Narrated by Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and Herbie Hancock, River of Gold is the disturbing account of a clandestine journey into Peru's Amazon rainforest to uncover the savage unraveling of pristine jungle. What will be the fate of this critical region of priceless biodiversity as these extraordinarily beautiful forests are turned into a hellish wasteland?
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
39/45 : Amours interdites
A poetic cine-essay about race and Australia’s colonised history and how it impacts into the present offering insights into how various individuals deal with the traumatic legacies of British colonialism and its race-based policies. The film’s consultative process, with ‘Respecting Cultures’ (Tasmanian Aboriginal Protocols), offers an evolving shift in Australian historical narratives from the frontier wars, to one of diverse peoples working through historical trauma in a process of decolonisation.
The documentary team follows two happiness agents in their forties who spend a month and a half on the road twice a year, going door-to-door with their questionnaires in isolated villages in the Himalayas. The filmmakers undertake to provide an intimate insight into the daily lives and desires of Bhutanese people, and also seek the answer to the universal question of whether happiness can really be measured. Gross National Happiness promises a heart-warming journey into a mysterious, fairytale-like world, which is the exact opposite of the social order dominated by consumption and desires.
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller, as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact. Sacks was a fearless explorer of unknown mental worlds who helped redefine our understanding of the brain and mind, the diversity of human experience, and our shared humanity.
A portrait of the hacking community. In an effort to challenge preconceived notions and media-driven stereotypes Hackers Are People Too lets hackers speak for themselves and introduce their community to the public.
Guy Debord's analysis of a consumer society.
The story of young Afghan girls learning to read, write and skateboard in Kabul.
In a small cockpit-like room, we see two young hip hop musicians from Tokyo giving birth to a beat: precision, patience and camaraderie hold sway, midway between an installation and sitcom.
Roger Boussinot directed this episode of the French television show Italiques, which features an overview of the art and career of Fantastic Planet illustrator Roland Topor. It aired on August 8, 1974.
Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.
In the 1920s, former coal miner Harry Hoxsey claimed to have an herbal cure for cancer. Although scoffed at and ultimately banned by the medical establishment, by the 1950s, Hoxsey's formula had been used to treat thousands of patients, who testified to its efficacy. Was Hoxsey's recipe the work of a snake-oil charlatan or a legitimate treatment? Ken Ausubel directs this keen look into the forces that shape the policies of organized medicine.
Kathryn Calder, one of the vocalists behind the Influential and successful indie band The New Pornographers, puts her life on hold when her mother is diagnosed with ALS. After moving back to her childhood home to care for her mother, she is inspired to record her first solo album, 'Are You My Mother?' there as a gift to her as she fights the disease. Old bandmates, friends, and a new extended family only recently discovered all join Kathryn in her and her mother's journey.
In GLOBAL METAL, directors Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn set out to discover how the West's most maligned musical genre - heavy metal - has impacted the world's cultures beyond Europe and North America. The film follows metal fan and anthropologist Sam Dunn on a whirlwind journey through Asia, South America and the Middle East as he explores the underbelly of the world's emerging extreme music scenes; from Indonesian death metal to Chinese black metal to Iranian thrash metal. GLOBAL METAL reveals a worldwide community of metalheads who aren't just absorbing metal from the West - they're transforming it - creating a new form of cultural expression in societies dominated by conflict, corruption and mass-consumerism.
After Porn Ends 2 picks up where its predecessor left off and not only turns back the clock to meet the oldest living stars in adult film's history, but goes in depth with some of Its most current retirees and juxtaposes their experiences in a life after porn. Delving deeper into society's ongoing stigmas of race, misogyny, and the reality of decreasing opportunities for these former VHS box cover stars. For some, their careers in adult entertainment is accepted proudly and without regret. In fact, it seems to have proven to be the pathway to their current happiness and inner peace. For others, however, a career in porn has proven to be a conduit to certain despair as they struggle to find a way to bury their past and emerge with a new career or calling.
They are the secret protagonists of world history: dogs that became famous alongside powerful masters and mistresses. A four-legged friend helps to cultivate an image and can, depending on the calculations, make its owner appear sympathetic or threatening. In England, however, prime ministers have to get used to a cat...
THE ARYANS is Mo Asumang's personal journey into the madness of racism during which she meets German neo-Nazis, the US leading racist, the notorious Tom Metzger and Ku Klux Klan members in the alarming twilight of the Midwest. In The ARYANS Mo questions the completely wrong interpretation of "Aryanism" - a phenomenon of the tall, blond and blue-eyed master race.
Atlantis is filmmaker Luc Besson's celebration of the beauty and wonder of the world beneath the sea, expanding upon themes touched on in his film The Big Blue. Combining stunning underwater cinematography and a hypnotic score by Eric Serra, Besson's singular vision defies dialogue or narrative structure to explore ocean life as you've never seen it before. Following the colossal success of The Big Blue, Luc Besson crisscrossed the world's seas and oceans to film the beauty and diversity of marine life: from the giant octopuses of Vancouver to the manta rays of the Pacific (New Caledonia), and the grey sharks of Tahiti. A film with no actors or sets other than the underwater world. A breathtaking view of marine species: sharks, dolphins, manatees, octopuses. An exploration of the seabed in the Bahamas, the Galapagos, Vancouver, and Tahiti.
A documentary about a 15-day river-rafting trip on the Colorado River aimed at highlighting water conservation issues.