Shortly after his mother’s passing, playwright and stage director Mohamed El Khatib receives a phone call from his uncle in Bab Berred, the family’s village in the Moroccan Rif, instructing him to come as soon as possible to collect his inheritance – mysteriously insisting that he should make the trip in a Renault 12. Coaxed by his father, El Khatib decides to make the journey from Orléans to Tangier. Structured like a road movie, Renault 12 is also the filmmaker’s quest to discover his own origins, in which he both documents chance encounters and stages situations to bring social, political, and cultural landscapes to light.
Watched by crowds, Sir Redvers Buller, Lady Buller, the Mayor of Southampton and others walk along the gangway leading to the ship towards the camera. Sir Redvers pauses to be introduced to one of the ship's officers before embarking. According to BFI programme notes, the filmmaker William K.L. Dickson can be seen bottom left, attempting to introduce himself to General Buller as he passes. Film companies were in competition to film reportage of the Boer War and Dickson was one of those filmmakers keen to do so.
Spectators on the quayside at Southampton wave farewell as the crowded troopship Roslin Castle moves away to the right of the picture. Large numbers of troops on board wave back to loved ones and the crowd including thr 2nd Battaliion West Yorkshires. Date: 20th October 1899.
Atmospherically shot in black and white North Circular Road travels the length of the eponymous road exploring the history, music and streetscapes of this legendary artery that links some of Dublin's most beloved and infamous places. From the Phoenix Park to Dublin Port, this documentary evokes many narratives from the history of the nation to the urgent issues of today including the battle to save the legendary Cobblestone Pub.
Man has always sought to seek further afield. After the seafaring explorers of the 16th century, 21st century cosmologists today navigate more celestial oceans, with each mission providing an ever-broader and more impressive cartography of our surroundings. At the avant garde of modern technology, these strange travellers are actually immobile, and their vessels are powerful and spectacular telescopes, on the Earth or in space, constantly widening the limits of our knowledge and giving form to our dreams of infinity. From Hawaii to Australia, via South Africa and China, we set out on an incredible scientific and human adventure to visit the planet's greatest cosmic exploration centres to discover the new challenges involved in understanding the universe. A journey on Earth and in the heavens that will take your breath away!
1950s Soho beats with far more energy than its 21st century counterpart in this vivid time capsule.
Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.
It's a land of pyramids, gold, and ancient treasure, but it's not Egypt. It's present-day Sudan, once home to the glorious kingdom of Kush. Now, archaeologists are using every means possible - from robots to rock climbers - in their search for clues about this long-neglected culture. Once the Kushites filled the pharaohs' coffers with gold and, for a time, they even ruled over all of Egypt, but only now is their real story beginning to emerge.
Im Reich Des Squatters
Travelogue/documentary follows newly married Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan on their honeymoon trip through exotic locales.
This FitzPatrick Traveltalk series short looks at Czechoslovakia before World War II, including images of bridges, churches, and castles in Prague, also a non-military parade through the city.
This Traveltalk series short takes a look at Cairo's landmarks, people, and culture.
A 40-day, 40-night road trip to the Trinity Site—where the first atomic bomb was detonated in the summer of 1945—covering many other atomic destinations and driving deep into the natural and social history of the American southwest.
This Traveltalk series short celebrates San Francisco, past and present.
Inaugurated in 1986 by François Mitterrand, a link between the Louvre and Pompidou, Orsay houses the largest collection of Impressionist art in the world. Project after project, the museum has been transformed to modernize and welcome more visitors, while preserving its historic character. Challenges taken up with each new project.
Expert interviews, dramatic reconstructions and location shooting bring to life the iconic legend of Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in this historical documentary.
This short film was made by filmmaker (later archivist) Liam Ó Laoghaire (aka Liam O’Leary) and was commissioned by the Cultural Relations Committee of the Irish Department of External Affairs. The film was designed to promote the city of Dublin to its inhabitants and to potential visitors from abroad. Brendan J. Stafford’s crisp black and white cinematography serves the city’s elegant architecture well while the narrator tells of the city’s cultural, literary and architectural history and its many venerable inhabitants. The elegant Georgian squares, the bustling markets, the tranquil parks and the sparkling nightlife present a city that is vibrant, cultured and steeped in history.
The film is a cinematic interpretation of the travel book “Armenia” by Russian poet Andrei Bely.
The prodigious genesis of a monument of world literature, too often reduced to its popular success, also recounts the tormented conversion of its author, Victor Hugo, to the ideal of social progress.
What if you witness a revolution but things get worse? What if your homeland is in ruins with no signs of reconstruction? How do you cope? You can either get angry, sick, and depressed or just escape into memories of a golden but lost past. Four people, two revolutions, and the story of a destroyed Egyptian city.