The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge...

First Daughter and the Black Snake

The “Prophecy of the 7th Fire” says a “black snake” will bring destruction to the earth. For Winona LaDuke, the “black snake” is oil trains and pipelines. When she learns that Canadian-owned Enbridge plans to route a new pipeline through her tribe’s 1855 Treaty land, she and her community spring into action to save the sacred wild rice lakes and preserve their traditional indigenous way of life. Launching an annual spiritual horse ride along the proposed pipeline route, speaking at community meetings and regulatory hearings. Winona testifies that the pipeline route follows one of historical and present-day trauma. The tribe participates in the pipeline permitting process, asserting their treaty rights to protect their natural resources. LaDuke joins with her tribe and others to demand that the pipelines’ impact on tribal people’s resources be considered in the permitting process.

Pump

PUMP is a documentary that tells the story of America’s addiction to oil, from its corporate conspiracy beginnings to its current monopoly today, and explains clearly and simply how we can end it — and finally win choice at the pump. Today, oil is our only option for transportation-fuel at the pump. Our exclusive use of it has drained our wallets, increased air pollution and sent our sons and daughters to war in faraway lands. PUMP shows how, through the use of a variety of replacement fuels, we will be able to fill up our cars — cheaper, cleaner and American made — and in the process create more jobs for a stronger, healthier economy. Narrated by Jason Bateman and featuring notable experts such as John Hofmeister former President of Shell Oil, and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors, PUMP will forever change the way you think about your car — and the fuel that powers it.

The Caspian Story

A story of the exploits carried out by the oil technicians of Baku for the exploitation of the black gold deposit of the Caspian Sea.

Divertimento

BP documentary film exploring the natural beauty of oil under the microscope, and through a variety of other techniques.

The Time of the Tar Sands

A promotional video produced by the Alberta government in 1975, "The time of the tar sands", featuring Gordon Pinsent. credit: Archives of Alberta.

GasHole

Documentary film about the history of Oil prices and the future of alternative fuels. The film takes a wide, yet detailed examination of our dependence on foreign supplies of Oil. What are the causes that led to America turning from a leading exporter of oil to the world's largest importer?

Hitler's War on Oil: Objective Baku

This film tells the story of World War II as experienced by the inhabitants of Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, at the time a satellite of Moscow. The very rich oil deposits of the region aroused the covetousness of Hitler who needed the oil from Baku to carry out his program of world domination. His entire campaign of 1942-1943 was aimed at seizing them. But the Soviets and the Allies were determined to prevent him from doing so, by all means, including the most radical, even if it meant wiping the city off the map.

Beerput Nederland

Bad River

Wisconsin's tribe's ongoing fight to protect Lake Superior for future generations. "Bad River" shows the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's long history of activism and resistance in the context of continuing legal battles with Enbridge Energy over its Line 5 oil pipeline. The Line 5 pipeline has been operating on 12 miles of the Bad River Band's land with expired easements for more than a decade. The Band and the Canadian company have been locked in a legal battle over the pipeline since 2019.

H2Oil

Moving between a local microcosm and the global oil crisis, H2Oil weaves together a collection of compelling stories of people who are at the front lines of the biggest industrial project in human history: Canada's tar sands. H2Oil is a feature-length documentary that traces the wavering balance between the urgent need to protect and preserve fresh water resources and the mad clamoring to fill the global demand for oil. It is a film that asks: what is more important, water or oil? Will the quest for profit overshadow efforts to protect public health and the environment in Canada's richest province?

Topophilia

An exploration of built and natural environments along the 800-mile length of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

Riveted: The History of Jeans

Riveted: The History of Jeans reveals the fascinating and surprising story of this iconic American garment. At any given moment, half the people on the planet are wearing them. They have become a staple of clothing the world over, worn by everyone from presidents and supermodels to farmers and artists. More than just an item of apparel, America’s tangled past is woven into the indigo blue fabric. From its roots in slavery to its connection to the Wild West, youth culture, the civil rights movement, rock and roll, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop, jeans are the canvas on which the history of American ideology and politics is writ large.

Laibach ‎– A Film from Slovenia

In the video film shots from the tour are interspersed with acted scenes, video clips and theoretical reflections of Slavoj Žižek and critic Chris Bohn. Together they form a compelling story about Laibach, controversial Slovene music group in the eighties.

Digging in the Dirt

A documentary about the psychological costs of working in Alberta's oil sands and the mental health crisis that's been ignored for a decade.

Maimed Artist

Documentary that profiles Mark Pauline, the machine performance artist of Survival Research Laboratories. As the Title suggests, Pauline lost most of one hand during experimentation. 'Maimed Artist' explores the often destructive world of such performance art, where there is a fine line between entertainment and insanity.

A Scenic Harvest from the Kingdom of Pain

Documentation of three Survival Research Laboratories events, 1983-1984. Meet Stu, the SRL guinea pig, and see him training to operate the 4-legged Walking Machine, see 10-barrel shotguns, hear the "Stairway to Hell".

Fix: The Ministry Movie

Provides an insider's view of the groundbreaking, outrageous, creative juggernaut that was the band Ministry - during their world tour - as front man Al Jourgensen slips into drug addiction. Ministry made industrial rock mainstream, and along the way their music and take no prisoners lifestyle influenced the leaders of today's most important bands, many of whom are in the film.

Mechanical Principles

Close up we see pistons move up and down or side to side. Pendulums sway, the small parts of machinery move. Gears drive larger wheels. Gears within gears spin. Shafts turn some mechanism that is out of sight. Screws revolve and move other gears; a bit rotates. More subtle mechanisms move other mechanical parts for unknown purposes. Weights rise and fall. The movements, underscored by sound, are rhythmic. Circles, squares, rods, and teeth are in constant and sometimes asymmetrical motion. These human-made mechanical bits seem benign and reassuring.

Beelden van de arbeid

Short documentary showing the chain of production in Belgium.