Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs

The Beauty President

March 2021 •English

In 1992, at the height of the AIDS pandemic, activist Terence Alan Smith made a historic bid for president of the United States as his drag queen persona Joan Jett Blakk. Today, Smith reflects back on his seminal civil rights campaign and its place in American history.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

June 1896 •French

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

The Guns of James Bond

September 1964 •English

Short 1964 black-and-white documentary featurette hosted by Sean Connery and featuring the real-life inspiration for the character of Q, Major Geoffrey Boothroyd with a discussion of the gun weaponry used by James Bond.

I'm not funny

March 2020 •Spanish

To confront his fear of making a fool of himself, a film student ventures into stand-up comedy and documents his process.

Children of Silence

January 1962 •French

This film looks at the world of children with hearing loss and the importance of early diagnosis. With its straightforward, rigorous cinematic style and intimate approach to the subject, the film focuses on the human rather than the technical side of the problem of hearing impairment.

Wigstock: The Movie

January 1987 •English

The original documentary on the Wigstock festival, back in the day when it was a much smaller affair in Thompkins Square Park. A full day of peace, love, and wigs…

Alone

January 2017 •English

This investigation into the layers of mass incarceration and its shaping of the modern black American family is seen through the eyes of a single mother in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Tickle King

February 2017 •English

Featuring new, previously unseen footage documenting the bizarre and unsettling things that happened to filmmakers David Farrier and Dylan Reeve as Tickled premiered at film festivals and theaters in 2016. Lawsuits, private investigators, disrupted screenings and surprise appearances are just part of what they encounter along the way. Amidst new threats, the duo begins to answer questions that remained once the credits rolled on Tickled, including whether the disturbing behavior they uncovered will ever come to an end.

Quintinshill: Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster

May 2015 •English

Neil Oliver describes the worst ever railway accident in the UK, which happened a hundred years ago on 22 May 1915, in which three trains collided at Quintinshill near Gretna Green. One of the trains was a troop train taking soldiers to fight in World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli: many of the dead were in this train which caught fire due to escaped gas from the archaic gas lighting in the carriages. The cause of the crash was attributed to a catastrophic signalman's error, but Neil examines whether there were other contributory factors and whether there was a cover-up to prevent investigation of them, making convenient scapegoats of the signalmen.

Variabilität des Fortpflanzungsverhaltens bei Japanischen Prachtlibellen

January 1992 •German

Calopteryx cornelia only occurs in one color morph and shows the typical dragonfly behavior. Species of the genus Mnais form different color morphs. Males with intensely colored wings are dominant over males with hyaline wings.

Fazzoletti di terra

January 1963 •Italian

A look into the harsh life of a hard-working couple of terrace farmers in the Valley of Brenta.

No Voice

May 2021 •English

She now lives many miles away from her mother, who is waiting to hear from her. It is a bittersweet, restless, nostalgic moment, and she remembers those vanished years.

Vetal Nagri

December 2018 •Gujarati

In India, in the region of Gujarat, a man whose face is never shown travels through the large city of Vadodara by night and distributes a mysterious illustrated newspaper. It provokes an irresistable desire in all the street merchants and craftsmen to tell stories of ghosts and ghouls.

Phoolan

Invalid date •English

Phoolan is a documentary film about the extraordinary life of a village girl, gang-rape survivor, bandit leader, and finally parliamentarian. This is the story of one woman’s fight against incredible odds for justice and dignity. Known as India’s Bandit Queen, Phoolan Devi is considered by many to be one of the most extraordinary and controversial women of our time.

Step Into the Third Dimension

January 1989 •English

Nishika 3D cameras were the inexpensive cousins to the Nimslo 3D cameras made in the mid to late 1980's (the Nimslo cameras used glass lenses, while the Nishika ones used plastic lenses). The cameras used regular 35mm film that captured 4 simultaneous images onto 2 frames of film. These images were printed onto photo stock with a lenticular surface bonded to it which allowed 3D to be seen without glasses, like the old kids story books with the 3D covers. The basic 3D camera kit came with this VHS instructional video that was hosted by Vincent Price. It was one of the last things he did.

Afrique 50

December 1950 •French

Afrique 50 is a 1950 French documentary film directed by René Vautier. The first French anti-colonialist film, the film derived from an assignment in which the director was to cover educational activities by the French League of Schooling in West Africa. Vautier later filmed what he saw, a "lack of teachers and doctors, the crimes committed by the French Army in the name of France, the instrumentalization of the colonized peoples". For his role in the film Vautier was imprisoned over several months. The film was not permitted to be shown for more than 40 years.

Bir Kısa Filmin Öyküsü

Invalid date •Turkish

Catastrophe

April 1977 •English

A film cataloguing some of the world's largest catastrophes.

Il culto delle pietre

January 1967 •Italian

In Raiano, Italy, the feast of S. Venanzio is celebrated every year. Beside the official celebrations, the most secret and oldest ceremony is the "Cult of Stones": the devotees enter the caves where the saint used to live according to tradition, and rub their bodies on the stones to heal from evil.

I Needed Color

July 2017 •English

Jim Carrey exhibits his talent as a painter and reflects on the value and power of art.