Birdman

Thirty Million Letters

January 1963 •English

Thirty Million Letters is a 1963 short documentary film directed by James Ritchie and made by British Transport Films. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Nine from Little Rock

January 1964 •English

The Arkansas school integration crisis and the changes wrought in subsequent years. This film profiles the lives of the nine African-American students who integrated Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas, during the fall of 1957. The film documents the perspective of Jefferson Thomas and his fellow students seven years after their historic achievement. Central to this story is their quiet but brave entrance into Little Rock High, escorted by armed troops under the intense pressure of the on looking crowd. We learn first hand their impressions of the past and present and their hopes for the future. Their selfless heroism broke the integration crisis and pioneered a new era. This film went on to win an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short in 1964.

Eskimo Artist: Kenojuak

January 1964 •English

This documentary shows how an Inuit artist's drawings are transferred to stone, printed and sold. Kenojuak Ashevak became the first woman involved with the printmaking co-operative in Cape Dorset. This film was nominated for the 1963 Documentary Short Subject Oscar.

Snow

January 1963 •English

Comprising train and track footage quickly shot just before a heavy winter's snowfall was melting, the multi-award-winning classic that emerged from the cutting-room compresses British Rail's dedication to blizzard-battling into a thrilling eight-minute montage cut to music. Tough-as-boots workers struggling to keep the line clear are counterpointed with passengers' buffet-car comforts.

Jenny is a Good Thing

January 1969 •English

Jenny is a Good Thing is a 1969 American short documentary film about children and poverty, directed by Joan Horvath. Produced by Project Head Start, it shows the importance of good nutrition for underprivileged nursery school children. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Exploratorium

January 1974 •English

An Oscar-nominated film with no narration showing the Exploratorium (The Palace of Arts and Science) in San Francisco. It shows many of the exhibits and the reaction of visitors to many of these. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

Conquest of Light

June 1975 •English

Examines the mesmerising construction of clear crystal glass pieces created by the craftsmen of Waterford. The process from the intense heat of the furnace to glass blowing, shaping, cutting, honing, filling and finishing is all depicted in this celebration of the art of creation of Waterford Glass. Academy Award Nominee: Best Live Action Short - 1976.

The End of the Game

November 1976 •

An intimate view of the panorama of African wildlife, giving a sense of what it is really like to be there, and in a dramatic climax makes a poignant plea for conservation. Filmed in Zaire, Kenya and Tanzania, the film takes the viewer from deep inside an anthill, to the majestic giraffes suckling their young. African storms, dung beetle ritual dances, duels for supremacy, feeding time, and playtime all end as the animals disappear one by one while the sound of a rifle shatters the existing magic of life. Winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject, 1976.

Our Cinema

July 1940 •Russian

Beneath the Concrete, The Forest

February 2023 •English

“Beneath the Concrete, The Forest” is a short experimental documentary that takes us inside an ongoing struggle inside the city of Atlanta, GA between two sides to determine the future of Weelaunee, the biggest contiguous urban forest in the country.

Lake

December 2019 •English

Lake gazes down at a still body of water from a birds-eye view, while a group of artists peacefully float in and out of the frame or work to stay at the surface. As they glide farther away and draw closer together, they reach out in collective queer and desirous exchanges — holding hands, drifting over and under their neighbors, making space, taking care of each other with a casual, gentle intimacy while they come together as individual parts of a whole. The video reflects on notions of togetherness and feminist theorist Silvia Federici’s call to “reconnect what capitalism has divided: our relation with nature, with others, and our bodies.”

A Bee's Diary

October 2020 •English

Bees are one of the most important species on the planet. A look at the trials and tribulations of two particular honeybees over two years from birth to death.

Visions of Europe

May 2004 •English

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Gli estremi non si toccano

January 1997 •Italian

Documentary focused behind the scenes of the making of the play 'io' by Antonio Rezza and Flavia Mastrella

A Love Story of Today

February 2008 •English

A discussion of the very important and highly controversial film, GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER, featuring interviews with people like Katharine Houghton, Martin Baum, Louis Gossett, Jr., Norman Jewison, Garry Marshall, Karen Sharpe and Salome Thomas-El.

A Special Kind of Love

February 2008 •English

A follow-up of A LOVE STORY OF TODAY, where actors and crew discuss GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.

Sign of Protest

January 1970 •English

This short documentary focuses on protests surrounding a homophobic sign that hung behind the bar of Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood for many years.

DiAna's Hair Ego Remix

December 2017 •English

Over twists, presses, and wash-and-goes, filmmaker Cheryl Dunye joins other clients and hairstylist DiAna DiAna in her South Carolina salon to discuss the current impact of AIDS on Blacks in the south, and what has changed and stayed the same since DiAna was featured in a seminal short video by Ellen Spiro thirty years ago. Commissioned by Visual AIDS in 2017 as part of ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS, a program of seven videos prioritizing Black narratives within the ongoing AIDS epidemic curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett.

POSSESSED

January 2008 •English

POSSESSED enters the complicated worlds of four hoarders; people whose lives are dominated by their relationship to possessions. The film questions whether hoarding is a symptom of mental illness or a revolt against the material recklessness of consumerism. When does collecting become hoarding and why do possessions exert such an influence on our lives?

Brotherly Dance

July 2004 •Serbian

Savo from Kikinda (Serbia) and his brother recall how they called communal service few years back to empty the septic tank in their backyard. As careless servicemen weren't coming for days, Savo staged his death by drowning in the hole. Communal service sent three trucks while Savo was looking at them from the attic. A story of a small man who fought the system and won, only to become a huge YouTube hero afterwards.