Naked Ambition: Bunny Yeager

Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

August 2014 •English

The film explores the role of photography, since its rudimentary beginnings in the 1840s, in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present. The dramatic arch is developed as a visual narrative that flows through the past 160 years to reveal black photography as an instrument for social change, an African American point-of-view on American history, and a particularized aesthetic vision.

Reporters

June 1981 •French

The co-founder of the Gamma press agency, Raymond Depardon, created this documentary of press photographers in Paris and their subjects by following the photographers around for one month, in October, 1980. In-between long hours waiting for a celebrity to emerge from a restaurant or a hotel, boredom immediately switches to fast action as the cameras click and roll when the person appears. The reaction to the gaggle of photographers is as varied as the people they often literally chase all around town. While some of the celebrities, such as Jacques Chirac who was mayor of Paris at the time, are perceived as comical caricatures, others are shown simply going about ordinary pursuits - including Catherine Deneuve, Gene Kelly, and Jean-Luc Godard.

Heavy Petting - Heather Hite

Invalid date •English

A promotional documentary film starring Heather Hite, a Cleveland based photographer. Heather speaks about her approach to erotic photography in the lead up to the release of her first photography collection, Heavy Petting, from With an X Books.

Elliott Erwitt - Silence Sounds Good

July 2019 •English

Elliott Erwitt has spent his entire adult life taking photographs, of presidents, popes and movie stars, as well as regular people and their pets. His work is iconic in world culture while his life is largely unknown.

In the Theatre of the Gogs

June 2021 •English

A contemplation of art and adventure in the southern wilds of New Zealand by both a landscape photographer and an adventure filmmaker. This film is the unexpected result of their two unique perspectives.

Standard Operating Procedure

February 2008 •English

Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Sex at 24 Frames Per Second

September 2003 •English

Directed by Kevin Burns, this documentary from Playboy Home Video examines the oftentimes tense relationship between sex, women, and popular Hollywood culture. With a particular focus given to Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Jean Harlow, and Sharon Stone, Sex at 24 Frames Per Second studies the role of female sexuality in film throughout the years. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

Everything at Once (Paco & Manolo's Gaze)

April 2021 •Spanish

Paco and Manolo are two Catalan photographers from the outskirts of Barcelona who have been working together for thirty years as if they were a single person, capturing their images in Kink magazine, a very personal photography fanzine with a homoerotic aesthetic of Mediterranean essence.

Comprehensive School

March 1962 •English

The joys of 1960s modern education - as seen at a not-exactly-typical local comp.

Ich lebe in der Gegenwart - Versuch über Hans Richter

September 1973 •German

Playboy Video Playmate Calendar 1991

October 1990 •English

Profiles of Playboy Playmates. Features: Tina Bockrath (Playmate of the Month, May '90), Peggy McIntaggart (POTM, January '90), Karen Foster (POTM, October '89), Helle Michaelsen (POTM, August '88), Erika Eleniak (POTM, July '89), Bonnie Marino (POTM, June '90), Pamela Anderson, (POTM, February '90), Renee Tenison (POTM, November '89/Playmate of the Year), Lisa Matthews (POTM, April '90/POTY), Deborah Driggs (POTM, March '90), Petra Verkaik (POTM, December '89), & Jacqueline Sheen (POTM, July '90).

Where Have All the Lesbians Gone?

April 2022 •English

Lesbian director Brigid McFall and lesbian photographer Vic Lentaigne create a series of intimate, revealing portraits of what it means to be lesbian in 2022, exploring why it is that so many young women who are sexually attracted to other women now prefer to identify as queer.

Frida Kahlo & Tina Modotti

January 1983 •English

An unconventional portrait of painter Frida Kahlo and photographer Tina Modotti. Simple in style but complex in its analysis, it explores the divergent themes and styles of two contemporary and radical women artists working in the upheaval of the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution.

Anna Nicole Smith: Exposed

September 1998 •English

A fictionalized day in the life of Anna Nicole Smith, revealing her innermost thoughts on the people (friends, servants, lawyers, photographers) and events (photoshoots, bathing, sexual exploits) that make up her life.

Bettie Page: Pin Up Queen

January 1998 •English

Bettie Page was the top pin-up queen of the 50s and developed a cult following in the 80s. She is known for her distinctive hair style and is reputed to be the most photographed pin-up model of all time. This compilation shows Bettie's playful side, featuring her scenes from the full-length burlesque films Striporama (1953), Varietease (1954) and Teaserama (1955) and a dozen complete short films from the 50s including Tantalizing Betty Dances Again, Tambourine Dance, Joyful Dance by Betty, Betty's Hat Dance, Dream Dance by Betty, Dance of Passion, Betty's Clown Dance Part 2, Betty's Lingerie Tease Dance, Betty's Second G-String Dance, Betty's Fireplace Dance, and Pin-Up Beauties Fight (with June King).

Riverboom

September 2024 •French

In the year following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, young journalist Claude Baechtold finds himself in the war zone of Afghanistan. Not entirely voluntarily, the avowed anti-militarist is dragged by two fearless reporters on a round trip through the entire country.

The Work of Director Anton Corbijn

September 2005 •English

Legendary photographer and director Anton Corbijn is responsible for many of the most indelible and important images of the past two and a half decades. His recently released book U2 & I is a photographic retrospective of his 25 year collaboration with U2. Later this year, Anton will direct his first feature film, Control, based on the life of the late Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis.

Helmut Newton: Frames from the Edge

June 1989 •English

A camera crew follows Helmut Newton, the fashion and ad photographer whose images of tall, blond, big-breasted women are part of the iconography of twentieth-century erotic fantasy. He's on the go from L.A., to Paris, to Monte-Carlo, to Berlin, where he was a youth until he escaped from the Nazis in 1936. We see him on shoots, interviewing models, and discussing his work.

Soviet Bus Stops

May 2024 •English

“There’s a bus stop I want to photograph.” This may sound like a parody of an esoteric festival film, but Canadian Christopher Herwig’s photography project is entirely in earnest, and likely you will be won over by his passion for this unusual subject within the first five minutes. Soviet architecture of the 1960s and 70s was by and large utilitarian, regimented, and mass-produced. Yet the bus stops Herwig discovers on his journeys criss-crossing the vast former Soviet Bloc are something else entirely: whimsical, eccentric, flamboyantly artistic, audacious, colourful. They speak of individualism and locality, concepts anathema to the Communist doctrine. Herwig wants to know how this came to pass and tracks down some of the original unsung designers, but above all he wants to capture these exceptional roadside way stations on film before they disappear.

Notarangelo the Soul Hunter

May 2019 •Italian

David Griecos documentary showcases the underappreciated photography of Domenico Notarangelo, and through it, tells the story of Matera, it's people and it's history.