A five-year visual ethnography of traditional yet practical orchestration of Semana Santa in a small town where religious woodcarving is the livelihood. An experiential film on neocolonial Philippines’ interpretation of Saints and Gods through many forms of rituals and iconographies, exposing wood as raw material that undergoes production processes before becoming a spiritual object of devotion. - A sculpture believed to have been imported in town during Spanish colonial conquest, locally known as Mahal na Señor Sepulcro, is celebrating its 500 years. Meanwhile, composed of non-actors, Senakulo re-enacts the sufferings and death of Jesus. As the local community yearly unites to commemorate the Passion of Christ, a laborious journey unfolds following local craftsmen in transforming blocks of wood into a larger than life Jesus crucified on a 12-ft cross.
Serafina (2022)
An orthodox heroine astride a motorbike. Young people breaking the monotony of a country life through stunt riding. A meeting against a Western backdrop between two universes that are at odds with each other except for their very reason for being: passion.
Valldaura: A Quarantine Cabin (2022)
A group of young architects, confined to a forest in Barcelona during the COVID crisis, explore the problems generated by the ambition of wanting to be completely self-sufficient.
Montezuma (2009)
Montezuma is a 2009 BBC Television documentary film in which Dan Snow examines the reign of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II.
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006)
Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about the country band from Texas called the Dixie Chicks and how one tiny comment against President Bush dropped their number one hit off the charts and caused fans to hate them, destroy their CD’s, and protest at their concerts. A film about freedom of speech gone out of control and the three girls lives that were forever changed by a small anti-Bush comment
Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth (2008)
BBC The Natural World. In 2004, a team from the Planet Earth series captured the first ever film of a wild snow leopard in the mountains of Pakistan. For Nisar Malik, who led the expedition, these images sparked a passion that compelled him to return. With cameraman Mark Smith, he spent two years documenting the snow leopard's daily life, finally lifting the veil on the most elusive of all cats.
Microcosmos (1996)
A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.
Kathryn Bigelow: Hollywood Adrenaline (2023)
For more than 40 years Kathryn Bigelow has been making films that explore male violence. With movies like Blue Steel, Point Break, The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, the Oscar winning American filmmaker has impressed with hard-hitting moviemaking that holds a mirror up to contemporary America and the world.
War Game (2024)
A bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence, and elected policymakers spanning five presidential administrations participate in an unscripted role-play exercise in which they confront a political coup backed by rogue members of the U.S. military, in the wake of a contested presidential election.
The Year Earth Changed (2021)
Never-before-seen footage shows how our living in lockdown opened the door for nature to bounce back and thrive. Across the seas, skies, and lands, Earth found its rhythm when we came to a stop.
Marked (2019)
This documentary explores Nigeria's cultural practice of marking, including its origins and meaning as a symbol of identity, beauty and spirituality.
Dinner with the President: A Nation's Journey (2007)
Documentary in which President Musharraf explores the different worlds and influences on political life in Pakistan at a dinner in his official residence, the Army House. Labourers and intellectuals, journalists and industrialists add to the debate, as the role that a military leader can play in guiding a state towards modern democracy is questioned. (Storyville)
Oona and Me (2005)
Documentary about ex-Labour MP Oona King. Only the second black female MP and one of the most media friendly of the 'Blair Babes', her support for the Iraq War alienated her from her Muslim constituency in London's East End, and led to her defeat by George Galloway and his anti-war Respect Party in the 2005 election. King asked her childhood friend Nora Meyer to make a film about the issue but Meyer was also opposed to the war and wonders if her friend's youthful radicalism has been dulled. (Storyville)
Ministry of Truth (2007)
Filmmaker Richard Symons asks members of the British government to support his campaign for truth in the Houses of Parliament, and attempts to get a pledge from MPs that they will never tell a lie. (Storyville)
La cravate (2020)
Bastien is twenty years old and has been an activist for five years in the main extreme right party. When the presidential campaign begins, he's invited by his superior to commit even further. Initiated into the art of decking himself out like a politician, he starts to dream of a career, but old demons surge forth...
The Satanic Verses Affair (2009)
Twenty years ago, novelist Salman Rushdie was a wanted man with a million pound bounty on his head. His novel, The Satanic Verses, had sparked riots across the Muslim world. The ailing religious leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, had invoked a little-known religious opinion - a fatwa - and effectively sentenced Rushdie to death. This film looks back on the extraordinary events which followed the publication of the book and the ten year campaign to get the fatwa lifted. Interviews with Rushdie's friends and family and testimony from leaders of Britain's Muslim community and the Government reveal the inside story of the affair.