Documentary Movies

Natália, a Diva Trágicómica

Documentary about the life of the lyric singer Natália de Andrade.

Mada Underground

I Promised You the Moon: The Documentary

Behind the scenes conversations and making of I Promised You the Moon, with cast and crew.

Menda Sakae: Gokuchu no Sei

A documentary about Menda Sakae, a man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 34 years.

Kingdom of the Blue Whale

Supported by the National Geographic Society, the world's eminent blue whale scientists embark on a revolutionary mission: They'll find, identify, and tag California blue whales, use the DNA samples to confirm the sex of individual whales, then rejoin the massive creatures' stunning migration when they collect at a chimera known as the Costa Rica Dome.

Paysans cinéastes

Farmers in the Île-de-France region, they filmed life on the farm, working in the fields, and family and village celebrations on 8 mm or Super 8 film. From the 1950s to the 1980s, these testimonies unfold a history of rural life: we move away from a peasant and family model to industrial agriculture for export. Through these family images, I attempt to answer my own questions about our agricultural future. In the 1950s, the land of Île-de-France fed us.

Café Nagler

The director embarks on a journey to reveal the story behind the legendary Café Nagler, owned by her family during the 1920s in Berlin, and finds that historical truths can be overrated.

Wings of Life

A beautiful love story in danger. Our future depends on an amazing love story between the flowers and fauna consisting of bees, butterflies, birds and bats, which allow these species to reproduce. Delicate and graceful, the flowers are not content to be the ultimate symbol of beauty. On the contrary, their vibrant colors and their exotic flavors are so many wonders that attract pollinators and drunk with desire. All these animals are involved in a complex dance of seduction on which one third of our crops, a dance without which we could survive ... Pollen presents the unsung heroes of the global food chain. Their fantastic worlds are full of stories, drama and beauty. While a fragile and threatened, essential for the balance of the planet, it should now actively protect ...

Ikebana

Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, is explored in a delicate and ethereal manner, layering space, time, and the elements of life. This ancestral art is observed from a distance, so as to never interrupt the movements of its practitioners. Rita Ferrando’s Ikebana is a hypnotic work with somewhat esoteric narration that highlights each step in the process with animations emphasizing the meticulous and meditative deeper meaning behind the art. This hybrid structure raises questions about the art of representation, inevitably present in cinema. How can we grasp the essence of what we want to show on film? Ikebana suggests that what we seek may be hidden well beyond the visible realm.

Dear Marietha

After eight days in coma, a 15-year-old girl is given a second chance in life.

The Science of Interstellar

Matthew McConaughey narrates a fascinating look at Christopher Nolan's sci-fi film, 'Interstellar', including scientific foundations, the work of consulting Scientist Kip Thorne, basic film themes, the science behind the search for planets capable of hosting life, space-time and the theory of relativity, the science of wormholes and black holes, crafting the film's visuals based on real scientific observation, the birth of the universe, the Dust Bowl and the evolution of dust as a toxin, the likelihood of future dust storms, the prospects of escaping a dying or doomed planet and the possibilities of colonizing Mars.

Concert for George

As a memorial to George Harrison on the first anniversary of his passing, The Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 29 November 2002 . Organized by Harrison's widow, Olivia, and son, Dhani, and arranged under the musical direction of Eric Clapton and Jeff Lynne. A benefit for Harrison's Material World Charitable Foundation, the all-star concert took place on the day of the first anniversary of his death. Proceeds from the film also went to the Material World Charitable Foundation. The film was shot using discreet cameras from over twelve locations.

Popurrí

Wide Boyz

From acclaimed directors Paul Diffley and Chris Alstrin comes a wild journey through the strange sub-culture of offwidth crack climbing. Join two brave British lads, Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, as they take on the decidedly American sport of climbing bloody, painful and often dangerous cracks that require wedging body parts into places they weren't meant to be. Randall and Whittaker's ultimate goal is to make the first ascent of a renowned offwidth test-piece known as Century Crack, which looms above the forgotten lands deep in the Utah desert. If they can achieve this unlikely climb from under the noses of the competitive Americans, it will be a coup for these young up-starts, but the odds are stacked against them.

In the Darkness of Water

Mauro Morandi has lived isolated from society for 30 years on Budelli, an italian island. He is now 83 years old and, despite his advanced age, he is concerned about caring for and preserving the island's nature. One day he discovers that he will be evicted. At the same time, someone contacts him and encourages him to abandon this lifestyle and return to society. Both factors will have repercussions in Mauro's life, who, certainly disturbed, will have to deal with the conflict and assume the possibility of leaving his beloved island, with which he has a truly special connection.

Isla chatarra

Isla chatarra describes the phenomenon of the ubiquity of automobiles in Puerto Rico. The island measures slightly less than 9,000 square kilometers, but has 25,000 kilometers of paved road, one of the highest proportions in the planet. Puerto Rico is one of the countries with the largest number of vehicles per kilometer (of road) and third in the world in number of cars per 1,000 inhabitants. The film was produced with the idea to raise consciousness and create a dialogue about the ongoing situation of our dependence on cars. It also shows the dangerous circumstances of an island that is slowly being covered by scrap metal.

Snowy Waters

Australia’s greatest engineering undertaking, the Snowy River Hydroelectric Scheme, in the Southern Alps, is changing the geography of an area as big as Switzerland by completely altering the course of streams and rivers, and is intended to bring into agricultural production double the area now served by irrigation, and to provide double Australia’s present output of electrical power.

Citizen Juling

Terrorism proves to be the symptom, and not the cause in this documentary focusing on the Islamic insurgency in Thailand, a country already feeling the effects of a dangerously unstable democracy. The situation is seen from the perspective of outspoken Thai human-rights activist Kraisak Choonhavan, who, while making the journey southward, reveals an unseen side of the Muslim community. After living alongside Buddhists peacefully for generations, a large number of the Muslim population seems to have suddenly become violent. Over the course of just two years, over fifty Buddhists teachers have been killed. But why? As the Muslim separatist attacks become increasingly intense and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra responds with growing force from military and government, a mutual mistrust on both sides paves he path towards violence and tragedy.

Letter from Eusapia

Surprising links between borescopic imagery of an underground Cold War–era bunker and human laparoscopic footage lead this investigation of distance and death to hidden new depths, as a surgeon father in Ecuador and filmmaker son in Belgium connect during COVID-19. Empty cavities, inside the body and under the city, leave space to understand what matters most in life: time.

The Miracle Fair

A color-coded testimony of a bygone era. In the documentary, director Jerzy Hoffman presents the magical world of a folk marketplace. As a result, groups of imposters, specialists in black magic, home-grown inventors and charismatic healers are gathered among the stalls. Wonder Fair is a colourful world full of figures of the Blessed Virgin Mary, gingerbread hearts and ointments for all ailments. The documentary, awarded at the 1967 Tourfilm Competition in Warsaw, gives up irony or big-city paternalism, presenting the characters with sympathy and warmth.