The Mirnavator

A 1968 animation/documentary that criticises the industrial system. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

CREE CODE TALKER reveals the role of Canadian Cree code talker Charles 'Checker' Tomkins during the Second World War. Digging deep into the US archives it depicts the true story of Charles' involvement with the US Air Force and the development of the code talkers communication system, which was used to transmit crucial military communications, using the Cree language as a vital secret weapon in combat.

For 17 years, filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt filmed his daughter Ella on her birthday in the same spot, asking her the same questions. In just 29 minutes, we watch her grow from a toddler to a young woman with all the beautiful and sometimes awkward stages in between. Each phase is captured fleetingly but makes an indelible mark. Her responses to her father’s questions are just a backdrop for a deeper story of parental love, acceptance, and ultimately, independence.

Something takes us underground, where gods and monsters are active, amid the ruins of a world they move around with their innumerable hands. Inspired by Fritz Lang and Richard Wagner, Remains is a daydream.

Badger Creek is a portrait of Native resilience as seen through a year in the life of three generations of a Blackfeet family living on the rez in Montana. The Mombergs are a loving, sober family who run a successful ranch, live a traditional worldview and are re-learning their language.

In 2008 and 2009, Clarissa Thieme travelled through Bosnia-Herzegovina, setting up her camera at places where war crimes took place during the nineties. Now she returns to the same locations a decade later: what traces are left behind by a violent past?

For time immemorial, the indigenous peoples of Latin America have used and venerated the coca plant, affording it the same respect as a person. Jiíbie is the Uitoto word for the powder made from the plant, which is produced here in the domestic setting of a Muiná-Muruí family (in the Colombian Amazon). A spiritual guide, a healer, a teacher and a communicator: these are just some of the roles assigned to this “plant of power”.

The short documentary looks at some innovative approaches to providing services and accommodation for battered women in rural, northern, and Native communities. Filmed in Thompson and Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, and West Bay Reserve, Ontario, the film introduces the women who operate and use various types of accommodation such as transition houses, transition apartments, and safe houses. The shelter on West Bay Reserve is singled out as a project that was built by women for women to stand as a reminder that the Reserve will not tolerate violence against women. A Safe Distance is part of the The Next Step, a 3-film series about the services needed by and available to battered women.

Immersion in Mustapha's mind during the lockdown period.

In this film, a police officer tells children about the dangers of accepting rides or presents from strangers, and relates the unfortunate stories of several children who did and were never seen again.

The first film by Chantal Akerman, a short silent 8mm film shot during the Brussels summer Midi Fair, that was one of four short films she made as a short of entrance exam at INSAS were she studied for just a couple of months.

Early film of a crowded street scene in an unidentified Indian city.

A monster film with no monsters. Inspired by the existence of taxonomies of monsters at the heart of Early Modern European science, the film explores and reinterprets a way of seeing the natural world that is almost impossible to imagine from today’s vantage point.

Every weekday, inmates are released from Huntsville State Penitentiary, taking in their first moments of freedom with phone calls, cigarettes, and quiet reflection at the Greyhound station up the block.

Swedish writer Stig Dagerman (1923-1954) was a literary sensation who after a few productive years, suddenly fell silent. Struggling with writer's block, Dagerman wrote the essay "Our Need for Consolation" about his inner demons and his quest for freedom. For the first time in English, featuring Stellan Skarsgard as an on-camera narrator, this film brings Dagerman's powerful words to life in the form of a visual poem.

This is an animated documentary about FOOD! I interviewed vegetarian, vegan, pescetarian and meat eater about their opinions about food and life choices. Then I animate real food with stop-motion technique based on the interviews. By putting the conversations in different context, the food speak for themselves.

They set off, looking for work in far-off places, but disappeared along the way. Inspired by Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s “birha” poetry, the film traces the longing on both sides: on the part of those who are missing, and those that wait for them to return.

Filmed during Jonas Mekas’s travels in 1981, this short captures scenes from Stockholm. The footage was later included in his 2003 compilation film Travel Songs (1967–1981).

In L.A.’s Boyle Heights neighborhood, local activists and members of the art community clash over the fate of a beloved neighborhood.

Filmed during Jonas Mekas’s visit to Assisi in 1967, this short documents his time in the city known for its spiritual associations. The footage was later incorporated into his 2003 compilation film Travel Songs (1967–1981).