Is the Crown at war with us?

Nanook of the North

June 1922 •English

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations

April 1938 •German

Starting with a long and lyrical overture, evoking the origins of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, Riefenstahl covers twenty-one athletic events in the first half of this two-part love letter to the human body and spirit, culminating with the marathon, where Jesse Owens became the first track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single Olympics.

Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty

June 1938 •German

Part two of Leni Riefenstahl's monumental examination of the 1938 Olympic Games, the cameras leave the main stadium and venture into the many halls and fields deployed for such sports as fencing, polo, cycling, and the modern pentathlon, which was won by American Glenn Morris.

Zaineb Hates the Snow

June 2016 •French

When her mother remarries and her newly blended family moves to Canada, a 9-year-old Tunisia girl's life takes a profound turn as she struggles to find her place and maintain her Muslim identity in a new land.

La Mami

January 2020 •Spanish

One of the rooms inside the legendary Barba Azul Cabaret has become a shelter for the girls working there: the women's bathroom. Every night La Mami, who's in charge of the bathrooms, offers them the warmth and the advice they need to take on the challenge they face in the dance hall.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

June 2003 •Mongolian

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

Wild Women Don't Have the Blues

January 1989 •English

Recaptures the lives and times of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters, and the other legendary women who made blues music a vital part of American culture. The film brings together for the first time dozens of rare, classic renditions of the early blues.

Bim Bam Boom, Las Luchas Morenas

February 2014 •English

Bim Bam Boom Las Luchas Morenas, is about three Mexican sisters, professional wrestlers, whose lives, lived according to their own ideas, are a struggle but also a lot fun.

The Little Church That Could

June 2022 •English

Amidst a mostly Catholic community, a small tiny Anglican church offers more to the community of Placentia than people may think, and holds many connections and history to the rest of the world.

Donna Haraway: Story Telling for Earthly Survival

May 2016 •English

In Fabrizio Terranova’s film, Donna Haraway – an original thinker and activist, one of the founders of cyberfeminism and the author of A Cyborg Manifesto, which proposed a number of innovative theories about the existence of scientific knowledge – calls for the abandonment of the idea of human exceptionalism and for a conception of the world as complex web of interconnections between people, animals and machines. Jellyfish can be seen flying around her home while she discusses the stories that are necessary for Earth’s preservation and reads her fantastic tale of the art of survival on a broken planet, and of fusion and care between the species.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

June 2018 •English

The life and career of the hailed Hollywood movie star and underappreciated genius inventor, Hedy Lamarr.

Bukovyna, Ukrainian Land

April 1939 •Ukrainian

Dovzhenko and Solntseva's documentary about the Bukovina region.

Victory in Soviet Ukraine

April 1945 •Russian

A wartime documentary directed by Alexander Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva, depicting the final campaigns that drove Nazi forces from Ukraine in 1944–45. Combining frontline footage, liberated cityscapes, and scenes of returning civilians, the film chronicles both the devastation of occupation and the triumph of Soviet arms. It stands as both a historical record of the Ukrainian front and a patriotic celebration of victory at the close of the Second World War.

Tres instantes, un grito

October 2013 •Spanish

Ukraine in Flames

April 1943 •Russian

A 1943 Soviet war propaganda film by Ukrainian director Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Yuliya Solntseva. It is Dovzhenko's second World War II documentary, and dealt with the Battle of Kharkiv. The film incorporates German footage of the invasion of Ukraine, which was later captured by the Soviets.

Liberation

April 1940 •Ukrainian

Wartime documentary by Dovzhenko and Solntseva.

I Was Only 14

November 2016 •Dutch

Filmmaker Froukje van Wengerden’s 86-year-old grandmother shares a powerful memory from 1944, when she was just 14. As her story unfolds, we see a group of contemporary 14-year-old girls. Their procession of portraits permits the spectator to see simultaneously forward and back, into the future and towards the past. A miraculous testimonial that uses eye contact to focus the viewer inward and evoke unexpected emotions.

Iverson

April 2014 •English

Iverson is the ultimate legacy of NBA legend Allen Iverson, who rose from a childhood of crushing poverty in Hampton, Virginia, to become an 11-time NBA All-Star and universally recognized icon of his sport. Off the court, his audacious rejection of conservative NBA convention and unapologetic embrace of hip hop culture sent shockwaves throughout the league and influenced an entire generation. Told largely in Iverson's own words, the film charts the career highs and lows of one of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.

Come Worry with Us!

November 2013 •English

Acclaimed Montreal band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra is one of a growing number of rock groups to have accepted an infant into their touring tribe. Touring with children is both costly and complicated, yet SMZ are determined to combine family life and being on the road with the band's deep political commitment.

Butch Jamie

November 2008 •English

The film follows the story of Jamie, a struggling butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film. The main plot is a romantic comedy between Jamie's male alter-ego, "Male Jamie," and Jill, a heterosexual woman on set. The film's subplots include Jamie's bisexual roommate Lola and her cat actor Howard, Lola's abrasive butch German girlfriend Andi, and Jamie's gay Asian friend David.