Filmmaker John Torres describes his childhood and discusses his father's infidelities.
Vowellet - An Essay by Sarah Vowell (2005)
This Pixar documentary short follows Sarah Vowell, who plays herself as the title character, on why she is a superhero in her own way. (This short piece is included on the 2-Disc DVD for "The Incredibles", which was released in 2005.
Undercurrents: Meditations on Power (2023)
Made from reimagined/recycled images and sounds from the filmmaker’s archive and other found materials, Undercurrents is a poetic essay documentary about the undercurrents of history playing out in the present. It is also (at its heart) about the power of resistance.
Debra Paget, For Example (2016)
A video essay where the author presumes motivations and insights in a fictionalized biography regarding Debra Paget, a contract player for 20th-Century Fox whom they groomed and coached for stardom.
Obit (2017)
How do you put a life into 500 words? Ask the staff obituary writers at the New York Times. OBIT is a first-ever glimpse into the daily rituals, joys and existential angst of the Times obit writers, as they chronicle life after death on the front lines of history.
Elemental (2015)
40,000 years in the making: Kogonada's video essay created for The Connected Series.
The Barbie Movie (2025)
Equal parts documentary, visual essay, experimental collage narrative, and parodic homage to and of all things Barbie, this caustic and exciting visual foray embraces the complicated terrain of feminist discourse, cultural criticism, and political rhetoric, as well as insights on gender, identity, and personal experience where all roads lead back to the phenomena that is Barbie.
No Traces of Life (2024)
Building on Forensic Architecture’s previous investigation into herbicidal warfare and its effects on Palestinian farmers along the eastern perimeter of the occupied Gaza Strip, this investigation marks Land Day in Palestine by examining the systematic targeting of orchards and greenhouses by Israeli forces since October 2023. Our analysis reveals that this destruction is a widespread and deliberate act of ecocide that has exacerbated the ongoing catastrophic famine in Gaza and is part of a wider pattern of deliberately depriving Palestinians of critical resources for survival.
Visions of Europe (2004)
Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
D is for Division (2018)
1940. On the border between Latvia and the USSR, a woman is killed in front of her house as she tried to protect her son from the liberating attack of the Soviets. Almost 80 years later, the archive photo bearing witness to this news item and representing a collateral victim of the European Union’s founding conflict forms the starting point for a journey undertaken by Davis Sīmanis. He navigates from one side to the other of this border, which today represents another separation, one that is geographical but also cultural: between Europe and Russia.
O Cinema é Minha Vida (2021)
In the dressing room of the French cinema, minutes before attending a lecture, François Truffaut recalls his trajectory
Parallel Lives (2021)
Born June 8, 1964, Frank Matter films four "twins", born the same day as him, but in other latitudes. Interweaving their life stories with rich archival material, the filmmaker links these Parallel Lives with elements from his own biography, to compose a fascinating fresco where intimate trajectories are part of the advent of the global village.
Velvet Bayou (2022)
A short film essay on Blue Velvet (1986) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976). The fact that Blue Velvet was almost shot in black and white is explored in comparison with the original scenes, as the choices of different directors (within a ten-year interval) when choosing Roy Orbison's music for their films.
The Cooking Show (2021)
The cooking show is as old as television itself. But why do we like watching the making of a meal that most of us will never cook, let alone eat? Dirty Furniture’s jam-packed video essay is a rollercoaster ride through the history of the genre, at once a staple of television viewing and a hotpot of shifting perspectives and sociocultural values.
And the Dogs Were Silent (1976)
For 'Et les chiens se taisaient' Maldoror adapted a piece of theatre by the poet and politician Aimé Césaire (1913–2008), about a rebel who becomes profoundly aware of his otherness when condemned to death. His existential dialogue with his mother reverberates around the African sculptures on display at the Musée de l'Homme, a Parisian museum full of colonial plunder whose director was the Surrealist anthropologist Michel Leiris.
Watching the Pain of Others (2019)
In this deeply personal video diary, a young researcher tries to make sense of her fascination for the film "The Pain of Others" by Penny Lane. A deep dive into the discomforting world of YouTube and online conspiracies, that challenges traditional notions of what documentary cinema is, or should be.
Panoramas (2019)
In 1829 the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt attempted a russian-siberian expedition. Humboldt travelled to obtain a clear view of nature, people and life in this immense country. 2019 naturalists and humanists attempted a transdisciplinary expedition on the trails of Humboldt. To capture the events various cameras were taken along. A non-chronological narration.
The Swedish Troll Factory (NaN)
Artists Nathalie Gabrielsson and Peter Sköld uncover a massive disinformation campaign against the Swedish welfare model that started in the 1970s. The campaign is unique in the world in its strategic structure and extensive scope. All the problems we see today with a growing distrust of the political and democratic system, and scientific facts, can therefore be seen as a predictable consequence of this campaign and paradigm shift. It also gives us an idea of the background to when politics began to become meaningless, and more about creating mock debates and rhetorical plays in the media where, for example, scientific facts are no longer an obvious starting point. The Swedish Troll Factory makes visible the strategies and power interests behind this unique disinformation campaign and how it manipulates the democratic system.