A Human Condition

Die Pelikan-Insel - Geheimnis in Russlands Steppe

A teen with autism unlocks a joyous world of self-expression as she shares her voice for the first time using a letter board.

An on-the-scene documentary following the events of September 11, 2001 from an insider's view, through the lens of two French filmmakers who simply set out to make a movie about a rookie NYC fireman and ended up filming the tragic event that changed our lives forever.

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Suicide is one of the world's leading causes of death, with almost 800,000 people taking their own lives every year, not counting those who go unrecorded. What drives people to take their own lives, and how can they be prevented from doing so? This documentary attempts to provide some answers.

‘VIGO 1972’ narrates the events which took place in Vigo in September 1972, when the firing of five Citröen auto workers resulted in the largest general strike in the history of Galicia — with over thirty thousand workers — all of this during the Franco dictatorship in Spain.

Bending Light

An observational documentary that follows dairy farmer Sophie Gregory at Home Farm.

Weighing more than 15 tons, a sperm whale has a brain larger than any other animal on earth and is considered one of the more social whale species. Over the years, Patrick Dykstra has worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to learn how whales communicate, how they perceive other creatures in the water, and how they behave in his immediate presence. With sensitivity and experience, he gets closer to whales than nearly anyone else, leading to once-in-a-lifetime experiences and personal bonds with specific whales.

The story of Nisar Ahmed Khan, told through his children and the people he served, a spiritual guide whose followers still visit his tomb on his birth and death anniversaries. And alongside how his family spends a few days at the village keeping his traditions alive.

Photographer and visual artist Sammy Baloji’s fascinating film essay explores the Democratic Republic of Congo’s colonial history and its ecological significance. Drawing on research from the 1930s, the film highlights the Congo Basin’s vital role in consuming carbon dioxide and shaping global environmental balance over a century.

Most of us think of death as something clear-cut, and that medical science has it neatly figured out. This feature documentary explodes such assumptions through its exploration of a phenomenon that blurs life and death to an unprecedented degree. In what Tibetan Buddhists call tukdam, advanced meditators die in a consciously controlled manner. Though dead according to our biomedical standards, they often stay sitting upright in meditation; remarkably, their bodies remain fresh and lifelike, without signs of decay for days, sometimes weeks after clinical death. Following ground-breaking scientific research into tukdam and taking us into intimate death stories of Tibetan meditators, the film juxtaposes scientific and Tibetan perspectives as it tries to unravel the mystery of tukdam.

On September 11, 2001, the unimaginable transpired when devastating attacks on the World Trade Center forced the shutdown of the entire U.S. airspace. Thousands of kilometres away in Gander, Newfoundland, a group of Nav Canada air traffic controllers suddenly had the lives of 33,000 people in their hands and had to think fast to find a place for them to go. Discovery uncovers how these unsung heroes managed to safely land 224 planes in four hours, without incident.

In his new film, Erwin Wagenhofer is looking for the good and beautiful in this world.

A former Catelli pasta factory, located at the confluence of Petite-Patrie, Mile-End and Little Italy, has over time become the refuge of many renowned artists, an important place of creation for contemporary painting. Montrealer. Chance encounters, proximity and exchanges enrich their respective work. But real estate speculation threatens the sustainability of these artists' studios. Fight to create, create to fight: this documentary opens the door to these inspiring places, which will soon no longer be so. A journey into the spirit of creation — despite everything.

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

Aston Martin is a name that has personified high quality, hand-built cars since early in the 20th century. Cars which have proudly carried the British Racing Green to a World Sports Car Championship and victories in major races around the world. Take a look back at one of Aston Martins most iconic models.

Averroès and Rosa Parks: two units of the Esquirol Hospital, which - like the Adamant - are part of the Paris Central Psychiatric Group. From individual interviews to «carer-patient» meetings, the filmmaker focuses on showing a form of psychiatry that continually strives to make room for and rehabilitate the patients’ words. Little by little, each one eases open the door to their world. Within an increasingly worn-out health system, how can the forsaken be given a place among others.

Since the year 2000, there have been several waves of suicides among the indigenous population of the Colombian Amazon. I discovered that the men commit suicide because of love sorrow. Their wives leave them for white men. The latter think that the Indian feels nothing because they do not express themselves in the same way and, in their language, there are no words to describe feelings. Is it possible that a whole people, the Cácuas Indians, do not feel anything?

This documentary profiles a Maine craftsman and his son, who are among the last practitioners of the art of wooden boat building.