California Light

A Queer Refugee’s Suitcase

September 2019 •English

The story of a young gay man who faced persecution due to his sexuality and made a frightening journey to the UK with just a suitcase.

Paparazzi

September 1964 •French

Paparazzi explores the relationship between Brigitte Bardot and groups of invasive photographers attempting to photograph her while she works on the set of Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris (Contempt). Through video footage of Bardot, interviews with the paparazzi, and still photos of Bardot from magazine covers and elsewhere, director Rozier investigates some of the ramifications of international movie stardom, specifically the loss of privacy to the paparazzi. The film explains the shooting of the film on the island of Capri, and the photographers' valiant, even foolishly dangerous, attempts to get a photograph of Bardot.

The Wikipedia Promise

January 2021 •German

In 2001, Jimmy Wales published the first article on Wikipedia, a collaborative effort that began with a promise: to democratize the spreading of knowledge, monopolized by the elites for centuries. But is Wikipedia really a utopia come true?

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

June 1896 •French

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

September 1927 •German

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

Olympia: Part One – Festival of the Nations

April 1938 •German

Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. This first half of her two-part film opens with a renowned introduction that compares modern Olympians to classical Greek heroes, then goes on to provide thrilling in-the-moment coverage of some of the games' most celebrated moments, including African-American athlete Jesse Owens winning a then-unprecedented four gold medals.

Olympia: Part Two – Festival of Beauty

June 1938 •German

Commissioned to make a propaganda film about the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, director Leni Riefenstahl created a celebration of the human form. Where the two-part epic's first half, Festival of the Nations, focused on the international aspects of the 1936 Olympic Games held in Berlin, part two, The Festival of Beauty, concentrates on individual athletes such as equestrians, gymnasts, and swimmers, climaxing with American Glenn Morris' performance in the decathalon and the games' majestic closing ceremonies.

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.

Make the World Greta Again

May 2019 •English

Upon realising her generation won’t have a future unless the world’s politicians act now on climate change, 15-year-old Greta Thunberg skipped school in August 2018 to protest outside the Swedish parliament. What started as a one person strike soon gained global momentum. We follow Greta and the organisers of the school strikes for climate as they are cementing a worldwide movement ahead of their first global protest that took place on March 15th, 2019. It was the biggest climate strike in history with up to 1.6 million students in more than 125 countries.

cuando (no) soy yo

May 2022 •Spanish

Modern Guatemala City

August 1945 •English

This FitzPatrick Traveltalk short visits Guatemala City, touching upon its sights, customs, and history.

Obsessions du deuxième étage

January 2000 •English

A portrait of the Swedish director Roy Andersson, dealing with obsessions of the film maker considered as the origins of his last incredible project : Songs from the Second Floor. 20 years of reflection and creation, 4 years to shoot a masterpiece with a unique way of filming. A meeting with the Nordic Kubrick, rebel with a cause : responsibility and humanity.

The Marvelous Wild World of the Vegetable Garden

May 2022 •French

This is the story of a vegetable garden, from the first seeds to the harvest. But this garden is different, because here the gardener has decided to banish pesticides and other chemicals, and to be helped only by discreet workers, the insects. As we dive into the heart of this plant kingdom, we discover thousands of tiny lives that organize themselves as in a micro-society: decomposing insects, recyclers, pollinators, the workers of the garden work to maintain a fragile balance within the vegetable garden. As the plants grow and begin to produce their first vegetables, the incredible interactions between insects and plants help protect the future harvest. But it is also their personal stories that punctuate the life of the garden. Between parades, mutual aid and attempted putsch, the story of the vegetable garden thus takes the form of a true nature tale.

Lions of Namibia: The Kings of the Desert

May 2015 •English

On the edge of the Namibian desert, cattle farmers are looking for new land to graze their animals. The lions, who occupied these previously wild spaces, are hunted by herd guards, or even slaughtered when they attack cows. Will and Lianne Steenkamp lived for two years in a territory occupied by a 17-year-old lioness - a "queen" -, her two daughters and their five lion cubs. This film traces the process of empowering the young: after learning to hunt alone, they will have to leave the family pack and find young females to reproduce. A necessity all the greater as their species seems threatened.

Flesh

August 2019 •Portuguese

Rare, medium rare, medium, medium well and well done. Through intimate and personal stories, five women share their experiences in relation to the body, from childhood to old age.

Douma Underground

August 2019 •Arabic

"With the barrel bombs falling on Ghouta, civilians sought shelter in the basements of their homes. I was one of them, holding on to my camera, I tried to film what I couldn’t express in words."

Inside Chernobyl's Mega Tomb

December 2016 •English

Documentary which follows the construction of a trailblazing 36,000-tonne steel structure to entomb the ruins of the nuclear power plant destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

Alone

January 2017 •English

This investigation into the layers of mass incarceration and its shaping of the modern black American family is seen through the eyes of a single mother in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Tickle King

February 2017 •English

Featuring new, previously unseen footage documenting the bizarre and unsettling things that happened to filmmakers David Farrier and Dylan Reeve as Tickled premiered at film festivals and theaters in 2016. Lawsuits, private investigators, disrupted screenings and surprise appearances are just part of what they encounter along the way. Amidst new threats, the duo begins to answer questions that remained once the credits rolled on Tickled, including whether the disturbing behavior they uncovered will ever come to an end.

Monuments Are Here

August 2024 •English

In this short film starring Grady “Shady the Great” Thomas, Solange seeks to illustrate Black domesticity and collections, and the evanescent emotion that immortalises the physical objects we own, captured in the tape of its own medium.