Documentary

Synopsis:
French essay film focusing on global political turmoil in the 1960s and ’70s, particularly the rise of the New Left in France and the development of socialist movements in Latin America.Read More »

“The Elephant’s Journey”, in which Saramago narrates the adventures and antics of an elephant transported from the court of King John III of Portugal to that of the Austrian Archduke Maximillian, is the starting point of José and Pilar.

It shows us their day to day life in Lanzarote, at home and on work trips around
the globe. José and Pilar is a surprising portrayal of an author throughout the
creative process and of the relationship of a couple dedicated to changing the
world, or at least trying to make it a better place.Read More »

One of Jem Cohens first films (his third), conducted on Super 8 camera in 1987-88, consisting of impressionistic shots of urban development and decay. An impressive short piece (not least considering its year of production!) pointing ahead to his masterful ‘Lost book found’.Read More »

Synopsis:
Cinema Novo is a movie-essay that investigates poetically the most important movement of Latin America cinema, through the thoughts of its main auteurs: Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Glauber Rocha, Leon Hirszman, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Ruy Guerra, Walter Lima Jr., Paulo César Saraceni, among others.Read More »

Synopsis:
Peter Dunning is the proud proprietor of Mile Hill Farm, which sits on 187 acres in Vermont. The land’s 38 harvests have seen the arrivals and departures of three wives and four children, leaving Peter with only animals and memories. The arrival of a film crew causes him to confront his history and his legacy, passing along hard-won agricultural wisdom even as he doubts the meaning of the work he is fated to perform until death. Haunted by alcoholism and regret, Peter veers between elation and despair, often suggesting to the filmmakers his own suicide as a narrative device. He is a tragedian on a stage it has taken him most of his life to build, and which now threatens to collapse from under him. At once a postcard from paradise and a cautionary tale for our times, Peter and The Farm sifts through the potential energy of a human life, that which is used and that which is squandered.Read More »

This film is an intimate exploration of the male territory of a city commuter. By following the wanderings of a band of young men, we walk a world where female bodies are only virtual and ghostly silhouettes. The wanderings of the characters lead us inside everyday places (gym, building hall, parking lot of a shopping center, squatted apartment) where we follow the staging of their manhood; while in off voice, intimate narratives reveal unsuspected share their stories and their personalities.Read More »

Oscar winner for BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

As daily air strikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.Read More »

Part One: Such Such Were the Joys
‘From a very early age, perhaps the age of 5 or 6, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer …One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.’
George Orwell is one of the greatest writers England has produced. Tonight and for the next four nights Arena presents a unique full-scale portrait of this remarkable man, filmed in the places where he lived and worked and told in his own words and the words of those who knew him.
The first programme traces Orwell’s upbringing in a sedate middle-class home near Henley, his horrific experiences at preparatory school, his years at Eton and as a military policeman in Burma – and closes with his sudden and dramatic emergence as a writer with Down and Out in Paris and London, a book drawn from his experiences among vagrants, tramps and outcasts. Among those appearing are Jacintha Buddicon Sir John Grotrion, Malcolm Muggeridge Cyril Connolly and Professor Bernard CrickRead More »

One of the several documentaries dedicated to the great master Sergei Paradjanov, died in 1990. On this occasion, who is behind the camera is the acclaimed director of Armenian origin Don Askarian. The film was produced in 1998 by Don Film in Co-Production with Margarita Woskanian and ZDF-ARTE.Read More »