Social & External
The people behind it
Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer profiles the young people of Villaways Park, a housing project on brink of historic change.
Michael Cockerell sheds new light on the tragi-comedy of the 1970s by focusing on some of its most controversial characters. With fresh filming and new interviews, along with a treasure trove of rare archive, the film presents the inside story of giant personalities who make today's public figures look sadly dull in comparison. The well-known journalist revisits some of his films on the big characters who helped shaped the 1970s in Britain. Both tragic and comic, it highlights just how much our world has changed in four decades.
From 1968 to 1972, photographer and filmmaker Bob Campbell documented the activities of Dian Fossey as she developed a cross-species bond with Rwandan mountain gorillas. Campbell shot 70,000 feet of film, but only a fraction of his material was edited into the lecture presentation that preceded Fossey's Gorillas in the Mist. This program compiles highlights from the previously unreleased footage, offering an unforgettable glimpse into the gorilla community and Fossey's relationship with it. Her methods may not entirely jibe with those of modern conservationists, but there is no denying the profound impact of her work on current research and eco-activism.
Klaus Kinski has perhaps the most ferocious reputation of all screen actors: his volatility was documented to electrifying effect in Werner Herzog’s 1999 portrait My Best Fiend. This documentary provides further fascinating insight into the talent and the tantrums of the great man. Beset by hecklers, Kinski tries to deliver an epic monologue about the life of Christ (with whom he perhaps identifies a little too closely). The performance becomes a stand-off, as Kinski fights for control of the crowd and alters the words to bait his tormentors. Indispensable for Kinski fans, and a riveting introduction for newcomers, this is a unique document, which Variety called ‘a time capsule of societal ideals and personal demons.’
A feature-length documentary about the film Galaxy Quest and its legacy, celebrating its milestone 20th anniversary.
In May of 1982 Julio Cortázar, the Argentinean writer and his companion in life, Carol Dunlop set out in their VW bus on a journey along the highway from Paris to Marseille that, for each of them, was to be their final one. Twenty-five years later, Océane Madelaine and Jocelyn Bonnerave set out to undertake the journey again.
An in-depth profile of the life and career of Willy T. Ribbs - the controversial Black driver who shattered the color barrier of professional auto-racing and became the first Black qualifier in the storied history of the Indy 500.
25 years ago, Viagra kickstarted the second sexual revolution and a controversy unlike any drug before it. Following trials in 1992 for a compound believed to alleviate symptoms for angina, Pfizer’s first in-patient trial for the drug, then known as UK92480, begin in Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales. It isn’t long before volunteer patients report having unexpected erections - fast forward ten years and word of the adverse side effect has travelled from Wales to New York resulting in Viagra’s first release in 1998 with orders soon exceeding predictions. What follows is the big story of the little blue pill.
A journey through the night that Princess Diana died and the four independent investigations in two separate countries that followed. Included: a look at Princess Diana's life through her sons.
Amidst the paralysis of downtown São Paulo, the film follows the journey of 5 characters to the same place - a common meeting point. The voices and experiences of each reveal something greater: a new perspective on life, movement and art.
Documentary about fashion designer Fong Leng.
In the 1920s, former coal miner Harry Hoxsey claimed to have an herbal cure for cancer. Although scoffed at and ultimately banned by the medical establishment, by the 1950s, Hoxsey's formula had been used to treat thousands of patients, who testified to its efficacy. Was Hoxsey's recipe the work of a snake-oil charlatan or a legitimate treatment? Ken Ausubel directs this keen look into the forces that shape the policies of organized medicine.
Documentary about women without papers, living in Germany and working as maids.
Escapist proudly presents Our World, featuring Sean Malto, Mikey Santillan, Shaun McKay, Joseph Lopez, Josh Crane, Josh White, Bryant Doerfler, Keelin Austin, Scotty Laird, Rod Harper, Ernie Torres, Dillon Aguilar, Garrett Olinger, Mike Webb, Ryan Pearce, Max Chilen and Jesse Doan. Edited by Ryan Lovell. Filmed by Tyler Krupski, Dylan Burke and Ryan Lovell in Kansas City, LA, Japan and Puerto Rico.
The brilliant self-taught pianist Erroll Garner left his mark on jazz forever. His song Misty, which he allegedly composed between two concerts on an aeroplane, immediately became one of the great jazz standards and is still one of the most covered ballads in the world today. Who was the man behind the ever-friendly smile from the ghettos of Pittsburgh, whose talent brought him to the biggest international stages?
Will Cubans be able to safeguard their heritage of pristine Nature and preserved ecological treasures under this new era, as they are facing the combined pressure of money and tourism? What policies can be implemented to maintain the island’s spectacular wilderness?
Suicide is one of the world's leading causes of death, with almost 800,000 people taking their own lives every year, not counting those who go unrecorded. What drives people to take their own lives, and how can they be prevented from doing so? This documentary attempts to provide some answers.
German TV film, also shown on Spanish TV in 1976, this is a film all about TD which includes informal interviews and concert/studio footage, most of which seems to have been done exclusively for the film. The interviews are in the German language. The street name in the title refers to where Edgar Froese used to live in Berlin (apparently Klaus Schulze lived on the same street at the time) and is now the site of the TDI offices.
Candid interviews of ordinary people on the meaning of happiness, an often amorphous and inarticulable notion that evokes more basic and fundamentally egalitarian ideals of self-betterment, prosperity, tolerance, economic opportunity, and freedom.
Paris, summer 1960. Anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch and sociologist and film critic Edgar Morin wander through the crowded streets asking passersby how they cope with life's misfortunes.
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
After years in the limelight, Selena Gomez achieves unimaginable stardom. But just as she reaches a new peak, an unexpected turn pulls her into darkness. This uniquely raw and intimate documentary spans her six-year journey into a new light.
Just two years away from turning 30, participants in Michael Apted's documentary series are facing serious questions of identity and purpose, wondering whether they've found their place in the world.
A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.
The life story of ‘Zen Anarchist’ filmmaker John Milius, one of the most influential storytellers of his generation.
Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, this film captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year.
An inside look at the years of effort and craft that went into the final installment of the Duffer Brothers' generation-defining series.
In 1977, a book of photographs captured an awakening - women shedding the cultural restrictions of their childhoods and embracing their full humanity. This documentary revisits those photos, those women and those times and takes aim at our culture today that alarmingly shows the need for continued change.
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
The individual journeys of the four members of the band, as they move through the music scene of the 1960s, playing small clubs throughout Britain and performing some of the biggest hits of the era, until their meeting in the summer of 1968 for a rehearsal that changes their lives forever.
A backstage and on-stage look at Justin Bieber during his rise to super stardom.
A group of British children aged 7 from widely ranging backgrounds are interviewed about a range of subjects. The filmmakers plan to re-interview them at 7 year intervals to track how their lives and attitudes change as they age.
This documentary revisits the French football team's controversial 2010 World Cup and the bus strike that sparked global headlines and national outrage.
A new documentary by filmmaker-photographer Raymond Depardon – where justice and psychiatry meet.
A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential directors of that time.
John Cazale was in only five films – The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter – each was nominated for Best Picture. Yet today most people don't even know his name. I KNEW IT WAS YOU is a fresh tour through movies that defined a generation.
A celebration of the legendary band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations and generations to come.
