Urbanized

the Voice of God

If God came down to earth and try to earn a living in Bombay, most probably he would become successful as a voice over artiste, lending his voice to thousands of Hindi movies and even more documentaries and public service films in India.

Radiant City

Since the end of World War II, one of kind of urban residential development has dominate how cities in North America have grown, the suburbs. In these artificial neighborhoods, there is a sense of careless sprawl in an car dominated culture that ineffectually tries to create the more organically grown older communities. Interspersed with the comments of various experts about the nature of suburbia

Slums: Cities of Tomorrow

One billion people on our planet—one in six—live in shantytowns, slums or squats. Slums: Cities of Tomorrow challenges conventional thinking to propose that slums are in fact the solution, not the problem, to urban overcrowding caused by the massive migration of people to cities. (Lynne Fernie, HotDocs)

A New Environment Heinrich Klotz on Architecture and New Media

The old world is gone. Our landscape bears scars. Entire cities have been levelled. Is it possible to regenerate the city without covering over the warnings of war’s aggressions? Or can these ruins provide a unique chance to reinvent the city thoroughly? The art historian Heinrich Klotz took precisely these questions, concerning the reconstruction of Germany’s historical districts after World War II, as the departure point of his practice.

Design ist niemals unschuldig

Immersion in a world of contemporary design in search of more virtuous practices. In Helsinki, German designer Julia Lohmann uses seaweed to create dyed garments; in Amsterdam, Marjan van Aubel creates objects powered by organic photovoltaic cells; in London, the Superflux duo develops futuristic installations to alleviate potential food shortages.

Ghetto Fights 3

Ghetto Fights 3 was released Oct 10, 2006 by the Navarre Corporation and presents a brutal glimpse of America's urban underbelly with a third collection of real-life street-fight footage taken straight from the nation's toughest inner-city 'hoods. Set to a blazing hip-hop soundtrack, this hard-hitting and totally authentic documentary captures all the nonstop action as thugged-out gangstas engage in violent and often shocking bare-knuckle beatings. This DVD takes viewers to ground zero in urban America. Witness the day-to-day struggles of average individuals and the solutions they fire off.

Le Corbusier

Making a documentary on Le Corbusier is not easy, because he is undoubtedly the architect most familiar to the general public but also the most unknown. If most people know his great achievements, such as the Cité radieuse of Marseille, the pavilions of the Cité universitaire de Paris or the Tourettes convent, many are unaware of his works in Moscow, Rio de Janeiro or Chandigarh. Roy Oppenheim pays a vibrant tribute to Corbusier, dismissing the criticisms and darker facets of the character. It presents the career of this pioneering architect, as well as his thinking, the essential principle of which was aimed at the development of human beings and the balance of society. Light, space and greenery are integrated into his large futuristic cities, because according to him the eyes of the inhabitants should be drawn into the distance and not into their neighbor's bathroom.

São Paulo, Cinemacity

Mixing new images to existing São Paulo movies takes, the documentary presents the city from the perspective of five main attributes: transformation, anonymity, crowd, precariousness and dimension.

Maija Isola, Master of Colour and Form

A film about Maija Isola, the designer of Finland’s most beloved fabrics. Her bold designs, which include classics like Unikko, Kivet, Kaivo and Melooni, were essential in creating Marimekko’s lifestyle universe. The film shows the secrets to the success of Maija Isola’s fabrics, the values at the heart of Isola’s globetrotter lifestyle, and the legacy she left us. The film is narrated by Maija Isola, as well as her daughter Kristina Isola. It takes us close to Maija as a person, artist, thinker and visionary through her letters. We also hear Armi Ratia’s thoughts on Isola both as an employee and as a friend.

New York Portrait, Chapter III

"[Hutton’s] latest urban film, New York Portrait, Chapter III, takes on a unique tone in relation to Hutton’s ongoing exploration of rural landscape. The very fact that Hutton is dealing with older footage, with archives of memory more than immediacy, gives it a different texture than his earlier New York films. Hutton always found the presence of nature in the city, not only in his many shots of sky and vegetation, but also in the geometry and texture of the city itself, which seemed to project an independence from the human." (Tom Gunning)

Skate Territory

After a long and successful career as a skater, Veronica has stepped away from competing, but continues her legacy by organizing skateboarding workshops to teach young girls from indigenous communities to skate, and to push them to fight back for the public spaces that have been occupied by men and to practice a sport that also belongs to women.

Podium for Cinderella

The heroine of the film, fashion designer Tanya Kotegova, has become an unquestioned authority in the world of fashion, a queen of style with an inimitable energy in every collection. How did a girl from Magadan reach the heights of design art? The fashion show is the most honest account of the inner world, passions, and experiences of a woman who has dedicated herself to her craft and her fashion house.

New York Portrait, Chapter II

Chapter Two represents a continuation of daily observations from the environment of Manhattan compiled over a period from 1980-1981. This is the second part of an extended life's portrait of New York.

Helvetica

Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

Cidades Fantasmas

In Humberstone (Chile), little was left of the saltpeter's prosperity. Near the old Fordlandia (PA), squatter houses are the last signs of the city built by Henry Ford. Armero (Colombia), had its population wiped out by the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in 1985. Twenty-five years after a flood, ruins of Villa Epecuén (Argentina) expose the remains of the old water station.

Street Dogs of South Central

Narrated by Queen Latifah, this documentary follows Elsie, a black Labrador mix, and her struggled to raise her puppies on the streets of Los Angeles.

Las Vegas Meditation

Florent Tillon takes an anthropological lens to Las Vegas, Nevada. What he finds is some curious new species of Americana. (Dorothy Woodend, DOXA Documentary Film Festival)

The Sound of Seeing

Made on a wind-up Bolex camera, The Sound of Seeing announced the arrival of 21-year-old filmmaker Tony Williams. Based around a painter and a composer wandering the city (and beyond), the film meshes music and imagery to show the duo taking inspiration from their surroundings.

Stegophilia

Belgium - 20

What happens when a world that relies on traffic and the logistics that allow it comes to a standstill? What happens when sickness and even death are taken from us?