Social & External
Narrator
Intimately following 1st and 6th graders at a public elementary school in Tokyo, we observe kids learning the traits necessary to become part of Japanese society.
October 1st, 1957. Dusk descends on Tiananmen Square, Peking. Fireworks crackle light across the night sky, above a city alive with National Day festivities and celebrations. Two intrepid New Zealand film-makers - Rudall and Ramai Te Miha Hayward - are there, documenting the life and times of communist China. The distinction of being the first English speaking foreigners to film unfettered in communist China was significant. The invitation to visit China was facilitated through the New Zealand China Friendship Society. They filmed in Canton, Shanghai, Peking (Beijing) and Wuhan. It was a small window of opportunity for Westerners to gaze on a country that was largely a mystery to the outside world since 1949. The unfortunate irony was that two of the documentaries; “Wonders of China”, and “Inside Red China”, were considered to be communist propaganda, and were not distributed outside of New Zealand.
Sake is a traditional alcoholic beverage from Japan and is otherwise known as rice wine. Women were prohibited from entering the many large and small sake breweries dotting Japan for centuries. However, times have changed and women are present on the sake scene today. In several cases, they are integral to the Japanese brewery business. The documentary depicts women who are not only enthusiasts, but also leaving their marks on the evolution of this Japanese mainstay.
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time.
A German Documentary about the “village of friendship” that was created by American Veteran George Mizo to help the Vietnamese kids suffering from the Vietnam War.
Looby is the story of what happens when an artist chooses to speak out. For Australian painter Keith Looby, it cost him almost everything. Winner of prestigious art prizes and collected by major galleries at home and abroad, Keith's addiction to speaking his mind has left a string of failed business relationships, marriages and friendships. Bludgeoned into coherence by the film-makers, assessed by dealers, curators, critics and fellow artists, Looby is a chance to look at a brilliant artist who had his moment in the sun, and to ask whether he should have another.
Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency is a deeply personal and candid film following Roman as he explores the mental health and suicide crisis affecting young men in the UK.
A documentary film depicting five intimate portraits of migrants who fled their country of origin to seek refuge in France and find a space of freedom where they can fully experience their sexuality and their sexual identity: Giovanna, woman transgender of Colombian origin, Roman, Russian transgender man, Cate, Ugandan lesbian mother, Yi Chen, young Chinese gay man…
Serviced explores touch based service businesses including cuddling, erotic massage, sex surrogacy and sex work. Meet the men who have foregone the 9-5 grind or are adding on a side-hustle service-based job. From cuddling to sex work we're looking at the world's oldest profession with eyes wide open.
Kazuo Hara follows Ayumi Yasutomi, a transgender candidate, who is also a Tokyo University professor, as she embarks on a national campaign for a seat in Japan's Upper House.
For four years (1977-1981) Esaias Baitel documented a violent Parisian neo-Nazi gang. Having gained their trust, he was able to get close to them. Living among the gang members, he witnessed horrific events, and while hiding his real identity, he photographed a one-of-a-kind collection of gripping stills. Over thirty years have passed. Esaias Baitel has laid his camera down. He returns to the dark nights he spent in the City of Lights, the city where he lived a double life, going back and forth from the gang to the young family he had just started.
Guy Debord's analysis of a consumer society.
Actress and Strictly Come Dancing 2021 winner Rose Ayling-Ellis reveals the daily challenges, discrimination, and barriers which are faced by deaf individuals.
Books, apps, coaching sessions: Today, happiness is everywhere. We might think that there is nothing wrong with this common-sense concern. But it’s actually the opposite of social reality. So what lies behind this contemporary obsession with happiness and the billions of euros generated by its industry? Philosophers, sociologists, economists and psychiatrists including Christophe André, Éva Illouz, Martin Seligman and Julia De Funès, confront their point of view and decipher one of the most captivating and worrying phenomena of this early century.
A documentary on the life of the youth in post-Independence India.
In the 1920s, former coal miner Harry Hoxsey claimed to have an herbal cure for cancer. Although scoffed at and ultimately banned by the medical establishment, by the 1950s, Hoxsey's formula had been used to treat thousands of patients, who testified to its efficacy. Was Hoxsey's recipe the work of a snake-oil charlatan or a legitimate treatment? Ken Ausubel directs this keen look into the forces that shape the policies of organized medicine.
This film takes us on an emotional journey from sacred ground above Byron Bay to Antarctica, Indonesia to Pakistan, and is sure to light a fire under the strongest climate change denier. THE POWER OF ACTIVISM focuses on six highly spirited female activists as they are put under the microscope to ascertain the financial impact of their environmental solutions… and the results are astonishing. From shark conservation to indigenous practices, intensive farming to plastic pollution; all their ‘causes' fall under the umbrella of "climate change", but they should also fall under the umbrella of "saving tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars!”
Manuel Horrillo has visited for 7 years the fields where the clashes between the Spanish troops and the rebels of the protectorate took place during the so-called Rif War, a forgotten war of the Spanish collective imaginary.
On June 14, 1977, the eve of the first democratic elections after Franco's regime, Llorenç Soler and his crew go out into the street and ask passers-by which party they are going to vote for.
The world watched as astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken set off to space to make history. Now, watch them live as they leave the space station and attempt to return home.
Lawyer Jimmy Donovan thinks a bicycle tour through Mexico is just the thing to keep him out of trouble until his client arrives. But when school teacher Jean Harper misses her tour bus, all of a sudden Jimmy is in for much more than he bargained for.
An archival investigation into the imperial image-making of the RAF ‘Z Unit’, which determined the destruction of human, animal and cultural life across Somaliland, as well as Africa and Asia.
Mariza is known as a thrilling live performer, and it seems clear that she responds to the audience as powerfully as they respond to her. The live album medium seems ideal for such an artist, and with Concerto em Lisboa, Mariza delivers what is undoubtedly the finest album of her still-young (though internationally renowned) career. The accompanying DVD is both full of fascinating historical information about fado music, as well as an inside look at Mariza herself, who comes across as humble, kind and incredibly down-to-earth.
3 generations of filmmakers tell a story about Brussels, 3 stories settled in the rue Saint Quentin, a forgotten street somewhere in the shadow of the European administration area.
Set primarily before the events of Kamen Rider W Forever, Kamen Rider Eternal tells the story of Daido Katsumi, the formation of NEVER, the mission that led them to target Fuuto, and reveals just how Daido obtained his Lost Driver and got his first taste of the power of Kamen Rider Eternal. As a mysterious woman retells this story to Phillip and Shotaro, they realize that Daido may not have been the simple monster he first appeared to be…
The women of the first Garífuna community in Honduras work hard for the future of their daughters. Surrounded by a dazzling landscape, they celebrate their identity and the importance of maternal figures.
Pvt. Snafu becomes a superhero, only for him to become the world's dumbest one because he won't study his field manuals.
When a crime boss is murdered while in hospital, a young woman sees the killers, but her room mate convinces her not to tell the police, fearing the consequences. Unfortunately the murderers realize that they have been seen, and kill both women. Catching the killers proves difficult as anyone who knows anything dies in unexplained circumstances. It becomes evident that a large and powerful criminal organization is behind the murders, and that they have links within the police force. It is up to Lt. Carmine to see that justice prevails, using any means necessary.
A woman living in main street goes to school in a rich environment, but she is full of loneliness. One day she saw a cloud and decided to go to Sinchon Station, so she met a new man. Her little lie started the meeting between the two.
Venu is an orphan who works as a taxi driver. He is mistakenly nabbed by the police for kidnapping Gopika Varma, an NRI girl. Will he be able to prove his innocence?
On the day of his grandma’s funeral, 17-year-old Red faces multi-generational demons in this surreal horror film exploring colonial trauma and Black family histories.
When members of a student club gather at a karaoke box, events don’t unfold in predictable ways, leading to a uniquely absurd ending when dawn breaks.
The Youghal Clock Tower is a light-hearted and playful exploration of the possibilities of animation in its infancy. In this short, the well-known landmark is depicted dancing into frame as the clock gate comes to life, spinning and dancing through the main street of the Cork town. It is likely that James Horgan was one of the earliest animators in Irish film history, as he experimented with film production techniques including stop-motion animation and the use of models, as well as retouching still photographs.
Bergman took one of his favourite plays to Copenhagen for a guest performance, which was even broadcast on Danish TV. In his Copenhagen The Misanthrope, Bergman maintained a dual approach. On the one hand, a production of Molière's play as a theatrical game performed in style and intellectually conceived; on the other hand, an exposure, through physical and psychological intensity, of the emotional tragedy in which Alceste and Celemine are both victims. Expectations were high prior to Bergman's production of The Misanthrope. A reviewer wrote, 'For the first time Molière's connection to the Danish stage is intercepted by a director whose forte is physiological tragedy, Strindberg over Holberg'. Many reviews had expected Bergman to put his very personal stamp on the production. Instead they experienced 'a clean Molière' and were struck by Bergman's faithfulness to the original mise-en-scene and to the classical rhythm of Molière's text.
Based on the life of Dolores Ibarruri (La Pasionaria), president of the PCE. The film is a documentary, prepared over three years with archive material from Moscow, Berlin, Paris, Havana, Yugoslavia and Basque and Spanish film libraries.
Bull is a darkly comic neo-noir set among the heatwave-baked skyscraper canyons of the Toronto financial district. A hapless stockbroker named Charlie finds himself caught up in a twisty web where no one — no one at all — is telling the truth. Charlie isn't very good at his job — something his powerbroker boss Jay explains to him in exactly so many words. But then Jay also offers him an opportunity: a vague and somewhat shady opportunity, sure, but Charlie doesn't have much choice. And before long Charlie finds himself mixed up with all manner of dangerous characters, persistent detectives, beautiful women wearing surprisingly little, and a threatening and mysterious individual named Roland Gow.
