2021 marks the 50th anniversary of "Coal Miner’s Daughter," the Loretta Lynn song that became a book, a feature film, and an indelible part of popular culture. Like so many other songs written by Lynn, the lyrics told the story of her life and spoke to women who struggled to make ends meet. Lynn’s simple, straightforward song stories gave legitimacy to the joys, heartaches, struggles and triumphs.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic's first half, Festival of the Nations, focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, part two, The Festival of Beauty, concentrates on individual athletes such as equestrians, gymnasts, and swimmers, climaxing with American Glenn Morris' performance in the decathalon and the games' majestic closing ceremonies.
The film sought to portray a relatively unknown and isolated rural world and, through a highly politicized discourse, affirmed the genuineness of “folk culture.” Representative of the new documentary film movement that developed in Portugal after the revolution, the movie encouraged the local retrieval of the Caretos tradition. A ritual that seemed to be doomed by the conjoined impact of emigration, the colonial war and the crisis of agriculture was thus brought back to life. - Paulo Raposo
Marc Aurel-Straße in Vienna: The last surviving Jewish textile merchant in the former textile district, the Iranian hotel proprietor and the Café Salzgries and its regulars. Between the summer of 1999 and spring 2000, Ruth Beckermann undertook a series of small journeys on and around her own doorstep and investigated her local area with the help of a film crew. This documentary film also gives an insight into the political changes when a far right Party joined the Government coalition in Austria.
An account of the life and work of French filmmaker Claude Chabrol (1930-2010), a sybarite Buddha, a furtive anarchist, an insolent lover of life.
To Live or Let Die is a 1982 American short documentary film directed by Terry Sanders, about the neonatal I.C.U. of the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, where life and death decisions must be made while ethical dilemmas are also posed by new technologies.. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
In this Oscar Winning documentary short film, students in their final year at the National Ballet School of Canada are seen learning the flamenco from Susana and Antonio Robledo, who come to the school every winter to conduct classes which are held after the day's regular schedule has ended.
At 18, George Ward left the Gypsy community. He had felt rejected having come out as gay. Leaving his Gypsy identity behind, he invented Cherry Valentine, a drag alter-ego. Now he wants to find out if he can be accepted as a queer Gypsy and feel proud.
The inspiring account on international bodyboarding star Luz 'Loly' Grande - a young woman on a personal mission to make bodyboarding a means to improve the lives of disadvantaged children in Puerto Rico, Argentina, Brazil, and Peru.
An all-access tour behind the scenes at France’s premiere film school, La Fémis. Showing us how successful candidates get to follow in the footsteps of such luminaries as Louis Malle, François Ozon and Alain Resnais, all of whom attended this prestigious institution. Stumbling over their words, the often-nervous candidates seem vulnerable when confronted with the veterans of the industry, who have the difficult task of discovering true talent among all these eager young people.
Framing Lesbian Fashion looks at the evolution of lesbian attire and identity – butch/femme, flannel, androgyny, cross-dressing and drag, queer fluorescent, S/M and leather, lipstick and more.
Animated documentary film about the fate of the writer - Yuri Olesha. About how he was strangled by the grip of the era that fell to him, and in such an embrace he was forced to live not his life. Created on the basis of the writer's diaries, the film tells about the inner throwing of a talented man who died in literature thirty years before his physical death.
Hasan Hourani, a Palestinian poet and illustrator, died aged 29 in Jaffa while trying to rescue his nephew from the sea. Shortly after, the filmmaker Mais Darwazah discovers his drawings and poems and feels drawn to Hourani's world— a universe outside space and time; a place of wonder, discovery, and freedom. Motivated by this kinship, Darwazah embarks on a journey to her homeland, Palestine: a place she has never known.
Mayan Renaissance is a feature length film which documents the glory of the ancient Maya civilization, the Spanish conquest in 1519, 500 years of oppression, and the courageous fight of the Maya to reclaim their voice and determine their own future, in Guatemala and throughout Central America. The film stars 1992 Nobel Peace Laureate and Maya Leader Rigoberta Mencu Tum. All of the images, voices, expert commentary and music in the film come directly from Central America, the heart of the Mayan World.
An account of the life and work of legendary Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune (1920-97), the most prominent actor of the Golden Age of Japanese cinema.
Gertrude Bell, the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day, shaped the destiny of Iraq after WWI in ways that still reverberate today.
In their debut documentary Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor take as their point of departure the compelling 18th Century figure, Ambrose O'Higgins, and attempt to retrace his remarkable journey from Ireland to Chile.
An comprehensive look at the life and music of Mark Linkous, a influential figure in the alternative music scene. Critically-acclaimed Linkous had a dramatic life that saw him battle with drug and alcohol addiction, paralysis, and debilitating depression that resulted in his eventual suicide. Mark's music was heralded by his peers and critics; a mix of delicate pop, discordant punk and melodic odyssey; it has been described as defiantly surrealist with all manner of references to smiling babies, organ music, birds, and celestial bodies. The film mines Marks life and music and navigates the sacrifices and highs and lows of his art.
A filmmaker makes a film about a young woman who baths in a public fountain, casting herself in the role.
The strange story of John McAfee, who went from millionaire software mogul to yogi, Kurtz-like jungle recluse to potential murderer, and most recently a prospective presidential candidate for the American Libertarian Party.