Smoke Signals

The Beauty President

March 2021 •English

In 1992, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, activist Terence Alan Smith made a historic bid for president of the United States as his drag queen persona Joan Jett Blakk. Today, Smith reflects back on his seminal civil rights campaign and its place in American history.

Sicko

May 2007 •English

A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States who's main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people’s lives. "The more people you deny health insurance the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.

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.

Seeds of Change

July 2023 •English

An organic farmer in Maine sets out to transform the prison food system. Seeds of Change captures the intersecting stories of life-long farmer Mark McBrine and several incarcerated men as they harvest their own meals from a five-acre prison garden unlike any other.

Rivers and Tides

February 2001 •English

Portrait of Andy Goldsworthy, an artist whose specialty is ephemeral sculptures made from elements of nature.

Nocturnal Fantasia (I See Everything)

January 1944 •English

A study of nocturnal butterflies and their mating habits.

Still Waters

November 2022 •English

Through a series of extraordinarily honest and intimate conversations, filmmaker Aurora Brachman examines the intergenerational fallout of experiences her mother endured as a child. Together, they forge a path forward that offers them a new beginning.

Fearless Queen of the Night

October 2024 •Slovenian

Stunning stories from the unusual life of the Ural owl, a mysterious nocturnal predator that can fearlessly attack even humans. Set over a period of just over a year, 'Fearless Queen of the Night' provides an extraordinary insight into the life of one of the largest European owl species.

Joe Lycett vs Sewage

February 2024 •English

Joe Lycett investigates the mind-boggling quantities of untreated sewage discharged into our waterways every day, and takes the fight to the water companies in the most Joe Lycett way possible.

Who's Afraid of Cris Negão?

August 2012 •Portuguese

Cristiane Jordan, or Cris Negão, as she was called, was a transvestite who worked as a bawd in downtown of São Paulo known by her violent methods to control the other transvestites. Hated and feared by a legion, she also had her fans until she was tragically murdered with two shots in the head. The documentary is a dive into the transvestite universe through the stories of this legendary character of São Paulo's underworld.

The Last Conversation

February 2020 •English

A son makes a surprising discovery on his elderly parents' answering machine after his father's passing.

The Prisoner Video Companion

November 1990 •English

British cult classic The Prisoner has been hailed as the most bizarre, mind-boggling television series of all time. Even though the series was produced more than twenty years ago, it is more popular today than when it originally aired. If you've never seen an episode, take this home and you will surely be hooked. Be seeing you.

Bakelite

September 2023 •English

This underwater ballet is an ecological story depicting our paradoxical relationship with plastic. Bakelite launched the #SickOfPlastic campaign from On Est Prêt, along with the Surfrider Foundation, Break Free from Plastic and the Resilient Foundation. Photography was directed by Jacques Ballard, a specialist in underwater cinematography.

Wild Boar Piglet

December 2019 •Russian

They say that if a daughter looks like a father, then she will certainly be happy. But what if you look like a person whom you have never seen in your life? And all you know about him is speculation, fantasy and a small bronze figure.

Song of Umm Dalaila, the Story of the Sahrawis

January 1993 •English

Takes place in the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria against the historical backdrop of Spanish colonialism and the Moroccan invasion of the Western Sahara. The Saharawi women, who make up 80% of the adult refugee population, provide a powerful voice as they reveal how they came to assume primary responsibility for the survival of the remains of their families and in turn the entire refugee population.

Im Wald der wilden Bienen

January 2022 •German

Making I'm Dangerous Tonight

July 2022 •English

Behind the scenes footage of I'm Dangerous Tonight. Footage shot by Stan Giesea and Eric H. Lasher

Porridge and kerosene

March 1997 •Swedish

Mats Öberg, born 1971 in Umeå, Sweden, has been living in Stockholm for many years, where he moved when he entered the Royal Academy of Music, where for two and a half years he studied individual music and, among other things, studied with the pianist Stefan Nilsson. Frank Zappa is one of Mats Öberg's idols. Together with drummer Morgan Ågren, Mats formed the group Zappatetoot early on, which only played Zappa covers. Then when Frank Zappa played in Stockholm in 1988, Mats and Morgon had the opportunity to meet him and also sit in the band. It was the beginning of a continued collaboration which meant that they both got to participate in the projects Zappa's Universe and Zappa at Lincoln Center in 1993.

Medium Cool Revisited

May 2013 •English

Haskell Wexler revisits the themes of his previous work "Medium Cool" on the occasion of the Occupy demonstrations in Chicago in 2012.

The Roots of Wolverine: A Conversation with Stan Lee and Len Wein

September 2009 •English

Stan Lee and Len Wein talk about X-Men & Wolverine.