The Illinois Parables

Coco Before Chanel

April 2009 •French

Several years after leaving the orphanage, to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing.

The True Story of the Mary Celeste

November 2007 •English

On December 4, 1872, the unmanned Mary Celeste was found adrift in the Atlantic with its cargo fully intact. The mystery of this "ghost ship" remained unanswered for over 135 years. What happened to the Mary Celeste is widely regarded as the most famous mystery of the sea. Watch it unfold to its stunning conclusion, at last.

The Apollo

April 2019 •English

The history of New York City's Apollo Theater in Harlem is given the full treatment.

The 99 Names of God

April 2018 •English

Arab-American filmmaker Yumna Al-Arashi embraces the rhythmic rituals that have run alongside Islamic tradition throughout the centuries in this surreal and poetic short film. Piecing together old and new, Al-Rashi's dream-like imagery breathes fresh air to a subject hardly seen in positive light.

Along the Railway

January 2000 •Chinese

This important, patient documentary follows a year in the life of the sidings dwellers who eke out a living, begging, foraging, stealing and sleeping rough near the Baoji railway station in Shaanxi.

Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams

March 2006 •Bosnian

A woman and her daughter struggle to make their way through the aftermath of the Balkan war.

Lost and Found

February 2022 •English

An inspiring documentary about overcoming homelessness and addiction in the City of Los Angeles.

J. Carlos - O Cronista do Rio

April 2015 •Portuguese

The Warwick Rowers - Brokeback Boathouse

December 2013 •English

After the huge success of the 2012 documentary, the Warwrick Rowers are back. They walk you through the making of their "Brokeback Boathouse" calendar for 2013.

The Warwick Rowers - Bigger, Longer & Uncut

December 2014 •English

We’re back in full colour and full HD, in our most intimate and revealing film yet. Follow us throughout our 2014 calendar photoshoot, hear why we love our sport and find out what we really think about taking our clothes off for the world. We also talk about the serious side of what we do – Sport Allies, our outreach programme to challenge homophobia. All against a background of a beautiful English summer by the River Avon, with an all original soundtrack that was donated to us by incredible musicians from all around the world. We think it’s our best film yet, but we’ll let you be the judge!

The Warwick Rowers - Some Like it Hotter

December 2015 •English

You’re going to LOVE our new film! Shot in Ultra HD on location in the English countryside and on the beautiful beaches of southern Spain, this stunning documentary follows the filming of the 2015 calendar. With lots of interviews with the boys as well as exquisite behind-the-scenes footage, this film will take your breath away. Running over an hour, it is our most ambitious movie to date, with exceptional cinematography and plenty of naked rowers showing they have nothing to be ashamed of…

The Warwick Rowers - Long Hot Summer Part 1 - England

January 2016 •English

Our England film follows our traditional English summer calendar shoot. We start out at the boathouse as usual, but then soon head for a beautiful country home, where we get to play at being lords of the manor.

Make

July 2016 •English

MAKE is a feature-length documentary for the modern creative, produced by the team at Musicbed. This film is a question. A conversation starter. It's an examination of the reasons we create and the things that drive us to make something new - passion or success. The film looks to examine the myth of creative success and what it means to live a healthy life as an artist.

Correspondences

August 2016 •Portuguese

Jorge de Sena was forced to leave his country. First he moved to Brazil, and later to the USA. He never returned to Portugal. During his 20-year-long exile, he kept an epistolary correspondence with Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. These letters are a testimony of the profound friendship between the two poets, letters of longing and of desire to “fill years of distance with hours of conversation”. Through excerpts and verses, a dialog is established, revealing their divergent opinions but mostly their strong bond, and their efforts to preserve it until their last breaths.

MacPherson

November 2013 •English

This animated film by Martine Chartrand (Black Soul) recounts the friendship between a young Félix Leclerc and Frank Randolph Macpherson, a Jamaican chemical engineer and university graduate who worked for a pulp and paper company. An inveterate jazz fan, Macpherson inspired Leclerc, who wrote a song about the log drives and entitled it “MacPherson” in honour of his friend. Paint-on-glass animation shot with a 35mm camera.

A Short History of the Highrise

September 2013 •English

“A Short History of the Highrise” is an interactive documentary that explores the 2,500-year global history of vertical living and issues of social equality in an increasingly urbanized world. The centerpiece of the project is four short films. The first three (“Mud,” “Concrete” and “Glass”) draw on The New York Times's extraordinary visual archives, a repository of millions of photographs that have largely been unseen in decades. Each film is intended to evoke a chapter in a storybook, with rhyming narration and photographs brought to life with intricate animation. The fourth chapter (“Home”) comprises images submitted by the public. The interactive experience incorporates the films and, like a visual accordion, allows viewers to dig deeper into the project’s themes with additional archival materials, text and microgames.

Virgin School

May 2007 •English

Virgin School follows the emotional and physical journey of 26-year-old virgin James as he embarks on a unique four-month course for sexually inexperienced men in Amsterdam

John Ware Reclaimed

September 2020 •English

Filmmaker Cheryl Foggo re-examines the story of John Ware, the Black cowboy who settled in Alberta, Canada, prior to the turn of the 20th century.

Journey: Portrait of Věra Chytilová

June 2004 •Czech

Documentary about Czech filmaker Vera Chytilova.

La familia Figueroa: una dinastía musical

October 2015 •Spanish

Documentary on the life and accomplishments of the members of this uniquely talented musical family. The film focuses on the Figueroa family’s history within the context of its creative universe, dating back to the 19th century. Through the use of photographs, historic film footage, recordings, sheet music, newspaper clippings, and posters, the musical trajectory of the family is brought to life and their role in transforming the musical history of Puerto Rico and the world is portrayed.