Juan Méndez Bernal leaves his house on the 9th of april of 1936 to fight in the imminent Spanish Civil War. 83 years later, his body is still one of the Grass Dwellers. The only thing that he leaves from those years on the front is a collection of 28 letters in his own writing.
People from different areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, try to answer the following question: for you, what is it like to live in the Marvelous City?
Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.
A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.
In this special edition of Globe Trekker Chinatown, Lavinia Tan, Justine Shapiro and Megan McCormick travel worldwide to explore the magic and mystery of Chinatowns across the globe. Lavinia Tan begins the journey in Malaysia and Singapore where overseas traders led the earliest migrations of Chinese people. The journey continues from there to the United States, where Justine Shapiro visits San Francisco. Megan McCormick explores New York s Lower East Side, home to the largest Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. After a short trip to London s Soho district, Lavinia Tan ends this journey with a visit to Hong Kong exploring the world famous film industry and the 21st century migration of Chinese back to their homeland.
Light Upon Light: A Documentary on Hijab is an intimate and deeply personal exploration of the diverse, raw, and untold stories of hijabi women. Through open and vulnerable conversations with 7 women, the film dismantles stereotypes, highlights the challenges imposed by society, and celebrates the profound beauty of the hijab beyond a mere clothing choice. It captures the individuality of each woman’s story—how they came to wear the hijab, the struggles they’ve faced, and the strength they’ve found in it. More than just fabric, the hijab is a journey, often misunderstood, and influenced by the way the world perceives it. By amplifying voices that are often unheard, the documentary creates a space for empathy, challenges misconceptions, and invites a deeper understanding of what it truly means to wear the hijab; inspiring everyone to see hijab in a new light.
The San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Awards presents Jordan Simmons, artistic director of the East Bay Center for Performing Arts, with the Helen Crocker Russell Award for building a better future for young adults through music and cultural programs. As a musician and arts administrator, he has changed the lives of thousands of people in Richmond's Iron Triangle through rigorous artistic training, school-based outreach, and performances of traditional and original work.
Drawing from the inspiration of their grandmothers, singer Aziza Brahim and activist Senia Abderhaman wrestle for the independence of their people from a brutal and corporate backed Moroccan regime using culturally derived methods of music, poetry, and nonviolent resistance.
“Balance of Life” is a film about life’s and human kinds’ fight to find the balance between our own evolving life style and the nature of the planet we inhabit. The human race is drifting further and further away from its real roots and from what being a human is really about. The speed of development has increased to a state where humans have a hard time keeping up. We find ourselves in a situation where both our own and the planets’ wellbeing is severely threatened. As a last resort human is relying on faith to find the balance. Is faith the last defense of man or is this world guided by forces greater than us? Is this force God, evolution or just the mere sum of coincidences that formed the universe, the natural order and laws of physics?’ Watch it here (https://vimeo.com/51203265)
At a time when powerlessness and resignation carry the day, Noam Chomsky's work is a radical antidote for all those who want to put an end to the factory of powerlessness and its intellectual media star watchdogs. Theoretician of language, born in Philadelphia in 1928, Noam Chomsky revolutionized linguistics with the "generative grammar." But Chomsky is also a political analyst involved in all political struggles for decades. His clear analysis and rational ideological mechanisms of our societies is a crucial resource for critical thinking today.
Bas Jan Ader's first fall film shows him seated on a chair, tumbling from the roof of his two-storey house in the Inland Empire.
Venerable storytellers recount for the camera and their listeners the founding myths of Malagasy culture.
There is a south-facing house in Gyeonggi Province. In this house, there are four people: my mom, dad, grandfather, and me. They spend their days in their own space. Sounds traverse the house, both from inside and out.
This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.
A century of change in pictures (1915-2015). What makes Twente Twente? What changes have taken place in the last century? Twente op Film is a project by filmmaker Erik Willems, actress (and co-producer) Johanna ter Steege and producer André Oude Weernink. They used film archive images to make a film about what has changed in Twente in a century. In city planning, in industry, in every day life, in the countryside and in the city.
On April 11th of 2002 a coup d'état against the venezuelan president Hugo Chávez Frías kept the country in a state of total uncertainty regarding his whereabouts, two days later he returned to power. This is a chronicle of those days.
Atil, a documentary on the life of the Saharawis in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria. In the camps there are no limits, since creativity and innovation give rise to ideas that succeed in changing the world. As a result, this documentary presents five young Saharawis who show day by day that anything is possible, despite the difficulties. They are all examples of perseverance. Discover a place where hope is never lost.
Children’s Book Press, winner of the San Francisco Foundation 2009 Community Leadership Awards (The San Francisco Foundation Award) – the first independent, nonprofit publisher of bilingual, multicultural books and stories for children. In the past 33 years, it has served as a vehicle for civil rights, human rights, and social justice, with a profound impact on the children, youth, and adults who better understand their own lives and histories as a result of its books. Childrens Book Press builds the connection between literacy and success, preserves traditions, and helps build a stronger future for our children.
Architecture in Beirut was the second greatest victim of the civil war, with pages of ancient and modern history erased by the end of the conflict. This documentary interviews citizens calling for a reconstruction plan that would preserve Beirut’s spirit of culture and openness.
A riveting expose about the personalities of murderers and their motives. This 72 minute film covers the McDonalds' restaurant massacre, President Reagan's assassination attempt, serial murderer Henry Lee Lucas and others.