Social & External
The people behind it
Anne Bert
Self (archive footage)
Ram Raid Mums follows three desperate mothers, at their breaking point. With nowhere to turn, they discover Mana Inc, a lifeline that sparks hope.
Between one carriage and another, passengers tell their stories over a train journey.
A group of teenagers from Flint, Michigan filmed themselves kidnapping and terrorizing a new acquaintance, before taking her out to a woods and dumping her in a shallow grave. They then taunted their terrified and blindfolded victim asking if she had any last requests before they cut her throat. But was the kidnap real or just a game? Three days later the tape was in the hands of the police and the 5 teenager friends were in custody facing life imprisonment. This program talks to the people at the heart of this story - including two of the defendants - in an attempt to understand what really happened in the woods around Flint last year. It also screens the video of the 'abduction'. What is revealed is an extraordinary and disturbing record of a night when something went terribly, terribly wrong.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, many Russians have started having dreams about their president and sharing them on social media. More than a thousand dreams about Putin have now been recorded and posted on public platforms. In Dreams About Putin, a selection of these dreams have been brought to life using Unreal Engine, a 3D graphics program for creating scenes for computer games. In this exciting experiment with form, the animations are complemented by rare archival footage of the Russian president. The dreams are related by a narrator, and their “translation” into 3D scenes is not literal; likewise, the archival footage has been lightly edited. The result is sometimes dryly comic, sometimes absurdist, sometimes disturbing, and sometimes even hopeful. A series of bizarre but therefore oddly familiar nightmares as a vision of Putin’s Russia.
Billions of dollars are at stake as film returns. But greedy suits face a dilemma after releasing all of the film specialists. As their digital world comes crashing down, they must call the best in the world to save them one more time.
A music student talks about the struggles of being a young independent person in a big city, and how he uses music as a cope mechanism.
Industry professionals speak on how theatre changed their lives until film was deemed obsolete. 10 years later, their friendships, the movie business and the entire world would be forever altered yet again but now by a deadly pandemic.
Once upon a time there was a morning, noon, evening and night when the inseparable shadows of man told us about memory... Interview with Ousmane Sow, life sculptor, for the first part of a series entitled Black Memory.
Travelling to Porthcawl in South Wales for its annual Elvis Festival, director Joseff Morgan meets an Elvis tribute artist overcoming questions about his identity by embodying his idol. A security guard by day, for US-born Jeff, the act has become entangled with his reality, and the presence he has established in his community.
An elegy about ‘José Ð Almeida’s life and work. Along an intimate metamorphosis, this dreamlike and visually expressive world created by the visionary and insane dreamer is recreated and performed between a symbiosis of moving image, photography and painting- in a scenic, dramatic, symbolic and mystical tone.
No question seems more relevant in times like these than one: What is love? In the touching and captivating road trip documentary “What is Love?”, the film team embarks on a profound exploration, interviewing people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. They openly share their personal experiences, beliefs, and philosophies about love, revealing the extraordinary power and enigmatic nature of this universal human emotion. As the journey unfolds, viewers are taken on an introspective and unfiltered ride that ultimately challenges their own perceptions and understanding of what it truly means to love and to be loved.
The far-right political movement known as QAnon has taken off around the world, mobilising a committed band of believers dedicated to fighting what they claim is an 'online war' against corrupt, child abusing elites. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has declared QAnon a potential domestic terrorism threat. For one family, QAnon has caused division so severe that they had to report their relative - Tim Stewart, a QAnon conspiracy theorist - to Australia's national security hotline. In a concerning twist, it emerged that Stewart has had a longstanding friendship with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison - leading to speculation about QAnon and Australia's highest ranks of political power. A look at the alarming movement which has caused ripples through the world, through the eyes of one family.
In the cobalt mining areas of Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), babies are being born with horrific birth defects. Scientists and doctors are finding increasing evidence of environmental pollution from industrial mining which, they believe, may be the cause of a range of malformations from cleft palate to some so serious the baby is stillborn. More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. In The Cost of Cobalt we meet the doctors treating the children affected and the scientists who are measuring the pollution. Cobalt may be part of the global solution to climate change, but is it right that Congo’s next generation pay the price with their health? Many are hoping that the more the world understands their plight, the more pressure will be put on the industry here to clean up its act.
Stream of consciousness awakened by the shots of an inauspicious summer.
The author of Cockfight: A Fable of Failure recounts her long history with Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter (1974), which is effectively illegal to screen in the UK due to staged scenes of the titular blood sport.
An intimate portrait of Salt Lake City and its surroundings. Shot on 16mm film.
A documentary featuring interviews with teachers and officials on the profession of teaching and what it means to them.
From dentures as wedding presents to veneers, Keith Duffy traces the story of the Irish nation’s fast changing relationship with our teeth.
Members of the voluntary Human Extinction Movement in Mexico try to convince people not to procreate to achieve gradual human extinction. Soon, an involuntary event will put their ideas into perspective: a pandemic.
A behind-the-scenes look at P!NK as she balances family and life on the road, leading up to her first Wembley Stadium performance on 2019's "Beautiful Trauma" world tour.
The life of internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin is told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
What does being a woman really mean? How do women live the status society reserves for them? A group of women, beautiful or not, young or not, gifted with motherly instinct or not, answer before Agnès Varda's camera.
For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.
A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.
An unprecedented and intimate look at the life, work and enduring legacy of British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).
Climate is changing. Instead of showing all the worst that can happen, this documentary focuses on the people suggesting solutions and their actions.
A collection of stories about and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human. Through these stories full of love and happiness, as well as hatred and violence, it brings us face to face with the Other, making us reflect on our lives. From stories of everyday experiences to accounts of the most unbelievable lives, these poignant encounters share a rare sincerity and underline who we are – our darker side, but also what is most noble in us, and what is universal. Our Earth is shown at its most sublime through never-before-seen aerial images accompanied by soaring music, resulting in an ode to the beauty of the world, providing a moment to draw breath and for introspection. This film is a politically engaged work which allows us to embrace the human condition and to reflect on the meaning of our existence.
In this documentary, wealthy entrepreneur Bryan Johnson puts his body and fortune on the line to defy aging and extend his life beyond all known limits.
As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.
In 2019, Nepalese mountain climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja set out to do the unthinkable by climbing the world’s fourteen highest summits in less than seven months. (The previous record was eight years). He called the effort “Project Possible 14/7” and saw it as a way to inspire others to strive for greater heights in any pursuit. The film follows his team as they seek to defy naysayers and push the limits of human endurance.
A short kid from a Canadian army base becomes the international pop culture darling of the 1980s—only to find the course of his life altered by a stunning diagnosis. What happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease?
An intimate portrait of the small shops and shopkeepers of the Rue Daguerre in Paris, a picturesque street that has been the filmmaker’s home for more than 50 years.
Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985, simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, and the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, United States. It was one of the largest scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: watched live by an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations. "It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for Live Aid...!"
A raw and honest behind-the-scenes look at the iconic superstar's struggle with a life-altering illness. Serving as a love letter to her fans, this inspirational documentary highlights the music that has guided her life while also showcasing the resilience of the human spirit.
Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
This documentary revisits the French football team's controversial 2010 World Cup and the bus strike that sparked global headlines and national outrage.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
