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A documentary about direct-cinema from its very beginnings (Nanook of the North) to the fake-direct-cinema of the Blair Witch Project. All the important direct-cinema filmmakers are portrayed and/or interviewed: Leacock, Wiseman, Maysles, Pennebaker, Reisz and others.
"This feature documentary is considered to be the forerunner of the NFB's Challenge for Change Program. The film offers in inside look at 3 weeks in the life of the Bailey family. Trouble with the police, begging for stale bread, and the birth of another child are just some of the issues they face. Through it all, the father tries to explain his family's predicament. Although filmed in Montreal, the film offers an anatomy of poverty as it occurs throughout North America." - NFB
Feature-length documentary as part of Pierre Perrault's Abitibian Cycle. The filmmaker questions the past and present of Abitibi and draws up, face to face, the promises of colonization in the 1930s and the great disappointment caused by the closing of the land in the 1970s. There are witnesses to the heroic era, including the cultivator Hauris Lalancette, as well as extracts from films by Father Maurice Proulx (1934-1940).
"This documentary depicts a canoe being built in the traditional manner. Cesar Newashish, a 67-year-old Attikamek of the Manawan Reserve North of Montréal, uses only birchbark, cedar splints, spruce roots, and gum. With a sure hand he works methodically to fashion a craft unsurpassed in function or beauty of design. Building a canoe solely from the materials that the forest provides may become a lost art, even among the Native Peoples whose traditional craft it is. The film is free of spoken commentary but text appears on the screen in Cree, French, and English." - Anthology Film Archives
"This film is one of the first French Unit productions of the “Société Nouvelle/Challenge for Change” program. When an old area of Montréal is to be demolished to make way for a new low-income housing development, is there anything the residents can do to protect their own interests? The film documents such a situation in the Little Burgundy district of Montréal and shows how the residents organized themselves into a committee that successfully influenced the city’s housing policy." - Anthology Film Archives
"Montréal under the snow and the cold winter. It is the period of the year when the garage owners strike it rich. The automobile at the service of man? This small opus would rather show the contrary. This is one in a series of eight films titled “Chronicle of Everyday Life,” a project that filmmaker Jacques Leduc took four years to realize, and whose goal was to revisit Direct Cinema at a moment when it was already heavily “contaminated” by mainstream TV." - Anthology Film Archives
A working class family leaves St-Henri quarter in Montréal to build a new home in the countryside.
Having moved across the globe, a group of expatriates living in a small town in South Korea adapt to life abroad and navigate relationships with their peers.
Liam McEneaney, creator of Tell Your Friends! hosts the film version of his weekly comedy show, as well as interviews the film’s headliners; giving us a personal look of their transitions from bar basements to mainstream entertainment. Includes comedians Christian Finnegan, Leo Allen, Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal, Rob Paravonian, and Reggie Watts emerge from the dark and dirty rock clubs of Lower Manhattan to perform in this insider event. The film also includes music from A Brief View of the Hudson, TFY’s resident house band. The film offers a backstage pass to the show, including 'behind the scenes' footage and interviews navigating the unfamiliar routes these artists took to become breakout successes.
Christian Frei's documentary traces the tragic tale of the giant Buddhas of Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, which stood as monumental landmarks for 1,500 years until 2001, when the Taliban declared that all non-Islamic statues in the country be destroyed. Despite international protest, the statues were blown up. Through interwoven narratives from past and present, Frei's film sheds light on the disturbing consequences of religious fanaticism.
From the A&E "Biography" series, a review of the birth, development and cinematic history of Betty Boop, the flapper cartoon character who has been a popular icon since the 1930s.
Documentary - They're clean, educated, articulate and rarely receive public assistance. But following a divorce, job loss or a long illness, a growing number of middle-class women are forced to live out of their cars. Directed by Michèle Ohayon (Colors Straight Up) and narrated by Jodie Foster, It Was a Wonderful Life chronicles the hardships and triumphs of six "hidden homeless" women as they struggle to survive, one day at a time. - Jodie Foster, Lou Hall, Reena Sands
Documentary exploring the history of one of America's most notorious outlaws.
To celebrate 30 years on TV, Ant and Dec reunite with Cat Deeley to reminisce on the hit Saturday morning TV show that catapulted their careers into stardom.
Film director Branko Belan follows the journey of fishermen as they set out to catch tuna around the Velebit Channel.
From the inner workings of the RAF. Former RAF-member Peter-Jürgen Boock reveal the many secrets and myths about the Baader-Meinhof gang a.k.a. RAF - Rote Armee Fraktion.
A televisual journey guided by Jean-Luc Godard inside his film Sauve qui peut (la vie), incorporating filmed conversations between him and Isabelle Huppert and the film critic Christian Defaye.
Documentary following a community of herders in the Scottish Highlands preparing young reindeer for their first Christmas, including an orphaned reindeer calf who battles against the odds
Corruption, political instability and social poverty are explored in this tense documentary film chronicling the Greek government debt crisis and its impact on the people of Greece.
Everyday life in the Waks household is a logistical challenge of monumental proportions. There are two minibuses to move the family around and the kitchen in its suburban Melbourne home has five ovens for kosher cooking. The family follows an orthodox form of Judaism. School, work, synagogue and socialising all take place within a tight-knit Jewish community.