The tiny village in the far north of Sweden called Ensamheten (Solitude) has sixteen inhabitants. They all share an unusual passion - armwrestling.
A visual essay by filmmaker and critic David Cairns. Recorded for Arrow Video in 2023. Included as a special feature on the 2024 Limited Edition Blu-ray and DVD release of The Shootist.
A short lyrical document about an ancient Oriental discipline, this film moves from the streets of China, where the people practice Tai-Chi daily, to North America, where the same movements are executed by a solitary figure in a park.
A real 'video nasty' in which England football manager Graham Taylor buckles under the pressure of securing the national team a place in the World Cup Finals. First shown on Channel 4, the camera crew were given unparallelled access to the England camp, climaxing with the emotionally exhausting spectacle of Taylor's touchline breakdown as England lose to Holland in a vital qualifying game. The video includes previously unseen footage.
First Descent is a 2005 documentary film about snowboarding and its beginning in the 1980s. The snowboarders featured in this movie (Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata, Terje Haakonsen, Hannah Teter and Shaun White with guest appearances from Travis Rice) represent three generations of snowboarders and the progress this young sport has made over the past two decades. Most of the movie was shot in Alaska.
Sprint
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.
Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.
Part two of Leni Riefenstahl's monumental examination of the 1938 Olympic Games, the cameras leave the main stadium and venture into the many halls and fields deployed for such sports as fencing, polo, cycling, and the modern pentathlon, which was won by American Glenn Morris.
Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.
Photomicrography reveals the unusual structure and behavior of the Venus's flytrap, the trumpet plant, the cobra plant, the common pitcher plant, the sundew plant and the utricularia.
Commissioned by the U.S. Office of War Information, this short film features conductor Arturo Toscanini leading the NBC Symphony Orchestra, tenor Jan Peerce, and the Westminster Choir in Verdi’s Inno delle nazioni. Originally composed in the 1860s as a musical tribute to Europe, Toscanini expanded the score to include The Star-Spangled Banner and The Internationale in honor of the Allied struggle and Italian partisans. Filmed in NBC’s Studio 8H, the documentary interweaves performance with scenes of Toscanini at home, emphasizing his anti-fascist stance and celebrating the liberation of Italy. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.
A dog trains for the battlefield and becomes a crucial part of the United States military. This 1945 short documentary film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short, One-Reel.
This "Theater of Life" documentary was produced in cooperation with the International Committee, YMCA. It focuses on the work of Dr. Spencer Hatch, as he shows residents of small Mexican villages how to make their land better able to grow food and make them more independent.
In this Pete Smith Specialty, cameraman Charles T. Trego films water skiing champion Preston Petersen, as he and two unnamed female skiers perform various tricks and feats of skill in their sport.
This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes behind the scenes to look at how the sound portion of a talking picture is created.
A non-narrative voyage round Sedlec Ossuary, which has been constructed from over 50,000 human skeletons (victims of the Black Death).
Continuing the popular series from Fleshwound Films, this highlight video shows some of the more insane things people have tried to do with motorcycles. Filled with death defying leaps from motocross events and off track leaps and hill climbs, this film moves at a frenetic pace. Several professional motocross riders, including Seth Enslow, pull off some amazing stunts and jumps. This is the fourth entry in the Crusty Demons of Dirt series.
Vedec krásou očarený - Anton Augustín Baník
FIFA World Player in 1998, 2000, and 2003, Zidane has been labeled the greatest player to come out of France. Known for his brilliant ball control, incredible vision, precise passing and ability to read the game, Zidane has also dedicate much of his time to helping those less fortunate than himself.