Samuel Beckett: Silence to Silence(1987)

Merton: A Film Biography(en)

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.

Albert Camus, la tragédie du bonheur(fr)

What The Durrells Did Next(en)

Hosted by Keeley Hawes, star of the popular television series The Durrells, this documentary reveals the adventures of the eccentric Durrell family once they left Corfu, Greece.

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?(en)

Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker. Through animation, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments, director Barbara Caspar explores Acker's colorful history, from her well-heeled upbringing to her role as the scribe of society's fringe.

Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive(en)

How the inventor of the detective story became his own greatest mystery.

What Was Virginia Woolf Really Afraid of?(en)

A look back at the troubled life of genius British writer Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

Nin E Tepueian: My Cry(fr)

NIN E TEPUEIAN - MY CRY is a documentary tracks the journey of Innu poet, actress and activist, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, at a pivotal time in her career as a committed artist. Santiago Bertolino's camera follows a young Innu poet over the course of a year. A voice rises, inspiration builds; another star finds its place amongst the constellation of contemporary Indigenous literature. A voice of prominent magnitude illuminates the road towards healing and renewal: Natasha Kanapé Fontaine.

Polis Is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place(en)

Documentary about Charles Olson, exploring his life and the significance of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Alexander Pope: Rediscovering a Genius(en)

Docudrama that recounts the astonishing life story of a forgotten genius, English poet Alexander Pope, who lived from 1688 to 1744.

The Eyes of Dante(it)

He is considered the greatest European poet of the Middle Ages and his work unfolds the whole panopticon of occidental education – theology, philosophy, sciences, politics and literature. But who has really read it, the “Divine Comedy”? Who knows more of its creator Dante Alighieri than that he had an eagle-like profile and was in love with a woman named Beatrice? 700 years after Dante’s death, the filmmaker Adolfo Conti travels through Italy with Dante’s words in mind and eyes to see the world as Dante did. As the film encounters the beauty of arts and the Tuscan landscape, the forces of nature, a dramatic life story is unfolded.

Trudell(en)

A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances, and politics.

Burns in the USA(en)

Robert Burns was well aware of the revolution taking place across the Atlantic as he grew up. The poet was inspired. And America was to be inspired by him. From Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman to Bob Dylan, some of the most significant figures in American politics and culture have cited Burns as an influence.

Journey of Akaki Tsereteli in Racha-Lechkhumi(ka)

The first Georgian full-length documentary follows the trip of the “king of Georgian poetry”, Akaki Tsereteli, to Racha and Lechkhumi, and his relationships with the people living in the mountainous areas of Western Georgia

Though You May Not Know(es)

An account of the life and work of the Spanish poet Luis García Montero; a journey through his experiences, his mentors, his influences and his contact with other artists, both from the literary world and from other disciplines.

I Am Pablo Neruda(en)

Examines the career and literary output of Pablo Neruda, who makes his home at Isla Negra on the coast of Chile. Includes views of Mr. Neruda reading many of his poems in the locales which inspired them.

Victor Hugo, un siècle en révolutions(fr)

Rumi: Poet of the Heart(en)

In 1244, Jelaluddin Rumi, a Sufi scholar in Konya, Turkey, met an itinerant dervish, Shams of Tabriz. A powerful friendship ensued. When Shams died, the grieving Rumi gripped a pole in his garden, and turning round it, began reciting imagistic poetry about inner life and love of God. After Rumi's death, his son founded the Mevlevi Sufi order, the whirling dervishes. Lovers of Rumi's poems comment on their power and meaning, including religious historian Huston Smith, writer Simone Fattal, poet Robery Bly, and Coleman Barks, who reworks literal translations of Rumi into poetic English. Musicians accompany Barks and Bly as they recite their versions of several of Rumi's ecstatic poems.

Voices & Visions: T.S. Eliot(en)

T. S. Eliot has been considered by many to be the leading American poet of this century. His contemporaries in the 1920s recognized in “The Waste Land” an expression of the exhaustion and fragmentation that afflicted so many in that post-war era. They also recognized the originality of Eliot’s poetic technique and admired his insistence on the need for spiritual values in an age of popular kitsch.

Jorge Luis Borges, the Mirror Man(fr)

The lifetime of the great Argentinian man of letters Jorge Luis Borges through narration and interviews of such key players in his life as Leonor de Acevedo —his mother—, María Kodama —his second wife—, and Adolfo Bioy Casares —his best friend and collaborator for decades.

Rumi: The Dance of Love(tr)

A dramatised documentary about the life of Rumi, a Persian mystical poet whose images of universal love and divine mystery continue to be celebrated more than 700 years after his death.