Lee Anne Schmitt explores California's landscape and past to document the history of one-time boom towns built and abandoned by the industries that necessitated their creation. Sold as a limitless land expansive with free opportunity, California was actually, from its onset, fissured by the interwoven needs of private and public interests. Schmitt's film covers various locations through time, as the major industries of the early 20th century (mining, lumber, oil) give way to the military, eventually leading to multinational corporations, and the use of small towns as satellites for growing urban metropolises.
Katja is a young retiree. At 24, she is living in a circle of solitude, spending her days walking her dog and looking out of the window.
"Dificult People" - About the production process when Suzanne Osten directs the theater play ”Difficult people”, written by Nils Gredeby. It is a play about people who fail in their professional careers by ”being difficult”. It all starts with the author attending a course about how to spot the difficult people and how to fire people who sabotage or create problems at the working place. In the process the ensemble has to face questions about how we view our fellow human beings and who is considered expendable.
Pema, 19, is supposed to marry a girl from home, a Nepali Himalayan village at an altitude of 13,000 feet. Pema grew up in a Kathmandu orphanage as poverty and illness forced his parents to give most of their 6 children away. Today, the unusual family is scattered around the globe. It would be the only son's duty to tend to the family home in the mountains. But Pema wants to study abroad, and live a modern life.
Life Is But a Dream is a HBO documentary about the life of US singer Beyoncé Knowles during the years 2011 and 2012 and on the recording of her fifth album. The film was directed by Beyoncé herself. The film shows Beyoncé from intimate moments of her pregnancy to behind the scenes and rehearsals of the main concerts of that time.
Get up close and personal with 16 of the most successful women in the adult film industry as they shed their clothes for an intimate photo shoot with director Deborah Anderson. As questions are asked, personal stories about their lives are revealed, from why they chose the business of sex to how they got into it in the first place. These porn stars have always been discreet about their private lives in the past, yet Anderson has a way of opening up a dialog allowing them to share more than just their naked skin on screen. Their true inner vulnerability is touching, yet the characters they have created are confident and intoxicating. Once you hear their stories, you'll never look at them in the same way again.
Death on a Factory Farm follows the undercover investigation of Wiles Hog Farm by the animal rights group: The Humane Farming Association (HFA), and the resulting court case against it.
The diary of Takuya Ogushi, a 18 years old Japanese, who begins his new life as a sumo wrestler.
Director Eugenia Gutu offers a feminist critique of gender (in)equality under socialism in this documentary portrait of an industrializing town and its model citizen, Florica S.
An anthology film following different stories around the theme of invisibility in the modern world.
Penelope Spheeris presents an amazing chronicle of the travelling musical carnival known as OZZfest, the most successful summer concert tour for the last five years. Complete access to incredible material sends this documentary film into the realm of pure entertainment. Unforgettable moments from zealous religious protesters, outrageous fans and the guys (and girls) backstage provide an insightful view into the soul of white, middle-class America. A stunning and sometimes disturbing glimpse of a cultural movement, this film is sure to be a reference for historians for decades to come. This comment on Middle America skates the line between your worst nightmare and the best time you’ve ever had. Features interviews with, and performances by BLACK SABBATH, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, SLIPKNOT, PRIMUS, ROB ZOMBIE, GODSMACK and more.
BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER is an exploration of the life and work of Andre Gregory, groundbreaking director, actor, artist, and raconteur, filmed by prize-winning documentarian Cindy Kleine, his wife. Through her close-up lens, Cindy introduces us to this cultural icon and master storyteller, and tells the unusual story of a good marriage that thrives in collaboration, art, and humor, celebrating the great vitality of the later years in life. The film touches on universal questions. Where does art come from? What experiences shape the life, the preoccupations, and the work of an artist? Drawing on the work Andre has created over a lifetime, and exploring the nature of the life that underlies the work, BEFORE AND AFTER DINNER is about how and why artists create.
In 1966, Deann Borshay Liem was adopted by an American family and sent from Korea to her new home in California. There, the memory of her birth family was nearly obliterated, until recurring dreams led her to investigate her own past, and she discovered that her Korean mother was very much alive. Bravely uniting her biological and adoptive families, Borshay Liem embarks on a heartfelt journey in this acclaimed film that first premiered on POV in 2000. First Person Plural is a poignant essay on family, loss and the reconciling of two identities.
Thoughtful documentary exploring the shocking court decision to grant custody to a child’s father, a convicted murderer, rather than her lesbian mother.
A look at the life of activist, musician, and cultural icon Kathleen Hanna, who formed the punk band Bikini Kill and pioneered the "riot grrrl" movement of the 1990s.
The mother of a child suffering from cancer struggles to maintain a normal life for her family. Stine is thirty-seven years old and the single mother of three girls. Her daughter Cecilie, now aged eleven, has had cancer since she was two. Cecilie has spent half her life in hospital and Stine along with her. Stine is fighting an unfair battle in unbearable chaos. At the same time, she insists on maintaining some sort of life for all three children.
Documentary looking at the history of the Hearst Corporations.
Rublyovka Road is the traffic artery connecting the powerhouse Moscow with the Russian outback. Tell-tale signs of the past and gross excesses of Russian cutthroat capitalism have created a bizarre microcosm that does not have a parallel elsewhere in this giant empire.
Scottish rappers Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain reinvent themselves as West Coast Homeboys after they were signed by Sony.
Bayou Maharajah explores the life and music of New Orleans piano legend James Booker, the man Dr. John described as "the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano genius New Orleans has ever produced." A brilliant pianist, his eccentricities and showmanship belied a life of struggle, prejudice, and isolation. Illustrated with never-before-seen concert footage, rare personal photos and exclusive interviews, the film paints a portrait of this overlooked genius.