For the past ten years Zappa in composing has turned away from Rock and Roll music - for which he first became famous - and has been working on new, contemporary, orchestral electronic music; in solitude and beyond any commercial conventions or commitments. It is the first time that Zappa has allowed a film crew to study him during compositional work, actually filming the first moments of a new compositional process. By contrast, in a staged interview Zappa gives comments on music. This film seeks to reveal the sensetivities of Zappa's personality and character also beyond narrative content.
Down the gangway, photographers leave the deck of a riverboat in large numbers.
Documentary following the career of Brooklyn-born photographer Jamel Shabazz, who captured hip-hop in its infancy long before it became a worldwide phenomenon. His iconic images of kids sporting sneakers and savvy street style caught the essence of hip-hop as it exploded onto the streets of New York. Intimate interviews with Shabazz and hip hop pioneers explore the hundreds of individual stories and urban history behind a revolutionary cultural movement.
A unique behind-the-scenes access to NASA’s ambitious mission to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, following a team of engineers and scientists as they take the next giant leap in our quest to understand the universe.
Photographer Helmut Newton talks about his work.
This look behind the scenes shows how worldwide camera crews climbed, dived and froze to capture the documentary's groundbreaking night footage.
Il mio nome è Battaglia
A pack of strays – seven dogs and one woman live in the shadows of Moscow. Hidden from the totalitarian authorities, two species share their existence on the verge of disappearance. They are straying in constant restlessness through a savage landscape where the city is cracking. Shot from the animal’s point of view, patterns of mutual dependence and taming begin to blur.
This documentary explores the work of Robert Doisneau, and the subjects his photographs have addressed, from the workers of the Renault factories in Billancourt to Parisian lovers, from the crowds of the Liberation to the children of Gentilly, from the unknown to the famous. The voice of the photographer, speaking of his choices and memories, and a montage of sound archives seem to comment on the photographs, which several film archives put into context. A sober and fascinating presentation of the work of a great artist.
Fernando Lemos, a Portuguese surrealist artist, fled from dictatorship to Brazil in 1952 searching for something better. The movie follows the last moments of his journey and the struggle for the preservation of his legacy, trying to fulfill his last great desire: to be a good dead man.
Considerations on collage as a cognitive act in artists’ cinema. A pedagogical film adrift: 35mm photographs and other materials collected over the last fifteen years by artist Stefano Miraglia meet a text written by Baptiste Jopeck and the voice of Margaux Guillemard.
Il granchio nudo
Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.
When asked a question on politics, late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish once answered: “I write about love to expose the conditions that don’t allow me to write about love.” In TWO TRAVELERS TO A RIVER Palestinian actress Manal Khader recites such a poem by Mahmoud Darwish: a concise reflection on how things could have been.
In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?
A young woman is fed up with the usual consumer's television and begins to make her own television, or more correctly, closevision. She is now a reporter who wanders around Berlin with her camera and 'telecasting apparatus' on her back. Her livingroom has been transformed into a studio and here the different programs are assembled and aired: statements, interviews, realistic and phantastic programs.
Soul Cage is a non-verbal documentary, which shows the process of creation. The specially composed music builds the dramaturgy of the film on equal rights with the image. This “cinematographic sonata” explores the boundaries of documentary and operates with details, shadows and mystery. The film gets inside the art process of Johanna Forsberg, who lives in the north of Sweden. From the raw metal mesh, cold and resistant, through the fragile moment of creation, to the darkness of the workshop – where everything is possible and the creations have their own life and souls.
Los días azules
A documentary that follows the life of photographer Daido Moriyama in the present, which has never been revealed before. Even though his charismatic presence has reigned over the world of photography since the late 60’s, his true persona had been hidden behind a veil of mystery, since he had refused any major appearances in front of any media in the past. Follow the charismatic photographer Daido Moriyama as he takes his first digital photos and observe his style of quick snapshots without looking in the finder. His stark and contrasting black and white images symbolize his fervent lifestyle.
People looking at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre – or are they just looking at themselves?