Is being hit by lightning a random natural occurrence or a predestined event? Accidents, chance, fate and the elusive quest to make sense out of tragedy underpin director Jennifer Baichwal’s captivating new work, an elegant cinematic meditation on the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. To explore these profound questions, she sought out riveting personal stories around the world–from a former CIA assassin and a French storm chaser, to writer Paul Auster and improvisational musician Fred Frith. The philosophical anchor of the film, Auster witnessed his friend get struck dead by lightning as a teenager, and has been wrestling with its import on destiny ever since. In a neurological experiment, Frith improvises with his guitar to demonstrate the ubiquity of electricity in our bodies and the universe. Visually dazzling and aurally seductive, Act of God singularly captures the harsh beauty of the skies and the lives of those who have been forever touched by their fury.

Extras:
Additional Scenes (46:09)
Interview w/director Jennifer Baichwal (12:36)
Theatrical Trailer (2:00)

1.35GB | 1h 14mn | 720×480 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/4FABD0BC2B02DB1/Act_of_God.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/F6D3CEFB1C0D2B1/Additional_Scenes.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/CE6EB19A8AA2072/Baichwal_Interview.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/D48604767AA9E30/Theatrical_Trailer.mkv

Language:English,French,Spanish,Yoruba
Subtitles:English hardcoded for non-English, English SDH

The post Jennifer Baichwal – Act of God (2009) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Documentary on psychedelic potash mines, expansive concrete seawalls, mammoth industrial machines, and other examples of humanity’s massive, destructive reengineering of the planet.

The Anthropocene Project is a unique multidisciplinary investigation including a feature documentary from acclaimed filmmaking team Jennifer Baichwal, Nick de Pencier (Mercury Films) and Edward Burtynsky, marking the third in the trilogy following Manufactured Landscapes and Watermark.

2.67GB | 1 h 26 min | 1280×718 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/5BEB7D7A36DAA43/ANTHROPOCENE.The.Human.Epoch.720p.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H.264.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:None

The post Jennifer Baichwal & Edward Burtynsky & Nicholas de Pencier – Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Zeitgeist Films wrote:
Manufactured Landscapes is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution. With breathtaking sequences, such as the opening tracking shot through an almost endless factory, the filmmakers also extend the narratives of Burtynsky’s photographs, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste.

In the spirit of such environmentally enlightening sleeper-hits as An Inconvenient Truth and Rivers and Tides, Manufactured Landscapes powerfully shifts our consciousness about the world and the way we live in it, without simplistic judgments or reductive resolutions.

Extras:
Additional Scenes [+Optional Director Commentary] (00:39:24)
Al Gore at Nashville Film Festival (00:08:39)
Discussion with director Baichwal and photographer Burtynsky (00:19:06)
Interview with DP Peter Mettler (00:05:19)
Trailer (00:02:03)

1.83GB | 1h 26mn | 853×480 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/BCC336B43121DFA/Manufactured_Landscapes.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/44DB452F9B21B4C/Manufactured_Landscapes_EXTRAS.rar

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English,English SDH

The post Jennifer Baichwal – Manufactured Landscapes (2006) first appeared on Cinema of the World.