Documentary Movies

Thirty Two

December 1944, 24-year-old Wei Shaolan and her 1-year-old daughter were seized and sent to a Japanese camp, where Wei was forced to work as a 'comfort woman' -- a woman forced into prostitution for Japanese servicemen during World War II. Despite being physically and mentally abused, Wei unbelievably escaped the heavily guarded 'Comfort Station' pregnant, shamed, and unsure of what fate awaited her return home. This documentary presents the true legendary story of Wei Shaolan and follows her traumatic and courageous journey from forced prostitution to life today with her Japanese son. 'Real Heroes' are people who can face life bravely even after a tormented life, and Wei's story offers inspiration to those faced with seemingly hopeless adversity.

Rap Odysseys

Mehdi, Alma, Alpha, and Calypso have been rapping in Bordeaux for several years. In 2024, these four artists will all release a new album. At 25-30 years old, it's now or never to break through and finally put Bordeaux on the map of the French rap game. This film will give them the opportunity to perform their first major concert together. It's an opportunity that could accelerate their already promising careers.

RFK

David Grubin's probing and perceptive biography reassesses the remarkable and tragic life of Bobby Kennedy, whose early life was spent in the shadow of his elder brother John. After JFK's assassination, he discovered his own identity in the forefront of American politics before his career was also tragically curtailed by an assassin's bullet.

Raising Bertie

Raising Bertie is a longitudinal documentary feature following three young African American boys over the course of six years as they grow into adulthood in Bertie County, a rural African American-led community in Eastern North Carolina. Through the intimate portrayal of these boys, this powerful vérité film offers a rare in-depth look at the issues facing America's rural youth and the complex relationships between generational poverty, educational equity, and race. The evocative result is an experience that encourages us to recognize the value and complexity in lives all too often ignored.

The Man Who Was There

The Spanish journalist Manuel Chaves Nogales (1897-1944) was always there where the news broke out: in the fratricidal Spain of 1936, in Bolshevik Russia, in Fascist Italy, in Nazi Germany, in occupied Paris or in the bombed London of World War II; because his job was to walk, see and tell stories, and thus fight against tyrants, at a time when it was necessary to take sides in order not to be left alone; but he, a man of integrity to the bitter end, never did so.

Márcia Antonelli: Das Palavras à Sobrevivência

Transmitting

Three famous jazz musicians, the German Jochim Kühm, the Moroccan Majid Bekkas, the Spanish Ramon Lopez, realize a long-term dream: One month of free time together in Morocco, time for music, for encounters, for a new CD. They rent a small studio in Rabat and invite guest musicians. They travel to the desert to meet a legendary group of native drummers, to play with them and make recordings. In between excursions into the everyday life of Morocco, computer crashes, and little crises. A film about improvised music and the work on it, a film about encounters of different cultures, a film about understanding and not understanding. Where do you come from, where do you go to?

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Join visionary director Sam Raimi and the cast of the film as they recount their experiences bringing Marvel’s darkest story to life. From world-building to universe-building, hear first hand accounts from the cast and crew on what it took to design, create and make each universe unique and believable.

Cinéma, de notre temps: Mosso, mosso (Jean Rouch comme si...)

September 11th

A looks at how the events of September 11, 2001 impacted the NFL, its players and its fans. It is narrated by Mary McDonald-Lewis.

Threshold: the choir who sing to the dying

Dying is a process and in a person's final hours and days, Nickie and her Threshold Choir are there to accompany people on their way and bring comfort. Through specially composed songs, akin to lullabies, the choir cultivates an environment of love and safety around those on their deathbed. For the volunteer choir members, it is also an opportunity to channel their own experiences of grief and together open up conversations about death. With thanks to onscreen contributor, Lindsey, who died since the making of this film.

Reporter

Andres Sööt's portrait of the legendary radio man Feliks Leet, a long-time Pärnu correspondent of Estonian Radio. A lifelike, comic depiction of a tireless newsman in his daily work - conducting interviews and reports on current events and mentoring young reporters.

Dětí

Sasha and Denis, two brothers, show us around their city : Prague.

The Armstrong Lie

In 2009, Alex Gibney was hired to make a film about Lance Armstrong's comeback to cycling. The project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted, and re-opened after Armstrong's confession. The Armstrong Lie picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting, insider's view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports. As Lance Armstrong says himself, "I didn't live a lot of lies, but I lived one big one."

Government Cheese

After years of overproduction, the Reagan administration unloads over 500 million pounds of surplus cheese on the American public in the 1980s. The pungent dairy product comes to be known as 'Government Cheese.'

More Than Robots

More Than Robots follows four international teams of teenagers as they prepare for the 2020 FIRST Robotics Competition. Get to know competitors from Los Angeles, Mexico City and Chiba, Japan as they work towards the ultimate goal of taking their unique designs all the way to the highly competitive global championships. Along the way they must overcome challenges such as having limited resources or putting everything on hold because of the COVID pandemic. The kids persevere and learn that there is a lot more to the competition than just robots.

Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts

After a volcanic eruption, Ramón walks the island of La Palma with his microphone, looking for ghosts.

AWAKE!

AWAKE is a short experimental documentary about a liminal moment in the calendar - midwinter - observed by the inhabitants of a small rural village in England. A time outside time, magic is everywhere and anything is possible. Bearing witness to this turning point, the inhabitants gather for a wassail - a centuries old thanksgiving ritual in which folk gather to honour the slow return of the sun and bless the apple trees whose fruit are essential to the village ecosystem, not least the crumbles, juice and cider that sustains them throughout the year.

Schönberg pfeifen

Coal Dust

The film tells about the inhabitants of a small mining town in the Chelyabinsk region. Having devoted their lives to work for the benefit of the state, people themselves did not notice how they turned into coal dust for it.