In a decaying Soviet-era retirement home, a vibrant group of elders cling to life by staging Shakespeare. Yet loneliness lingers beyond the theater’s doors, until drama begins to blur with reality.
Social & External
The people behind it
A program that explores the strange but true medical mysteries housed in this one-of-a-kind museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This documentary serves as a beginner’s guide to world of Soviet animation, which covers the entire history of the USSR.
A documentary film exploring the exceptional musical art of Kurdish jurist and musical master Ostad Elahi.
In the 17th century, the Netherlands experienced an unprecedented artistic explosion: painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Hals were so prolific that they were able to make a living from their talent alone; so much so that, within a prosperous society, thanks to wealth from overseas colonies and financial speculation, collecting works of art became a status symbol.
The 100-year history of the Strand Theatre in Rockland, Maine, from its creation on the site of a devastating fire in 1920 through its evolution into the community-supported non-profit institution it is today.
Documentary about sixteen actors who detail their ups and downs as they struggle to forge careers in Hollywood. They've played cops, lawyers, bosses, best friends, psychopaths, politicians and everything in between. Now you'll know who they are.
The school at the temporary housing facility for migrants in the small town of Ivry-sur-Seine is the center of the world for the children who live there. To them, the school is not just any old place; it´s where they make new friends and find a home away from home. This heartwarming documentary gives children the space to portray their lives in exile from their own perspective.
A documentary that revives the memory of the Technical Industrial School of Santa Maria through the voices of former teachers and retired staff, revealing not only how these individuals helped shape and strengthen the institution, but also how CTISM marked and transformed their lives, intertwining individual destinies and collective memory into a living portrait of technical education in Brazil.
The chronicles of the unnamed band, originating in Chelmsford, MA. The many rehearsals, hangouts, and summer fun captured by auteur filmmaker, Caedmon Reveley.
Danube upstream from Vienna, with its images of monasteries and castles. It's hard for an American to realize the age of civilization in Europe. This Burton Holmes travelogue hints at it.
Marvel and its rival DC Comics were long locked in a battle for supremacy in the superhero universe. But then Marvel revolutionized its storytelling palette: Formerly slick comic book heroes were given human traits and problems as well as superpowers. Plot lines became increasingly interwoven. Superheroes like Spider-Man, X-Men and Jessica Jones now enjoy cult status even among an audience that has never read the comic books. Former Marvel insiders and comic experts give a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Marvel universe and reveal how the company fought its way back to become one of the most successful names in the entertainment industry.
The House of David story has fascinated the minds of millions for over a century! It was a place in Michigan that was surrounded by mystery, religion, romance, baseball, travel, sex, scandal, and huge wealth. It was all based on an unusual religious colony that called themselves the “House of David”. Their leader and founder Benjamin Purnell preached that he was teaching the way to have “eternal life of the body” and the way to live forever on earth. Converts traveled from afar to hear the message and many would join their colony, giving up all of their worldly possessions in exchange for the promise of everlasting life. They came from all corners of the globe to see what they were being told was “Paradise on Earth”.
A gifted writer's death a week before becoming a critically acclaimed author sends her husband and son on an unexpected book tour to ensure her dream lives on. Motivated and devastated all at once, Dick Wall embarks on a crusade across America to promote his late wife's work.
An in-depth investigation into the private world of the American writer J. D. Salinger (1919-2010), who lived most of his life behind the impenetrable wall of a self-imposed seclusion: how his dramatic experiences during World War II influenced his life and work, his relationships with very young women, his obsessive writing methods, his many literary secrets.
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.
With this inventive portrait, director Kirsten Johnson seeks a way to keep her 86-year-old father alive forever. Utilizing moviemaking magic and her family’s dark humor, she celebrates Dr. Dick Johnson’s last years by staging fantasies of death and beyond. Together, dad and daughter confront the great inevitability awaiting us all.
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.
Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.
RETURN tells the story of a retired Green Beret who embarks on a healing journey from Montana to Vietnam. There he retraces his steps, shares his wartime experiences with his son, treats his Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and seeks out the mountain tribespeople he once lived with and fought alongside as a Special Forces officer.
This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.
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.
A documentary portrait chronicling the incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became the United States' most famous sex therapist. As her 90th birthday approaches, Dr. Ruth revisits her painful past and her career at the forefront of the sexual revolution.
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.
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.
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.
We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…
Ozzy Osbourne faces his identity and mortality after his world stops. Dealing with health issues and Parkinson's, he questions if he can perform again while music remains his life's cornerstone.
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.
Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.
From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton's impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man.
Amid shifting times, two women kept their decades-long love a secret. But coming out later in life comes with its own set of challenges.
This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of famed boxing painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role as her overbearing husband's assistant, Noriko finds an identity of her own.