Aranzazú, a memory of ruins

Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution

February 2008 •German

Ammunition Smuggling on the Mexican Border: Incidents of the Mexican Revolution

September 1914 •English

Around the film hang fascinating questions about border politics, which I’ll touch on in an introduction before the screening. One of Eugene Buck’s motivations for making the film may have been his rough cross-examination during his kidnappers’ first trials, in October 1913, when defense attorneys cast him as a confused and unreliable witness against idealistic freedom fighters. On film he could reproduce the pursuit, the shootouts, his kidnapping, and his friend’s murder just as he had testified. Reenacting the crime on film may have been the best revenge—and a way to honor the sacrifice of Deputy Ortiz, a twenty-year police veteran and, for the era, a rare Mexican American lawman.

Dreams

November 2021 •English

These are the future leaders of their communities. Ever wonder what it’s like to walk a day in their shoes? How the world looks through their eyes? We were curious. So, we asked them.

Cómo vivir toda una vida con apenas un te quiero

Invalid date •Spanish

Centinelas del Silencio

May 1971 •English

Sentinels of Silence is a 1971 short documentary film on ancient Mexican civilizations. The film was directed and written by Mexican filmmaker Robert Amram, and is notable for being the first and only short film to win two Academy Awards.

Oaxaca - Zwischen Rebellion und Utopie

January 2007 •English

Wanda Gosciminska – A Textile Worker

June 1975 •Polish

The life of a female weaver is thrown onto the socio-political canvas of pre-war and post-war communist Poland through the use of expressive allegorical and symbolic imagery in this imaginative take on the documentary form.

Stateless

Invalid date •English

A "loose-knit" community of crypto-anarchists emigrate to Acapulco, a city recently ranked as the fourth most dangerous in the world, to escape the powers of nation-states. But several years later, the group diverges into to different visions of liberty.

Charles: In His Own Words

April 2023 •English

A documentary special that provides a rare view into the real Charles behind the headlines… told in his own words.

Borderland Blues

May 2017 •English

„The Frontier“ or „La Frontera“ is the undulating landscape of the Sonora Desert in Arizona, which once was a symbol of freedom on the horizon of the American West – and also a region plagued by recurrent territorial struggles. Currently, a high steel fence stretches over several miles strictly separating the USA and Mexico into two territories. Every year, the remains of hundreds of migrants are retrieved from the area. The tense situation in Arizona’s borderland has split the locals into two groups: one demanding a more technically advanced border control system, the other requesting more humanitarian help. Accompanying various locals, NGO workers and self-proclaimed border guards from the region, filmmaker Gudrun Gruber raises the question of whether the latest border control technology will finally bring peace to the area, or rather merely increase the number of deaths.

Atomic Pilgrimage: Ghost Towns, Nuclear Relics, and Lost Civilizations on the Road to the Trinity Site

June 2019 •English

A 40-day, 40-night road trip to the Trinity Site—where the first atomic bomb was detonated in the summer of 1945—covering many other atomic destinations and driving deep into the natural and social history of the American southwest.

Parque Necrópolis

December 2023 •Spanish

Confronting the Cartels

March 2016 •English

Tens of thousands of Mexicans have been killed in drug-related gang violence in the past ten years. Ruthless criminals control the illegal trade with the US, thought to be worth $13bn a year. Now one of Mexico's leading politicians, known as El Bronco, the Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon claims he can beat the country's infamous cartels. For Our World Yalda Hakim has been to spend time with him.

Monsieur Mayonnaise

July 2016 •English

Artist and filmmaker Philippe Mora (Mad Dog Morgan; The Howling II; Swastika) is producing a graphic novel about his late father, Georges, widely known in Melbourne as a beloved contemporary art patron and owner of bohemian eateries Mirka Café, Café Balzac and the Tolarno Restaurant and Galleries. Less known, however, is Georges' astonishing history as part of the French resistance during World War II, his friendship with renowned mime Marcel Marceau (Philippe's godfather), and how together they saved thousands of Jewish lives with a fiendishly simple trick involving baguettes and mayonnaise.

Villa Madjo

November 2023 •French

México, México: Mexique en mouvement

December 1968 •French

"Mexico begins where the roads end ”. Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes tells us about the history of Mexico: its invasions, its revolutions, its sacred lands, its forgotten legends, its religious rituals and this frightening misery. François Reichenbach and his camera sink into the dust, on this sacred land, where "the land never ends."

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam

January 2003 •English

Long Tack Sam was an internationally renowned Chinese acrobat and magician. He overcame isolation, poverty, cultural and linguistic barriers, extreme racism and world wars to become one of the most successful vaudeville acts of his time. His showmanship was unrivalled, yet he refused to appear in movies because of the way Chinese were portrayed at the time. A celebration of the spirit of Long Tack Sam's magic and art, this richly textured first person road movie is an exhilarating testament to his legacy and a prismatic tour through the 20th Century. It all begins in a small village in China... https://www.nfb.ca/film/the_magical_life_of_long_tack_sam/

Nisei (Second-generation)

April 2024 •Spanish

Follows Iwao Ichikawa, a second-generation Japanese Mexican, navigating racial segregation in Mexicali, Baja California during WWII, offering a poignant exploration of identity and belonging amidst adversity.

Muerte es Vida (Death is Life)

October 2016 •English

Monarch butterflies have brought hope to the darkest times of people's lives. In Mexico, when they arrive for Day of the Dead, they are thought to be souls of the departed. Coincidence?

The Desert Wagon

March 2024 •Spanish

A couple of artists travels through the Mexico desert to present their puppet show.