SlingShot

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

The life and career of the hailed Hollywood movie star and underappreciated genius inventor, Hedy Lamarr.

Nikola Tesla: The Genius Who Lit the World

Nikola Tesla is considered the father of our modern technological age and one of the most mysterious and controversial scientists in history.

The Invention of Dr. NakaMats

NakaMats is an unlikely character made for the movies, an eccentric 80-year-old Japanese inventor responsible for 3,357 inventions, including the floppy disk. With his deadpan English and impeccable comic timing, he provides nonstop laughs— utterly nutty, but also a paean to the spirit of human invention.

John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office

The daring experimenter Dr. John C. Lilly dedicated his life to radical self-investigation and unlocking the mysteries of consciousness and communication. “My body is my laboratory” was the motto, and his research on the language of dolphins and whales – as well as psychedelics and sensory deprivation – assured his own cult status in 20th-century pop culture as the basis for Ken Russel’s Altered States and Mike Nichols’s The Day of the Dolphin. Directors Michael Almareyda and Courtney Stephens, along with narrator Chloë Sevigny, explore the life of a determined scientist and his experiments into the psychonautical unknown.

Deconstructing Dad: The Music, Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott

His filmmaker son probes the professional and private lives of his remote but fascinating father: bandleader, composer, inventor, and electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott.

George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute

Color footage of inventor George Washington Carver at Tuskegee University in Alabama. Dr. Carver is filmed at his apartment, office, laboratory, and garden.

The Gutenberg Enigma

A portrait of the inventor of the letterpress, who was a key figure in the history of mankind, but also an enthusiastic inventor, a daring businessman, a tenacious troublemaker: the life of Johannes Gutenberg (circa 1400-68).

Zvorykin-Muromets

Parfenov's documentary is about a brilliant scientist and engineer, born in Russia, but only known on the other side of the ocean. The invention of modern television changed the history of mankind. The invention has an author, who is almost unknown in his homeland. Vladimir Zworykin, born in Murom, a Russian American, was the person who created distant wireless transmission of images.

The Thinking Game

Chronicles the extraordinary life of visionary scientist Demis Hassabis and his relentless quest to solve the enigma of artificial general intelligence.

Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory

“This film is remarkable in several respects. In the first place, it is full life-size. Secondly, it is the only accurate recent portrait of the great inventor. The scene is an actual one, showing Mr. Edison in working dress engaged in an interesting chemical experiment in his great Laboratory. There is sufficient movement to lead the spectator through the several processes of mixing, pouring, testing, etc. as if he were side by side with the principal. The lights and shadows are vivid, and the apparatus and other accessories complete a startling picture that will appeal to every beholder.” (Edison Catalog)

Omni: An Act against Gravity

When a YouTube video of Alexandru Duru's hoverboard flight goes viral, the young engineer sets a Guinness World Record and achieves the recognition he desires. But fame and fortune don't come easily. Often mocked and ostracized (until they achieve their goal), inventors see the world in a distinct way. Duru is no different. The son of Romanian immigrants, he's driven by a desire to achieve the impossible—and to cash in. Exploring the banality of Duru's trial-and-error efforts, director Bogdan Stoica is an artistic risk-taker worthy of his subject. He allows contemplative scenes to develop in real-time with immaculate framing; a natural tension builds as we witness Duru strapping the equivalent of high-speed lawn mower blades to his feet. Avoiding the temptation to sensationalize and thus trivialize his subject, Stoica reveals a rich story about immigration, settlement and the human desire to transcend our physical confines. -Alexander Rogalski (Hot Docs Film Festival)

The Dawnsayer

For the past 40 years, Bruce Beach has been preparing for a nuclear disaster. A bunker of 42 school buses is buried on his property, designed to save humanity. Curious onlookers and interested preppers regularly visit the site named Ark Two, but it's clear that the creator of this decaying shelter is the only one truly convinced of its practicality in the event of an apocalypse. Now that Bruce is in his 80s, he and his wife Jean need to spend more time taking care of their immediate needs than worrying about the future. What could easily be dismissed as evangelical paranoia becomes a tragic yet uplifting story about a risk-taking inventor who has lived without regrets. Sometimes outside-the-box thinkers become millionaires and are recognized for their genius ability to guide us into the future, while others are pushed to the margins. There’s a lot to be learned from both

The Story of Alfred Nobel

This John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short tells the story of Alfred Nobel, who invented dynamite, and later established the Nobel Prize.

L' Aventure de la TSF

El submarino Peral, una conspiración que cambió la historia

SELANDIA: The ship That Changed the World

The Ship that Changed the World is a historical drama about the birth of the world's first ocean-going diesel-powered ship Selandia. A groundbreaking invention that changed the world forever. The film shows Selandia and the creators receiving worldwide acclaim. But for two of them success was short-lived. They died under mysterious circumstances shortly after the maiden voyage of Selandia. On the brink of the World War, and with Germany and England showing great interest in this invention, is it too farfetched to believe that these deaths were more than coincidental. - Written by Michael Schmidt-Olsen

Tim's Vermeer

Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.

Ganz: How I Lost My Beetle

Josef Ganz, editor of trade journal Motor-Kritik, amazed Germany by appearing in a revolutionary tiny car in 1932. It was his dream: a people's car anyone can afford. The idea made its way to new Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler. But in Hitler's dream there was no place for Jewish inventor Ganz. This is the story of the man whose designs led to the invention of the Volkswagen Beetle, and who ultimately lost everything. In the film, Ganz's relatives and admirers bring his lost heritage back to life.

Becoming Cousteau

Adventurer, filmmaker, inventor, author, unlikely celebrity and conservationist: For over four decades, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his explorations under the ocean became synonymous with a love of science and the natural world. As he learned to protect the environment, he brought the whole world with him, sounding alarms more than 50 years ago about the warming seas and our planet’s vulnerability. In BECOMING COUSTEAU, from National Geographic Documentary Films, two-time Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Liz Garbus takes an inside look at Cousteau and his life, his iconic films and inventions, and the experiences that made him the 20th century’s most unique and renowned environmental voice — and the man who inspired generations to protect the Earth.

Interlocked

An inventor tries to parent her wall-powered robot son. When he tries to discover a world beyond the boundaries she designed for him, she has to choose between keeping him safe and letting him live on his own.