Headlands Center for the Arts - 2014 Community Leadership Awards

The cast and crew talk about the core themes of the film and the seeds of the film.

Cultural documentary featuring a Chinese folk dance performance held in the courtyard of Auguste François's house in Yunnanfu, present-day Kunming, China. Four dancers interact in an artistic performance. Produced in 1901 by Societé L. Gaumont et Cie. and directed by French photographer and diplomat Auguste François. Working as a French diplomatic consul in China, Auguste François shot a large number of films, most of which are still preserved, showing aspects of Chinese society in the last years of the last Chinese monarchical dynasty, the Qing. This film was only released commercially in 1905 as part of the collection "Au Pays des Mandarins".

A look back at a 70s cult classic, Tower of Evil.

Seemayer Studios presents a new documentary about the American Hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Arts District that surrounds it. Since 1979, the American Hotel has been the beating heart of a rich community of artists who began moving into the deserted factory buildings between Alameda and the Los Angeles River.

A multimedia short created for the U.S. millennium celebrations, The Unfinished Journey reflects on America’s history and spirit through six chapters—immigration, war, culture, civil rights, and innovation. Commissioned by President Bill Clinton and premiered at the Lincoln Memorial on New Year’s Eve 1999, the film features an original orchestral score by John Williams titled American Journey.

Mina Smallman’s daughters were murdered. As their killer and police who took selfies with the bodies come to trial, she shares her journey of grief, rage and faith with Stacey Dooley.

The Balkans cradles Europe's last wild rivers and supports abundant wildlife and healthy, intact ecosystems. These rivers are "The Undamaged" – clean, pristine, and undammed. With over 2,700 small and large hydro power plants planned or under construction in the Balkans, corruption and greed are destroying the last free-flowing rivers of Europe. Follow the Balkan Rivers Tour, a rowdy crew of whitewater kayakers, filmers, photographers and friends who decided to stand up for the rivers, travelling from Slovenia to Albania for 36 days, kayaking 23 rivers in 6 countries to protest the dams and show the world the secret wild rivers of the Balkans. The film honours everyday people and local activists who are fighting to defend rivers and aims to spread the word of the plight of these rivers, showing a new style of nature conservation that is fun, energetic and effective.

What does the looming A.I. revolution mean for us as individuals and as a society?

By inviting viewers to take a closer look at the birds that serve as one of this country’s hardiest symbols, Karsten Wall’s stunning documentary invites a deeper consideration of the conditions we humans have created for them.

Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, co-creators of the hit television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, reflect on the creation of the masterful series.

In this film, Laerte conjugates the body in the feminine, and scrutinizes concepts and prejudices. Not in search of an identity, but in search of un-identities. Laerte creates and sends creatures to face reality in the fictional world of comic strips as a vanguard of the self. And, on the streets, the one who becomes the fiction of a real character. Laerte, of all the bodies, and of none, complicates all binaries. In following Laerte, this documentary chooses to clothe the nudity beyond the skin we inhabit.

In June 2010, French actress Marion Cotillard spent a week in the heart of the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo with members of Greenpeace France and Greenpeace Africa. She delivers in video a strong testimony on the looting of Congolese forests which benefits a few industrial groups, often European.

Over 2 billion people on earth eat insects for protein. The Gateway Bug explores how changing daily eating habits can feed humanity in an uncertain age, one meal at a time.

Manet’s portraits are rarely afforded such close attention as they are given in this exquisitely crafted and insightful film presented by art expert Tim Marlow. Manet’s portraiture comprised about half his work, giving life on canvas to family, friends and the literary, political and artistic figures of the day.

A promotional short for Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973).

Stuart Cooper's short about the work of Spanish artist Juan Genovés is an inspired introduction to the works of this extraordinary artist, exploring its minimalist aesthetic and storytelling qualities through a variety of cinematic techniques, including rostrum, animation, news footage and live action recreations.

A journey into the hearts, minds and eyes of Georgia O’Keeffe, Emily Carr and Frida Kahlo - three of the 20th century’s most remarkable artists.

Poet John Betjeman is shown visiting locations including Vauxhall Park, Aldersgate Street station, Camden Town and Hatfield, where he recites a handful of his poems.

COINTELPRO 101 exposes illegal surveillance, disruption, and outright murder committed by the US government in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. “COINTELPRO” refers to the official FBI COunter INTELigence PROgram carried out to surveil, imprison, and eliminate leaders of social justice movements and to disrupt, divide, and destroy the movements as well. Many of the government's crimes are still unknown. Through interviews with activists who experienced these abuses first-hand, with rare historical footage, the film provides an educational introduction to a period of intense repression and draws relevant lessons for the present and future.

After their mother's femicide, three siblings are separated and forced to live in different places. Years later they gather to raise their voices and fight to be made visible in a country where orphans for femicide are ignored by the state and invisible to society. It's up to them to tell their story.