Shot over the course of a year, this intimate portrait of provocative composer John Adams presents scenes of the artist at work and at play against the backdrop of dramatic American landscapes that reflect the themes of his music. Though he has a number of credits to his name, Adams is best known for his unconventional opera "Nixon in China," which explores the former U.S. president's meeting with Mao Zedong in 1972.
Programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz achieved groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing. His passion for open access ensnared him in a legal nightmare that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26.
Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter on LSD, then worked for decades counseling drug abusers. Dock's soulful style defined 1970s baseball as he kept hitters honest and embarrassed the establishment. An ensemble cast of teammates, friends, and family investigate his life on the field, in the media, and out of the spotlight.
The surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert (1942-2013): his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.
With the young Friedrich Engel’s letters and drawings from the years between 1838 and 1842, a unique cinematic portrait is created. The viewer thus gets to know the young Engels personally, learning about the significant moments of his development from a bourgeois-liberal upbringing to the theoretical partner of Karl Marx. Later be awarded the Gold Dove at the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week.
For over 60 years, Studs Terkel elevated the voices and experiences of everyday Americans through his skillful interviews on radio, in books and on TV. This documentary takes a fond and illuminating look back at one of America's most influential authors and media personalities whose curiosity about people never dimmed over the course of a long and brilliant career.
One summer, many years after his mother confided in him about her emotional difficulties with his father, a filmmaker questions his parents, curious about the state of their relationship. At first glance, their situation does not seem to have changed. Curious, he decides to inquire about it. Their activities and discussions both revive nostalgic and fearful emotions. He sees that his mother does not feel the same. From this moment that he realizes the magnitude of the subject and that some things are not accessible to him.
The documentary offers testimonies and documents never disclosed about the plot against its protagonist, who had the stigmata of Jesus Christ in his hands, feet and side for 50 consecutive years.
Using archival footage, cabinet conversation recordings, and an interview of the 85-year-old Robert McNamara, The Fog of War depicts his life, from working as a WWII whiz-kid military officer, to being the Ford Motor Company's president, to managing the Vietnam War as defense secretary for presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
Documentary about war photographer James Nachtwey, considered by many the greatest war photographer ever.
An intimate look at Al Gore and his family during the former Vice President's 2000 campaign
A breathtaking look at The French Spiderman, Alain Robert, a lone climber who scales tall buildings, bridges and cliffs all over the world. His physical training and climbing technique allows him to climb using window sills and frames. From its height of 180 meters, the Citigroup Center in Chicago will be the first of a long series of more than 170 buildings that Alain Robert will climb.
Dan Wetzel and Kevin Armstrong undertake an exhaustive journey into the mind and motives behind the murderous fall, and tragic suicide, of Aaron Hernandez, providing an unprecedented look into the most infamous athlete since O.J. Simpson.
Follow Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis behind the scenes in this affectionate profile of a stalwart New Yorker and beloved stage and screen treasure.
I Am JFK Jr. - A Tribute to a Good Man is an homage to America's fallen prince and the Kennedy legacy. It is the story of a young man destined for greatness, but determined to be good in a world filled with high expectations.
Überleben - Was wir über suizide wissen
Iranian film director Amir Naderi talks to Zar Amir Ebrahimi about his career in this documentary directed and produced by Ebrahimi and broadcast by BBC World Service and BBC Persian. Amir Naderi is one of the most influential figures of Iranian modern cinema. He was born in 1945 in the Persian Gulf port of Abadan. Orphaned at an early age and living the life of a street urchin, Naderi had to survive by selling ice, working as a shoeshine boy and recycling empty beer bottles. He developed his knowledge of cinema by watching films in the theaters where he worked at a very young age. He began his career by taking pictures for some notable Iranian features. In the 1970’s, he started directing his own films, and made some of the most important movies of the New Iranian Cinema. After moving to New York in the early 90’s, Amir Naderi continued to make films. They have premiered at the Venice, Cannes, Tribeca, and Sundance Film Festivals.
This documentary follows Juan Carlos's life through archive footage and exclusive interviews with the king himself giving his opinion and thoughts to the way history played out.
A 1975 short documentary that focuses on the events that molded Frida Kahlo's life.
An immersive look at the eventful life and brilliant artistic career of visionary American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991).