Merton: A Film Biography

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?

Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker. Through animation, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments, director Barbara Caspar explores Acker's colorful history, from her well-heeled upbringing to her role as the scribe of society's fringe.

Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive

How the inventor of the detective story became his own greatest mystery.

My Grandmother's Mother Told My Grandmother

Gathered by a theater company, a small town in Chile called Villa Alegre, looks deep into its origins and myths to tell their own history through a play.

Nin E Tepueian: My Cry

NIN E TEPUEIAN - MY CRY is a documentary tracks the journey of Innu poet, actress and activist, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, at a pivotal time in her career as a committed artist. Santiago Bertolino's camera follows a young Innu poet over the course of a year. A voice rises, inspiration builds; another star finds its place amongst the constellation of contemporary Indigenous literature. A voice of prominent magnitude illuminates the road towards healing and renewal: Natasha Kanapé Fontaine.

Albert Camus, la tragédie du bonheur

Sonar Rock City: Seattle

Sonar Rock City: Seattle is a journey through the city that caught our attention back in 1992 thanks to the grunge movement which today no longer exists. Still today the creative spirit runs through its veins with a new music scene that captures what Seattle is in its core.

¿Cómo, por qué y para qué se asesina un general?

Documentary short about the death of Chilean general René Schneider by the CIA, following the election of Salvador Allende as president of the nation.

Being in a Place: A Portrait of Margaret Tait

Drawing on a wealth of unseen archival material and unpublished notebooks, the film weaves a complex and personal portrait of Margaret’s life, from the perspective of a fellow artist sensitive to the potential Margaret envisaged for film as a poetic medium.

Cybersocialism: Project Cybersyn & The CIA Coup in Chile

A documentary on the rise and fall of Project Cybersyn, an attempt at a computer-managed centralized economy undertaken in Chile during the presidency of Salvador Allende.

Rumi: The Dance of Love

A dramatised documentary about the life of Rumi, a Persian mystical poet whose images of universal love and divine mystery continue to be celebrated more than 700 years after his death.

Dans les yeux d'Elsa Triolet

Portrait of the writer Elsa Triolet, wife of poet Louis Aragon. The tile is a play on a famous poem by Louis Les yeux d'Elsa.

Journey of Akaki Tsereteli in Racha-Lechkhumi

The first Georgian full-length documentary follows the trip of the “king of Georgian poetry”, Akaki Tsereteli, to Racha and Lechkhumi, and his relationships with the people living in the mountainous areas of Western Georgia

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

Poet, singer / songwriter and ladies man Leonard Cohen is interviewed in his home about his life and times. The interview is interspersed with archive photos and exuberant praise and live perfomances from an eclectic mix of musicians, including: Jarvis Cocker, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, ANOHNI, The Handsome Family and U2's Bono and The Edge.

Stéphane Mallarmé

Stéphane Mallarmé is one of the many educational documentaries that Éric Rohmer did for the television during the 1960’s. At the beginning of the film, Rohmer states that he has placed in Mallarmé’s mouth words taken from an interview with the writer by Jules Heuret published in 1891.

Trudell

A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances, and politics.

San Pedro de Atacama

Report on the town of San Pedro which exists in the middle of the desert and at over 2,430 meters above sea level. It also deals with the work of priest Gustavo Le Paige and the museum he helped develop.

The Eyes of Dante

He is considered the greatest European poet of the Middle Ages and his work unfolds the whole panopticon of occidental education – theology, philosophy, sciences, politics and literature. But who has really read it, the “Divine Comedy”? Who knows more of its creator Dante Alighieri than that he had an eagle-like profile and was in love with a woman named Beatrice? 700 years after Dante’s death, the filmmaker Adolfo Conti travels through Italy with Dante’s words in mind and eyes to see the world as Dante did. As the film encounters the beauty of arts and the Tuscan landscape, the forces of nature, a dramatic life story is unfolded.

Aufenthaltserlaubnis

It follows Chilean writer Antonio Skármeta as he celebrates the end of the autocrats. Cheerful farewell rituals accompany others facing political persecution on their way to fly home.

Burns in the USA

Robert Burns was well aware of the revolution taking place across the Atlantic as he grew up. The poet was inspired. And America was to be inspired by him. From Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglass, and Walt Whitman to Bob Dylan, some of the most significant figures in American politics and culture have cited Burns as an influence.