Documentary

  • Zhuangzhuang Tian – Cha ma gu dao xi lie AKA Delamu (2004)

    2001-2010ArthouseChinaDocumentaryFifth Generation Chinese CinemaZhuangzhuang Tian

    Imdb:
    Delamu ¨C Tibetan for “Peace Angel”. Since ancient times, China’s two primary land routes connecting it to the outside world have been the Silk Road in the north, and Tea Horse-Road in the south. The mountain village of Bingzhongluo-Tibetan for “Village of Tibetans” is located on the high plateau of western Yunnan Province, at the foot of Gaoligong Mountain. Traveling along the Nujiang River, one can reach the southern Tibetan border town of Chawalong-Tibetan for “Valley of Dry Heat.” But with no roads connecting the two places, since ancient times the transport of all goods and supplies has relied entirely on horse caravans. The journey of more than 90 kilometers zigzags through high mountain slopes, dense forests, gorges and wastelands. Read More »

  • Robin Hessman – My Perestroika (2010)

    2001-2010DocumentaryPoliticsRobin HessmanUSA

    Synopsis:
    An intimate epic about the extraordinary lives of this last Soviet generation, Robin Hessman’s feature documentary debut tells the stories of five Moscow schoolmates who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain, witnessed the joy and confusion of glasnost, and reached adulthood right as the world changed around them. Through candid first-person testimony, revealing verité footage, and vintage home movies, Hessman, who spent many years living in Moscow, reveals a Russia rarely ever seen on film, where people are frank about their lives and forthcoming about their country. Engaging, funny, and positively inspiring, in MY PERESTROIKA politics is personal, honesty overshadows ideology, and history progresses one day, one life at a time.
    — (C) International Film CircuitRead More »

  • Yakov Bliokh – Shanhkayskiy dokument AKA The Shanghai Document (1928)

    1921-1930DocumentarySilentUSSRYakov Bliokh

    The Shanghai Document is an early documentary film. This silent film was directed by Yakov Bliokh (1895-1957) and was released in the USSR in 1928. The film portrays Shanghai, China in the early 1920s. It shows the contrasts between the world of Western expatriates (including Britons, Americans, New Zealanders, Australians, and Danes) who live in the luxurious Shanghai International Settlement, and that of the Shanghainese inhabitants, who spend their days laboring. The events which inspired the film revolve around the Chinese nationalist revolution (1925-27), including the May Thirtieth Movement, and the First United Front of the Chinese Communist Party, and the Nationalists (the Kuomintang), and its collapse in February 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek ordered a purge of the Communists in Shanghai and in other cities held by the revolutionaries.Read More »

  • Joe D’Amato – Follie di notte AKA Crazy Nights (1978)

    Documentary1971-1980EroticaItalyJoe D'Amato

    Quote:
    Given Joe D’Amato’s prodigious work-rate and his willingness to engage with just about any filone, it comes as little surprise that he should have made a mondo film, Follie di Notte.

    The closest points of comparison are probably the two Jimmy Matheus / Bruno Mattei entries hosted by Laura Gemser and released about the same time, Le Notti porno nel mondo and the self-explanatory Emanuelle e le porno notti nel mondo n. 2, the latter co-scripted by Mattei and D’Amato.Read More »

  • Jean-Luc Godard – Masculin féminin aka Masculine Feminine (1966)

    1961-1970DocumentaryDramaFranceJean-Luc Godard

    A romance between young Parisians, shown through a series of vignettes.Read More »

  • Carl Theodor Dreyer – Storstrømsbroen AKA The Storstrom Bridge (1950)

    1941-1950Carl Theodor DreyerDenmarkDocumentaryShort Film

    Quote:

    Carl Th. Dreyer’s beautiful documentary uses no words to show different aspects of this beautiful bridge in Denmark. It is one of over a dozen state-commissioned documentary shorts made by the famous director.

    The Storstrom Bridge was built between 1933-37 to the designs of Anker Engelund with construction under the direction of civil engineer Guy Anson Maunsell.

    Storstrom Bridge connects the island of Sjaelland (Zealand) at Vordingborg to the smaller island of Falster to the south. Some two miles long (3199 metres or 3520 yards), at the time it was built it was the longest bridge in Europe.Read More »

  • Roberto Minervini – What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire? (2018)

    2011-2020ArthouseDocumentaryRoberto MinerviniUSA

    What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire is the story of a community of black people in the American South during the summer 2017, when a string of brutal killings of black men sent shockwaves throughout the country. A meditation on the state of race in America, this film is an intimate portrait into the lives of those who struggle for justice, dignity, and survival. Written by X (IMDB)Read More »

  • Lindsay Anderson – Thursday’s Children (1954)

    USA1951-1960DocumentaryLindsay AndersonShort Film

    Synopsis:
    Narrated by Richard Burton, Thursday’s Children is a documentary about the Royal School for the Deaf in Margate, England. Filmed without sound and using narration sparingly, the documentary explores the silent world of these children (and their teachers) as they come to learn what sound is, even before they are able to articulate anything themselves. The narration explains that there can be no thought without words, only feelings, and that sounds must be taught visually, through pictures or example, or experienced through vibrations. The bulk of the film, however, concerns itself with the determination of the children and the joy they feel when their attempts at communication produce breakthroughs.Read More »

  • Werner Herzog – Lektionen in Finsternis AKA Lessons of Darkness (1992)

    Documentary1991-2000GermanySci-FiWerner Herzog

    This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it.Read More »

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