In Favour of Light

Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.

A documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg during the US Civil War.

Shot on location in 2013, Teton Gravity Research’s Way of Life takes you on a journey to the mountains and inside the minds of today’s top athletes. With stunning imagery created with GSS, Red Cinema, and the Sony Action Cam, this film explores the origins of skiing in Austria, the search for original lines in Alaska, and the U.S. Free skiing Team’s quest for Olympic gold. The adventure also leads athletes to the rugged terrain of Jackson Hole and the Tetons, as well as the backcountry of British Columbia. Regardless of the terrain they ride, the skiers featured in Way of Life push the boundaries of what’s possible. This journey takes them across the globe as they form a brotherhood that needs no language.

In this Pete Smith Specialty short, Dr. Harold E. Edgerton demonstrates stroboscopic photography, which he helped develop. This process allows us to see in slow motion what happens during events that occur too fast to be seen by the naked eye. Examples shown here include a bullet in flight as it shatters a light bulb, the moment of impact when a kicker kicks a football, and the motion of a hummingbird's wings as it hovers.

This Best Short Subject Academy Award winning film begins in the spring of 1940, just before the Nazi occupation of the Benelux countries, and ends immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. It chronicles how the people of "Main Street America", the country's military forces, and its industrial base were completely transformed when the decision was made to gear up for war. Original footage is interspersed with contemporary newsreels and stock footage.

Alive in the Deep is a 1941 American short documentary film directed by Stacy Woodard and Horace Woodard. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 14th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject.

This Pete Smith Specialty short focuses on the young men who have signed up for the U.S. Army. The film uses the analogy of the speed, accuracy, and teamwork of sports and how these qualities are translated into the weapons training of American soldiers. We watch target practice by Army personnel with shoulder weapons, mortars, and various artillery pieces.

Forty Boys and a Song is a 1941 short documentary film directed by Irving Allen. The film is about the Robert Mitchell Boy Choir, consisting entirely of boys aged 8 to 14. The choir, run by organist Robert Mitchell, appeared in Hollywood productions for over thirty years. Accordingly, the boys were recruited to go to a special school where they would go through regular classroom instruction until 1 PM, after which they'd do choir practice. The kids are also shown performing in a church on Sunday as well as camping, as they are all part of the same Boy Scouts troop. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, One-Reel.

Kings of the Turf is a 1941 American short documentary film about horse racing, directed by Del Frazier. This entry in The Sports Parade series shows us how Mortimer, a Standardbred horse, is trained for harness racing. It was nominated for an Academy Award at the 14th Academy Awards for Best Short Subject.

The people of Britain resist the German air force and navy with help from North America. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Library and Archives Canada in 2005.

Inner city squalor in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the subject of this documentary, which focuses on a child returning from school to his home, a cramped and squalid apartment in a rat-infested slum neighborhood.

This short film shows U.S. Marines in training at a number of unidentified bases, with a focus on hand-to-hand combat.

Covers the planning and execution of the great Allied Military Maneuver in North Africa

Conquer by the Clock was a short dramatic propaganda film produced by the RKO Pathé in 1942 to encourage wartime industrial production. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1943.

Henry Browne, an African American farmer, and his family are profiled in this film. The important job of a farmer during times of war is highlighted, specifically his efforts growing peanuts and cotton. This role is made even more poingnant when they visit the eldest son who is a cadet in the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

An Oscar-nominated British documentary about the Polish people who escaped Poland and were living in England during World War II, both civilians and soldiers.

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.)

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

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

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.