In 2011, photographer Tanja Hollander decided to visit each one of her Facebook "friends" (all 626 of them) in their homes and make formal portraits of each of them. Armed with her cameras and iPhone, Tanja traveled throughout the U.S. and around the world for 5 years, meticulously documenting her experiences in real time and creating a historical narrative, both visual and written, along the way. Her project is an exploration of friendships, the effects of social networks, the intimate places we call home and the communities in which we live.
A silent succession of black-and-white photographs of the city of Montreal.
Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.
This is funny or rather crazy adaptation of classical opera Carmen inspired by famous czech theatre Ypsilon play of the same name shot at various bizarre locations such as airport, botanical garden and winter forest.
Sixteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for being outspoken about her country’s education system. The Pakistani government spends seven times more on its military than on education. The Taliban banned girls from attending school. Pakistan’s literacy rate is among the lowest in the world, with the number of school aged children who don’t attend school is second highest globally. Malala survived and is now the youngest person to ever be awarded the Nobel peace Prize for her activism for female education. This is the story of Malala’s fight for a right to education and freedom.
Commissioned for the Irish representation at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, The Enclave is an immersive, six-screen video art installation by Irish contemporary artist Richard Mosse. Partly inspired by Joseph Conrad’s modernist literary masterpiece Heart of Darkness, the visceral and moving work was filmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo using 16mm colour infra-red film, which captures otherwise invisible parts of the spectrum. The resulting imagery in Mosse’s work is hallucinatory and dream-like with the usual greens of jungle and forest replaced by shimmering violet. The Enclave depicts a complicated, strife-ridden place in a way that reflects its complexity, using a strategy of beauty and transfixion to combat the wider invisibility of a conflict that has claimed so many.
Legends of the Knight weaves together the stirring true stories of individuals who have overcome devastating obstacles, unselfishly given to the community, and embraced their inner superhero because of their love of Batman. Through the deeply personal tales of Batman fans, writers, and filmmakers, this feature-length documentary explores the power of heroic stories and encourages viewers to find their own unique path to heroism. Funded by over 1,100 people from around the world, Legends of the Knight is a return to our childhood dreams of being a hero. Put on your cape, and be inspired!
From oratory classes to operating room, Beauty Factory follows five girls for four months as they compete for the coveted Miss Venezuela crown; revealing the process that has won Venezuela more international beauty pageants than any other country.
Over a period of six years, director James Bluemel and producer Gordon Wilson followed epileptic alcoholic Nigel (37) from Oxford, England, who managed to slip through the net of the welfare system for 66 months. Self-mutilation, alcohol, and childlike delusions mean Nigel is a vulnerable man. In the words of his social worker, "Nigel has been abused financially, sexually, and emotionally for years." She's referring to the days when, while out "in the wild," a man named Robbie took Nigel under his wings. He was like a father to Nigel, while at the same time absolutely unfit for the role of caregiver, especially because he couldn't keep his hands to himself.
An obituary for Victor Jara, the Chilean folksinger who was murdered in a football stadium by the military junta during the days of the September 1973 coup.
Florence is a contemplative study of light and shadows, textures and planes, that makes beautiful use of the tonal qualities of black and white film. (mubi.com)
A 16 year old girl recalls the last moments of her summer vacation, spent with friends in the Laurentians north of Montreal. She reminisces about their talks on life, death, love, and God. Shot in direct cinema style, working from a script that left room for the teenagers to improvise and express their own thoughts, the film sought to capture the immediacy of the youths presence their bodies, their language, their environment.
Composed entirely of still photographs shot by Marker himself over the course of his restless travel through twenty-six countries, If I Had Four Dromedaries stages a probing, at times agitated, search for the meanings of the photographic image, in the form of an extended voiceover conversation and debate between the "amateur photographer" credited with the images and two of his colleagues. Anticipating later writings by Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag (who professed her admiration for the film) If I Had Four Dromedaries reveals Marker's instinctual understanding of the secret rapport between still and moving image.
A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring.
Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.
Athens. Nothing seems to move. The locals seem as still as statues. While at the same time, somewhere, a caryatid is escaping from a museum and a small group of people demands the destruction of all antiques. Would film be the only way to avoid stone-cold indifference?
SONG 5: A childbirth song (the Songs are a cycle of silent color 8mm films by the American experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage produced from 1964 to 1969).
This short documentary tells the story of one of the world’s most difficult and bizarre sporting events: The Barkley Marathons. This 100-mile footrace and its 60-hour time limit force athletes to run, crawl and climb an elevation gain equivalent to two treks up Mt. Everest. In nearly thirty years, only fourteen runners, out of over one thousand participants, have finished The Barkley.
Thelema Now! host Frater Puck discusses William S. Burroughs, possession, synchronicities and chaos magick
Behind-the-scenes documentary of one morning on the set of "Gerry" directed by Gus Van Sant.