Catch the Sun

An animated short film, narrated by two asylum-seeking men detained in Australia's Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre, recounting the dangerous journeys that brought them to the island and their memories of the riot that erupted in 2014.

A documentary special taking a look at the upcoming films making up the DC Universe. Kevin Smith hosts with Geoff Johns, as they take a look at Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, the upcoming Wonder Woman and Justice League movies.

Likely in June 1897, 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.

A woman is locked in her home with an egg, which she is both attracted to and scared of. She eats the egg, she repents. She kills it. She lets the egg die of hunger. EGG is a poetic short film based on a small yet significant moment of the director’s own life. It portrays a moment of shame, defeat and yet of victory.

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec (Station, 1980) portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.

Every year, five to ten percent of all deceased Berliners are buried by the authorities because no relatives are found. Most of them are put into the ground by mortician Bernd Simon going alone. But sometimes companions do turn up and say goodbye in their very own way. An observational documentary about an undertaker who actually wanted to become an entertainer, a bizarre city portrait and a mirror of how we deal with death, mourning and commemoration.

Robert, an ex-shipyard welder from Govan in Glasgow, reflects on how his experiences have influenced his compulsion to write.

A short documentary about the work of the National Trust in Great Britain

A fictional documentary that portrays the city of Dakar, Senegal, as we hear the conversation between a Senegalese man (the director, Djibril Diop Mambéty) and a French woman, Inge Hirschnitz. As we travel through the city in a picturesque horse drawn wagon, we chaotically rush into this and that popular neighborhood of the capital, discovering contrast after contrast: A small African community waiting at the Church's door, Muslims praying on the sidewalk, the Rococo architecture of the Government buildings, the modest stores of the craftsmen near the main market.

A short film commemorating the 1927 doll exchange between the US and Japan organized by the Committee on World Friendship Among Children

On the 11th of August at 11 minutes past 11am, almost total darkness fell across Southern England and an eerie silence descended as the population gazed skyward at what was the last total solar eclipse of this millennium. A total solar eclipse is a breathtaking event and this documentary programme conveys that awesome feeling by exploring how and why eclipses happen. A mixture of computer-generated views from outer space, footage of eclipses throughout the 20th century (some taken as early as 1927) and original footage taken of this year's total solar eclipse (shot in Cornwall) make this programme a celebration of eclipse mania.

Commissioned by Philips, Europa Radio celebrates the company’s experimental PCJJ shortwave radio station in Eindhoven that went on air in 1927 and broadcasted to Europe as well as the rest of the world in various languages. Hans Richter’s film covers one day from morning to night, showing the range and scope of the daily radio programs – from stock market news and sports events to live concerts and a speech by Albert Einstein. (via: impakt.nl)

Barcelona, Spain, June 1977. A chronicle of a demonstration held to demand the repeal of a 1970 Francoist law criminalizing homeless, prostitutes and homosexuals.

Like the best USIA films, The Wall distills political events into an emotionally clear and compelling ideological "story". In 1962 Walter de Hoog gathered footage from U.S. and German newsreel sources and crafted this taut short film about the first year of the Berlin Wall. Straightforward, keenly balanced narration portrays Berliners as "accepting the wall but never resigned to it". The extraordinary footage of the first escapes was propaganda enough-- His challenge was to make the politics human.

Hansjürgen Pohland's short documentary is an audiovisual study that captures events and people on the streets on film. The special feature of the work is that the people and objects are portrayed exclusively through their shadows.

Mark Racop, a batmobile maker from Indiana, is unjustly accused and raided by California police while being forced into a criminal court case.

Employing experimental techniques, Emshwiller magically moved through a collection of objects and artifacts in order to capture the spirit of George Dumpson and his backyard museum.

A promotional video produced by the Alberta government in 1975, "The time of the tar sands", featuring Gordon Pinsent. credit: Archives of Alberta.

A ruminative film on the interplay between bovine lives and human consumption. Minimalist in camerawork and composition yet expansive in impact, With the Cattle poignantly brings viewers up close and personal to the tranquillity – and ephemerality – of life for farm cows.