The Four Elements

¿Por qué morir en Madrid?

May 1966 •Spanish

The Way Things Go

June 1987 •English

Artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss create the ultimate Rube Goldberg machine. The pair used found objects to construct a complex, interdependent contraption in an empty warehouse. When set in motion, a domino-like chain reaction ripples through the complex of imaginative devices. Fire, water, the laws of gravity, and chemistry determine the life-cycle of the objects. The process reveals a story concerning cause and effect, mechanism and art, and improbability and precision, in an extended science project that will mesmerize the mind.

Another Side of the Forest

May 1974 •English

Developments in the Canadian forestry industry during the 1970s are shown being carried out both as lab experiments and in the field to protect and conserve the country's vast forests. These include turning a Newfoundland bog into woodland, fostering British Columbia seedlings that withstand mechanical planting, inoculating Ontario elms against the bark beetle, devising ways of controlling fire, and more.

Super Size Me

January 2004 •English

Morgan Spurlock subjects himself to a diet based only on McDonald's fast food three times a day for thirty days without exercising to try to prove why so many Americans are fat or obese. He submits himself to a complete check-up by three doctors, comparing his weight along the way, resulting in a scary conclusion.

Brink of Disaster!

January 1972 •English

A student is held up in the library while a riot rages outside. As SDS protesters head to burn the library down, he has to fend them off with his baseball bat. This film opens with actual footage of civil disturbances in the 1960s, and moves on to images of historical American figures.

Keeping Clean and Neat

August 1956 •English

Two eighth graders doing an assembly on cleanliness and neatness seek underclassmen. A look into Don and Mildred's hygienic endeavors.

The Tea Coffee Experiment

December 2017 •Italian

A group of friends come up with the brilliant idea of testing the non-existent drink known as "Tea Coffee".

Never Again Is Now Global

Invalid date •English

Holocaust survivors, children of survivors, and grandchildren - as well as German freedom fighters - express their shock at the Covid era's fear-mongering and divisive dictates that are reminiscent of the prelude to the Holocaust. This ambitious five-part docu-series is the brainchild of Holocaust survivor and human rights activist Vera Sharav.

When Should Grown-Ups Stop Fights?

January 1955 •English

Vassar College's Department of Child Study produced this training film for nursery school staff, one of a series on "Preschool Incidents." Unstaged playground scenes of two to five-year-olds in conflict are shown, then repeated for further analysis and discussion. We learn how to "size-up situations," differentiating between "playful attacks" the kids can adequately handle themselves and truly aggressive behavior (as when "a child has gone on a rampage") that requires immediate adult intervention.

Rummaging for Pasts

November 2001 •English

Rummaging for Pasts is an experimental juxtaposition of two cinematic documents: the video diary of an international archaeological excavation and a collection of assorted eight millimeter found footage of Indian weddings.

Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story

January 2020 •English

Exploring the rise and fall of the groundbreaking animated series ​Ren & Stimpy​ and its controversial creator, John Kricfalusi, through archival footage, show artwork and interviews with the artists, actors and executives behind the show.

New Miensk

January 1954 •Russian

A propaganda documentary on the post war reconstruction of Miensk, capital of Belarus.

Human Lampshade: A Holocaust Mystery

September 2012 •English

This story follows one man's quest to uncover the origins and reveal the mysteries of a possible Holocaust artifact some historians now say never existed: lampshades made of human skin. When the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina receded, they left behind a wrecked New Orleans and a strange looking lamp that an illicit dealer claimed was 'made from the skin of Jews.'

Drømmen om i Morgen

December 1945 •English

Social democracy propaganda film about future dreams for Denmark in 1960. Although Denmark is free again, the former opponent and worker, Svend, is disillusioned: "It is all something soft". The dream of the future is incarnated by a young woman, Karen, who shows Svend the visions of a better life in the 'youth's land'. There are homes and a nuclear-powered car for everyone.

Edge of Darkness

November 2015 •English

The film features amazing scenes of places never before seen gathered by key space missions that culminated with groundbreaking discoveries in 2015. It features a spectacular flight though the great cliffs on comet 67P, a close look at the fascinating bright "lights" on Ceres, and the first ever close ups of dwarf binary planet Pluto/Charon and its moons.

Le Parti du cinéma

February 2021 •French

The Tigris Expedition

April 1979 •English

Explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his ten-man crew sailed their reed boat, the Tigris, over routes he believes were followed by Sumerian traders 5,000 years ago. The film goes beyond science to focus on the man, Heyerdahl, in an effort to explain what motivates him to risk his life in the search for knowledge.

So Clever Are German Spies

December 1914 •English

A horse and cart carrying two nuns is stopped by two men with fixed bayonets.

A Hero's Death

August 2001 •German

It was the biggest escape in the history of the Berlin Wall: in one historic night of October 1964, 57 East-Berliners try their luck through a tunnel into West Berlin. Just before the last few reach the other side, the East German border guards notice the escape and open fire. Remarkably, all the refugees and their escape agents make it out of the tunnel unscathed, but one border guard is dead: 21-year-old officer Egon Schultz.

Vodní energie

January 1952 •Czech