
29 Jan 1956

Night and Fog
Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.
This absolutely top-notch documentary by Robert Fischer is a fascinating look back at not just the film in question, but Fassbinder's meteoric career which ended all too soon with his untimely death. Archival footage of Fassbinder is utilized (including several fascinating snippets culled from interviews he did at the disastrous Cannes premiere of Despair), as well as many others involved in the film and its release. Even if you're not a particular fan of Despair, or even in fact of Fassbinder, this is stellar documentary film making and is an intriguing look at one of the most enigmatic masters of the New German Cinema.

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29 Jan 1956

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

25 May 2023

A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.

05 Nov 1999

American Movie documents the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mission, and his dream. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, American Movie is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man's quest for the American Dream.

13 Aug 2021

In this animated documentary, Los Angeles filmmaker Dion Labriola recounts his all-consuming childhood quest to contact his teen idol, Ike Eisenmann - and the magical turn of events that led him toward his goal (some 40 years later).

22 Jan 2016

With aerial shots filmed from helicopters and drones, moments of life and encounters, this abundant geographical narrative offers a unique perspective on today's Germany, providing an overview of a territory undergoing profound change. Committed to an unprecedented energy transition, Germany has been working for several years to reconcile economic development with respect for nature. This challenge is profoundly transforming its urban and rural landscapes, even though they still bear the traces of a partition that the reunification of a little over a quarter of a century ago has not completely erased.

25 Jan 2006

Kirby Dick's provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films, revealing the organization's underhanded efforts to control culture. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment and exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence.

03 Mar 1978

The film does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two-month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped and later murdered by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the original leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.

22 Feb 1992

Helke Sander interviews multiple German women who were raped in Berlin by Soviet soldiers in May 1945. Most women never spoke of their experience to anyone, due largely to the shame attached to rape in German culture at that time.

31 May 2007

Documentary film about the painter and sculptor Jörg Immendorff who ranks among the most important German artists. The filmmakers accompanied Immendorff over a period of two years – until his death in May 2007. The artist had been living for nine years knowing that he was terminally ill with ALS. The film shows how Immendorff continued to work with unabated energy and how he tried not to let himself be restrained by his deteriorating health.

02 Aug 2021

Max S. reveals how he built a drug empire from his childhood bedroom in this story that inspired the series "How to Sell Drugs Online."

01 Apr 2013

The film traces the life and times of Esther Eng, a San Francisco native known as Hong Kong’s first “directress.” She directed 10 Cantonese talkies.

27 Feb 2015

A documentary directed by Winding Refn's wife, Liv Corfixen, and it follows the Danish-born filmmaker during the making of his 2013 film Only God Forgives.
For African athletes making money abroad is the big goal. But Kenyan marathon runners need to be careful – the industry is ruthless and only few make it. For years, sports managers have been bringing African athletes to Europe to run in marathons with promises of potential prize money and a top career. For many it’s a means of escaping poverty. But what price do the marathon runners themselves pay? Long-distance running is among the toughest disciplines in the world. Professional marathon runners battle over seconds in a race more than 40km long - seconds that are often worth huge sums of money. Running has become a business. The prize money for a major event can be in five figures. Participants have to be world-class athletes to win these amounts.

12 Jun 2003

Alternately hilarious and horrifying, Overnight chronicles one man's misadventures of making a Hollywood movie. It starts out as a rags to riches story as Troy Duffy, a Boston-bred bartender, sells his first screenplay for The Boondock Saints.

03 Oct 2017

Get to know the siblings whose films have captured the skittering pulse of New York’s city streets. An original documentary featuring footage from the making of their new thriller, Good Time, along with several of the brothers’ early features and shorts. Produced by the Criterion Channel for their "Meet the Filmmakers" series.

16 May 2013

Is the solution to Switzerland's future to integrate Germany into the confederation? After all, like Michael Ringier, CEO of the Ringier media group, says, blithely ignoring all minorities, we're very close in culture and language. Oskar Freysinger takes out his guitar and sings his answer. Politicians from French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino think expanding will help the country survive. The former German foreign minister thinks the two countries' traditions are too different. The banker Oswald Grübel is worried about Germany's debts, although he'd be prepared to take over its assets. With serious interviews interspersed with gags (boat people on Lake Constance, the last Habsburger as a peasant), Giaccobbo gathers off-the-cuff reactions which reveal a lot about the different mentalities. The movie laughs at preconceived notions, redefines neutrality and reflects on what designates a nation. Switzerland, which loves to teach the world a lesson, will soon helvetize the planet, oder?
No overview found

02 Oct 2014

Documentary tells the story of Germany's origins from the Carboniferous period to the present day. It leads from the highest Alpine peaks to the rugged North Sea coasts - from the craters of the Eifel to the river labyrinth of the Spreewald. Back then - around 300 million years ago - giant dragonflies, for example, buzzed through dozens of meter-high fern forests. In the course of the Earth's history, however, we also encounter dying dinosaurs, meet rhinos and elephants on the Rhine and come across what is probably the first human in Heidelberg. Later, the Neanderthals appear and suddenly disappear again - for reasons that are still unknown. And finally, modern humans gradually spread and began to shape their environment.

31 Jul 1998

A documentary about the production of From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and the people who made it.

21 Dec 2008

Blixa Bargeld (born Christian Emmerich) is a German-born musician active in a number of artistic fields. He is best known for his studio work and live performances with the groups Einstürzende Neubauten and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. In the center the front singer of this busting sound event – one of the most dazzling personalities in the history of German music: Blixa Bargeld. Nobody else embodied the 1980ies West Berlin punk attitude more than him. Nobody was so over the edge, so demonic and at the same time so inventive. Blixa Bargeld is mainly known for being the mind and front singer of Einstürzende Neubauten, although he is a multi-talent and has never restricted himself to being only musician. Portrait for ZDF/arte series "Mein Leben"