Documentary

‘Let us declare that the state of war does exist and shall exist’, the revolutionary patriot had said almost a hundred years ago, and that forewarning travels into India’s present, as armed insurrection simmers in Bastar, in the troubled heart of central India. To the east too, beleaguered adivasis from the mineral-rich hills of Odisha come forth bearing their axes, and their songs. And in the north the swelling protests by Punjabi peasants sees hope coagulate – once more – around that iconic figure of Bhagat Singh, revolutionary martyr of the anti-colonial struggle. Read More »

Quote:
A documentary on the student movement in Mexico, 1968, made by film students

Quote:
A documentary of the conflicts that arose in Mexico in 1968, just before the Olympic Games, between students protesting against the corrupt government, and the police and armed forces. This documentary was made by film students, and remains one of the few graphic testimonies of all the events that led to the massacre of students in Tlatelolco.Read More »

This two-and-a-half-hour documentary by Japanese master Ogawa Shinsuke (1935-1992) is part of his seven-film series in which he documented the fight of students and local peasants against the construction of the monstrous Narita airport, against the expropriation of their farmland and their resettlement and the violent clashes between protesters and the police in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.Read More »

Quote:
The word protected, the words embodied

Essay from the booklet:
Spoiler
This film was born out of the encounter with a man, Fara Bâ. He wanted to testify in order not to forget those who were political prisoners at the fort of Ouatala ten years before, for having opposed the racial segregation they suffered as black people. Many of his companions died there. It is the testimonies of these former prisoners, those who survived prison, which Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd is going to collect over a ten-year period, without any camera. When it became necessary to make a film out of this, upon the request of Fara Bâ, only the words mattered. The film was to be constructed on the narrative of these years of detention, a narrative co-written with the film-maker on the basis of the testimonies of the group of survivors. Fara Ba is their spokesperson. His voice is the one which tells and it overshadows that of the film-maker whose presence vanishes for the duration of a film. The starting point is this encounter and not an intention or vision of the film-maker. The necessity of tt1e film does not come from him at first. The images are claimed by the narrative, told by the man’s voice, “spokesvoice” for his companions.Read More »

rare documentary about Fassbinder works in theatreRead More »

Her first foray into documentary filmmaking was a short called Green Street (1959), a look at an over-loaded freight train departing from Prague. Though only nine minutes in length, Chytilová’s astute editing ensured a visual spectacle.

An early rare documentary by Věra Chytilová!Read More »

What do the films Casablanca, Blazing Saddles, and West Side Story have in common? Besides being popular, they have also been deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” by the Library of Congress and listed on the National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures.

For more than two decades, since the passage of the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, the Librarian of Congress [sic]–with input from the public and advice from the National Film Preservation Board–has selected 25 films every year to add to the Registry. The current list of 550 films includes selections from every genre: documentaries, home movies, Hollywood classics, avant-garde, newsreels, and silent films; and these movies tell us much about ourselves and the American experience–shining light on not just what we did, but what we thought, what we felt, what we imagined, what we aspired to…and the lies we told ourselves.Read More »

Quote:
Daniel Johnston, manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist is revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love. The Devil and Daniel Johnston is a 2005 documentary film about the noted American musician Daniel Johnston. It chronicles Johnston’s life from childhood up to the present, with an emphasis on his experiences with bipolar disorder, and how it manifested itself in demonic self-obsession.Read More »

Quote:
The ideas and concept behind Exhibitionist originate as far back as early 1996. As Jeff Mills constantly searches for new innovative territory, he arrived at this subject of simulating himself to appear in multiple locations at the same time because of time confliction’s and an overload of DJ booking request from around the world. Jeff’s first inquisition was to use the 3 dimensional projection format called Holographs. A transparent ghostlike projection where a free-floating image is unsupported by a backdrop screen. After quite extensive research and inquiring Jeff discovered that the technology was not yet at a consumer friendly stage where projecting in the average club setting would be a difficult and complex task. He discovered and rested at the idea of simply filming his DJ performance using a high grade digital tape that would serve the objective just as well and is more compatible for current live performances conditions.Read More »