A Canadian woman returns to Japan in order to solve the mystery of her long-lost friend.
A documentary covering Firefly's birth, death and rebirth from the perspective of both the fans and the cast and crew of both productions.
The story of the French fantasy cinema from Méliès to Raw.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 history of Frankenstein's journey from novel to stage to screen to icon.
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.
The untold origin story behind Ridley Scott's Alien - rooted in Greek and Egyptian mythologies, underground comics, the art of Francis Bacon, and the dark visions of Dan O'Bannon and H.R. Giger. A contemplation on the symbiotic collaborative process of movie-making, the power of myth, and our collective unconscious.
Can three comedians from Bosnia overcome the bitterness of the past to reunite and reconcile? Often compared to Monty Python's Flying Circus the comedy team from Sarajevo known as Top Lista Nadrealista or The Surrealist Hit Parade rose to prominence on the eve of the breakup of Yugoslavia. Nele, Zenit and Djuro became household names throughout the Balkans. The wars that followed the splintering of the country pitted each of the diverse communities against one another. The bitter conflict exposed some nationalist loyalties among the comedians and lead to the acrimonious break-up of Top Lista. The split reflecting the broader tribulations dividing their homeland.
An independent record store owner and life-long Alice Cooper superfan convinces the original lineup of his favorite band to reunite at his store over forty years after they parted ways.
A documentary about Australian animation pioneer Eric Porter’s work on the iconic Aeroplane Jelly animated promos of the 1940s and 1950s.
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.
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.
Former "Titanic" satire magazine editor Martin Sonneborn takes an undercover trip around Berlin and discovers the East-German mentality and what is left of the socialist German Democratic Republic.
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.
The most comprehensive retrospective of the '80s action film genre ever made.