The Decisive Moment

Magic Muscle Moments

December 2020 •Finnish

The daily life of an ill man is constantly interrupted by television advertisements. They promise some change to his life. He finds himself as a part of the adverts, but soon the empty promises become demonically possessive. The truth sets in.

It's like summer, but in fact it's random

January 2023 •Estonian

Follow blind poet Paiv as he navigates a sighted world, finding solace through his art.

Regarding Our Father

August 2011 •English

Gerald S. Doyle was one of the first collectors of Newfoundland folk songs. He was also an avid cinematographer who left a collection of 12 hours of colour film, shot in outport Newfoundland and Labrador in the 1930's, 40's, and 50's.

Night and Fog

April 1959 •French

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

Through the Repellent Fence: A Land Art Film

February 2017 •English

The film follows Postcommodity, an interdisciplinary arts collective comprised of Raven Chacon, Cristóbal Martinez and Kade L. Twist, who put land art in a tribal context. The group bring together a community to construct the Repellent Fence, a two-mile long ephemeral monument “stitching” together the US and Mexico.

Daybreak Express

January 1953 •English

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

Basquiat, Une Vie

October 2010 •English

From Brooklyn to the Bronx, Soho to Greenwich, Union Square to Wall Street... Join us and the friends, collaborators and gallery owners who supported Jean-Michel Basquiat throughout his life. The first ever recognized graffiti artist, who saw international success as a neo-expressionist painter in the 80s, Basquiat is a true contemporary hero who died at the peak of his career.

James Andersen: Over 50 Years of Taking Pictures

January 2006 •English

James Andersen: Over 50 Years of Taking Pictures is a culmination of photos, films that are brought to life with Andersen's own words. The James Andersen collection documents over 50 years of community life in and around Makkovik, Labrador. The stories that accompany "Uncle Jim's" work explain why for over 50 years he has never been without a camera as he documented daily rituals and life. Andersen does not shy away from telling these stories but shares them with conviction and with a voice that honours each event's importance; the church being rebuilt, fish being caught, and stories of sickness and death are each told with the same reverence.

Une histoire très simple

January 1989 •French

No Crying at the Dinner Table

September 2019 •English

Filmmaker Carol Nguyen interviews her own family to craft an emotionally complex and meticulously composed portrait of intergenerational trauma, grief, and secrets in this cathartic documentary about things left unsaid.

Now Is the Time

September 2019 •English

When internationally renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson was only 22 years old, he carved the first new totem pole on British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii in almost a century. On the 50th anniversary of the pole’s raising, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter steps easily through history to revisit that day in August 1969, when the entire village of Old Massett gathered to celebrate the event that would signal the rebirth of the Haida spirit.

This Ink Runs Deep

September 2019 •English

In this documentary by Asia Youngman, Indigenous artists throughout Canada strive to reclaim their cultures and identities through a reawakening of tattoo practices, both traditional and contemporary.

High Cities of Bone

February 2017 •Portuguese

Karlon, born in Pedreira dos Húngaros (a slum in the outskirts of Lisbon) and a pioneer of Cape Verdean creole rap, runs away from the housing project to which he had been relocated.

Thank You, Mr. Robertson

January 1985 •French

A glimpse of the pre-history of cinema starting with the projections of Etienne Gaspard Robert (also known as M. Robertson), who used magic lanterns and other optical illusions to develop the genre of the Gothic phantasmagoria in the late eighteenth century.

Ukiyo-e: Floating World Images

August 2008 •French

400 years ago, in Japan, a revolutionary art was born and would influence the greatest Western artists of the late nineteenth century, the Ukiyo-E "floating images of the world." A wonderful trip in a world of beauty and discovery. The concept and objectives of this documentary are, on the one hand, to show, teach and discover Japanese art (Japanese stamps and prints) and, on the other hand, to demonstrate the influence of Japanese stamps on Western modern art, showing in comparison some of the Most famous paintings (impressionism or paintings by Van Gogh).

Bon Iver: Autumn

July 2019 •English

An intimate look at the creation of Autumn, a unique tour by the notoriously cryptic band Bon Iver.

A Test of Violence

January 1969 •English

Stuart Cooper's short about the work of Spanish artist Juan Genovés is an inspired introduction to the works of this extraordinary artist, exploring its minimalist aesthetic and storytelling qualities through a variety of cinematic techniques, including rostrum, animation, news footage and live action recreations.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1977

July 2005 •German

Rainer Werner Fassbinder reflects on the various stages of his career, discusses how his motives behind filmmaking evolved up his film Despair.

Fairless

July 2015 •English

This is the story of unsung hero Steve Fairless, a country boy who represented Australia in road cycling at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. After the games, with professional opportunities limited, Steve retired from the sport to return to dairy farming to provide for his young family. He was 26 and in physiological terms, only really just arriving at his peak. However, the desire to compete never left him and at 50, Steve made a comeback of sorts. Within a season he was one of the best on the country for any age. Our film tracks his life, his comeback and his journey to the ultimate proving ground, the UCI World masters Championships in Slovenia. Steve is a great character, and his story is one of never letting go of a dream.

Grand Canyon

December 1958 •English

Grand Canyon is a 1958 American short documentary film directed by James Algar and produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is a pictorial interpretation of Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite. Grand Canyon is one of Walt Disney's more unconventional and experimental works, as it has musical accompaniment, but no dialogue or narration. The short won an Oscar at the 31st Academy Awards in 1959 for Best Short Subject (Live Action).