The Lumière Brothers' First Films

A collection of short films made by the Lumiere brothers, a team of pioneering filmmakers in turn-of-the-century France, narrated by Bertrand Tavernier.

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

Gary is turning into a dinosaur, and Eric must find the cure. This becomes a globetrotting journey into everything dino while searching for the magic waters needed to stop Gary's odd transformation. Will Eric be too late? Get ready to meet the Garysaurus!

Jo, el desconegut

Arnau is a seventeen year old with a totally carefree life. In high school, falls in love with Olga. From there his life changes. To make merit with Olga, pointing to all those involved in activities, including going to care for elders at the weekend that the association is voluntary Olga. This is how he meets Ramon, a man of a past that has a confusing libertarian principle Alzeheimer.

Byzance

Byzance uses a text by Stefan Zweig to describe the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453. Before he turned to feature filmmaking in 1968 with Naked Childhood, Pialat worked on a series of short films, many of them financed by French television. Byzance is one of Pialat’s six Turkish shorts.

Istanbul

All of Pialat's Turkish films are uniquely interested in the country — especially Istanbul — as it was, not just as it is at the precise moment that Pialat is filming it. History informs these films in a big way, with the voiceover narration (which incorporates excerpts from various authors) introducing tension between the images of the modern-day city and the descriptions of incidents from its long and rich history. Istanbul is probably the most conventional documentary of Pialat's Turkish series, providing a general profile of the titular city, its different neighborhoods, and the different cultures and ways of living that coexist within its sprawling borders. As the other films in the series also suggest, Pialat sees Turkey, and Istanbul in particular, as a junction point between Europe and the East, between the old and the new, between history and modernity.

Maître Galip

Maître Galip is the most poetic and powerful of Pialat's Turkish Chronicles, using the poems of Nazim Hikmet to accompany a series of evocative images of ordinary working class people in Istanbul. This was the film that Pialat himself claimed was the most complete realization of what he was aiming for with his Turkish documentaries. It's not difficult to see why this was his favorite: here he abandons the historical commentary and documentary observation of the other shorts in favor of an emotional emphasis on the lives of the poor and the unemployed.A short doc by Maurice Pialat.

La corne d'or

La Corne d'or is mostly concerned with religious ritual, examining the mosque (and former cathedral) discussed in Byzance. As a contrast against Istanbul's status as a center of historical religious conflict, Pialat — drawing here on texts by the French poet Gérard de Nerval — also describes the city as a place of strange ethnic and religious harmony, with representatives of various cultures and religions living in close contact. He emphasizes the city's hybrid culture, its blend of Southern European and Arab influences, reflected in both its people and its very construction.

Bosphore

Short doc by Maurice Pialat. The first film in the series set at Turkey, Bosphore, is also the only one that was shot in color.

Farewell

Recently widowed from a man 50 years her senior and bored to tears with covering ladies fashion, Lady Grace leaped at the chance to be the only woman onboard one of the media sensations of the decade. At journey's end she returned to America a star, thanks to her good looks and gutsy charm. But her reports on the ship's travels for the front pages of the Hearst press empire only told part of the story. In her diary she recorded a far more intimate journey-her struggle to get over her secret affair with shipmate, mentor, and married man Karl von Wiegand. Combining spectacular archival footage of the journey across New York, Siberia, Tokyo, and the Pacific with narration drawn from Drummond's articles and her private journals, this sweeping black and white documentary stands as a vision of technological marvels and global hope in that narrow window between world wars when everything seemed possible except true love.

Barbarossa: Hitler Turns East

Hitler's invasion of Russia was one of the landmark events of World War II. This documentary reveals the lead-up to the offensive, its impact on the war and the brinksmanship that resulted from the battle for Moscow. Rare footage from both German and Russian archives and detailed maps illustrate the conflict, while award-winning historian and author John Erickson provides insight into the pivotal maneuvers on the eastern front.

Chez Schwartz

Chez Schwartz takes us inside a year in the life of Schwartz's Deli - the unique 75-year-old landmark on Montreal's historic Main. Filmed through changing seasons, from the quiet of early morning preparation to the frenetic bustle of packed lunch times and never ending line-ups, to the more relaxed ambiance late at night - Chez Schwartz is an evocative, cinematic portrait of a small spunky deli known worldwide equally for its atmosphere and smoked meat.

Hit Parade of the Gay Nineties

Newsreel-type short about music from the 1890s making a resurgence in the '40s

Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property

In 1831, Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in the United States that resulted in the murder of local slave owners and their families, the eventual execution of 55 rebels and the retribution lynching of more than 200 innocent slaves. Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property examines how the story of Turner’s revolt has been interpreted throughout history and how it continues to raise new questions about the nature of terrorism and other forms of violent resistance to oppression. The film adopts an innovative structure by interspersing documentary footage and interviews with dramatizations of these different versions of Turner’s story. A unique collaboration between MacArthur Genius Award feature director Charles Burnett, acclaimed historian of slavery Kenneth S. Greenberg and Academy Award-nominated documentary producer Frank Christopher, Nat Turner is a compelling look at one of history’s most mysterious figures.

Sisters in Resistance

Four young women joined the Resistance to fight Nazi oppression and brutality in occupied France. They were arrested and deported to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where they helped each other to survive. SISTERS IN RESISTANCE captures their recollections and the intense friendship that has survived with them.

Maafa Legacy

Maafa Legacy exposes the euro-academic view that British slavery was just ‘trade’ as a lie and reveals why the crimes both past and present that continue to be committed against Mama Africa and her children stand as the most heinous ever in World history. This documentary also provides a retrospective view of Wilberfest 2007 and explores the enduring legacy of the Maafa on African people residing in the Diaspora. On Screen Contributors: Dr Abiola Ogunshola, Sis Ayen Meke, Christopher Cole, emma pierre, Bro Hakim, Hakim Adi, Sis Jendayi Serwah, Kimani Nehusi, Kubara Zamani, Kwaku Bonsu, Kwaku-Jesse Konadu Olaleye, Dr Lez Henry, Manga Clem Marshall, Bro Mbandaka, Michael Eboda, Morenike Fasuyi, Netsanet Solomon, Oleander William, Onyeka, Bro Omowale, Sis Panyin Aikins, Royson James, Sis Dr. Sandra Richards, Teleica Kirkland, Tony Warner, Toyin Agbetu, Tracey Jarrett Directed and produced by Toyin Agbetu

The Walk

On 27 March 2007 a Pan Africanist named Toyin Agbetu challenged the British Government, Monarchy and Church as they gathered to hold a religious celebration for the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in Westminster Abbey, England. Toyin, who condemned the service as an insult and disgrace, halted the proceedings with words that gave a voice to the collective view of millions around the world. As Maafa truths were revealed he was demonised and misrepresented in the British media as a ‘lone madman’. Watch the restored uncensored footage of what happened that day and afterwards when the African community in Britain stood beside him - from his arrest and incarceration to the eventual dropping of all criminal charges. Directed by Toyin Agbetu Produced by emma pierre

Everest: Mountain of Dreams, Mountain of Doom

Reaching 5 1/2 miles into the sky, Mt. Everest is a massive pyramid of intimidating rock, freezing cold and hurricane force winds. This extraordinary mountain is the highest point on Earth and has become the ultimate test of man's strength, endurance and will power. It is also deadly...for every five people who reach the summit, one dies trying. All who attempt its slopes risk their lives. Some survive in triumph, but many others never return from its icy heights.

The New Sound of Music

BBC documentary about the rise of early electronic music, use of synthesisers and the work of the radiophonic workshop. Michael Rodd surveys the use of synthesisers,computer & multi-track recording techniques to create the new sounds of electronic music.

The Conquest of the Air

This early docudrama uses dramatic reenactment, working models of early flying machines, and archival footage to trace man's attempts to fly from ancient times through the 1930s.

La face cachée du pétrole