Queen of Hearts

A Farra do Circo

November 2013 •Portuguese

This documentary highlights the evolution of Brazil's Circo Voador venue from homespun artists' performance space to national cultural institution.

La historia es nuestra: Pascual, lucha obrera y cooperativismo

June 2019 •Spanish

History is Ours narrates the struggle of the workers of the Refrescos Pascual soft-drink company against its owner, Rafael Jiménez, the official trade unionism of the CTM and the labor authorities of the governments of José López Portillo and Miguel de la Madrid, between 1982 and 1985. It documents the workers' difficult struggle to take over the company, when justice, which had been elusive, finally proved them right, and opened the possibility that these brave, tenacious workers would become collective owners of the company. Today, these soft-drink fighters resist a system that hits Mexican companies in favor of the monopolistic transnationals. The film is an account of one of the most brilliant episodes of the contemporary Mexican labor movement, an example of unity and class consciousness, embodied by men and women who make their struggle a tribute to comrades Concepción Jacobo García and Alvaro Hernández García, tragically fallen at the beginning of this historic event.

Memories Revealed

November 2019 •Spanish

Over the course of 10 months, a camera travels to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Hanover, Germany to meet with Magalí, María Belén, Ivana and Carla, the founding members of the Archivo De La Memoria Trans Argentina, the first existing Trans Archive in the world. Taking the shape of a photo-novel, the documentary not only recounts the founding members lives as trans women under the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983), the AIDS epidemy, state repression and mass assassinations but also years of fighting for their rights, sorority and the exaltation of life and laughter in times of death. Filming each one of them is filming them embracing their new role as curators, archivists and historians while a collection of 7,000 photos goes through the filter of their memories.

Le Théâtre National Populaire

June 1956 •French

Repetitioner

November 2005 •Swedish

The theatre 7:3 project was conducted at the Tidaholm prison 1998-1999. What started as an artistic experiment, ended up in police killings at Malexander. The process in the prison were filmed during 6 months.

Les ludions

January 1965 •French

Broadway's Lost Treasures

August 2003 •English

The golden age of the annual Tony Awards ceremony lasted from 1967 to 1986 — the period during which Alexander H. Cohen and his wife, Hildy Parks, were the producers of the show. This film offers a compilation of performances from Tony Award broadcasts during those years. They are presented with color-corrected footage and digitally re-mastered sound.

The Burnt Theatre

November 2005 •English

A blend of fact and fiction, based on the actual lives of the actors, the film depicts a troupe of actors and dancers struggling to practice their art in the burned-out shell of Cambodia's former national theater, the Preah Suramarit National Theater in Phnom Penh.

Hamlet: This Is Your Family

October 2001 •English

A provocative and ironic pamphleteering documentary about the making of Christoph Schlingensief’s Nazi-'Hamlet’ (2001). Both a media event and a form of political action Schlingensief let ex-neo-Nazis play themselves. His provocation in so-called Nazi-free Switzerland was not appreciated and when he added fuel to the flames by calling for the local political party SVP to be banned, his media offensive made front-page news far beyond Switzerland.

Oblastní divadlo

January 1949 •Czech

Patrice Chéreau, Pascal Greggory, une autre solitude

January 1996 •French

A look at the entire process of creating and developing Patrice Chéreau’s third staging of "In the Solitude of Cotton Fields" by Bernard Marie Koltès with Pascal Greggory and Chéreau himself. From the first reading around the table through the first contact with the performance space, rehearsals and lighting to opening night, the entire creative process unfurls in front of our eyes. The film shows us the evolving and ongoing dialogue between Greggory and Chéreau, a dialogue full of crises and magical moments of harmony and insight via which the truth, intensity, complexity, mystery and depth of Koltès’ text gradually emerge to form an implicit bond between these two men. The film also shows Chéreau directing rehearsals for Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" in Salzburg, revealing both the unity of and profound differences between his opera and theater work.

Curtain Call

August 2014 •English

Fifty years ago, aspiring thespians Terry and Carole Ann Gill arrived in Australia from England seeking fame and fortune. But they never quite made the big time. Instead they stumbled into the curious world of children's pantomimes. Over the decades, they have built a successful business and touched the lives of generations of children; but their own dreams have slowly faded. Now aged in their 70s, with their beloved theatre under threat from a greedy property developer, Terry and Carole Ann's careers appear to be coming to an untimely close. As they battle to remain open, they are forced to reflect on the choices they have made in their lives.

Romeo & Julius

September 2009 •Danish

A young group of actors are preparing an updated version of Shakespeare's ROMEO & JULIET. Two boys perform the central roles - both of them struggling with their own questions of love alongside their roles on stage. And as rehearsals begin, reality soon starts to interfere with the play.

NOW: In the Wings on a World Stage

June 2014 •English

Kevin Spacey, Sam Mendes and the Bridge Project Company go on the road in NOW: in the Wings on a World Stage. In over 200 performances, and across 3 continents, Kevin and the troupe reveal some of the most intimate moments behind the scenes of their staging of Shakespeare's classic tragedy, "Richard III." Their story and experiences weave around, and reflect on, excerpts from the play from their various locations, from Epidaurus to Doha, and provides a great opportunity for those who have never experienced Spacey on stage to witness his immerse and captivating interpretation of Richard III. NOW chronicles the first collaboration between Spacey and Mendes since both won Academy Awards® for their work on American Beauty.

Underground and Emigrants

October 1976 •German

In this film, outspokenly homosexual filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim has documented his encounters with friends in the New York "underground" arts movement, the better-known of whom are William Burroughs (who says nothing for the camera), Andy Warhol (seen in the distance) and Fernando Arrabal (who is interviewed in Spanish). The emigrants named in the title are notable Germans who left the country before World War II, such as Greta Keller and Grete Mosheim. Reviewers at the time of the film's release considered it to have been a sort of paid vacation for the filmmaker rather than a serious effort. (Clarke Fountain, Rovi)

Kiss Me, Petruchio

January 1981 •English

A documentary about the 1978 stage production of The Taming of the Shrew by the New York City Shakespeare company at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. Includes scenes from the production, interviews with Meryl Streep (Kate) and Raul Julia (Petruchio) as well as an introduction by producer Joseph Papp and audience commentary.

Yearning for Sodom

March 1989 •English

Made during the last months of actor Kurt Raab, who died of AIDS in 1988. Raab, who had worked in both theatre and film, most notably with Fassbinder, was in the process of making a series of video sketches for a new production when he learned that he had AIDS. Despite his deteriorating health, and with the caring support of his friend Hans Hirshmuller, he carried on working. This tape is his last testimony. Awarded with the Adolf Grimme Award and Cinéma du Réel Award

Ulrich Seidl - A Director at Work

October 2014 •English

This cinematic portrait shows the Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl at work. The much-discussed ‘Seidl method’ is conveyed here vividly and directly: The camera watches over Seidl’s shoulder during the filming of his new production IM KELLER, and observes him at the rehearsals for his latest theatre production ‘Böse Buben / Fiese Männer’. The film paints the picture of a fascinating and exceptional artist using a combination of extensive interviews and excerpts from earlier works.

Partisan

February 2018 •German

Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz 1992-2017. The end of the GDR gave rise to new artistic freedoms in reunited Berlin. Shortly after the fall of the Wall, rebel director Frank Castorf was appointed artistic director of the Volksbühne. His way of working altered the public’s perception of this theater. The chronological history of the Castorf era between 1992 and 2017 is told here in excerpts from the productions and in a series of conversations conducted on the long sofa in the theater's foyer.

Lunas de Nueva York

November 2015 •Spanish

First film of Juan José Ponce’s trilogy about Federico García Lorca. Lunas de Nueva York looks back on Federico’s trip to New York in 1929, an essential journey for his life and career.