Featuring Paul Robeson, this is the first documentary film to take a serious look at social conditions and race relations in South Africa.
Social & External
The people behind it
Paul Robeson
Self
The film is a portrayal of Zanele Muholi, a lesbian photographer working in the South African GLBT community. This thin, combative person is already a world-wide famous artist. They define themselves as a "visual activist" in order to highlight their commitment to politics, to communicating ideas and to art. Their work includes: provocative nudes (like a female Mapplethorpe); young Zulu couples, dressed in traditional costumes, embracing each other; a homeless socially excluded lesbian couple; a dignified portrait of Victor Mukasa, the gay human rights leader from Uganda; wonderful shots of Zanele with their white partner. Beautiful and poetic pictures which are "militant" in nature since they condemn homophobia, poverty, and the public and private conflicts of a country divided between tradition and modernity.
Tainted Heroes tells the story of how the African National Congress (ANC) – once a marginalised organisation within the South African political landscape – rose to power in the aftermath of the Soweto Uprisings in 1976. The documentary deals with the organisation’s military training received in various African countries as well as the lesser known story of how the ANC underwent strategic training in Vietnam to implement a so-called people’s war strategy against its rival organisations. This was especially implemented against the organisation’s former ally, Inkatha, led by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. The film explains how the ANC successfully implemented a predetermined programme of violence, fear and propaganda to eliminate political rivals and establish itself as the sole representative of black aspirations in South Africa. It illuminates how the ANC’s armed struggle was more a struggle against black rival organisations than against the apartheid system.
Since the days of Apartheid, Main Reef Road has linked Johannesburg, its suburbs, and the outlying villages and gold mines of the region. Now the people of means flee the more remote reaches of the Road for the suburbs. Who remains along this once heavily travelled highway? Who slaves for the mining companies today? Filmmaker Nic Hofmeyr takes to the road to meet them. South Africa's history echoes in their stories, and in the very landscape.
A team of modern adventurers is on a quest for gold in the mountains of eastern Arizona.
Images from Grängesberg's mines. The ore is loaded onto trains and transported to the port of Oxelösund.
From the creators of 31 Minutos, here comes the story of a rock that didn't want to grow up...
Time-travel to a 1940s classroom with this exemplary educational film.
A newly discovered mega-hunt is happening off the coast of South Africa. In an epic annual spectacle in False Bay, a pod of cunning killer whales hunt 5,000 common dolphins.
What would your family reminiscences about dad sound like if he had been an early supporter of Hitler’s, a leader of the notorious SA and the Third Reich’s minister in charge of Slovakia, including its Final Solution? Executed as a war criminal in 1947, Hanns Ludin left behind a grieving widow and six young children, the youngest of whom became a filmmaker. It's a fascinating, maddening, sometimes even humorous look at what the director calls "a typical German story." (Film Forum)
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.
Tells the stories of four students who are turning their lives around at the Ithuteng Trust School.
Join the working men of a northern powerhouse: on the job in Gateshead workshops and at the long wall of a Northumberland pit.
A short film about the people who sweep the streets of Johannesburg every night.
Documentary marking the 30th anniversary of the 1984 miners' strike, one of the bitterest industrial disputes in British history, with stories from both sides of the conflict.
Set in past, present, and future South Africa — an invitation into a poetic, memory-driven exploration of love, intimacy, race, and belonging by the filmmaker, who grew up during apartheid but didn't know it was happening until it was over.
A docudrama on the closing of the town of Schefferville. When Raoul loses his job at the mine because the operations are ending, he's been settled there for ten years with Carmen and their son. They're now forced to leave the town, leaving behind the traces of an ephemeral prosperity.
Happy farmers, a wedding and some giant cauliflowers...
‘Future Sounds of Mzansi’ is a documentary, which aims to explore, express, and interrogate South Africa’s cultural landscape. A chief vehicle of this exploration is electronic music, a staple of South African popular culture. The film explores the past, present and future of the scene and its multiple sub-genres, presented through the eyes of internationally acclaimed artist Spoek Mathambo.
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
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.
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.
The incomparable Bruce Springsteen performs his critically acclaimed latest album and muses on life, rock, and the American dream, in this intimate and personal concert film co-directed by Thom Zimny and Springsteen himself.
In a crime-plagued neighborhood near Miami, brutal, bare-knuckled backyard fights give young men a chance to earn money -- and self-respect.
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.
After another 7 year wait, director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born children from Seven Up! and 7 Plus Seven. 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.
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity
A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.
It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.
A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.
Daniel Craig candidly reflects on his 15 year adventure as James Bond. Including never-before-seen archival footage from Casino Royale to the upcoming 25th film No Time To Die, Craig shares his personal memories in conversation with 007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.
The authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with acclaimed Hollywood directors alongside Steven Spielberg, top shark scientists, and conservationists, the film uncovers the behind-the-scenes chaos and how the film launched the summer blockbuster, inspired a new wave of filmmakers, and paved the way for shark conservation that continues today.
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.
An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.
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.