Documentary

  • Volker Schaner – Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision of Paradise (2015)

    2011-2020DocumentaryGermanyVolker Schaner

    Quote:
    A thrilling, poetic narration with the legendary Lee Scratch Perry, this movie is a unique project in many ways: it’s not a biography but rather a fairytale documentary! The director followed Lee Perry for 15 years and discovered a story that is almost impossible to believe: a revelation, told about and with one of the major protagonists of contemporary music. It is a mind-blowing encounter with „The Prophet“ of the international Rastafari movement, one of the icons of the Black Power movement and “the” inventor of reggae and dub and it is also a humorous adventure of epic dimensions. The movie can be seen as a guide for how to change the world with music – with a positive attitude, mindset or, as Lee Perry calls it: “vibration”.Read More »

  • Cyrill Schläpfer – Ur-Musig (1993)

    1991-2000Cyrill SchläpferDocumentaryPerformanceSwitzerland

    Quote:
    This movie is about traditional swiss folkmusic has a lot more to offer than only folklore. “UR-Musig” is about the work and life of mountain peasants in the midst of archaic mountain landscapes. It is about traditional swiss architecture and interior decorations, about peoples and their garbs. There are not many dialogs and no narrator. The pictures speak for themselves. The Swiss Prealps are shown in all four seasons and in all thinkable weathers which make every landscape shot more breathtaking than the other.Read More »

  • Leni Riefenstahl – Olympia 2. Teil – Fest der Schönheit AKA Olympia 2: Festival of Beauty (1938)

    Documentary1931-1940Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtGermanyLeni Riefenstahl

    Quote:
    After being commissioned by the 1936 Olympic Committee to create a feature film of the Berlin Olympics, Riefenstahl shot a documentary that celebrates the human body by combining the poetry of bodies in motion with close-ups of athletes in the heat of competition. The production tends to glorify the young male body and, some say, expresses the Nazi attitude toward athletic prowess. Miss Riefenstahl captures the grace of athletes during field hockey, soccer, bicycling, equestrian, aquatic and gymnastic events. Highlights are the Pentathlon and the Decathlon, which was won by American Glenn Morris; it ends with the triumphant conclusion of the games.Read More »

  • Leni Riefenstahl – Olympia 1. Teil – Fest der Völker AKA Olympia 1: Festival of the Nations (1938)

    Documentary1931-1940Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtGermanyLeni Riefenstahl

    Quote:
    After being commissioned by the 1936 Olympic Committee to create a feature film of the Berlin Olympics, Riefenstahl shot a documentary that celebrates the human body by combining the poetry of bodies in motion with close-ups of athletes in the heat of competition. Includes the marathon, men’s diving, and American track star Jesse Owen’s sprint races at the 1936 Olympic games. The production tends to glorify the young male body and, some say, expresses the Nazi attitude toward athletic prowess. Includes the lighting of the torch at the stadium and Adolf Hitler looking on in amazement as Jesse Owens wins an unprecedented four Gold MedalsRead More »

  • Jørgen Leth – At danse Bournonville AKA Dancing Bournonville (1979)

    1971-1980DenmarkDocumentaryJørgen LethPerformance

    At danse Bournonville is a portrait of the Bournonville tradition at the Royal Danish ballet that has survived for 150 years on the basis of a few notes and the memories of the dancers and is the basis of the special nature and global reputation the company enjoys. The film was created in continuation of, and drawing on, Leth and Holmberg’s experience in making Peter Martins – en danser.Read More »

  • Spike Lee – When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts [+ Epilogue] (2006)

    2001-2010DocumentarySpike LeeTVUSA

    Synopsis
    Spike Lee’s award-winning documentary follows the events that preceded and followed Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic passage through New Orleans in 2005.Read More »

  • Janelle Balnicke & David Kennard – The Hero’s Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell (1987)

    1981-1990David KennardDocumentaryJanelle BalnickeUSA

    Quote:
    Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, a scholar who achieved legendary status as an explicator of myths, is reverently profiled in this documentary that encompasses his long life and career. During his childhood in New York City, Campbell was taken to see “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Show at Madison Square Garden. Young Campbell was fascinated by the Native Americans in Cody’s performing troupe and eventually became obsessed with mythology. Read More »

  • Xu Xin – A Yangtze Landscape (2017)

    2011-2020ChinaDocumentaryXu Xin

    Synopsis
    A Yangtze Landscape utilizes a non-narrative style, setting off from the Yangtze’s marine port Shanghai, filming all the way to the Yangtze River’s source, Qinghai/Tibet – filming a total distance of thousands of kilometers. Experimental music and noise recorded live on scene are used in post-production, painstakingly paired with relatively independent visuals, creating a magically realistic atmosphere contrasted with people seeming to be ‘decorative figures’ right out of traditional Chinese landscape scrolls.Read More »

  • Ulrike Ottinger – Paris Calligrammes [German narration] (2020)

    2011-2020ArthouseDocumentaryGermanyUlrike Ottinger

    “In 1962, as a young artist, I came to live and work in Paris. That period until 1969, when I left the city, was not only one of the most formative for me, it was also an era of intellectual, political, and social upheaval in modern history. The film Paris Calligrammes combines my personal memories of the 1960s with a portrait of the city and a social cartography of the age. Like Guillaume Appolinaire’s poetry collection ‘Calligrammes: Poems of Peace and War’, I have given it the form of a filmic “picture-poem” (calligram) in which the words and images, complemented by language, sound, and music, form a mosaic that emerges from the vivacity of those exciting years while speaking to the fragility of all cultural and political achievements.” ––Ulrike OttingerRead More »

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