You All Are Captains

Guten Tag, RDA !

Hereros Angola is a documentary film on the ethnic group of the same name. Originated from Bantu peoples, they maintain their millennial culture which gains new senses through the camera.

Peter Westerveld, artist and visionary, doesn’t want institutions to resolve the problems linked to earth’s problems. Growing up in Africa, he witnessed the advance of the desert and dedicated himself to finding solutions for the ongoing erosion and desertification of the land. The film follows Peter and the NGO working with him to realise his project; to build contour trenches that capture and store rain water under the surface and replenish the desert land.

Cruel Famine Continent documents the Great Sahelian drought in West Africa and its effect on the people. The production was an attempt to pivot Toei's output from yakuza films and Toei Porn towards "global issues" and "whatever makes money", as stated by then-Toei president Shigeru Okada. Theatrical proceeds were to be shared as relief funds through the Japanese Red Cross, though the box office returns are unknown. Footage shot for the documentary by Yoshimitsu Banno would later be reused in the 1974 Toho production Prophecies of Nostradamus.

Celebrating the splendor and grandeur of the great cinemas of the United States, built when movies were the acme of entertainment and the stories were larger than life, as were the venues designed to show them. The film also tracks the eventual decline of the palaces, through to today’s current preservation efforts. A tribute to America’s great art form and the great monuments created for audiences to enjoy them in.

Documentary overview of Peter Lorre's ascension to fame as a master purveyor of silky but disquieting peril.

Four lives that could not be more different and a single passion that unites them: the unconditional love for their cinemas, somewhere at the end of the world. Comrades in Dreams brings together six cinema makers from North Korea, America, India and Africa and follows their efforts to make their audiences dream every night.

Edeltraut Hertel - a midwife caught between two worlds. She has been working as a midwife in a small village near Chemnitz for almost 20 years, supporting expectant mothers before, during and after the birth of their offspring. However, working as a midwife brings with it social problems such as a decline in birth rates and migration from the provinces. Competition for babies between birthing centers has become fierce, particularly in financial terms. Obstetrics in Tanzania, Africa, Edeltraud's second place of work, is completely different. Here, the midwife not only delivers babies, she also trains successors, carries out educational and development work and struggles with the country's cultural and social problems.

A unique look at three of the greatest builders of the African Savannah: weaver birds, aardvarks and termites. In their spectacular buildings they do not live alone! Many roommates from other species, from small insects, reptiles and birds to large mammals, not only live together — they also benefit from sharing the same roof.

In Uganda, AIDS-infected mothers have begun writing what they call Memory Books for their children. Aware of the illness, it is a way for the family to come to terms with the inevitable death that it faces. Hopelessness and desperation are confronted through the collaborative effort of remembering and recording, a process that inspires unexpected strength and even solace in the face of death.

America has long been called a Christian nation. In fact, over 70% of adults in America identify themselves as Christian. Yet when filmmaker Brandon McGuire heads to the streets to ask a few clarifying questions about how Christianity is defined within our culture, he is shocked by the answers he finds. This provocative documentary takes us deep within the American mind and brings to the surface the big ideas that have influenced the way we think about ourselves and about God.

A powerful portrait of Africa's most widely acclaimed contemporary artist El Anatsui. It gives an insider's view of the artist's practice, the ingenious steps and thousands of hours of labor that convert used bottle tops into huge, opulent wall hangings.

Record of the life and work of Luiz Thomaz Reis, a cameraman who accompanied Rondon's expeditions through the interior of Brazil since 1915. He documented, in photographs, the revolutionary movements of the 1920s, especially that of Catanduva. In the montage, iconographic material, old films and filming made at the National Museum of Cinema were used, where some of his cameras are located.

Actress Sally Field looks at the dramatic life and successful career of the superb actress Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), a Hollywood legend.

A breathtaking investigation into blockbusters, a film genre that enjoys worldwide success yet keeps its secret weapon well hidden backstage in Hollywood. The blockbuster appeals to a very wide audience, from 7 to 77 years and from Paris to Beijing. These films, which have boosted the film industry, started out with "Jaws" and "Star Wars" and are still prospering with Avatar or Alice in Wonderland. To succeed, the films must meet a few precise criteria, one of them being their cost - at 100 million dollars minimum. But in Hollywood, the films' ingredients are a well-kept secret; perhaps for fear of discovering that the studios' house rules are not as rosy as in certain fruitful happy endings? The pressure and the stakes are colossal. This fascinating documentary reviews the numerous professions affiliated with the blockbuster, via interviews with producers of the major studios (Walt Disney Studio, 20th Century Fox...)...

A journey through abandoned cinemas of Sardinia interspersed with memories of three senior projectionists, a profession now suppressed by technology.

Enfants surdoués, quels adultes deviennent-ils ?

Short Belgian documentary on volcanos in the former Belgian Congo

A race is on to save Gabon’s Moukalaba-Doudou National Park and the silverback gorillas that call it home. Once, this area was protected by a thriving oil industry, but now, big companies are moving out and the logging industry is poised to move in. Ecotourism could be the only way to prevent the trees of this rainforest from coming down, but a team of conservationists needs to make the gorillas of Gabon tolerant of humans first. Follow them as they get up-close with the gorillas, study their moves, and journey to war-torn Central African Republic to learn the secrets of successful gorilla habituation.

Chico has dedicated his whole life to CINE SAO PAULO. The building, inherited from his father, is now badly deteriorated. Refurbish it, in order to make the old movie theater get back to work, becomes his great obsession.