Lithuania, 1941, during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of texts on Jewish culture, stolen by the Germans, are gathered in Vilnius to be classified, either to be stored or to be destroyed. A group of Jewish scholars and writers, commissioned by the invaders to carry out the sorting operations, but reluctant to collaborate and determined to save their legacy, hide many books in the ghetto where they are confined. This is the epic story of the Paper Brigade.
Set in Berlin and New York's Lower East Side, The Great Yiddish Love stars the self-exiled Marlene Dietrich and her Nazi-endorsed replacement, Zarah Leander. It is a melodrama of love, emigration, and betrayal reassembled from Hollywood, German Ufa and Yiddish films from the 1930s and 40s.
A bissele Glik
Elliott Gould narrates this affectionate look at life in the shtetls of Eastern Europe in the 19th and early 20th centuries. "It's unreal that all this could have just disappeared," says Polish native Mariem Adler Stok, one of the seniors whose memories of this "Yiddish world" give this documentary its life. The hour traces Jewish history in Europe and explores Jews' focus on education, their religious customs, clothing, food, music and theater.
An upbeat, witty, and timely exploration of a global community of artists creating innovative work in their quest to rediscover and revitalise the endangered Yiddish language. From behind-the-scenes with an acclaimed Yiddish-language version of Yentl in Melbourne, to enjoyably transgressive punk-Klezmer musicians, and Barrie Kosky’s latest trailblazing production in Berlin – the endangered Yiddish language is alive and well in this rousing documentary. The language originated amongst the Jewish community in Eastern Europe, but almost disappeared when more than half of the world’s Yiddish speakers were murdered during the Holocaust. Most of the artists and performers (aka Yiddishists) in the film didn’t grow up speaking Yiddish, but all have found solace, identity, and inspiration in its rich traditions and culture. Ros Horin has mapped a fascinating cultural history.
An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern day Brooklyn. He learns his only surviving relative is his great grandson, a computer coder who he can’t connect with.
Based her grandfather’s boyhood in St. Louis, Yasmin Gorenberg tells a story of the pain passed from refugee parents to their children and the hope that can overcome it. “40 Nickels” captures the image of a generation of immigrants to the United States in the 1920’s and 1930’s and through that spotlights the effects of the 1919 pogroms in Eastern Europe. This is a film about parents and children: how trauma never leaves a family, and how hope and resilience is also passed down. It asks the question: Can a new generation look at the world with wonder rather than fear?
The Man Without a World is credited to the legendary (and imaginary) 1920s Soviet director, Yevgeny Antinov. But the film is anything but old. In fact, Antinov himself is the creation of contemporary filmmaker Eleanor Antin. Her film is a moving, comic melodrama set in a typical shtetl (village) in Poland. The Jews’ struggle against poverty and racial hatred is complicated by their own division into hostile political factions of the religious orthodoxy, assimilationists, socialists, Zionists, anarchists and survivors. While the Jews of the shtetl pursue their loves, politics, religion, business and dreams for the future, the Angel of Death is ever near...
Raised in rural isolation by an extremist Hasidic sect, Chaim is torn between his devotion to his grandmother, an aging Holocaust survivor, and his attraction to a sexy blond in a Liberty car insurance ad.
Motel, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloakmakers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant son are left destitute. Desperate to save her starving child, Esther gives him up for adoption to a wealthy couple, and then commits suicide. The richly-rendered beautiful Yiddish songs by Sholem Secunda featuring Cantor Leibele Waldman and Joel Feig's famous choir are a good example of the bittersweet melodrama in the finest tradition of the Yiddish theater.
Mary Shelley created a monster in 1818, and writers, actors and filmmakers haven't been able to get enough of it ever since. The history of the creature on and off the screen includes clips from Thomas Edison's 1910 filmization to Kenneth Branagh's 1994 treatment, plus interviews with Robert De Niro, Mel Brooks, Roger Corman and others. Hosted by Roger Moore; narrated by Eli Wallach.
A comic, biting and revelatory documentary following a small group of prankster activists as they gain worldwide notoriety for impersonating the World Trade Organization (WTO) on television and at business conferences around the world.
The Man You Loved To Hate blends revealing interviews, rare photographs, and clips from von Stroheim's legendary and lesser-known works to create a fascinating tribute to one of American cinema's most complex artists.
A documentary about New York band Blondie, from their early beginnings in Bowery clubs like CBGBs alongside other up and coming bands like The Ramones, Patti Smith & Talking Heads. The documentary tracks their years of international success, through their internal problems and decline and then to their recovery and re-establishment leading to their being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 - an event that wasn't without its problems. Lots of interviews with band members, past and present, and their friends and contemporaries. Lots of clips of them performing through the years.
A documentary on the role of women in India.
Docufactory's Is She or Isn't He? (2010) follows the transition process of New Zealander Graham to Ashleigh. Filmmaker Justin Pemberton spent five years with Ashleigh, who ultimately just wants to be a heterosexual woman loved by heterosexual man, as she meets with doctors and searches for her true identity. This documentary explores the intensive process, both physical and psychological, of figuring out who we are in the midst of social labels and judgments.
The figurative artist Ugo Dossi presented his works in the field of metaphysics, astronomy and the cosmos, hypnosis, telepathy, tarot, alchemy, collective subconscious, Franz Anton Mesmer and Wilhelm Reich two times at the Documenta in Kassel and twice at the Biennale in Venice as well as in many other international exhibitions and museums. The documentary offers exclusive impressions and views into the atelier of the Bavarian artist and explains the deeper meaning of his artworks. Moreover, we are going to talk about the system and history of the tarot and the method of automatic drawing designed by the artist himself. Furthermore, we will have a look at the questions of relative liberty and the own me in correlation to the whole view of the universe.
Mains basses sur les savants d'Hitler, le plan secret français
In his first solo stand-up special in 24 years, Jeff Foxworthy is remembering the good old days. Before cell phones diagnosed our illnesses, were used as cameras, kept us informed 24 hours a day, and before we had to have different passwords for everything. Jeff discusses parenting (your children and your parents), texting, the joy of getting a butt dial, conversations with his wife and recalls a much simpler time (or was it?).
A documentary & cross-media project about the creativity of non-violent resistance and modern forms of civil disobedience.