2005-10-06
0
At Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, China, a Grade 3 class learns what democracy is when an election for class monitor is being held. Three children are chosen by the teacher as candidates and they have a few days to campaign and convince their classmates to vote for them. The little candidates are seen at school and at home, where their parents do their best to make sure their child will win the election.
A spacecraft lands on Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, in temperatures of minus 260 degrees and searing radiation. Its mission: to penetrate the surface and send a probe into a watery realm beneath the ice. Meet Bill Stone, a preeminent underwater cave explorer and inventor who is developing robots to carry out that mission one day. Now, he and his team hope to test an autonomous underwater vehicle called Endurance in Antarctica’s icy waters. As we watch Endurance plunge into the depths, CGI animation helps us envision how its descendant would fare on a real mission to Europa. We see it hurtle across the solar system, finally dropping slowly into Europa’s liquid realm, where we follow it through its routines. Getting a robot through the ice and into the oceans of Europa will be an order of magnitude more difficult than anything Stone’s team has done so far.
The 62-year-old Meng Jinfu is the last shaman of the Orogen ethnic group in China. He and his wife Ding Quiqin live in the deep forest of the Greater Xing'an Mountains all year round and live a primitive life. In the 1950s, the Chinese government helped Orogen people relocate from the forest to settlements. However, Meng Jingfu who had lived in the forest since childhood, eventually returned there with his wife and made a living by hunting. Though his life is difficult, he has been happy since childhood in the forest. But since then area has been deforested and the animal population has decreased, Meng Jinfu has been worried. The resettlement under the mountain has fundamentally changed the customs of the Orogen people.
An account of the many assassination attempts suffered by dictator Francisco Franco (1892-1975), perpetrated between 1936 and 1964, taking as a starting point the short story entitled 'La verdadera muerte de Francisco Franco', an ucronic fantasy published in 1960 by the Spanish writer Max Aub (1903-71), who fled Spain after the Civil War (1936-39) and established in Mexico in 1942.
A documentary that explores the life of one of the world's most populated cities from its streets. Shot in 2009-2012 (before and during the Egyptian revolution, and ending with the most recent presidential elections), the film explores the country's collective identity, inherent struggles, and the sentiments that lead through the historic changes taking place in Egypt today. For his third documentary, Egyptian/ American filmmaker Sherief Elkatsha rides through the congested streets alongside a diverse cast of characters-from taxi drivers to ambulances, from traffic cops to private citizens-capturing the unspoken codes of conduct, frustrations, humor, fatalism, and life-or-death decisions of driving in a city where the only rule is: there are no rules.
Now you can relive the story of Black Caviar - the horse of a lifetime by taking the ride alongside the moments that made it happen. It is the story of a journey that defies belief, because quite simply it’s about belief. Twenty-five straight victories as seen through the eyes of the trainer Peter Moody and Black Caviar’s jockey Luke Nolen in an exclusive personal and open account of what actually happened in racing’s field of dreams. As the momentum built, a wave of salmon and black washed over a nation of fans who just wanted a glimpse of the fastest horse on the planet. In this historic reflection of Black Caviar’s spellbinding career, it now becomes more than a glimpse - as cameras take you inside the stables, inside the stalls and inside to the story of Australia’s most watched racehorse. And every race can be seen again on a bonus DVD with more than ninety minutes of memorable extras. Experience the triumph and celebrate the stunning career of an Australian icon.
They are the first and the last, those who imagine stories and give voice to the characters who live them. However, they never speak. But now, they emerge from the shadows of a poorly lit room and tell their secrets, their tricks, their influences; they tell their own story, that of those who face the blank page, the absolute nothingness; that of those who are the true authors, those who create and destroy entire universes. They are the screenwriters.
Putin’s Olympic Dream is about the rapid transformation of the city of Sochi. In just a couple of years it has to be refashioned from a nostalgic Soviet holiday resort, filled with gorgeous sanatoriums, into a modern Russian city. The Olympic Winter Games are held here in February 2014, and literally everything and everyone has to yield in order to turn this status project of President Putin into a success.
Diary of a Times Square Thief documents a journey of discovery: the search for the writer of a mysterious diary that the filmmaker found on Ebay. This manuscript describes the adventures of a young man who, in the late eighties, left the Midwest of the United States to go to New York to realize his big dream: to find a publisher for his work and become a writer. He fails, and the diary gives a frank and confronting account of the author's subsequent downfall. This is where the diary ends; its last pages have been cut out with a knife. Diary of a Times Square Thief consists of small, intimate portraits of some of the colorful characters described in the diary, who could have known its writer. Through these encounters clarity gradually emerges about the fate of the talented but failed author, and about the value of chasing dreams. In addition, the film paints a vivid picture of the world-famous Times Square area when it was still a dramatically brutal urban jungle.
Free Lisl-Fear & Loathing in Denver chronicles the last hurrah of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - the freeing of an innocent young girl from a life sentence in prison.
BURY THE HATCHET is a portrait of three Mardi Gras Indian “Big Chiefs” of New Orleans, descendants of runaway slaves taken in long ago by the Native Americans of the Louisiana bayous. Once plagued by intertribal violence, today these African-American tribes take to the backstreets of New Orleans on Mardi Gras, dressed in elaborate Native-American influenced costumes they've sewn over the course of the year. When tribes meet, instead of attacking each other with hatchets and knives, they battle over which Chief has the prettiest suit. Director Aaron Walker's 5-year-long intimate entry into this often hidden New Orleans experience also reveals other battles the Chiefs face every day: harassment by the police, gentrification of their neighborhoods, disinterested youth, old age, and natural disaster. Still, the Chiefs prove their determination to survive.
Ever since David Lean came here to shoot parts of Lawrence of Arabia, the Moroccan desert of Ouarzazate has formed the backdrop to countless Hollywood blockbusters, including The Mummy and Gladiator. Major productions like these often need masses of extras—and the local people are all too willing to be part of a Hollywood production, even though they might never get to see the result on-screen. Ouarzazate Movie shows all too clearly that behind the scenes nothing survives of the film world’s glamor and glitter. Now, those famous blockbusters leave a bitter aftertaste. The outside may sparkle, but on the inside Western imperialism still reigns supreme.
It is a threat that is right in front of us -- just below the surface and hidden in plain sight. 'Jihad in America: The Grand Deception' exposes the history and structure of the subversive menace behind the public mask -- The Muslim Brotherhood in America. This investigative documentary exposes how Muslim Brotherhood-linked leaders rose to prominence right here in the United States, and how they exploit American values under the cover of religion for their ulterior political agenda. - 70-minute film unmasking the covert infrastructure of inside the United States - Based on an extensive collection of primary source materials, including internal records of the MB, startling first-person accounts and chilling and exclusive undercover video and audio of these groups behind closed doors.
Filmmaker Jan Nemec and his crew risked their lives to create this historic documentary account of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The award-winning work is the only filmed record of the invasion. Oratorio for Prague began as a study of the liberalization of Czechoslovakia and then continued when the Russian forces moved in. The gripping footage was broadcast by television, providing the first report of the event. In addition to the news footage, the film features never-before-viewed scenes taken prior to the invasion that crushed Prague's anti-Communist movement.
Year Zero DVD was shot around the world entirely in super 16mm film and offers a unique concept with stunning visuals that capture the essence of surfing in a novel setting. Year zero follows Globe's award winning productions New Emissions of light and Sound and Secret Machine. Soundtrack by Black Mountain.
Director Vitaly Manskiy sets off on the trail of the Trans-Siberian gas pipeline to find out what it’s like for ordinary people living in its vicinity. This visually refined road movie, eloquently illustrating the absurd banality of modern Russia, is also an unsettling portrait of a gas line on which most of Europe is reliant.
Hanna Ranch is a feature documentary about visionary cattleman Kirk Hanna and his personal struggle to protect a once prominent way of life in Colorado. Born into a life on the family ranch, Hanna became a leader in the environmental ranching movement that set out to protect the West from the relentless encroachment of development and misuse. Featured in the book Fast Food Nation and dubbed the “eco-cowboy,” he was an early adopter of Holistic Resource Management practices, sat on numerous environmental boards and was president of the Colorado Cattleman’s Association. Hanna’s opinion was so widely sought and respected, many even saw him as a future governor of Colorado. But when his dream of harmony and sustainability ran up against the reality of family conflict and mounting threats to the land, Hanna lost hope. Kirk’s legacy and fight live on as his family and friends continue to protect the West by saving Hanna Ranch.
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.