Behind the Lens(2024)

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory(fr)

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

The Oval Portrait(en)

An artist is so consumed with painting a portrait of the women he loves that he doesn't notice she is dying until it's too late. Shot as a silent film.

The Baby(fa)

Narges and her friend have just a few hours to find someone to take care of her baby.

Mecha Meraki(pt)

In a robotic society moved by the consumption of colorful mechanic members, an insecure gray robot faces the pressure to find the perfect piece for himself.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Something Like Loneliness(en)

Upstairs-downstairs neighbors Dan and Mia have never met, but the thin floor between their apartments offers its own kind of intimacy. In an alternative reality where sounds – and the sensory memories that accompany them – can be captured in food storage containers, Dan approaches Mia with a proposal. He offers some of the sounds of his life in exchange for some of the sounds of hers.

The Making of Me(en)

Martin Short narrates the story of "his own" birth to explain the subjects of sex, conception, pregnancy and childbirth in an entertaining and educational way.

Free Chips Forever!(en)

Becky and her Dad are invincible chip robbers. Nothing can stand in their way. Nothing that is except her brother Tom.

Night and Fog(fr)

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

High School Girls(ko)

High school girls A, B, C, D, and E are playing poker. S and T are fighting over marks they got in a sham exam. Y is spending an odd night with the practice teacher. They are all high school girls. They are all the “time” you have passed through.

My Old Lady(ko)

That One Day(en)

Miu Miu Women's Tales #12 - Short film directed by Crystal Moselle starring The Skate Kitchen crew

Mare Nostrum(ar)

On a Mediterranean shore, a Syrian father's decision to give his daughter a better life puts her in danger of losing it.

X-Ray Audio: The Documentary(en)

Cold War Leningrad: In a culture where the recording industry was ruthlessly controlled by the state, music lovers discovered an extraordinary alternative means of reproduction: they repurposed used x-ray film as the base for records of forbidden songs. Giving blood every week to earn enough money to buy a recording lathe, one bootlegger Rudy Fuchs cuts banned music onto such discarded x-rays to be sold on street corners by shady dealers. It was ultimate act of punk resistance, a two-fingered salute to the repressive regime that gave a generation of young Soviets access to forbidden Western and Russian music, an act for which Rudy and his fellow bootleggers would pay a heavy price.

Dolor(is)

The film deals with unexpected and unexplainable loss. Due to an accident, the life of a happy family turns into a larger-than-life tragedy.

The One(en)

What appears to be a typical mother-son day in the park proves to be anything but typical.

The Father, Unblinking(en)

Set in rural America a father discovers his young daughter dead of fever. Knowing her death was inevitable due to her illness; he is at first devastated but quickly realizes that he does not want his fragile wife to see that the girl has passed. While composing himself he decides to hide the girl in the barn so he may prepare his wife for dire news. But after approaching his wife in the kitchen he is unable to face her with the death of their child.

Falling(fr)

In the winter of 1994 in the French suburbs, Léo and Baptiste, two polar opposite students, meet up one evening to work on a school presentation.

Oedipus Complex(en)

Oedipus Complex short film.

Anything Happens(ru)

A young boy falls in love with his school teacher and desperately tries to attract her attention. Very soon the teacher shows an interest in this boy and realizes, that he stands out in a crowd. She feels something…but it’s not to the boy’s classmates liking. This can’t continue. This story describes the possibility of high and chaste feelings between people of different ages and shows, how these feelings can transform a person, making it better.