Hotel Chocolat at Easter

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.

The Chocolate Man

January 2023 •Japanese

In Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture, “QUON CHOCOLATE” is gaining popularity for its carefully selected flavors and colorful designs. This brand, which now has 52 locations nationwide, has continued to offer a creative workplace to people of many diverse backgrounds, including those with mental or physical disabilities, single parents, those who have never attended school, to sexual minorities, and many others. This film depicts the tumultuous 19 years of the chocolate brand’s pursuit of ideals. The newest work of the producer of the documentary “Life is Fruity.”

24 City

September 2008 •Chinese

As a decades-old state-run aeronautics munitions factory in downtown Chengdu, China is being torn down for the construction of the titular luxury apartment complex, director Jia Zhangke interviews various people affiliated with it about their experiences.

Machines

November 2017 •Hindi

This portrayal of the rhythm of life and work in a gigantic textile factory in Gujarat, India, moves through the corridors and bowels of the enormously disorienting structure—taking the viewer on a journey of dehumanizing physical labor and intense hardship.

Manufactured Landscapes

September 2006 •English

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

Semisweet: Life in Chocolate

June 2012 •English

Unfolding on three continents, this engaging documentary follows four groups of people whose lives are wrapped up in the complex world of chocolate.

Megacities

August 1998 •English

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

IEC Long

March 2015 •Portuguese

The word panchão was first heard in Macao. From the Chinese pan-tcheong or pau-tcheong, dictionaries define it as a Macanese regionalism also known as China cracker. Who inhabits the ancient IEC Long firecracker factory?

Venerdì Santo - Bronte

April 2021 •Italian

The Dark Side of Chocolate

March 2010 •English

A team of journalists investigate how human trafficking and child labor in the Ivory Coast fuels the worldwide chocolate industry. The crew interview both proponents and opponents of these alleged practices, and use hidden camera techniques to delve into the gritty world of cocoa plantations.

Phillips Bicycles - Publicity Films for West Africa

April 1954 •English

From the West Midlands to West Africa: tour the Phillips bicycle plant in Smethwick and see the products in action overseas.

Making of: Volvo FH Trucks

November 2019 •German

The Chocolate Farmer

May 2011 •English

For ancient Mayans, cocoa was as good as gold. For subsistence farmer Eladio Pop, his cocoa crops are the only riches he has to support his wife and 15 children. As he wields his machete with ease, slicing a path to his cocoa trees, the small jungle plot he cultivates in southern Belize remains pristine and wild. His dreams for his children to inherit the land and the traditions of their Mayan ancestors present a familiar challenge. The kids feel their father's philosophies don't fit into a global economy, so they're charting their own course. Rohan Fernando's direction tenderly displays a generational shift, causalities of progress in modern times and a man valiantly protecting an endangered culture. Breathtaking vistas of lush rainforests contrast with the urban dystopia that pulled Pop’s children away from him. Will one child return to carry on a waning way of life

Rimac C_Two Nevera - Inside the Factory

September 2020 •English

Panorama View, Street Car Motor Room

May 1904 •English

A camera moving forward on an overhead crane gives a traveling view of men working on machinery. Carts carrying parts and pieces of machinery pass by on rails; cranes lift machinery; and men perform their various duties, including hammering objects. (Library of Congress)

Shady Chocolate

December 2012 •English

Ever since it was revealed that the chocolate industry is involved with child slavery in the Ivory Coast, the industry has been busy – due to consumer demands – explaining what exactly it does to actively fight trafficking and child labour. But does the industry live up to its own promises?In this investigative film, director Miki Mistrati tries to find out, if the chocolate industry – which is one of the largest corporations in the world – speak the truth, when they say that they provide education, medical care etc for the children of the Ivory Coast. But the project runs into trouble already from the get-go, because the embassy of the Ivory Coast won’t let Miki enter the country until he has an invitation – from the chocolate industry.

Enterprise: A Documentary Film

January 1948 •English

Film sponsored by the Troy, New York–based manufacturer of Arrow shirts to explain its reasons for moving its business down south. The true story of how two World War II veterans invited the company to occupy an industrial plant that they had built in the hope of revitalizing Buchanan, Georgia. Five hundred residents signed a pledge stating that they were willing to work in the new factory. Cluett, Peabody & Co. eventually employed one-third of the townspeople.

Charlie Marx and the Chocolate Factory

January 2009 •English

Charlie Marx and the Chocolate Factory started as an investigation of the link between politics and chocolate, at the Karl Marx Confectionary Factory in Kiev, Ukraine. Since access to the factory was denied, the project had to be re-considered, re-invented or re-enacted. Mostly made of archival footage and re-enacted performances based on the company's website, the film merges what was left of the initial idea with what has been collected and realized instead. It borrows from the genres of video art, 'Man on the street' interview, direct address, corporate film, essay, and music video, without legitimately belonging to any of them. The film unravels as a reflection on its own failure, and yet keeps on investigating what has always been at stake: the shift from public to private property (and from analog to digital technology), dialectics of permanence and change, language as a mirror of ideology, and post-Soviet oligarchy culture.

Hotel Chocolat at Christmas

December 2024 •English

In the lead-up to the festive bonanza, an exclusive look inside the chocolate-maker's inventing room, and its 'chocolate imaginarium' too. Prepare for special choc drinks and cranberry treats.

A Powerful Passion

September 2023 •Italian

A journey through a century of Ambrosoli family history.