Tattooing — "the world's oldest skin game" — is the subject of this iconic documentary. Writer/director Geoff Steven scored a major coup by signing Easy Rider legend Peter Fonda as his presenter. Travelling to Aotearoa, Samoa, Japan and the United States, the doco traces key developments in tattooing, including its importance in the Pacific, prison-inspired styles, and the influence of 1960s counterculture. Legendary tattooists feature (including Americans Ed Hardy and Jack Rudy), while the closing credits parade some eye-opening full body tattoos.
H*art On (2017)
H*ART ON dives off the deep end of modern art. A film about the yearning to create, to mould everyday emotions into a meaningful life and, most of all, to live beyond one's death. A struggle that gets to the existential core of each of us. How do you find meaning in everyday fear, love, sex and loneliness?
Liverpool: Beyond the Beatles (2014)
A self-funded, non-profit feature documentary exploring and celebrating Liverpool's contemporary independent music scene at the beginning of the 21st century, featuring interviews with Kevin McManus (Liverpool Vision), David Pichilingi (Liverpool Sound City), Craig Pennington (Bido Lito), Paul Du Noyer (NME and Mojo Magazine), David Lloyd (Seven Streets), Peter Guy (GIT Awards and Liverpool Echo), Mike Deane (Liverpool Music Week) and David McTague (Africa Oye).
Time Theorem (2022)
The director Andrés Kaiser combines hundreds of amateur films and photographs from the treasure trove of images belonging to his migrant grandparents creating a cinematic firework of analogies.
Palin on Redpath (1997)
Michael Palin travels to France in search of the Mediterranean view on his wall, captured by his favourite artist, Scottish painter Anne Redpath. He travels from a London bank, via a chateau in Cap Ferrat and a monastery in Edinburgh.
The Inked Family (2017)
“The Inked Family” follows a couple of married Latvian-born tattoo artists – Anrijs and Monami Frost of online fame. They’re now living in Liverpool with their daughter, and their previous lives in Latvia seem almost surreal to them. The film traces Monami’s past, and the couple’s current lives and the success they’ve found as tattoo artists.
It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures (2001)
A 60-minute salute to American International Pictures. Entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff founded AIP (then called American Releasing Corporation) on a $3000 loan in 1954 with his partner, James H. Nicholson, a former West Coast exhibitor and distributor. The company made its mark by targeting teenagers with quickly produced films that exploited subjects mainstream films were reluctant to tackle.
The Mundo King (2019)
Artist Rolf Schulz's pursuit to make his dreams come true through his endless toil to complete the majestic Mundo King Castle on a hill in the Dominican Republic
National Gallery (2014)
A portrait of the day-to-day operations of the National Gallery of London, that reveals the role of the employees and the experiences of the Gallery's visitors. The film portrays the role of the curators and conservators; the education, scientific, and conservation departments; and the audience of all kinds of people who come to experience it.
Almost Ghosts (2019)
Harley Russell, 73, lives only on the tips he receives at his wacky store at Erick (Oklahoma) with his Mediocre Music Maker show. Ángel Delgadillo, 91, the last barber of Seligman (Arizona), continues shaving drivers who go out of the interstate highway to visit his town. Lowell Davis, more than 80, is the first inhabitant of Red Oak II (Missouri), a ghost town which he rebuilt through the restoration of its old houses. Three stories of perseverance and overcoming in what was once the road that connected the United States from East to West. Three survivors that managed to save the most well-known route in America.
Keith Haring: The Message (2013)
Keith Haring: The Message was released in conjunction with the Keith Haring retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Directed by famed designer, Madonna stylist and Haring confidante Maripol, The Message goes pretty deep into both the artist and the city and times he’ll forever be identified with: New York City, circa the 1980s. The focus, as the title indicates, is upon the “struggles that animated” Keith Haring’s work, his activism – in a word, his “message.”
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller (2002)
Samuel Fuller discusses his career as a filmmaker, illustrated by plenty of clips.
Leonardo: The Works (2019)
Leonardo da Vinci is acclaimed as the world’s favourite artist. Many TV shows and feature films have showcased this extraordinary genius but often not examined closely enough is the most crucial element of all: his art. Leonardo’s peerless paintings and drawings will be the focus of Leonardo: The Works, as EXHIBITION ON SCREEN presents every single attributed painting, in Ultra HD quality, never seen before on the big screen. Key works include The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Lady with an Ermine, Ginevra de’ Benci, Madonna Litta, Virgin of the Rocks, and more than a dozen others.
Frida Kahlo (2020)
She was a prolific self-portraitist, using the canvas as a mirror through all stages of her turbulent and, at times, tragic life. This highly engaging film takes us on a journey through the life of one of the most prevalent female icons: Frida Kahlo. Displaying a treasure trove of colour and a feast of vibrancy on screen, this personal and intimate film offers privileged access to her works and highlights the source of her feverish creativity, her resilience and her unmatched lust for life, men, women, politics and her cultural heritage.
Bone Wind Fire (2011)
A journey into the hearts, minds and eyes of Georgia O’Keeffe, Emily Carr and Frida Kahlo - three of the 20th century’s most remarkable artists.
There Are No Fakes (2019)
Norval Morrisseau was the first Indigenous Canadian artist to be taken seriously in the art world. By the turn of this century his work commanded tens of thousands of dollars. So when Barenaked Ladies keyboardist Kevin Hearn learned his prized painting was a forgery, he sued. But as Jamie Kastner's doc reveals, there was a cottage industry in fake Morrisseaus, an industry that flourished unchecked for years, feeding on greed, exploitation, racism and contempt.
The MacArthur Facade (2024)
An amateur documentary crew dive into a growing opioid epidemic within Australia's Capital only to discover horrifying truths.
In Home God Remains (2022)
Religious imagery in Curado I, a small neighbourhood in the northeast of Brazil.
UFOs Angels & Gods (2006)
Is there a connection between bible stories of contacts with the gods and the modern day UFO phenomenon?
I Said I Would Never Paint This Way Again (2013)
A documentary that tells the story of five American Indian artists, the Urban Indian 5 (UI5), and their unique partnership.
Mountain Men: The Ghosts of K2 (2001)
The dramatic stories of Fritz Wiessner’s 1939 K2 expedition and Charlie Houston’s return in 1953. K2 is one of the hardest mountains in the world to climb. This film focuses on the expeditions of Fritz Wiessner and Charlie Houston in 1953. An award winner at the Banff, Telluride, Trento and Prague film festivals.