In December 1969, legendary pianist and composer Thelonious Monk ended his European tour in Paris. Before the show, Monk appeared on French TV to perform and speak with French jazz pianist Henri Renaud. Newly discovered footage reveals the disconnect between Monk and his interviewer.
6.6
A post-modern documentary about the meaning and nature of love from a gay perspective.
7.4
Incident at Restigouche is a 1984 documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin, chronicling a series of two raids on the Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation (Restigouche) by the Sûreté du Québec in 1981, as part of the efforts of the Quebec government to impose new restrictions on Native salmon fishermen. Incident at Restigouche delves into the history behind the Quebec Provincial Police (QPP) raids on the Restigouche Reserve on June 11 and 20, 1981. The Quebec government had decided to restrict fishing, resulting in anger among the Micmac Indians as salmon was traditionally an important source of food and income. Using a combination of documents, news clips, photographs and interviews, this powerful film provides an in-depth investigation into the history-making raids that put justice on trial.
Brothers Peter and Matthew are wild about each other. They’re also constantly at each others’ throats. Peter is obsessed with the TV show Survivor, while Matthew is terrified of dogs. Their summer in suburban Maryland is filled with loving family life, brotherly fun, and furious arguments.
7.4
In 1970, a British film crew set out to make a straightforward literary portrait of James Baldwin set in Paris, insisting on setting aside his political activism. Baldwin bristled at their questions, and the result is a fascinating, confrontational, often uncomfortable butting of heads between the filmmakers and their subject, in which the author visits the Bastille and other Parisian landmark and reflects on revolution, colonialism, and what it means to be a Black expatriate in Europe.
7.2
This film is an album of Native womanhood, portraying a proud matriarchal society that for centuries has been pressured to adopt different standards and customs. All of the women featured share a belief in the importance of tradition as a source of strength in the face of change.
6.7
Jim Black, a 37-year-old Canadian talks about the AIDS that is killing him. He talks about his life and his friends and how his brother's family has rejected him. Catherine Hunt is a Canadian woman whose brother is dying of AIDS. These personal stories are presented with excerpts from a series of performances by Canadian musicians and performance artists in order to give the viewer a bigger picture of the impact of this disease.
7.5
In 1962 Joris Ivens was invited to Chile for teaching and filmmaking. Together with students he made …A Valparaíso, one of his most poetic films. Contrasting the prestigious history of the seaport with the present the film sketches a portrait of the city, built on 42 hills, with its wealth and poverty, its daily life on the streets, the stairs, the rack railways and in the bars. Although the port has lost its importance, the rich past is still present in the impoverished city. The film echoes this ambiguous situation in its dialectical poetic style, interweaving the daily life reality (of 1963) with the history of the city and changing from black and white to colour, finally leaving us with hopeful perspective for the children who are playing on the stairs and hills of this beautiful town.
5.8
On December 8, 1983 a fifteen year old Jewish boy from the city of Haifa was kidnapped, murdered and sexually abused after his death. Five Arabs who worked in in the neighborhood’s supermarket were convicted and imprisoned for life and 27 years. The conviction was based only on the defendants’ confessions and reconstructions. Seventeen years after their conviction, the five defendants still claim they are innocent. "The Reconstruction" follows the police investigation and juridical process step by step. The heart of the film is the original videotaped reconstructions of the murder performed by the defendants in which they admit their guilt.
Celebrated restaurant critic Jonathan Gold has a deep and complex relationship with the food and culture of his city, Los Angeles. He tours his city looking for new food experiences, uncovering hidden culinary treasures, and casting light upon the city’s thriving migrant culture.
7
An experimental meditation on Times Square's marquees and iconic advertising that captures the concurrently seedy and dazzling aspects of New York's Great White Way.
1990. A young Kahnawake Mohawk woman named Kahentiiosta is arrested after the Oka Crisis’ 78-day armed standoff. She is detained four days longer than the other women. Her crime? The prosecutor representing the Quebec government did not accept her Indigenous name.
In the summer of 1990, an armed standoff over a planned golf course on Kanien’kéhaka land unfolded. Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin embedded herself on the front lines of this conflict for 78 days to film the discord between the protesters, police, and military.
3.9
In the darkroom, 50 unexposed film strips were laid across a surface, upon which a frame of "La sortie des ouvrier de l'usine Lumière" was projected. The stringing together of the individual developed sections make up the new film, which reads the original frame like a page from a musical score: within the strips from top to bottom and sequentially from left to right.
Like the black sun of an eclipse, Antonia is a lyrical singer of exuberant and dark beauty. Recovering from a suicide attempt in a rehabilitation institution, all her family ties are irreparably broken. But her sister remains deeply affected by what happened. May they reunite once again?
4.1
This exploitation classic purports to expose the secrets of the 1960s lesbian underworld.
In 1973, a group of Montreal citizens organized a festival to raise funds in support of the Cree Indigenous people, who were losing their land because of a local hydroelectric project. Spectacular performances alternate with community meetings where locals talk of their past to defend their future.
At a residential school in James Bay, northern Ontario, Cree children share stories of their families and community at Christmas time. Incidents both big and small are illustrated and described through the children’s words and in their crayon drawings.
Buried deep in the basement of the British Museum, hidden in plastic bags and wooden boxes, lies a wealth of ancient and rare African artifacts. Over one day, the valuable objects are unveiled for the first time, revealing the vast expanse of African art stolen by colonial forces.
Filmed during the Autumn and Winter of 2012/2013 at John Calder’s – Samuel Beckett’s London publisher, collaborator and close friend – home in Montreuil. It witnesses his very particular domestic life, as well as his journey to London to visit for the last time legendary actress, Billie Whitelaw.
