Flame secretes a drifting air of unreality straight out of Buñuel, born out of 'carnal' close-ups and an editing style which owes a great deal to Soviet films of that period.

Restoration(en)

Restoration is a found-footage piece honouring Beau Dick's Copper Breaking ceremony on the steps of the BC Legislature during Idle No More in 2013.

The Gauntlet(en)

Phoenix cop Ben Shockley is well on his way to becoming a derelict when he is assigned to transport a witness from Las Vegas. The witness turns out to be a belligerent prostitute with mob ties—and incriminating information regarding a high-ranking official.

Waking Ned(en)

When a lottery winner dies of shock, his fellow townsfolk attempt to claim the money.

7 Dwarves: The Forest Is Not Enough(de)

Snow White asks the seven dwarfs for help, because if they don't manage to find out the name of a little boy (Rumpelstiltskin) within two days, her newborn child will be taken away from her. The journey takes the dwarves to a depressive, rhyming Pinocchio and the omniscient wizard Helge, among others, and all the way to the world of humans.

Monkey Business(en)

Research chemist Barnaby Fulton works on a fountain of youth pill for a chemical company. One of the labs chimps gets loose in the laboratory and mixes chemicals, but then pours the mix into the water cooler. When trying one of his own samples, washed down with water from the cooler, Fulton begins to act just like a twenty-year-old and believes his potion is working. Soon his wife and boss are also behaving like children.

Starbuck(fr)

David Wozniak is a perpetual adolescent who discovers that, as a sperm donor, he has fathered 533 children. He is advised that more than 100 of his offspring are trying to force the fertility clinic to reveal the true identity of "Starbuck," the pseudonym he used when donating his sperm. To make matters worse, his girlfriend Valérie is pregnant with his child, but doesn't feel that he is mature enough to be a father.

Highlander: The Source(en)

The world is falling into chaos. As he roams a crumbling city, Duncan MacLeod, the Highlander, remembers happier times before the love of his life left... Hopeless and alone, MacLeod finds his way to a band of immortal companions, including his mysterious friend Methos, and a mortal, Watcher Joe Dawson. Together this small group sets out on a quest to find the origin of the first Immortal.

Obsession(en)

A wealthy New Orleans businessman becomes obsessed with a young woman who resembles his late wife.

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum(ja)

In late 19th century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that he is only praised for his acting due to his status as his father's heir. Devastated by this, he turns to Otoku, a servant of his family, for comfort, and they fall in love. Kikunosuke becomes determined to leave home and develop as an actor on his own merits, and Otoku faithfully follows him.

The Paper Chase(en)

A first-year law student struggles with balancing his coursework and his relationship with the daughter of a stern professor.

The Merchant of Venice(en)

Venice, 1596. Bassanio begs his friend Antonio, a prosperous merchant, to lend him a large sum of money so that he can woo Portia, a very wealthy heiress; but Antonio has invested his fortune abroad, so they turn to Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and ask him for a loan.

The Brood(en)

A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist's therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, while a series of brutal attacks committed by a brood of mutant children coincides with the husband's investigation.

Cries and Whispers(sv)

As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.

Buddies(en)

David, a naive graduate student, has volunteered to work as a 'buddy' for people dying of AIDS. Assigned to the intensely political Robert, a lifelong activist whose friends and family have abandoned him following his diagnosis, the two men, each with notably different world views, soon discover common bonds, as David's inner activist awakens and Robert's need for emotional release is fulfilled.

Leaving Las Vegas(en)

Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his drinking, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-interference pact with prostitute Sera.

Visitor Q(ja)

In a dysfunctional family where the mother is a heroin addict and prostitute, beaten by her son, and the father is an ex-TV reporter, sleeping with his daughter and filming his son being beaten up, ‘Q’, a complete stranger enters the bizarre family, changing their lives for the better, finding a balance in their disturbing natures.

Soulless 2(ru)

Max Andreev thought the best place to start a new life would be at the other end of the world. What he didn't know, is that you can't outrun your past.

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead(en)

The Tall Man, that imposing menace from Morningside Mortuary, is back and once again haunting the thoughts of the now-adult Mike and his friend, ex-Ice Cream vendor Reggie. The two continue their hunt for the mysterious figure and in his path of destruction encounter a variety of dangerous situations, friends and enemies.

Foresti Party(fr)

Comedian Florence Foresti supersizes her act in an arena show packed with sketches, celebrity impressions, epic dance routines and special guests.

Green Zone(en)

During the U.S.-led occupation of Baghdad in 2003, Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller and his team of Army inspectors are dispatched to find weapons of mass destruction believed to be stockpiled in the Iraqi desert. Rocketing from one booby-trapped and treacherous site to the next, the men search for deadly chemical agents but stumble instead upon an elaborate cover-up that threatens to invert the purpose of their mission.

The Armstrong Lie(en)

In 2009, Alex Gibney was hired to make a film about Lance Armstrong’s comeback to cycling. The project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted, and re-opened after Armstrong’s confession. The Armstrong Lie picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting, insider's view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports. As Lance Armstrong says himself, “I didn’t live a lot of lies, but I lived one big one.”