Retrospective of the life and movie work of British actor James Mason. The documentary presents interview footage interspersed with some movie excerpts, mainly from his pre-hollywood period.
Documentary detailing the extensive number of shots long lost from constant film re-cutting of 1925's great silent cinema classic Battleship Potemkin in the last 80 years, and how many of those shots have been returned.
Delving into a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined, and finally embraced them, this is the untold history of black Americans in Hollywood through their connection to the horror genre.
The history of Frankenstein's journey from novel to stage to screen to icon.
As Hong Kong's foremost filmmaker, Johnnie To himself becomes the protagonist of this painstaking documentary exploring him and his Boundless world of film. A film student from Beijing and avid Johnnie To fan, Ferris Lin boldly approached To with a proposal to document the master director for his graduation thesis. To agreed immediately and Lin's camera closely followed him for over two years, capturing the man behind the movies and the myths. The result is Boundless, a candid profile of one of Hong Kong's greatest directors and a heartfelt love letter to Hong Kong cinema.
A documentary on the creation of the popular Charlie Chan detective character as well as the history of Chan films of the 1930s.
The history of the comic book superhero, Superman, in his various media incarnations.
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
Music is an integral part of most films, adding emotion and nuance while often remaining invisible to audiences. Matt Schrader shines a spotlight on the overlooked craft of film composing, gathering many of the art form’s most influential practitioners, from Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman to Quincy Jones and Randy Newman, to uncover their creative process. Tracing key developments in the evolution of music in film, and exploring some of cinema’s most iconic soundtracks, 'Score' is an aural valentine for film lovers.
Fulton and Pepe's 2000 documentary captures Terry Gilliam's attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground. Back injuries, freakish storms, and more zoom in to sabotage the project.
This documentary short-film follows the story of The White Bus Cinema based in Southend-on-Sea. They keep the process of projecting real celluloid film alive by showing films from their archive of over 3,000 films, ranging from Super 8, 16mm, and 35mm prints. The film argues why it's important to continue the shooting and projection process of film in our current age of digital shooting and projection in modern Hollywood, amidst the chaos of studios removing films from their streaming services.
A film pioneer, Binka Zhelyazkova was at the forefront of political cinema under Bulgaria's Communist dictatorship. Though she remained faithful to the communist ideals she became an avid critic of the regime and brought upon herself the wrath of its censorship. As a result four of her nine films were shelved and released to the public only after the fall of the regime in 1989, and Binka Zhelyazkova became known as the bad girl of Bulgarian cinema. A provocative portrait that reveals the pressures and complexities that arise when art is made under totalitarianism.
The birth date of film can be established: December 28, 1895. The place where it happened is also known: Paris, Boulevard des Capucines, Grand Caffe. It is also known who did it first: Louis Lumiere. However, the history of film starts in distant, almost unknown times: from drawings of cave people, through reliefs from Egyptian times, to the discovery of photography. Development of film technique: silent film, sound film, color film. Development of film expression: film as a recording of reality, film as an interpretation of reality, film as fiction or new reality. Development of film as an industry.
We live with films every day, and it seems nothing easier than answering the question: what is a film? Obviously, a film is, first and foremost, a document, a testimony of the world that surrounds us. The rich expressional possibilities of film are based on the imperfection of the human eye, its sluggishness, so thanks to the stroboscopic effect we can animate a still image. Film is therefore a kinetic image, or a moving image. It can make the invisible visible, bring the distant closer, enlarge the small, speed up the slow, slow down the fast, and return the end to the beginning. The technological basis of film: light, film tape, camera, projector, film screen. Expressive possibilities of film: scientific, documentary, communicative, artistic. Basic film genres: differences among films.
A feature that not only celebrates the 1986 classic "Flight of the Navigator", but also looks at the life of its child star, Joey Cramer, and his roller-coaster life since that breakthrough role.
The most comprehensive retrospective of the '80s action film genre ever made.
A detailed history of documentary filmmaking in the US and the UK from 1929 to 1945. The first part, Working for Change, focuses on 1929-1941 and the social movements of the times, The Great Depression, The New Deal, and the awakening of the Leftwing in the UK. The second part, The Strategy of Truth, focuses on 1933-1946 and explores the role of film as propaganda during World War II, and the different forms it took in the US, the UK, and Germany.
The life and career of legendary Hollywood glamour portrait photographer George Hurrell is profiled by his contemporaries including other photographers and actors he has shot.
Apostles of Cinema follows Frank, DJ Black, and Rehema — three devoted film workers in Tanzania — as they reintroduce a classic piece of the country’s film history to their audiences of working class cinephiles. We join them, alongside Maangamizi: The Ancient One (2001), on a journey through the labyrinth of informal libraries, studios, and cinemas that exist to keep film and film culture alive. A testament to the profound cultural value of film when made truly accessible.
A portrait of Per Åhlin, who has been called the father of Swedish animation.