Three friends fly from Europe to Gabon to undergo a Bwiti initiation ceremony. After ritual bathing, they will eat the root bark of the iboga tree.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.
Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic's first half, Festival of the Nations, focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, part two, The Festival of Beauty, concentrates on individual athletes such as equestrians, gymnasts, and swimmers, climaxing with American Glenn Morris' performance in the decathalon and the games' majestic closing ceremonies.
Benito Arévalo is an onaya: a traditional healer in a Shipibo-Konibo community in Peruvian Amazonia. He explains something of the onaya tradition, and how he came to drink the plant medicine ayahuasca under his father's tutelage. Arévalo leads an ayahuasca ceremony for Westerners, and shares with us something of his understanding of the plants and the onaya tradition.
Four Westerners with various ailments travel to Peruvian Amazonia to drink ayahuasca, a traditional medicine renowned for its healing powers.
How far do you have to go physically and mentally as an Olympic skateboarder? In Candy: A Skater's Mind, we follow Candy Jacobs in the hunt for a medal at the Tokyo Olympics. But on her way to eternal fame, the ultimate disaster strikes.
'Oski' is an intimate portrait of a young prodigy and the culture that surrounds him. A film documenting a year in the life of skateboarding sensation Oskar ‘Oski’ Rozenberg as he transforms from cool street skater to celebrity sportsman competing in the Olympics. The demands of being a sportman with a shot at the gold medal in Tokyo weighs hard on Oski. It’s obvious that he is not your everyday athlete. Can his sport, and his culture survive the transition from underground to mainstream? And will he loose himself and everything dear to him in the process? 'Oski' explores the history of a subculture at a pivotal point in its history and how a humble and different thinking athlete, loved and adored by thousands of skateboarders all around the world, struggles to find his own path in life as an adult and sportsman.
This documentary highlights the evolution of Brazil's Circo Voador venue from homespun artists' performance space to national cultural institution.
On the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro during its world famous Carnival, far from the beach and the touristic clichés, there is an explosive contest between neighbourhoods. This old form of carnival features teams of futuristic gladiators that are a surreal mixture of play and menace. A tradition that has its roots in ancient European carnival traditions and in African rituals, they look like visitors from another planet.
1924, le Paris des Jeux olympiques
The underdog story of a fencer from Brooklyn who overcomes a gauntlet of hardships on the road to the Olympics.
A documentary about the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan.
At the 1996 Atlanta Games, the Magnificent Seven became the first American women to ever win gymnastics team gold. Sixteen years later, in London, the Fierce Five joined them in the history books. Relive all the excitement as Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney and Kyla Ross take the lead from the first rotation and never look back on their way to gold. Follow Gabby Douglas on her way to the podium to make it three straight American gold medals in the individual all-around competition. Every individual event final is featured on this DVD, including Aly Raisman's historic gold-medal performance in the floor exercise, her bronze on the balance beam, as well as McKayla Maroney's silver medal in the vault.
Surf, le feu sacré
The moment where American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their gloved hands in defiance on the podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics is one of the most memorable images in sports history. But there is a third man in the photo, the white Australian who finished second to Smith and ahead of Carlos in the 200 meters. His name is Peter Norman, and he stands in quiet solidarity with them. Norman’s story is retold in this film with passion and perspective.
Come back with us to Ancient Greece, 2,500 Years ago to the original Olympic Games. The ancient Games, like our modern Olympics, included champions and cheaters, glory and scandals, bitter rivalries and contests of strength, speed and savage combat. Set in 448 BC when the pounding of horse's hooves and the brutal hand-to-hand combat could be heard and seen by the crowds that filled the Olympic stadium. This one-hour special event follows the glory and corruption of the arc of a single, five-day Olympiad. The competitions include chariot racing, running, jumping, discus, javelin and two man-to-man combat finals-boxing and pankration, a form of extreme fighting in which death was not uncommon. With the help of sports historians and great athletes such as George Chuvalo and Olympic medallists Donovan Bailey and Angela Schneider, viewers travel back to a very different life-in a very different world.
A profile of the 1928 Olympic Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
A poignant insight into the world of sport, where talent, passion and endurance mean everything, but give no guarantee of success.
Filmed in the jungles of Peru, shaman Don Jose Campos introduces the practices and benefits of Ayahuasca, the psychoactive plant brew that has been used for healing and visionary journeys by Amazonian shamans for at least a thousand years.
Les Sirènes d’Ukraine