ALL TITLES
HOW TO HAVE AN AMERICAN BABY
How to Have an American Baby is a kaleidoscopic voyage into the booming shadow economy that caters to Chinese tourists who travel to the U.S. on “birthing vacations”—in order to obtain U.S. citizenship for their babies. Inside bedrooms, delivery rooms, and family meetings, the story of ahidden global economy emerges—depicting the aspirations and anxieties, fortunes and tragedies that befall the ordinary people caught in the web of its influence.
RESOURCES
The meat industry is booming in Canada, where huge factories use standardized production methods to convert vast herds of livestock into meat. They hire asylum seekers, mainly from Latin America, so they can continue to produce at competitive rates. This observational film splits its focus between the workers and the animals, considering the living conditions of both, while providing a subtle yet critical look at a world driven by capitalism and the links in the chain that make this possible.
TO THE MOON
A cinematic ode to the moon composed of numerous film clips (from over 25 countries, filmmakers such as Satyajit Ray, F.W. Murnau, Carl Theodor Dreyer and many others), archival footage, literary fragments and original moonlit cinematography filmed across five continents, To The Moon travels through the ages and ideas that people have drawn from the moon to create a meditative work of timeless resonance. "Gorgeous, a beautifully succinct visual essay." – The Guardian
BUNKER
An investigation into the increasing number of American men who have decided to live in decommissioned military bunkers and nuclear missile silos out of fear of an imminent breakdown of society and the destruction of the United States. Considering toxic American myths, including self-reliance, masculinity, home safety and security, and family life in a time of climate crisis, economic upheaval, and political strife, filmmaker Jenny Perlin journeys by herself into the middle of America to meet such men, and the builders and salesmen who cater to them.
RED AFRICA
A fascinating and insightful documentary, Red Africa relates the history of the influence exerted by the USSR over many African states between 1960 and 1990. Incorporating extraordinary archival footage filmed by Soviet operators, excerpts from official speeches by Soviet and African leaders and audio recording made by Soviet filmmakers during their African expeditions, Red Africa reveals the hidden agenda of the USSR which, under the cloak of generosity, was aspiring to expand its socialist “paradise."
PUBLIC LIBRARY
Every day, hundreds of visitors seek refuge at the Bibliothèque Publique d’Information (Public Information Library) in the heart of Paris. Between the bookshelves, we meet inspired students, passionate experts, and researchers exploring a topic , as well as individuals just seeking quiet and respite from the outside world. Each of these people “inhabits” the library in their own way. And through this wonderful documentary, they share with us what this public space means to them.
NAVIGATORS
In 1924, the Buford, a large dormant ship, cost little to rent. Buster Keaton used it as a spacious set for his film The Navigator. And without realising it, by filming the vessel, he archived the scene of another story of crossing. A few years earlier, the Buford had served the forced exile of 249 political opponents of the United States government, including anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.
THE RETURN: LIFE AFTER ISIS
This moving documentary offers an intimate yet candid portrait of a group of Western women who devoted their young lives to ISIS, but who now want to be given the chance to rebuild their lives back at home, including Shamima Begum (UK) and Hoda Muthana (US), who made worldwide headlines when they left their countries as teenagers to join ISIS. These women now tell their stories for the very first time in this "stirring and vitally humane" (Variety) film.
SLOW RETURN
Slow Return travels up the Rhône, from one end to the other. Between the fishermen of Salin-de-Giraud and the Rhône glacier, filmmaker Philip Cartelli has numerous encounters and examines the relationship the population maintains with the river. Blending archive images with new technologies, the film composes a sensitive archaeology of the natural environment, while also casting a delicate gaze over a time that seems long gone.
CONSIDERING THE ENDS
In 2016, videos showing the slaughter conditions
of farm animals shocked the world of public opinion. With complicit gaze, Elsa Maury films
a young shepherd’s relationship of co-dependence with her flock of ewes, which she must learn to euthanise under the best possible conditions. Considering the Ends discusses and raises important questions about our connection to the planet and its animals.
FEATHERS
When a magic trick goes awry at a children’s birthday party, the authoritative father of the family is suddenly turned into a chicken. Winner of the Critic's Week Grand Prize at Cannes, Feathers has been hailed as "a hidden gem, a comedic drama about a woman forced to deal with the aftermath of a magic trick gone awry that uses the surreal to peck away at deeper truths.” (Hollywood Reporter)
ASCENSION
2022 Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature. Nominated for Best Documentary by the Director's Guild, Producer's Guild, Independent Spirit Awards, and Gotham Awards, and winner of Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, Ascension explores the paradoxical pursuit of wealth and progress in China. This extraordinary documentary follows factory workers, middle class consumers and elites as they chase the elusive "Chinese Dream.”
76 DAYS
On January 23rd, 2020, China locked down Wuhan, a city of 11 million, to combat the emerging COVID-19 outbreak. Set deep inside the frontlines of the crisis in four hospitals, 76 Days tells indelible human stories at the center of this pandemic. These raw and intimate stories bear witness to the death and rebirth of a city under a 76-day lockdown, and to the human resilience that persists in times of profound tragedy.
AMERICAN SELFIE: ONE NATION SHOOTS ITSELF
From celebrated filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi comes a visceral cross-country journey during one of the most tumultuous years in history. Placing viewers directly within the most consequential events of our era, American Selfie raises critical questions about the stark divisions in how Americans feel, and asks if it's possible to ever find a way to a more perfect union.
LIFT LIKE A GIRL
With the guidance of her relentless coach, a teen weightlifter emerges from a scrappy training camp in Egypt to compete at the championship level. Filmmaker Mayye Zayed intimately follows Zebiba and her coach in their challenging quest to win the next world championship over the course of four years while the stakes keep getting higher and their bonds deepen. Proving there is nothing that women can't do, the film observes the traditional gender dynamics that come into play with the male-dominated sport of weightlifting.
FUTURA
"A kaleidoscopic, open-ended collective portrait… a film that will be examined in the future for clues about what’s happening now" (NYT), Futura is an extraordinary documentary by a collective of three filmmakers known for their politically acute cinema — Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden), Francesco Munzi (Black Souls), and Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro) — who set out to interview a cross-section of their nation’s youth about their hopes, dreams, and fears for the future.
NORTH BY CURRENT
A visual rumination on the understated relationships between mothers and children, truths and myths, losses and gains. After the inconclusive death of his young niece, filmmaker Angelo Madsen Minax returns to his rural Michigan hometown, preparing to make a film about a broken criminal justice system. Instead, he pivots to excavate the depths of generational addiction, Christian fervor, and trans embodiment.
LANDSCAPES OF RESISTANCE
97-year-old antifascist fighter Sonja was one of the first female partisans in Yugoslavia and a member of the resistance in Auschwitz. By listening to Sonja’s stories, we travel through the landscapes of her revolutionary past, as her memories start to intertwine with the filmmakers’ own confrontation with the rising fascism in Europe today.
1970
1970. Striking workers in communist Poland demonstrate against price increases. In the dignitaries’ offices, tension and violent repression grow as the revolt intensifies. Using stop motion animation to bring the telephone recordings to life, Tomasz Wolski composes a highly precise and prodigious film that looks at labor and rebellion, but told from the perspective of the oppressors.
HORTON FOOTE: THE ROAD TO HOME
Chronicles the creative journey of acclaimed writer Horton Foote - a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and winner of two Academy Awards for screenwriting (Tender Mercies, To Kill a Mockingbird) - through his own eyes and voice at the end of his life. The documentary captures a personal and inside view of his life and work and it's connection his hometown.
GREY MATTER
A deeply human documentary dealing with personal aspects of the medical process, director Jan Louter follows two neurosurgeons during the treatments of various patients with brain disorders, a very intensive process for both surgeon and patient during which – besides life and death – personality, the essence of the patient, is at stake.
HEALERS
By examining bodies and exploring the corners of the human psyche, Healers draws the contours of tomorrow's medicine, and weaves a portrait of a rapidly changing healthcare system. At the intersection of generations and practices, the film questions the vocation and profound meaning of caring for others, and focuses on the human dimension of medicine in a system undergoing great change.
BOREALIS
A unique cinematic documentary that travels deep into the heart of Canada’s iconic wilderness to explore how the plants and animals that live there communicate and survive the destructive forces of fire, insects, and human encroachment. Borealis calls on the voices of scientists, Indigenous people, and environmentalists to make clear the urgent need for greater understanding and alliances with the natural world.
PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE WHISPERING WIND (New 2k Restoration)
Presented in a new 2K restoration, Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind is a visual meditation on the progressive history of the United States as seen through cemeteries, historic plaques and markers. Loosely inspired by Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States,’ visiting the resting places of such famed figures as Malcolm X, Susan B. Anthony and Crazy Horse, alongside sites of pivotal struggles, such as the 1770 Boston Massacre.
FAR FROM AFGHANISTAN
An omnibus film by five American filmmakers and a collective of young Afghan media journalists, Far From Afghanistan forms a mosaic of cinematic approaches to take a critical look at the longest overseas war in U.S. history. Inspired by the 1967 collaborative undertaking, 'Loin du Vietnam', 'Far from Afghanistan' explores, through a mosaic of approaches, issues of shared responsibility, history and memory - all in a concerted effort to help accelerate political resistance to the war.
THE MAD SONGS OF FERNANDA HUSSEIN
Shot over a period of six years on a minuscule budget and with a cast of nonprofessional actors, The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein revisits the experience of the Gulf War through a reverse lens, focusing on the war's reverberations in America. Weaving three fictional stories alongside documentary footage, interviews and a singular concert performance, creates a multi-layered text that examines the lasting ramifications of the war on three characters in New Mexico.
THE MAGNITUDE OF ALL THINGS
When Jennifer Abbott lost her sister to cancer, her sorrow opened her up to the profound gravity of climate breakdown. This cinematic journey by the Sundance award-winning director (The Corporation) takes us around the world to witness a planet in crisis: from Greta Thunberg's condemnation of world leaders to Australia’s catastrophic fires and dying Great Barrier Reef to the island nation of Kiribati, drowned by rising sea levels.
UNDER TOMORROW'S SKY
Under Tomorrow's Sky follows renowned architect Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV, whose work argues for transforming cities with “high rises on a human scale,” stacked structural volumes with open spaces and greenery around them that feel like vertical villages. This inspiring documentary shows Maas’ influence on contemporary architecture, and examines how his designs are offering innovative solutions for the city of the future.
HER SOCIALIST SMILE
Though her life generated voluminous literature, most people ignore the fact that iconic deaf-blind author Helen Keller (1880–1968) was one of the most passionate socialist advocates of her time. Continuing his work of patient and insightful political filmmaking, director John Gianvito (Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind) resurrects Keller's radical views, which have been largely suppressed or sanitized over the years.
MAURICE HINES: BRING THEM BACK
An intimate portrait of an outspoken showman who with humor and grace navigates the highs and lows of a seven-decade career, and a complex relationship with his superstar brother, Gregory Hines. Maurice and friends — Chita Rivera, Mercedes Ellington and Debbie Allen — tell tales from his seven-decade career, while reflecting on the ever-present challenges of being a gay, black man in show biz.
FRUITS OF LABOR
A Mexican-American teenage farmworker dreams of graduating high school, when ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family and force her to become her family's breadwinner. Fruits of Labor is a lyrical, coming-of-age documentary feature about adolescence, nature and how ancestors paved the way. Director Emily Cohen Ibáñez documents life guided by the spirit world through her hardships and joys in modern America.
HAMTRAMCK, USA
An incisive documentary exploring life and democracy in America's first Muslim majority city. The film follows Kamal Rahman, a Bangladeshi candidate for Mayor, Fadel al-Marsoumi, a 23 year old Iraqi immigrant for City Council, and the current mayor, Karen Majewski, Hamtramck’s first female mayor. Through the exploration of the city's rich history and this heated election, Hamtramck, USA wrestles with identity politics, power dynamics, and the immigrant experience in America.
WHERE DOES YOUR HIDDEN SMILE LIE?
Hailed by Jean-Luc Godard as "the best film ever made about editing and cinema," Pedro Costa's intimate documentary records with great sensitivity and insight the exacting process by which the iconoclastic filmmaking team of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet re-edit their film Sicilia!. They discuss (and argue) over each cut and its effect, and incorporate comments about the influence of figures as diverse as Chaplin and Eisenstein. Presented in a new digital restoration.
FORGET ME NOT
Forget Me Not follows three unwed mothers staying at a shelter in the countryside on Jeju Island-in South Korea. Each one has to decide if she wants to keep the baby or give it up for adoption. Engelstoft’s sensitive portrait brings us close to a forbidden world and through her own experience as a Korean adoptee, she gives a deeply personal and extraordinary insight into a culture in which women can't choose their own fate.
BAATO
Every winter Mikma and her family travel by foot from their village deep in the Himalaya of Nepal to sell local medicinal plants in urban markets. This year, construction of a new highway to China has begun in their roadless valley, and things are never going to be the same. With the new road will come new challenges, new opportunities, and ultimately a new way of being to those who live along its path.
ANERCA, BREATH OF LIFE
Anerca is a fascinating exploration into the breathing techniques of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic. There are two types of breathing, life-sustaining breath, and that which expresses existence. The film composes a poetic ethnography inspired by the singing, dancing, forms of contemporary existence and, above all, the vital breath of these nomad communities mistreated by history.
THE CASE YOU
Just how far is it acceptable to push actors in the name of cinema? And at what point do you cross the boundary where acting becomes sexual assault? These are the questions raised by the testimony of six young women who were manipulated and sexually abused during an audition. They are currently fighting a legal battle and have banded together to tell their story on camera, in a sort of antidote to the toxic audition.
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF BIRDS
This extraordinarily beautiful and emotionally rich documentary finds filmmaker Catarina Vasconcelos sifting through the memories and dreams of her ancestors. In prismatic images, we get the sense of a family’s entire lineage, starting with her naval officer grandfather, who married her grandmother on her 21st birthday before spending extended periods at sea. It's the beginning of a generational saga, told in shards of memory and voiceover.
AFTERNOON
Tsai Ming-Liang’s films (Days, Goodbye Dragon Inn, Rebels of the Neon God) typically have few lines of dialogue. He must have saved all his words for Afternoon, a conversation between him and his muse, actor Lee Kang-sheng, filmed in four static takes as the two sit next to each other in front of the camera. The visibly moved director talks to Lee about mortality, his beloved grandfather, sexuality, and their special bond in this laying bare of intimate thoughts. This is a must-see companion piece to Tsai’s rich body of work.
THE POWER OF KANGWON PROVINCE
Presented in a beautiful restoration and newly translated, Hong Sangsoo’s breakthrough second feature is an early masterwork from the prolific filmmaker. Playing with structure, perspective and time – elements that would become hallmarks of his later work – the film follows a young woman, Jisook, who, fresh off her relationship with a married man, joins two girlfriends for a vacation in the mountainous Kangwon region and quickly makes the same mistakes.
VIRGIN STRIPPED BARE BY HER BACHELORS
Award winning director Hong SangSoo dishes up a fresh take on modern courtship. When filmmaker Young-soo introduces his wealthy gallery owner friend Jae-hoon to another friend, the female television writer Soo-jung, the table is set for a complicated triangular relationship.
THE WORKS AND DAYS
“An utterly confident, magisterial effort that will stand the test of time [and] a salute to the possibilities provided by cinema, a celebration of life.” (Cinema Scope), The Works and Days is an eight-hour feature shot for a total of 27 weeks, over a period of 14 months, in a village of 47 inhabitants in the mountains of Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. It is a geographic description of the work and non-work of a farmer. A portrait, over five seasons, of a family. It is a film that takes the time to spend time and hear people out.
SOMETHING, ANYTHING
From award-winning filmmaker Paul Harrill (Light From Light) Something, Anything is both a meditative character study and an unconventional romance. When a tragedy shatters her plans for domestic bliss, a seemingly typical Southern newlywed gradually transforms into a spiritual seeker, quietly threatening the closest relationships around her.