Directed by one of the pioneers of the cinematic industry, James Williamson, The History of a Butterfly - A Romance of Insect Life is an intriguing look at the life cycles of butterflies and moths. Caterpillars are seen hatching, feeding and ready for pupation and with three caterpillars changing into chrysalis and the birth of a peacock butterfly, this black and white silent film is an early example of British natural history filmmaking.
Upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, the anarchist union CNT socialized the film industry in Spain, so in Madrid and Barcelona film workers took over the production assets and, between 1936 and 1938, numerous films on a wide variety of topics were released, composing a varied mosaic that gives rise to one of the most unusual and original moments of Spanish cinematography.
This short tells the story of archery through the ages, mostly using Warner Brothers archive footage. Noted archer Howard Hill demonstrates his skills with various trick shots.
Actor Errol Flynn takes a group of scientists from the California Institute of Oceanography on an expedition to the South Seas aboard his schooner, The Zaca.
Paulo Rocha catches up with his “beloved subject” in Porto, where he made Douro, Faina Fluvial in 1929, and where today Oliveira reminisces about the figure of his father, his first experience of cinema as an actor, his past as a racing driver, his first technical experiences…
Filmmakers discuss the legacy of Alfred Hitchcock and the book “Hitchcock/Truffaut” (“Le cinéma selon Hitchcock”), written by François Truffaut and published in 1966.
La Folle Aventure de Louis de Funès
The German Emperor Wilhelm II is a guest minor in Denmark. Both personal and political reasons, the crown does not want to maintain special ties with the Emperor. But the Kaiser has an habit of invited himself ...
Daniel Anker’s 90-minute documentary takes on over 60 years of a very complex subject: Hollywood’s complicated, often contradictory relationship with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. The questions it raises go right the very nature of how film functions in our culture, and while hardly exhaustive, Anker’s film makes for a good, thought provoking starting point.
A documentary from Universal about the movie "The Invisible Man" (1933) directed by James Whale.
The film, set almost entirely in New York, tells of the life of some young people of the late Sixties: of the use they make of various drugs, including the terrible LSD, of their sex life and their freedom of costume and thought.
In the late sixties, the American saxophone player and living jazz legend Ben Webster lived in Amsterdam for a year. Webster, who was born in Kansas City in 1909, was a unique personality in the world of jazz and blues. In the thirties, he played with all the great names. During his Amsterdam period, he stayed with an elderly landlady, Mrs Hardloper, with whom he appeared on a national talk show. In conversations with Van der Keuken, he muses on the past; on the fantastic experience of playing in the renowned Duke Ellington band; or on one of his best friends, who was so deft at eating with a knife and fork. Short, fragmented remarks, which Van der Keuken has edited in a loose, improvised editing style.
In a world where romance has been replaced by speed dating, is arranged marriage the hassle-free way of getting hitched in the new millennium? This documentary takes a lighthearted look at young American Desis who are willingly placing their destiny in the hands of their parents, marriage brokers, and internet matrimonial ads. Navigating us through the film is Rupa Gawle - a young, hip, and very single popular Desi columnist. As she tries to understand how young, successful South Asian-Americans would want to subject themselves to the age-old tradition of arranged marriages, we are introduced to a cast of colorful characters who will tell us exactly why.
A documentary about cycling and the death of cycling world champion Jean-Pierre Monseré in 1971.
In this short 20 minute black and white Belgian documentary, the director, Paul Haesaerts, visualised Pablo Picasso’s flow of imagination when the Spanish painter drew on large glass plates in front of the camera – like a live show of a greatest artist in performing a few masterstrokes that outlines a dove, bull, flower, man or woman and whatnot. (This technique of filming his painting from the other side of the glass plates precedes The Mystery of Picasso (1956), another famous documentary film on Picasso). (via http://www.kubrickians.com/2012/07/08/visite-picasso-1949-paul-haesaert/)
On 16 February 1983, Divine performs a seven-song set at the Hacienda Club in Manchester. His peroxide blond hair sticks in all directions; he's dressed in a skin-tight, short, off-one-shoulder, sparkling dress that he says he got from the Queen, who wouldn't wear it. The set includes Gang Bang (the name-game song), Jungle Jezebel, Born To Be Cheap, Alphabet Rap, Native Love, Shake It Up, and, for an encore, Shoot Your Shot. The band, whom we never see, is techno-rock. Between songs, Divine chats up the audience, usually talking about sex.
Behind the scenes documentary shot during the making of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003).
In the heart of Tel Aviv, there is an exceptional school where children from forty-eight different countries and diverse backgrounds come together to learn. Many of the students arrive at Bialik-Rogozin School fleeing poverty, political adversity and even genocide. Here, no child is a stranger. The film follows several students' struggle to acclimate to life in a new land while slowly opening up to share their stories of hardship and tragedy.
Biographical sketch of the heroic guerrilla on the tenth anniversary of his death, made from the evocations of the homonymous poem written by Nicolás Guillén.
A short film featuring various vintage Mickey Mouse toys.