In this film, Paul Tomkowicz, Polish-born Canadian, talks about his job and his life in Canada. He compares his new life in the city of Winnipeg to the life he knew in Poland, marvelling at the freedom Canadians enjoy. In winter the rail-switches on streetcar tracks in Winnipeg froze and jammed with freezing mud and snow. Keeping them clean, whatever the weather, was the job of the switchman.
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My Winnipeg (2008)
The geographical dead center of North America and the beloved birthplace of Guy Maddin, Winnipeg, is the frosty and mysterious star of Maddin’s film. Fact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this work, conjuring a city as delightful as it is fearsome.
Dreaming of Democracy (2013)
A desperate journey in the heart of Thessaloniki. Seven Iranians, each one for his personal reasons, leave their homeland and embark on a life journey. Europe can provide them with a different life. It can provide them with human rights. An obligatory stop on the way is Greece. There, they meet each other, they are imprisoned and they realize that “democracy” isn’t what they imagined. They try in any way they can to flee the country, living to the fullest every last moment they spend here. Thessaloniki is their new homeland for now. So, they try to become one with the city, to experience “Greek democracy”
On dirait Nino Ferrer (2004)
Nino Ferrer has had several lives: hits that made him famous; a dark but artistically fruitful period; a hidden life -of his own making- breaking away from showbiz. All these facets are concentrated in a brilliant, complex, skinned character. "It looks like Nino Ferrer" is a film rich in international archives (TSR, RTSI, Rai...), rare documents (Super 8 films of the Ferrer family) and even unpublished films (Nino Ferrer as an actor in an advertisement for Italian cheese). The film is also punctuated by the memories of famous musicians such as Manu Dibango as well as by the singer's successes and his live performances (L'Olympia, L'Arche de Noé).
Scars (2018)
We admire beauty; we recoil from bodies that are marred, disfigured, different. Didier Cros’ moving, intimate film forces us to question what underlies our notions of beauty as we join a talented photographer taking stunning portraits of several people with profound visible scars which have dictated certain elements of their lives but have not come to define their humanity. The subjects' perceptions of themselves are dynamic, unexpected, and even heartwarming. This is an unforgettable journey to be shared with the world.
Paper Dolls (2006)
Paper Dolls follows the lives of transgender migrant workers from the Philippines who work as health care providers for elderly Orthodox Jewish men and perform as drag queens during their spare time. It also delves into the lives of societal outcasts who search for freedom and acceptance.
The Man Who Made Angels Fly (2013)
When the lights dim and the stage is revealed, Meschke channels life through the strings of his puppets, triggering the spiritual connection between the creator and his alter-egos: the charismatic Don Quixote, the loving Penelope, the inquisitive Baptiste, or the mysterious Antigone. THE MAN WHO MADE ANGELS FLY is a poetic story about a master of his craft that has inspired audiences to reflect upon common issues of suffering and the mortal coil. Visionary and un-biographic, imaginary tribute to the puppeteer.
Liquor Store Dreams (2022)
So Yun Um’s debut feature is a moving portrait of two Korean American children of liquor store owners reconciling their dreams with those of their immigrant parents, against the backdrop of struggles for racial equity in Los Angeles.
Massacre River (2019)
Pikilina is a Dominican-born woman of Haitian descent. Racial and political violence erupts when the country of her birth, the Dominican Republic, reverses birthright citizenship and she and 200,000 others are left stateless.
Augusta (1976)
This short documentary is the portrait of an 88-year-old woman who lives alone in a log cabin without running water or electricity in the Williams Lake area of British Columbia. The daughter of a Shuswap chief, Augusta lost her Indian status as the result of a marriage to a white man. She recalls past times, but lives very much in the present. Self-sufficient, dedicated to her people, she spreads warmth wherever she moves, with her songs and her harmonica.
Show! (2013)
A surprisingly intimate portrait of how the dream of running one’s own business can take on monstrous contours. Managed by the father of one of the singers, over the course of five years the girl band 5Angels had reached the gates of pop fame. But it is a path paved not only with the songs of Michal David, but also with the dogged determination of a man who loses any notion of where his role as manager ends and his role as parent begins. An emotionally moved Karel Gott, five angelic girls, and one overly involved father, thanks to whom the behind-the-scenes pre-Christmas atmosphere melts away just as rapidly as the fat should disappear from the belly. “A singer can’t be a lard bucket!”
Aan ons den arbeid (2007)
Documentary that shows the changing attitude towards immigrant labor in The Netherlands. The documentary follows three immigrants that arrived in Holland 30 years ago to work in a bakery.
Kubota (1982)
A film featuring architect, sculptor, and musician Nobuo Kubota in a sound-sculpture performance. From within a cage-like structure filled with traditional musical instruments and sound-making devices fashioned from ordinary objects and toys, Kubota creates an aural/visual montage of musical notes and noises. Praised by music educators as a valuable tool for teaching creativity in sound exploration and musical innovation, the film reveals the infinite percussion possibilities of simple objects and presents a portrait of a versatile performer whose imagination has led him far beyond the confines of conventional music. Directed by Jonny Silver - 1982 | 20 min
Die Markus Family (2001)
This film tells the story of Markus Anatol Weisse, who, astonishingly enough, became an artist, in spite of being only very partially sighted. Markus also builds strange machine-like beings and wishes that he himself were a biological robot, or cyborg.
Evaporating Borders (2014)
Evaporating Borders is a poetically photographed and rendered film on tolerance and search for identity. Told through 5 vignettes portraying the lives of migrants on the island of Cyprus, it passionately weaves themes of displacement and belonging.
The Neon Studio of Carolina Pereira (2023)
Welcome to the neon studio of Carolina Pereira. Bem-vindo ao estúdio neon da Carolina Pereira.
And in shallow waters, then i learned not to swim but to lie (2018)
Footage from summer of 2018 that explores the passing of time regarding the little things in life.
Belle Vie (2022)
A much loved Parisian-style bistro located in Los Angeles between a thriving McDonalds and KFC, Belle Vie is owned and operated by the charming and hopeful Vincent Samarco, who struggles to adapt, survive and keep the bistro alive in the midst of a pandemic that has ravaged small businesses everywhere.
Trois frères pour une vie (1999)
Together, the three Bertrand brothers work their farm in a small Savoyard village. In 1972, they took the enormous risk to invest in the construction of an ultra modern stable for 82 milk cows. With modern organisation, they hoped to lead a better life. Almost 30 years later, the farm is successful. Their work is meticulous and the milk is graded top quality. The human cost is much more sombre. Indeed these thirty years can be summarised in one word : work. The brothers are bachelors and – each one now over sixty years old – a bitterness when they recall their past. The younger brother says it himself: "It's an economic success, but it's a human failure...".