Symphonic Sketches

Greek Community in Heidelberg

September 1976 •Greek

The Greek guest workers -gästarbeiter- in the industrially developed central and northern Europe in the mid 70s.

At Tourkovounia

October 1982 •Greek

Greek internal migrants in Athens, after the Greek Civil War colonize the tops of the Tourkovounia hills.

Framing Britney Spears

February 2021 •English

Her rise was a global phenomenon. Her downfall was a cruel national sport. People close to Britney Spears and lawyers tied to her conservatorship now reassess her career as she battles her father in court over who should control her life.

White Earth

January 2015 •English

An oil boom has drawn thousands to America’s Northern Plains in search of work. Against the backdrop of a cruel North Dakota winter, the stories of three children and an immigrant mother intertwine among themes of innocence, home, and the American Dream.

Great Shark Chow Down

July 2019 •English

The world's leading scientists and cinematographers relive 5 extraordinary shark feeding events. From being surrounded at night by 700 grey reek sharks, a 300-strong gathering of blacktip, dusky and bronze sharks feeding on thousands of bait fish, to the spectacular sight of more than 200 blue sharks feeding on the carcass of a seven ton whale; the Great Shark Chow Down is an epic celebration of sharks from around the world.

Ånga om sommaren

June 2018 •Swedish

A trip on the Swedish lake Mälaren by a 115-year-old steamboat. The journey between Stockholm and Mariefred takes 3,5 hours. The steamboat Mariefred was manufactured over a hundred years ago and is one of the last steam-powered vessels on the lake. The steam whistle sounds when Maja, as she is called in Mariefred, steers into the bay towards the small town. A fanfare for the summer!

Nem Tudo se Desfaz

September 2021 •Portuguese

How twenty cents began a conservative revolution.

Outside Center

September 2023 •English

Finding community via his gay rugby league, Jamaican-born Desmond navigates life, love, and identity as an immigrant living in Munich, Germany.

Pubertät bei Jungen

January 1966 •German

This animated short shows the development of boys up to and during puberty. It depicts the typical external changes that occur with the onset of sexual maturity, the structure and function of the sexual organs, sperm formation and pollination.

Human Combustion

October 2001 •English

Catch My Baby

October 2022 •English

The documentary Catch My Baby revolves around the incident that occurred amid the Durban riots in July 2021, when people were evacuated from a looted and burned building, forcing residents into a life or death situation. Naledi Manyoni is the mother of a baby who had to be thrown out of a high-rise building during a fire in their apartment. The film includes first-hand accounts from people who were at ground zero on that day that had repercussions around the world.

My Daughter's Killer

July 2022 •French

A father fights for decades to bring his daughter's killer to justice in France and Germany before taking extreme measures.

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

March 1895 •French

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

Inuk Woman City Blues

Invalid date •Kalaallisut

Follows homeless, addicted and alienated Greenlandic women in Copenhagen, Denmark; includes fragments of Greenlandic culture.

Gifted and Challenged: The Making of 'Shortbus'

March 2007 •English

A look at the unusual process used in the making of the film Shortbus (2006) featuring interviews, behind the scenes footage and clips from the feature film. Director John Cameron Mitchell starts with the concept of using real sex in a film with a positive message. The cast of unknowns is selected from homemade audition tapes and then a callback audition workshop. More acting workshops are used to develop the characters and script. The project overcomes a number of obstacles and the rest of the film's development is followed up until its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

Pucundrìa

October 2019 •Italian

In a retirement home in a small town surrounded by mountains, the daily lives of the people who live there alternate. Them inside, the world outside. An imbalance that manifests itself in "Pucundrìa", an indefinable feeling of melancholy, boredom and perennial dissatisfaction, which leads to an unconscious resignation for what has not been, is not and can never be.

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon

August 1968 •French

On October 21, 1967, over 100,000 protestors gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam. It was the largest protest gathering yet, and it brought together a wide cross-section of liberals, radicals, hippies, and Yippies. Che Guevara had been killed in Bolivia only two weeks previously, and, for many, it was the transition from simply marching against the war, to taking direct action to try to stop the 'American war machine.' Norman Mailer wrote about the events in Armies of the Night. French filmmaker Chris Marker, leading a team of filmmakers, was also there.

Hakob Hovnatanyan

January 1967 •Armenian

Exploring the art of Armenian portraitist Hakob Hovnatanyan, Parajanov revives the culture of Tbilisi of the 19th century.

A 3 Minute Hug

November 2018 •Spanish

As daylight breaks between the border cities of El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, undocumented migrants and their relatives, divided by a wall, prepare to participate in an activist event. For three minutes, they’ll embrace in no man’s land for the briefest and sweetest of reunions.

Titanic: The New Evidence

January 2017 •English

This documentary draws on new evidence to reveal that a fire was raging in Titanic's boiler rooms before she left port, that it was kept secret and, it's now believed, that it led to the tragedy