Close-Up on Planets

On the Tanua Island, the shaman announces the approach of the Nagol Ritual. Sowa, a young dreamy Melanesian, has to honor her father and the ancestral traditions. But she doesn’t feel ready to face the consequences of this challenge.

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

The alarming surge of UFO sightings, alien encounters and military disclosures over the last decade have established a foreboding reality - that in our very near future the human race will be confronted with the presence of a superior Extraterrestrial race. Powerless to resist or combat these beings, we as the human race will be sentenced to our inescapable fate. Will they consider us sentient beings and foster our growth and evolution, or will they have more nefarious intentions?

The people of the volcano Chimborazo hike for hours to gather nearby ice. This age-old tradition and the population’s livelihood is threatened by increasing climate change.

A set of seven portraits consisting of personal accounts from the lives of gays and lesbians. The narration includes stories about coming out, bashing, cross-dressing and AIDS.

Second part of a three-part documentary series on the making of Once Upon a Time in the West, Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone's masterpiece, released in 1968. (Preceded by An Opera of Violence; followed by Something to Do With Death.)

Third part of a three-part documentary series on the making of Once Upon a Time in the West, Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone's masterpiece, released in 1968. (Preceded by The Wages of Sin.)

Animated interpretation of the Bizet opera, second in a trilogy.

Animated interpretation of the Bizet opera, first in a trilogy

Seeing Snowflake outside the window on a frosty day, the Hedgehog clung to the glass so that his nose looked like a piglet's. Snowflake mistook him for a pig in a spiky fur coat and invited him to play outside.

As daily airstrikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.

Nazi propaganda short about paratroopers

At the end of 21st century, mankind was facing global resource depletion. Space Rovers were sent out to find potentially habitable planets.

They think as Czechs, they speak as Czechs, but they look as Vietnamese. How is the second generation of Vietnamese people in Europe?

Gus Patatax runs a chip shop in space. In front of him is a huge Fast Food. Gus must satisfy his only client, the competitor opposite. The latter wants to humiliate Patatax and disrupts the gravity machine of the fries stand; it forces Patatax to cook in "zero G".

An interesting assembly of people decides to play a deadly game of greed for a suitcase full of money.

Emiko, a young Japanese girl, discovers the secret behind the most respected tradition of her village.

Death as a global service provider? Unthinkable! So far Death has thought that too. But then his nephew Cedric had the crazy idea of founding the company AFTER LIFE while his uncle was away. This company takes over the craft of death with the latest technology and markets it worldwide.

Len Lye scraped together enough funding and borrowed equipment to produce a two-minute short featuring his self-made monkey, singing and dancing to 'Peanut Vendor', a 1931 jazz hit for Red Nichols. The two foot high monkey had bolted, moveable joints and some 50 interchangeable mouths to convey the singing. To get the movements right, Lye filmed his new wife, Jane, a prize-winning rumba dancer.

Animation featuring dancing black and white shadows.