The director of this film was killed whilst making it; however, this powerful documentary is not only about the rights and wrongs of the Palestine/Israeli confrontation. Instead, it presents an impartial view of the influence war has on the innocents. Caught in the vicious circle of violence that perpetuates the conflict, three children in the
An intimate look at the daily lives of three widows who live in the heart of Hebron, in a building which straddles two worlds: the front controlled by Israel, the back by the Palestinian Authority. In a world where Israeli soldiers, curfews and street fighting are the only certainties, they reflect on the pros and
Winner of twelve international awards, this documentary is set in a courtroom in central Tehran and follows a number of women who come before a non-plussed judge and, by turn, use whatever they can—reason, argument, charm, outrage, pleas for sympathy, patience—to secure their rights. With the barest of commentary and fly-on-the-wall invisibility, the camera is
Remarkably, the CIA never put hand to the extensive 8mm footage of the group that they filmed of themselves, here inter-cut with contemporary interviews of the group, friends and family. Daniele, now a fortune-teller and future consultant, reading tea cups, appears endlessly amused by the quixotic idealism of his youth… This film is a revealing
Dogtown: a 1970s Santa Monica seaside slum and extreme surfers’ paradise. Z-Boys: an ethnically diverse, street-smart, naughty crew of innovative boys and a girl who trashed the cutie-pie competition standard of skateboarding with their radical surf-inspired manoeuvres. Their influence catapulted the sport into a high-flying, multi-million dollar celebrity industry. Sean Penn narrates this exuberant and
Antoinette, Linda, Zandi and Shameena. Four young women, who grew up in four radically different worlds, explore one topic: their sexuality. Through a series of sensitively dramatised, though sometimes disturbing, interviews, they recount pivotal moments of trauma and ecstasy in their sexual development. Along the way – interspersed with street takes of teens airing their
While Che is idolised, the reality of his activism is often lost behind the icon. Dindo’s film gives substance to the legend. In 1961 Guevara became a minister in Castro’s government. In this capacity, in Algiers in 1965, he delivered a powerful speech indicting socialist powers for exploiting the Third World and, in effect, colluding
We are pleased to present a ‘work in progress’ about Cape Town’s Black River and the musicians who live along its banks. This is a hugely enjoyable exploration of musical styles and musicians’ fantasies. Musings on the much-maligned river provide ingenious links between the four segments. Close-up camera work provides a feast of visual detail.
Sami is your classic kid from a broken home. His mother was abandoned by her Yemeni husband, single-handedly raised her children in a Copenhagen slum and turned to alcoholism; his adored older brother committed suicide out of helpless despair. Sami, now a movie director, decides to make sense of his squalid upbringing by tracking down
Bernd Fischer’s stylishly shot, bittersweet introduction to his home town Dachau explores the conflicting emotions Nazi atrocities still evoke among Germans. The result is tragicomedy rather than Sturm und Drang: officials downplay the concentration camp memorial as a tourist attraction, preferring to focus on enticements like a pumpkin carving competition or the annual turnip week;
The search for the meaning of life takes many paths and has taken this filmmaker all around the world. It is a contemplative tale of the lengths, highs and depths to which humans will go in search of the sublime. From a gathering of ecstatic, waving Christians whose church is in the flight path of
In 1997, the responsibility of defending our “higher” intelligence was laid at the feet of Garry Kasparov. He rose to the ultimate challenge in the guise of a chess-match against IBM’s Deep Blue. Pitching the human brain against the mathematical machine captured the world’s imagination. The media-coverage of this symbolic event ensured that it was
Documentary meets Art House meets home video in this hard-hitting, hyper-real ride through the lives of eight Swiss teenagers as they face the challenge of entering life-after-school. With a “mother-fucker” and a roll of the eyes they take us on a breakbeat journey through their classroom, bedrooms, nightclubs, their secrets, their telephone conversations, their politics.
This recently re-released vérité classic has lost none of its power to engross and infuriate. Shot over five weeks in a decaying mansion called Grey Gardens, it catalogues in excruciating detail the world – both inner and outer – inhabited by Edie and her mother, Jacqueline Onassis’ aunt Edith Bouvier Beale. Edie gave up the
The conflicting passions of Hephzibah Menuhin’s remarkable life are laid bare in this insightful portrayal of an unacknowledged musical genius. Hephzibah toured the world giving concerts with her celebrated brother Yehudi before marrying an Australian sheep farmer at 18. Her eloquent letters, illustrated by home and archive footage, and interviews with family members, narrate her
For a year a film crew followed Bret Hart, five times’ champion of the World Wrestling Federation, hoping for an unprecedented look behind the scenes. What they got was the most dramatic story in the history of wrestling. Granted unique access, director Paul Jay got beyond the tightly guarded walls of wrestling morality plays. As
Not venturing far from his own reality, legendary filmmaker, Kossakovsky has created an elegant, amusing piece of visual poetry out of the most unexpected subject matter. Not moving from the few square metres of his street-facing window, he records a year in the life of an inconsequential street in St Petersburg. Although the main fascination
In a tender and playful cinematic eulogy to his infant daughter Ella, Rosenblatt juxtaposes the film industry’s technical terms and jargon with adoring footage of Ella’s emotional, physical and communicational development. This endearing film is the record of a proud father falling deeply in love with his daughter, and her increasing understanding of how to
With personal histories as a starting point and a healthy dose of irony, seven young filmmakers examine concepts of what it means to be ‘Swiss’. The sons and daughters of immigrants, Italians, Indians, Egyptians and Moroccan Jews among them, and with the ‘cultural baggage’ of their ancestors, they address issues of immigration, emigration and duty
A wonderfully well-balanced and quietly chilling account of the infamous Filipino dictator’s wife, and renowned shoe-fetishist, Imelda Marcos, that tiptoes along the fine line between the eulogy that Imelda imagined the filmmakers were making, and concise insights into a brutal 21 year reign of corruption (1965-86) that she refuses to acknowledge. Beautifully coifed, we listen
In Moroccan society, youth, virginity and submission are highly prized commodities. The price Ouazzani pays for rejecting these values is to be cast out of her father’s house for sixteen years. This is the story of Ouazzani’s stormy relationship with her father, her mother’s marriage and suicide, her grandparents’ unhappy union, and the joyful preparations
Oscar winner Jayanti has directed a most intimate and revealing glimpse of the troubled soul of crime writer James Ellroy. During a series of meals and eerie night drives with LAPD homicide detectives, Ellroy mulls over gruesome unsolved murders – his mother’s included – reconstructing in chilling detail one crime scene after another. It’s an
Bert Stern, the last person to photograph Marilyn Monroe alive, captures the mood of Americana. It’s the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival where, for two days and nights, music legends Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Mahalia Jackson, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, Anita O’Day (but to name a few!) play and sing for audiences clearly enraptured.
Our synopsis in 2001: Not only is he dead, but he’s also lost his head… since the completion of this film, Strijdom Square collapsed, ironically, on what was Republic Day and Strijdom’s head literally rolled. So here’s a real piece of history… the Square was once the domain of white order and supremacy, then it