Through the unrelenting winter in the north of Japan, a small group of workers must brave unusual working conditions to bring to life a 2,000-year-old tradition known as sake. A cinematic documentary, The Birth of Sake is a visually immersive experience of an almost-secret world in which large sacrifices must be made for the survival of a time-honored brew.
Liliputian Country on the West Will be Destroyed (2020)
While in Moscow thousands of young people are protesting against the current government, corruption in the Russian elite and demanding change, older people in southern Russia, in Krasnodar, are fighting for traditional values and stability. They face misunderstanding and hatred, but all the same, united, they create their own Russia. These women and men created their blog on youtube, in which they post a chronicle of their struggle. They called themselves “Putin Squad”.
The Shogun (2008)
With cunning and courage the japanese warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu managed to unify Japan after 150 years of civil war.
Bushido (2024)
Kakunoshin Yanagida (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) was a samurai, but he was forced out of the Han due to a false accusation. He then lived in poverty with his daughter Kinu (Kaya Kiyohara). Despite being poor, he never gave up his pride and honor that he held as a samurai. Even when playing the board game Go, which is his hobby, he always plays in a fair manner. Because of a case, the truth behind the false accusation is revealed. Kakunoshin Yanagida is shaken and filled with rage. He decides to take revenge, even if it means he will be torn from his daughter.
Nach dem Sturm (2019)
The protests of 1968 had a significant impact on the great cities of the world. But people like to forget that the periphery went through the same social upheavals – Central Switzerland, for example. This is hardly surprising: in the founding cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy, society followed a strict order; tradition, shaped by centuries of Catholic rule, seemed untouchable. But in the 1960s, the local youth could not take these stifling conditions anymore: starting in 1969, resistance broke out across Central Switzerland.
True Asian Horror (2007)
A new wave of Asian horror movie filmmakers is capturing the attention of film studios desperate for box office success. From Tokyo to Hong Kong and Bangkok to Seoul, this two-part documentary describes how Asian directors have successfully married the power of local myths and superstitions with cutting-edge filming techniques and innovative storytelling, producing some of the scariest moments in the history of cinema. True Asian Horror includes scenes from The Ring - the movie voted by cinemagoers around the world as the scariest movie ever - and modern horror classics such as The Eye and Phone. Sit back as the directors of these classic films reveal how they manage to frighten the life out of their audiences and hear film critics explain why Hollywood is terrified to turn its back on Asian moviemakers whose meteoric rise to the top has been just plain scary.
Cherry Blossom Time in Japan (1936)
In this Traveltalk short, the symbolic role of cherry blossoms in Japanese culture is explored as well as the traditional Japanese religions of Shintoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.
Born In Summer (1998)
A filmmaker plays with diary-docu and fiction as his camera joins his ventures into a phone dating club. Bored to death, hormones running, and desperately wanting to talk to someone his own age (preferably a girl), he walks into a local phone dating club. Can he hook up with someone? Borrowing the form of a diary-movie, the director unfurls an unpredictable and imaginative look into his own persona. 8mm experimental film by Murakami Kenji, the film that made his name.
Bhutan: Following in the Footsteps of Matthieu Ricard (2024)
Buddhist monk and photographer Matthieu Picard as he returns to the Asian country in the Himalayas where he spent a decade after seven years away, revisiting breathtaking landscapes and experiencing local traditions.
Information for/from Outsiders: Chronicles from Kashmir (2019)
Chronicles from Kashmir seeks to create a sense of “balance”: between differently positioned voices that emerge when speaking about Kashmir; between differently placed narratives on the “victim”/“perpetrator” spectrum. While there is an inevitable streak of political commentary that runs throughout the work – a political current that cannot be escaped when talking about Kashmir – Chronicles from Kashmir does not espouse any one political ideology. We see ourselves as being artists and educators, using aesthetics and pedagogy to engage audiences with diverse perspectives from/about the Valley.
A Cam Life (2018)
An undaunted look into the cam business from performers and clients to website and studio owners.
The Aryans (2014)
THE ARYANS is Mo Asumang's personal journey into the madness of racism during which she meets German neo-Nazis, the US leading racist, the notorious Tom Metzger and Ku Klux Klan members in the alarming twilight of the Midwest. In The ARYANS Mo questions the completely wrong interpretation of "Aryanism" - a phenomenon of the tall, blond and blue-eyed master race.
Kintaro Walks Japan (2005)
Kintaro Walks Japan is a documentary film produced and directed by Tyler MacNiven. It is an account of MacNiven's journey walking and backpacking the entire length of Japan from Kyūshū to Hokkaidō, more than 2000 miles in 145 days.
Always Online (2018)
This Norwegian documentary asks the question if you really can go around without a smartphone and social medias in todays society. The movie follows 16 year old Elida as through a week without her smartphone and no access to her social medias. During the documentary we also get to hear the perspectives of some of her fellow classmates, a teacher, a professor in information- and media science at the University in Bergen, and leader of the local support group for victims of bullying.
Madulu, the Seaman (2023)
A youngster begins to understand the wisdom hidden within legendary whaler-man Tall 12's sea shanty songs in the whaling town of Barrouallie, St. Vincent, a place where men still wrestle with the creatures of the deep for survival. Against a backdrop of cruise-ship tourism and economic colonialism, this lyrical documentary discovers a surprising renewal of interest and hunger to preserve local traditions and cultural knowledge through new interpretations.
Taboo (1999)
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.
Ask This of Rikyu (2013)
Sen no Rikyu (Ebizo Ichikawa) is the son of a fish shop owner. Sen no Rikyu then studies tea and eventually becomes one of the primary influences upon the Japanese tea ceremony. With his elegant esthetics, Sen no Rikyu is favored by the most powerful man in Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Nao Omori) and becomes one of his closest advisors. Due to conflicts, Toyotomi Hideyoshi then orders Sen no Rikyu to commit seppuku (suicide). Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Kenichi Yamamoto's award-winning novel of the same name received the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 37th Montréal World Film Festival, the Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival, the 30th Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Award and the 37th Japan Academy Film Prize in nine categories, including Best Art Direction, Excellent Film and Excellent Actor.
Cinema Red: Natives & Horror (2019)
Over the course of four months, urban Native horror director Mike J. Marin (The Smudging) met with nine Native artists to discuss their opinions on horror cinema and the horror genre and how horror films impacted them and what role Native people play in the horror filmmaking process.