Uncle Tommy Goes Back

In-depth look at the twilight years, spent training apprentices, of temple builder Nishioka Tsunekazu, who was called the "devil" as he devoted his life to temple architecture. His insistence on the gargantuan timescale of linking life to the next millennium emerges from people who knew him. Remarkable as well for showing the unknown backstage of temple architecture. Nishioka, known as "the last temple carpenter," handled the major Showa-era repairs of Horyuji temple, and in 1990 was at the scene of the reconstruction work for Yakushi temple.

In the 50 years since he carved his first totem pole, Robert Davidson has come to be regarded as one of the world’s foremost modern artists. Charles Wilkinson (Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World) brings his trademark inquisitiveness and craftsmanship to this revealing portrait of an unassuming living legend. Weaving together engaging interviews with the artist, his offspring, and a host of admirers, Haida Modern extols the sweeping impact of both Davidson’s artwork and the legions it’s inspired.

Dos Antigos aos Filhos do Amanhã

When Masset, a Haida village in Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands), held a potlatch, it seemed as if the past grandeur of the people had returned. This is a colourful recreation of Indigenous life that faded more than two generations ago when the great totems were toppled by the missionaries and the costly potlatch was forbidden by law. The film shows how one village lived again the old glory, with singing, dancing, feasting, and the raising of a towering totem as a lasting reminder of what once was.

In this follow-up to his 2003 film, Totem: the Return of the G'psgolox Pole, filmmaker Gil Cardinal documents the events of the final journey of the G'psgolox Pole as it returns home to Kitamaat and the Haisla people, from where it went missing in 1929.

When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.

Ethnologist Marius Barbeau introduces us to indigenous mythology. Masks, dances, songs, and totems are used to give the audience a highly suggestive representation of the "biblical" history (Mr. Barbeau's word) of Indigenous tribes.

Prelude to a portrait of Jean-Pierre Facquier, ch’l’eintailleu (wood carver) in the Saint-Leu district of Amiens: a free mind self-removed from social determinism, who gives new life to wood through constant dialogue, both with nature and his alter ego, the puppet Lafleur..

Carnival time in Quebec, Canada, is also time for racing with sled-dogs, horse-drawn sleighs, hockey, curling the carving of ice-statues, obstacle races by youngsters, fireworks, and also the selection of a Carnival Queen.

Follows Haida artist Bill Reid, from British Columbia. A jeweller and wood carver, he works on a traditional Haida totem pole. We watch the gradual transformation of a bare cedar trunk into a richly carved pole to stand on the shores of the town of Skidegate, in the Queen Charlotte Islands of B.C.

When a broken hearted boy loses the treasured wooden nativity set that links him to his dead father, his worried mother persuades a lonely ill-tempered woodcarver to create a replacement, and to allow her son to watch him work on it.

In the wake of her mentor's passing, an amateur whittler battles obsessive perfectionism as she struggles to complete a wood carving herself.

In this entertaining Puppetoon animated short film, a young boy, Jasper, gets trapped inside a pawnshop at midnight. All the musical instruments come to life and play jazz. A whooping wooden Indian chief self-animates as well, and goes on the warpath.

Includes videos of Mylène Farmer made ​​by Laurent Boutonnat, Luc Besson, Abel Ferrara and Marcus Nispel.

Materia oscura tells the story of a war zone in peacetime. The film location is the Salto di Quirra test range (Sardinia, Italy) where, for over fifty years, governments around the world have tested 'new weapons' and where the Italian government has carried out controlled explosions of old weapon stocks, inexorably endangering the territory.

The 1920s saw a revolution in technology, the advent of the recording industry, that created the first class of African-American women to sing their way to fame and fortune. Blues divas such as Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter created and promoted a working-class vision of blues life that provided an alternative to the Victorian gentility of middle-class manners. In their lives and music, blues women presented themselves as strong, independent women who lived hard lives and were unapologetic about their unconventional choices in clothes, recreational activities, and bed partners. Blues singers disseminated a Black feminism that celebrated emotional resilience and sexual pleasure, no matter the source.

Last year Edward Snowden downloaded tens of thousands of top-secret documents from a highly secure government computer network. The revelations that followed touched off a fierce debate over the massive surveillance operations conducted by the National Security Agency. Through exclusive interviews with intelligence insiders, cabinet officials, and government whistle-blowers, the film reveals how the U.S. government came to monitor the communications of millions of Americans and to collect billions of records on ordinary people around the world.

A collection of music videos and behind the scenes footage released to promote Kanye West's upcoming debut album, College Dropout. The compilation features the videos to the previously unreleased "Two Words", "Slow Jamz", "Through the Wire", "All Falls Down", the three versions of "Jesus Walks", and "The New Workout Plan", all previously unseen before its release.

Hosted by the one and only Disco Diva, Gloria Gaynor, "Disco: Spinning the Story" takes a comprehensive look at the evolution of the music that defined the 70's. From the recording studios to the dance floors, "Disco: Spinning the Story" examines the phenomenon in a way it has never been told before. Hear funk pioneer George Clinton, Donna Summer producer Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers of Chic, Earl Young of the Trammps, hip-hop icon Kurtis Blow, remix legend Tom Moulton, "Saturday Night Fever" actress, Karen Lynn Gorney and even Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead talk about the roots of Disco, how it emerged, and how it has influenced music ever since. Included are vintage performance highlights from Donna Summer, KC & The Sunshine Band, Bee Gees, Chic, Gloria Gaynor, Rose Royce, Labelle, Hues Corporation and many more.

The 29th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place on Thursday, April 10, 2014 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The 2014 Ceremony was open to the public, as it had been for the Induction Ceremonies in Cleveland (2009, 2012) and Los Angeles (2013). This was the first time that the event was held in New York. With performances by Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, KISS, Nirvana, Linda Ronstadt, and Cat Stevens.