Cradle of Genius

The opening of the Kiel Canal in Germany by Kaiser Wilhelm II on 20 June 1895.

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

The theme of death is heavily interwoven in Smolder’s surreal salute to Belgian painter Antoine Wiertz, a Hieronymus Bosch-type artist whose work centered on humans in various stages in torment, as depicted in expansive canvases with gore galore. Smolders has basically taken a standard documentary and chopped it up, using quotes from the long-dead artist, and periodic statements by a historian (Smolders) filling in a few bits of Wiertz’ life.

The unveiling and dedication ceremony of the Calgary Soldiers' Memorial.

A pseudo-documentary about the life, work and creations of trash filmmaker Jim Hart.

"LIMITLESS", is an original documentary about 7'5 French basketball star Victor Wembanyama and his journey to becoming the projected #1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

This documentary shows the construction of a high-altitude dam by the Sabbioni Glacier, and the daily struggles of the workers, now anxious for the outbreak of a mine, now silent for the nostalgia of the distant family.

A playful and original vision of the indelible mark left by Emiliano Zapata.

Germany, as seen from the water. The landscape passes by in epic tranquillity as the audience immerses itself in the world of barge shipping. The top permitted speed for smaller watercraft is specified in the inland waterways regulations as a maximum of 15 km/h. A woman is along for the ride on Germany’s rivers and canals, with plenty of time to explore this little-known cosmos. In the end, the director dreams of a life on board and endeavours to find her place in the predominantly male domain. Welt an Bord is a hybrid of documentary and narrative film. The basic conditions are set by the limited space on the barge and the work that must be done. Kathrin Resetarits embodies the alter ego of director Eva Könnemann, while she herself takes charge of the cinematography. Together they accepted the captain’s invitation to join in this other life. What kind of life is it anyway? Resetarits/Könnemann listen and work their way through fiction and reality.

Cold War Leningrad: In a culture where the recording industry was ruthlessly controlled by the state, music lovers discovered an extraordinary alternative means of reproduction: they repurposed used x-ray film as the base for records of forbidden songs. Giving blood every week to earn enough money to buy a recording lathe, one bootlegger Rudy Fuchs cuts banned music onto such discarded x-rays to be sold on street corners by shady dealers. It was ultimate act of punk resistance, a two-fingered salute to the repressive regime that gave a generation of young Soviets access to forbidden Western and Russian music, an act for which Rudy and his fellow bootleggers would pay a heavy price.

In November 2017, a devastating earthquake hit western Iran. It took only 13 seconds to lose everything. This is a fleeting observation of the days after the disaster.

After serving time in a New Hampshire jail, a freed inmate faces the pull of addiction.

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

Why are white men poised to get rich doing the same thing African-Americans have been going to prison for?

Documentarian Richard Lavoie follows the artists of the Mer Océane symposium which took place on La Grave, in the Magdalen Islands, in 1998.

At the border between Navarre and Aragon we find the moors known as the Bardenas Reales, characterized by the dust and the omnipresence of the northern wind. This is a portrait of a land, but also a journey through Pilar’s memories. It is a glance at the past but also the present, and about how everything has changed, for better or worse.

Martin Short narrates the story of "his own" birth to explain the subjects of sex, conception, pregnancy and childbirth in an entertaining and educational way.

A discussion of the very important and highly controversial film, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, featuring interviews with people like Katharine Houghton, Martin Baum, Louis Gossett, Jr., Norman Jewison, Garry Marshall, Karen Sharpe and Salome Thomas-El.

A follow-up of A LOVE STORY OF TODAY, where actors and crew discuss GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.

Many cities or countries have a distinct malaise. They are places that could be Portugal, so sunk in a painful longing of the past, and where each tension of the present is only the tip of an iceberg that is explained in successive retreats that can go straight until origin of the species, at least. This feeling common to many latitudes is often presented as a diagnosis, a denial of a painful present as opposed to the desire to return to a glorious past.