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- DirectorUlrike KochStarsMargenPargenZoponIn Tibet's Changtang region, nomads harvest salt to buy barley. A clan prepares four of its men for an annual trek to Lake Tsento, where they rake salt from shoals into piles, then into bags, and onto their yaks to return, 90-days in all. After picking an auspicious day to depart, they feast, sing, tell stories, and race horses. Women are forbidden on this sacred trip. All is ritualized: Margen cooks, Pargen prepares burnt offerings and distributes meat, Zopon cares for the caravan of 160 yaks, Bopsa bends his strong back to arduous work. To each other they speak the secret language of saltmen; they pray and observe exemplary behavior. The goddess of the lake smiles upon them.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsMichel BouquetReinhard HeydrichHeinrich HimmlerThe history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
- DirectorAlbert MayslesDavid MayslesCharlotte ZwerinStarsPaul BrennanCharles McDevittJames BakerFour dogged door-to-door Bible salesmen travel from Boston to Florida on a seemingly futile quest to sell luxury editions of the Good Book to working-class Catholics.
- DirectorToby KeelerStarsPatricia ArquetteAngelo BadalamentiRobert BlakeFrom an early age, David Lynch was inspired by the arts and the warm inner glow that comes with the pursuit of creative expression. "Pretty as a Picture:The Art of David Lynch" examines how this modern day Renaissance man makes a motion picture, and examines, through his artistic explorations, the very nature of creativity.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsPina BauschRegina AdventoMalou AiraudoA tribute to the late German choreographer Pina Bausch, as her dancers perform her most famous creations.
- DirectorAngela ChristliebStephen KijakStarsJack AngstreichEric ChadbourneBill HeidbrederThis documentary about the culture of intense cinephilia in New York City reveals the impassioned world of five obsessed movie buffs. The filmmakers expose this delightfully deranged cult by capturing the daily lives of its members. Interviews in movie houses, on the street and in the homes of the subjects tell the story of each individual. Many cannot hold a job, or choose not to. All of them have demoted the importance of the real world, giving all of their attention to the fantasy world of the movies. These human encyclopedias of cinema see two to five films a day, and from 600 to 2,000 films per year. Many have no physical sex lives, living instead in a world of romance with stars like James Dean or Audrey Hepburn. In Cinemania, Hollywood's biggest fans become the true stars. This is the story of their lives, their memories, their unbending habits and the films they love.
- DirectorLynn TrueNelson Walker IIITsering PerloAn intimate glimpse into the experiences of a young Tibetan family struggling to reconcile their traditional way of life with a rapidly modernizing world.
- DirectorMiguel AbreuStarsSlavoj ZizekLECTURE Slavoj Zizek "Love without Mercy" Monday March 10 2003, 7:00pm Deitch Projects, 18 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10013 Presented by Foundation 20 21 Slavoj Zizek, the world-renowned philosopher and cultural theorist, held an exciting town meeting in New York City on March 10th at Deitch Projects (18 Wooster Street) in conjunction with the publication of Lacanian Ink 21. The subject of his lecture was "Love without Mercy." There were more than 600 people from all over the world packing the huge, cavernous gallery space. The police intervened to disperse the overcapacity crowd, a portion of which, unfortunately, was left outside. "The thrill of reading Zizek," says Robert Boynton in Lingua Franca, "arises in part from the collision between the insanity he finds everywhere in our psychic and social lives and the rigorous clarity with which he anatomizes its workings." Slavoj Zizek is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Social Studies, University of Ljubljana. Some of his recent books include, The Fragile Absolute - or, why is the Christian legacy worth fighting for? (2000), On Belief (2001), and Welcome to the Desert of the Real: Five Essays on September 11th and Releated Dates (2002). Lacanian Ink is a cultural magazine which focuses on the teachings of French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan. It is published biannually in New York.
- DirectorRodney AscherStarsBill BlakemoreGeoffrey CocksJuli KearnsAn exploration of various interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's horror film, The Shining (1980).
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsBalinese Tari Legong DancersNi Made Megahadi PratiwiPuti Sri Candra DewiFilmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
- DirectorCorinna BelzStarsGerhard RichterNorbert ArnsHubert BeckerA documentary on the German artist that includes glimpses at his studio, which has not been seen in decades.
- DirectorMatthew LongfellowStarsRoger WatersStorm ThorgersonNigel WilliamsonA detailed look at the production of the biggest album in the history of progressive rock and one of the best-selling albums of all time.
- DirectorJohn EdgintonStarsKirsty WarkSyd BarrettJoe Boyd"The Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story" (video release title) tells the full bizarre, tragic, but also celebratory story of Syd Barrett, the co-founder of Pink Floyd. With contributions from friends, managers, lovers and of course the members of Pink Floyd themselves. The film includes rare early television appearances of Pink Floyd and home movies too.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsMartin ScorseseWorld-renowned director Martin Scorsese narrates this journey through his favorites in Italian cinema.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsJeffe AlperiRobert ChadwickCatherine E. CoulsonA collection of visionary director David Lynch's short films from the first 29 years of his career is accompanied by a special introduction to each film by the director himself.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsFrançois WertheimerAgnès VardaJean La PlancheVarda films and interviews gleaners in France in all forms, from those picking fields after the harvest to those scouring the dumpsters of Paris.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogKlaus KinskiClaudia CardinaleThe love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.
- DirectorJørgen LethLars von TrierStarsClaus NissenMajken Algren NielsenDaniel Hernandez RodriguezFilmmaker Lars Von Trier challenges Jørgen Leth, the filmmaker behind The Perfect Human (1967), to remake his classic short under circumstances of increasing constraint.
- DirectorKim Ki-dukStarsKim Ki-dukDocumentary on director Kim Ki-Duk looking back at his film career.
- DirectorPatricio GuzmánStarsGaspar GalazLautaro NúñezLuís HenríquezA documentary about two different searches conducted in the Chilean Atacama Desert: one by astronomers looking for answers about the history of the cosmos, and one by women looking for the remains of loved ones killed by Pinochet's regime.
- DirectorChristopher KenneallyStarsDerek AmbrosiMichael BallhausAndrzej BartkowiakThe documentary investigates the history, process and workflow of both digital and photochemical film creation.
- DirectorChung-ryoul LeeStarsWon-gyoon ChoiSam-soon LeeAn elderly farmer lives out his final days with his wife and a loyal ox in the Korean countryside.
- DirectorAllan KingStarsMartin FischerChronicles 7-weeks in the lives of 12 emotionally disturbed children and their therapist's experimental method of treatment at the Toronto-area Warrendale facility.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsThe Dalai LamaLama Lhundup WoeserTakna Jigme SangpoWheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.
- DirectorHeinz BütlerStarsHenri Cartier-BressonAlexander BrooksRobert DelpireArtist Henri Cartier-Bresson comments on several of his photographs. One of the last films shot with the photographer, also featuring Robert Delpire, Elliott Erwitt, Isabelle Huppert, Josef Koudelka, Arthur Miller, and Ferdinando Scianna.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsChristie BrinkleyDavid BrinkleyPatrick DisantoAn exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.
- DirectorJacques RichardStarsHenri AlekanCatherine AllégretJo AmorinLife and work of the founder of the Cinémathèque Française.
- DirectorJeff WernerStarsFrancis Ford CoppolaMario PuzoMarlon BrandoA documentary chronicling the making of all three films in the Godfather trilogy.
- DirectorBarbara KoppleStarsWoody AllenLetty AronsonSoon-Yi PrevinAcademy Award-winner Barbara Kopple directs this documentary portrait of Academy Award and Golden Globe-winner Woody Allen, seen traveling with friends and fellow musicians during their New Orleans jazz band's 1996 European tour. Allen's relationship with his wife Soon-Yi Previn is captured on film here for the first time, and others on the European jaunt include Allen's sister Letty Aronson. Followed by press, paparazzi, and gushing admirers, Allen returns home to face a more realistic critical assessment during "the lunch from hell" with his aged parents.
- DirectorChris LeavensStarsJack NanceJohn AchornLeo BulgariniBiography of actor Jack Nance, who became famous when he appeared in the 1977 cult film "Eraserhead."
- DirectorTony GatlifStarsLa CaitaThe journey of the Romany people told through musicians and dancers of India, Egypt, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France, and Spain.
- DirectorWim WendersStarsChishû RyûWerner HerzogYûharu AtsutaMoved by the work of director Yasujirô Ozu, Wim Wenders travels to Japan in search of the Tokyo seen in Ozu's films.
- DirectorHiroshi TeshigaharaStarsIsidro Puig BoadaAntoni GaudíSeiji MiyaguchiThe work of Catalan architect Antonio Gaudí, as seen by Japanese New Wave director Hiroshi Teshigahara.
- DirectorBill WeberDavid WeissmanStarsLarry BrinkinPeggy CassThe CockettesDocumentary about the gender-bending San Francisco performance group who became a pop culture phenomenon in the early 1970s.
- DirectorGiada ColagrandeStarsMarina AbramovicRobert WilsonWillem Dafoe"Bob Wilson's Life & Death of Marina Abramovic" follows the coming together of director Robert Wilson, performance artist Marina Abramovic, singer and composer Antony Hegarty and performer Willem Dafoe, to create the experimental opera based on Marina Abramovic's biography. Through rehearsal footage and interviews with the artists as they are making the piece, we get an insight into this unique collaboration: an intimate portrait that reveals the dynamics, excitement and insecurities of making such a poetic and visually stunning theatre work.
- DirectorPip ChodorovStarsPip ChodorovKen JacobsHans RichterWhat is experimental film, and why is it called that? Artists and poet working in celluloid since before WWI have always found themselves in a no man's land. Excluded both from the art world and from the film industry, they bodly created a grassroots network for making and showing their films. They also created a profound body of work that continues to influence our culture. I wanted to share a few of the films I love and introduce you some of the free, radicals artists who made them.
- DirectorEdgar MorinJean RouchStarsAngeloNadine BallotCatherineA documentary about the everyday lives of ordinary Parisians, done in the style of cinéma vérité.
- DirectorLaurent BouzereauStarsRoman PolanskiAndrew BraunsbergPedro AlmodóvarA documentary about Roman Polanski, the man and filmmaker. Roman Polanski speaks about his eventful life story and career in conversation with Andrew Braunsberg, his former business partner, producer, and friend of many years.
- DirectorJeff Orlowski-YangStarsJames BalogSvavar JónatanssonLouie PsihoyosFollow National Geographic photographer James Balog across the Arctic as he deploys time-lapse cameras designed for one purpose: to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers.
- DirectorMel StuartStarsAdam BookspanAngelika CastanedaEric CliftonForty runners compete in the most grueling race on earth, the Badwater. The film documents the trials and tribulations of these athletes as they run 135 miles through Death Valley in July and explores the motivations behind this seemingly masochistic contest. A celebration of the perseverance of the human will beyond the limits of the human body.
- DirectorSherman De JesusStarsPiet ZwartKees BroosWim CrouwelEverything Must Change - Piet Zwart is a documentary about the influential Dutch designer Piet Zwart.
- DirectorBen ShapiroStarsRussell BanksCostanza Theodoli BraschiGregory CrewdsonA documentary shot over a decade with unprecedented access to photographer Gregory Crewdson that bares the artist's process.
- DirectorChiara ClementeStarsMarina AbramovicGhada AmerCaledonia CurryFilmed over the course of two years, "Our City Dreams" is the story of a woman's struggles and successes as an artist in New York City.
- DirectorSusan Warms DryfoosStarsJulie AndrewsLauren BacallCarol ChanningThe childhood, adolescence, and incredible adult years of Al Hirshfeld, celebrated creator of thousands of line drawings of famous people - many in the entertainment industry - over a span of more than sixty years.
- DirectorHenry CorraAlbert MayslesGrahame WeinbrenStarsChristoJeanne-ClaudeThe controversial story of the artist Christo's grand-scale environmental art project in Japan and California that ended in the tragic death of two of its spectators. At its world premiere in 1994 at the Berlin International Film Festival, Howard Feinstein of Variety praised the film as, "highly original and structurally flawless . . . an ambitious documentary about an ambitious project." Umbrellas won The Grand Prize at the Montreal International Film Festival. It was shown at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and The Louvre Museum, Paris and on the European network ARTE.
- DirectorMarion CajoriStarsJoan MitchellA powerful and intimate portrait, JOAN MITCHELL: PORTRAIT OF AN ABSTRACT PAINTER captures Mitchell's independent spirit and testifies eloquently to Mitchell's art. One of the great abstract painters of the 20th century, Mitchell was an active participant of New York's dynamic Abstract Expressionist scene and hung out with fellow painters Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning and Philip Guston, as well as poets Frank O'Hara, James Schuyler and John Ashbery. In the mid-fifties, she moved to Paris, where she was part of a circle of friends that included Pierre Matisse, Samuel Beckett and Alberto Giacometti. This elegantly edited documentary weaves together interviews with the acerbic Mitchell and other leading painters and critics, while letting her stunning pictures dominate the film. Stephen Holden of the New York Times says, "The canvases have grand chaotic romanticism. While celebrating the physical universe with an ecstatic love of color, they don't shy away from expressing a harsh, feral apprehension of nature and its violence."
- DirectorVíctor EriceStarsAntonio LópezMaría MorenoEnrique GranThe artist Antonio López tries to capture the sunlight hitting his quince tree all autumn, but the struggle seems futile.
- DirectorEmile de AntonioStarsPhilip LeiderLeo CastelliWillem de KooningThe definitive documentary on the New York School Painters. Featuring footage of all the major figures of the New York Art Scene between 1940-1970, showing many of the artists before they became famous.
- DirectorIra WohlStarsIra WohlPhilip WohlZero MostelIn this documentary, the director follows the day-to-day activities of his mentally ill, middle-aged cousin Philly, over a three-year period.
- DirectorCharles KiselyakStarsSeymour CasselCarol KaneJon VoightA look at the life, times, and art of independent film pioneer John Cassavetes through interviews with his family, friends, and admirers of his work.
- DirectorYann Arthus-BertrandMichael PitiotStarsJosh DuhamelSharon MannDive into our planet's greatest mysteries with a team of international underwater cinematographers as they explore the breathtaking bond between humanity and the ocean.
- DirectorKirby DickAmy ZieringStarsJacques DerridaMarguerite DerridaRené MajorDocumentary about French philosopher (and author of deconstructionism) Jacques Derrida, who sparked fierce debate throughout American academia.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsColman 'Tiger' KingMaggie DirraneMichael DirraneIn this blend of documentary and fictional narrative from pioneering filmmaker Robert Flaherty, the everyday trials of life on Ireland's unforgiving Aran Islands are captured with attention to naturalistic beauty and historical detail.
- DirectorBen WrightStarsSlavoj ZizekIn this tour de force filmed lecture, Slavoj Zizek lucidly and compellingly reflects on belief - which takes him from Father Christmas to democracy - and on the various forms that belief takes, drawing on Lacanian categories of thought. In a radical dismissal of todays so called post-political era, he mobilizes the paradox of universal truth urging us to dare to enact the impossible. It is a characteristic virtuoso performance, moving promiscuously from subject to subject but keeping the larger argument in view. Based at Ljubliana University, Slavoj Zizek's main body of work includes Welcome to the Desert of the Real and, most recently, The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsNoam ChomskyMichel GondryRichard FeynmanA series of interviews featuring linguist, philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky done in hand-drawn animation.
- DirectorBari PearlmanDAUGHTERS OF WISDOM is an intimate portrait of the nuns of Kala Rongo, a rare and exceptional Buddhist Monastery exclusively for women situated in Nangchen, in remote and rural northeastern Tibet. These nuns are receiving religious and educational training previously unavailable to women, and playing an unprecedented role in preserving their rich cultural heritage even as they slowly reshape it. They graciously allow the camera a never-before-seen glimpse into their vibrant spiritual community and insight into their extraordinary lives. Some shy, some outspoken, all are committed to the often difficult life they have chosen, away from the yak farms and herding families of their birth. It is the story of their spiritual community, one that couldn't have existed 20 years ago but is thriving today.
- DirectorSteven SebringStarsPatti SmithLenny KayeOliver RayAn intimate portrait of poet, painter, musician and singer Patti Smith that mirrors the essence of the artist herself.
- DirectorSophie FiennesStarsAnselm KieferBill KatzKlaus DermutzStarting in 2000, German artist Anselm Kiefer began constructing a series of large elaborate structures, comprising 48 buildings, a labyrinth of tunnels, bridges, lakes and towers. The film bears witness to an incredible creative process.
- DirectorMiguel Gonçalves MendesStarsJoão AfonsoÀngels BarcelóPilar del RíoA documentary on Nobel Prize Winner José Saramago and his feelings over his wife, his country and life, as a whole.
- DirectorLeon FergusonStarsMark KermodeDario ArgentoJohn CarpenterDocumentary that explores Argento's film career.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWalter SteinerWerner HerzogA study of the psychology of a champion ski-jumper, whose full-time occupation is carpentry.
- DirectorMika MattilaStarsLiu GangGuangyi WangShu QunThrough the lives of two contemporary artists, Chimeras freeze-frames China at the moment when its aspirations are at war with its sense of identity.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobbie RobertsonMuddy WatersNeil YoungA film account and presentation of the final concert of The Band.
- DirectorAndrew SoltStarsJohn LennonYoko OnoPaul McCartneyA biography of the rock music star.
- DirectorYves MontmayeurStarsMichael HanekeJean-Louis TrintignantYves MontmayeurMichael Haneke, theorists of the image that knows better than any other the dregs of our society with their existential fears and emotional derail ment to bring to light - a portrait.
- DirectorWilliam GreavesStarsAudrey HeninghamShannon BakerMarcia KarpIn Central Park, 1968, a director shot scenes of a young couple whose marriage was falling apart - 35 years later they are back in Central Park as the director relentlessly pursues the ever-elusive symbiopsychotaxiplasmic moment.
- DirectorSteve YeagerStarsJohn WatersPat WatersJohn Waters Sr.The life and times of Baltimore film maker and midnight movie pioneer, John Waters. Intercut with a 1972 interview of Waters are clips from his first films and recent interviews with his parents, his brother, Divine's mom, actors and crew, other directors, film critics, a film curator, psychologists, and Maryland's last censor, who shudders at the memory of Waters's pictures. Also included is footage of Waters making his early movies, culminating in an up-close and in-depth look at Pink Flamingos: the script, the set, the filming conditions, its editing, its distribution, and its impact. In sweet ways, this documentary is also a celebration of Divine (1945-1988).
- DirectorDamian PettigrewStarsFederico FelliniRoberto BenigniLuigi 'Titta' BenziA look at Fellini's creative process. In extensive interviews, Fellini talks a bit about his background and then discusses how he works and how he creates. Several actors, a producer, a writer, and a production manager talk about working with Fellini. Archive footage of Fellini and others on the set plus clips from his films provide commentary and illustration for the points interviewees make. Fellini is fully in charge; actors call themselves puppets. He dismisses improvisation and calls for "availability." His sets and his films create images that look like reality but are not; we see the differences and the results.
- DirectorMichal LeszczylowksiStarsErland JosephsonAndrei TarkovskyLarisa TarkovskayaDocumentary on the making of "The Sacrifice."
- DirectorElijah DrennerStarsRobert ForsterEric SchaeferEddie MullerA documentary about the history of exploitation movies, from the silent-film era to the 1970s.
- DirectorRithy PanhStarsRandal DoucJean-Baptiste PhouRithy Panh uses clay figures, archival footage, and his narration to recreate the atrocities Cambodia's Khmer Rouge committed between 1975 and 1979.
- DirectorStephanie SprayPacho VelezStarsChabbi Lal GandharbaAnish GandharbaBindu GayekA documentary about a group of pilgrims who travel to Nepal to worship at the legendary Manakamana temple.
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsFritz LangAlfreda KlebingerManfred EllingerA documentary that reveals what its subjects do in their respective basements.
- DirectorTed DemmeRichard LaGraveneseStarsFrancis Ford CoppolaWilliam FriedkinRobert AltmanA documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential directors of that time.
- DirectorArnold GlassmanTodd McCarthyStuart SamuelsStarsConrad L. HallJohn BaileyVilmos ZsigmondCameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography, illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from The Birth of a Nation (1915) to Do the Right Thing (1989).
- DirectorJames ChressanthisStarsKaren BlackPeter BogdanovichSandra BullockThe lifelong friendship of the great Hungarian-born cinematographers László Kovács and Vilmos Zsigmond and their impact on American cinema.
- DirectorTheodoros AngelopoulosVicente ArandaJohn BoormanStarsPernilla AugustMax von SydowMerzak Allouache40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière brothers.
- DirectorChris MarkerStarsShigehiko HasumiChris MarkerAkira KurosawaA documentary that shows the production of Ran and discusses the film techniques of Kurosawa himself.
- DirectorMarie NyrerödStarsIngmar BergmanErland JosephsonMarie NyrerödAll three documentaries were mainly shot in the home of Ingmar Bergman. This was the first time ever that a filmmaker had access to Ingmar Bergman in his home at the small island Fårö in the Baltic Sea. 'Bergman and Cinema' starts with "Frenzy" from 1944 and ends with "Saraband" from 2003. It contains unique behind-the-scenes material from Bergman's private archive. 'Bergman and Theatre' is about some of Bergman's 125 theatrical stagings and about his delight with the TV medium, with successes as "Scenes from a Marriage". In 'Bergman and Fårö Island' he talks about the childhood that shaped him. He shows where he shot his film "Persona" and fell in love - and he lists his worst demons.
- DirectorJose Antonio VargasAnn LupoStarsEmelie SalinasLeonila SalinasJose Antonio VargasIn 2011, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times Magazine. 'Documented' chronicles his journey to America from the Philippines as a child; his journey through America as an immigration reform activist/provocateur; and his journey inward as he re-connects with his mother, whom he hasn't seen in 20 years.
- DirectorForugh FarrokhzadStarsForugh FarrokhzadEbrahim GolestanHossein MansouriSet in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
- DirectorWendy AppleStarsKathy BatesZach StaenbergJodie FosterDocumentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
- DirectorPeter WintonickStarsJean-Pierre BeauvialaMichel BraultGillian CaldwellThis is a documentary about direct-cinema from its very beginnings (Nanook of the North) to the fake-direct-cinema of the Blair Witch Project. All the important direct-cinema filmmakers are portrayed and/or interviewed: Leacock, Wiseman, Maysles, Pennebaker, Reisz and others.
- DirectorWang BingThe impact of the decline of heavy industry on workers and their families in the Tiexi district of Shenyang, China, at the turn of the 21st century, documented unflinchingly by a fly-on-the-wall camera.
- DirectorXin XuThe film opens on the morning of December 8th 2007, in Karamay's Xiaoxihu cemetery. Daybreak casts a cold grey light over faraway mountains and the Gobi sands. As the camera moves from grave to grave, it zeroes in on the photographs encased in glass on every tombstone. All are of children. Exactly 13 years ago, Karamay's Friendship Hall was the site of a horrible tragedy: nearly 800 grade and middle-school students and their teachers, hand-picked to entertain a delegation of education officials, were in the midst of a performance when a fire broke out in the hall. The students were instructed to remain in their seats so that the visiting executives could exit first. By the time the fire had been contained, 323 people had perished, 288 of them children between the ages of 6 and 14. All of the officials survived. After the tragedy, the story was heavily censored in the Chinese state media. To this day, the families of Karamay have not been allowed to publicly mourn their children.
- DirectorJiayin LiuStarsHuifen JiaJiayin LiuZaiping LiuThe director shows herself and her parents making dumplings in their apartment with nine fixed camera positions, with which she revolves around the kitchen table.
- DirectorBenjamin ChristensenStarsBenjamin ChristensenElisabeth ChristensenMaren PedersenFictionalized documentary showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in Eastern Europe.
- DirectorMojtaba MirtahmasbJafar PanahiStarsJafar PanahiIgiMrs. GheiratIt's been months since Jafar Panahi, stuck in jail, has been awaiting a verdict by the appeals court. By depicting a day in his life, Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb try to portray the deprivations looming in contemporary Iranian cinema.
- DirectorBrett IngramStarsGeorge BickfordBruce BickfordGreg McClellanMonster Road explores the wildly fantastic worlds of legendary underground clay animator Bruce Bickford. Tracing the origins of his remarkably unique sensibility, the film journeys back to Bickford's childhood in a competitive household during the paranoia of the Cold War and examines his relationship with his father, George, who is facing the onset of Alzheimer's Disease. Bickford's films, especially the dark and magical clay animations he created for Frank Zappa in the 1970s, have achieved cult status worldwide. Entirely self-taught, the 56-year-old Bickford works alone in a makeshift basement studio in his house near Seattle. Bickford's father George, a retired Boeing engineer of the Cold War era, is the other main character. George's talent for maximizing the space inside airplanes and missiles parallels his son's animations, which often contain dozens of inch-tall figures fighting battles on a tiny set. George's wondrous musings about the universe reveal a deep admiration for the implicit architect of such splendor while atheism prevents him from admitting the possibility of a God. Along with the wonder of creation, George considers the pain of a life spent disengaged from his family and centered on the imperfections in those around him.
- StarsJoseph CampbellBill MoyersGeorge LucasMythologist Joseph Campbell presents his ideas about comparative mythology and the ongoing role of myth in human society.
- DirectorJesper WachtmeisterStarsTadao AndôSverre FehnKristian GullichsenKOCHUU is a visually stunning film about modern Japanese architecture, its roots in the Japanese tradition, and its impact on the Nordic building tradition. Winding its way through visions of the future and traditional concepts, nature and concrete, gardens and high-tech spaces, the film explains how contemporary Japanese architects strive to unite the ways of modern man with the old philosophies in astounding constructions. KOCHUU, which translates as "in the jar," refers to the Japanese tradition of constructing small, enclosed physical spaces, which create the impression of a separate universe. The film illustrates key components of traditional Japanese architecture, such as reducing the distinction between outdoors and indoors, disrupting the symmetrical, building with wooden posts and beams rather than with walls, modular construction techniques, and its symbiotic relationship with water, light and nature. The film illustrates these concepts through remarkable views of the Imperial Katsura Palace, the Todai-Ji Temple, the Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum, the Sony Tower, numerous teahouses and gardens (see link below for complete list), as well as examples of the cross-fertilization evidenced in buildings throughout Scandinavia, and shows how 'invisible' Japanese traditions are evident even in modern, high-tech buildings. KOCHUU also features interviews with some of Japan's leading architects as well as Scandinavian contemporaries including Pritzker Prize winners Tadao Ando and Sverre Fehn, Toyo Ito, Kazuo Shinohara, Kristian Gullichsen and Juhani Pallasmaa (see link below for complete list and bios). KOCHUU is a compelling illustration of how the aesthetics of Japanese architecture and design are expressed through simple means, and also shows that the best Japanese architecture, wherever it appears, expresses spiritual qualities that enrich human life.
- DirectorCao GuimarãesStarsGaúchoNercinoPaulãoThree lonely drifters follow different paths on the roads of northeastern Minas Gerais, Brazil. A film about the connections between walking and thinking, in which the ever-changing nature of things turns life into a place of mere passing.
- DirectorLiv CorfixenStarsLiv CorfixenNicolas Winding RefnRyan GoslingLiv Corfixen documents her husband, filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, during the production and release of his movie Only God Forgives (2013).
- DirectorJuliano Ribeiro SalgadoWim WendersStarsSebastião SalgadoWim WendersLélia Wanick SalgadoThe life and work of photographer Sebastião Salgado, who has spent forty years documenting societies in hidden corners of the world.
- DirectorPan NalinStarsBhole BabaHatha Yogi BabaPant Shirt BabaA Sadhu who renounced the society, adopts a baby renounced by society.
- DirectorRobert KennerStarsFrederick SingerNaomi OreskesJamy Ian SwissA documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.
- DirectorSergei EisensteinThe story of Russian director Sergei Eisenstein in Mexico trying to film his unfinished Que Viva Mexico (1979).