Cuba

Deliverance

A fairly shabby, dark, three-part wardrobe in a hallway: About ten years have passed since Joana Claude suffered sexual violence when it was assembled. Now the time has come to not only disassemble it. Instead, Joana sets out to destroy the artefact of pain completely. The gesture is made with fervour, tearing out the shelves and doors looks like retroactive resistance, what was pent up finds an outlet. At the same time, the ritual is characterised by gradual escalation: At first the director speaks of her relationship with her parents – a big sweat stain on her back already beginning to show –, in the end everything is in flames. The act is short, it lasts only a few minutes. And yet it allows an intimate insight that acquires a universal, strength-giving character as it unfolds.

A gifted nation...

A short documentary film about Czech-Bulgarian painter Ivan Mrkvička

The Tower of Babel

A documentary focusing on Polish 60-year-old Henryk Kowalczyk who is deaf-blind and being taught sculpture. Working with clay and other materials is therapeutic light in a world of darkness

Memory of the Camps

In 1945, Allied troops invaded Germany and liberated Nazi death camps. They found unspeakable horrors which still haunt the world’s conscience. A film was made by British and American film crews who were with the troops liberating the camps. It was directed in part by Alfred Hitchcock and was broadcast for the first time in its entirety on PBS FRONTLINE in 1985.

Balseros

In the summer of 1994, a team of public television reporters filmed and interviewed seven Cubans a few days before their risky venture of setting out to sea in homemade rafts to reach the coast of the United States. Six made it far enough to be picked up at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard. When these balseros (rafters) were finally allowed to go to the United States, the film crew went with them to a string of several cities. Seven years later, the film crew visits them again, to discover that their destiny has been in the United States. Theirs is a true story about some of the authentic survivors of our times, the human adventure of people who are shipwrecked between two worlds.

Tree Begins Life, Indians Still Live Here

A display of a fallen red cedar at Olympic National Park headquarters proclaims in 1349 "Indians live here." TREE BEGINS LIFE INDIANS STILL LIVE HERE produces a meditation on the territories of the First Nations of the Pacific Northwest, and invites an alternative interpretation of U.S. sovereignty over these lands.

Still Waters

Through a series of extraordinarily honest and intimate conversations, filmmaker Aurora Brachman examines the intergenerational fallout of experiences her mother endured as a child. Together, they forge a path forward that offers them a new beginning.

Já Me Transformei em Imagem

Comments on the history of a people, made by the filmmakers and their characters. From the time of contact, through captivity in rubber plantations, to the current work with video, the testimonies give meaning to the process of dispersion, loss and reunion experienced by the Huni kui.

Aquaman: Heroines of Atlantis

Amber Heard and Nicole Kidman discuss their characters Mera and Atlanna.

In Conversation with the Death King

A short documentary featuring an interview with director Jörg Buttgereit.

Rethinking Cuban Civil Society

The notion of a Cuban civil society is often misrepresented in the U.S. mainstream media. According to most sources, Cuban civil society is limited to the opposition, which has little impact on the Cuban political scenario. Regardless, yearly, the U.S. government allocates tens of millions of taxpayer money to empower dissidents in the island. By doing so, it overlooks genuine expressions of pluralism, reform and contestation which are shaping the Cuban public sphere, sometimes in autonomous ways, sometimes within State-run institutions. Through in-depth interviews to members of Cuban Civil society, this documentary explores the complexities associated to these processes, following the itinerary of the debate about the concept of civil society generated in Cuba, since the 90s to the present.

Seongwoo is Alright

After waiting all day long, an aspiring actor tries to grab the attention of the exhausted and hungry judges during the short audition.

Me and the Wannabe Indians

A documentary about Freia who lives with her mother in a hippie collective. She has thoughts on everything from the things her parents are doing to life in New York and the world.

A Case Study: Cambodia and East Timor

Crocodile Hunters

In the estuaries and lagoons of the Northern Territory, freshwater and saltwater crocodile are hunted for their hides by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous hunters. This film shows Aboriginal people using age-old hunting techniques to land crocs either for food or for skins. The methods employed by the professional hunters, who earn as much as 3000 pounds during the season, are also depicted, followed by a brief look at how the hides are skinned and prepared before being transported to the leather factories of Sydney and Melbourne.

More Dangerous Than Dynamite

A short film warning the unaware housewife of the dangers of “dry cleaning” with gasoline at home.

The Last Conversation

A son makes a surprising discovery on his elderly parents' answering machine after his father's passing.

i flew to watch traces of garden, dragonflies with birds and snake and in-between Wolfgang Lehmann introduced me to Kurt Kren's mama and papa

The film is a fragmented representation of an artist's experience at an art gallery where Wolfgang Lehmann, as a part of his masterclass, shows 2 of his films and in-between, a film by Kurt Kren.

Nocturnal Fantasia (I See Everything)

A study of nocturnal butterflies and their mating habits.

Bald: The Making of 'THX 1138'

The film features a conversation between Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, producer of THX 1138. They discuss Lucas' vision for the film, including his ideas about science fiction in general and in particular his concept of the "used future" which would famously feature in his film Star Wars. Intercut with this discussion is footage shot prior to the start of production of THX 1138 showing several of its actors having their heads shaved, a requirement for appearing in the film. In several cases the actors are shown being shaved in a public location. For example, Maggie McOmie is shaved outside the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, while Robert Duvall watches a sporting event as his hair is cut off. Another actor, Marshall Efron, who would later play an insane man in the film, cut off his own hair and was filmed doing so in a bathtub.