Stories for Murders

Rendezvous in Space

September 1964 •English

This documentary, the final film directed by Frank Capra, explores America's plans for the future of space exploration. It was produced by the Martin-Marietta Corporation for exhibition in the Hall of Science at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Sirens

April 2022 •German

Monolithic power plants; billowing columns of smoke; the backdrop of a red sun. Sirens is an experimental short documentary that captures Germany’s coal-fired power plants in their final years of generating energy. Shot entirely from helicopters, the film takes us on a journey through industrial wastelands, thus recalling the passage of Ulysses’ boat through the Sirens’ strait. An odyssey through the dystopian industrial world that has left a permanent mark on earth’s ecosphere.

America's Greatest Prison Breaks

December 2015 •English

A look at the prison breakout of Richard Matt and David Sweat from Clinton Correctional facility, as well as a look back at some of the most daring and ingenious prison breaks in American history.

Traces: The Kabul Museum 1988

January 2003 •Japanese

The Kabul National Museum, once known as the "face of Afghanistan," was destroyed in 1993. We filmed the most important cultural treasures of the still-intact museum in 1988: ancient Greco-Roman art and antiquitied of Hellenistic civilization, as well as Buddhist sculpture that was said to have mythology--the art of Gandhara, Bamiyan, and Shotorak among them. After the fall of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1992, some seventy percent of the contents of the museum was destroyed, stolen, or smuggled overseas to Japan and other countries. The movement to return these items is also touched upon. The footage in this video represents that only film documentation of the Kabul Museum ever made.

Jayuk

January 1998 •Kyrgyz

A 20-minute documentary film about the Kyrgyz people living by the Narym River.

The Devil's Bridge

January 1997 •Kyrgyz

Life in a Kyrgyz aul (village) in the mountains connected to the rest of the world by a cable bridge, and the teenage boys who are constructing the rope of the bridge. A rope bridge which the locals call “The devil’s bridge” forms part of each and every event which takes place in a small village lost in the mountains of the Kyrgyz Republic. A platform driven by a huge winch which they have to pull with their own strength to cross the torrent is their only link with the outside world. But the director of the documentary wondered something else: “Does this bridge unite or does it actually separate?” Through the mist and over the thrashing waters, the inhabitants of the area glide along their ropes. A film, in the director’s own words, about ordinary people who live in an extraordinary place.

Verdict of the People

July 1943 •Russian

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.

Around the End of the World

December 1930 •French

A short silent documentary on the making of the 1931 Abel Gance directed film, "La Fin du Monde".

Film for Blind Poet

April 2012 •Portuguese

Glauco Mattoso, a blind sadomasochistic poet, agrees to participate in a documentary about his own life, but the conditions he imposes raise difficulties to the work of the young director.

The Execution Machine: Texas Death Row

March 1997 •English

Explores the realities of death-row inmates inside Huntsville (Texas) Unit, a prison with the highest number of executions in 1997. Features interviews with prisoners, guards, officials, lawyers and victims' family members.

Doomsday for Pests

January 1946 •English

Facing mounting insect deaths, concerned bugs view a documentary film about Sherwin-Williams's lethal new PESTROY pesticide coating.

Standard Operating Procedure

February 2008 •English

Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Infertility: A Diabolical Agenda

June 2022 •English

Watch the chilling tale of African women whose fertility was tragically stripped away through an experimental tetanus vaccination program. Are women from other continents next?

The Coroner's Camera

January 1997 •English

Hosted by Damon Fox, this documentary takes us on a grim dive into the world of the coroner and what they see in their line of work.

Last Days of Solitary

March 2017 •English

In 2011, Maine State Prison launched a pioneering reform program to scale back its use of solitary confinement. Bafta and Emmy-winning film-maker Dan Edge and his co-director Lauren Mucciolo were given unprecedented access to the solitary unit - and filmed there for more than three years. The result is an extraordinary and harrowing portrait of life in solitary - and a unique document of a radical and risky experiment to reform a prison. The US is the world leader in solitary confinement. More than 80,000 American prisoners live in isolation, some have been there for years, even decades. Solitary is proven to cause mental illness, it is expensive, and it is condemned by many as torture. And yet for decades, it has been one of the central planks of the American criminal justice system.

Mac Dre: Legend of the Bay

June 2015 •English

Bay Area rapper Mac Dre began his career at 18 and quickly became an influential force in early west coast hip-hop. In 1992 he was convicted of conspiracy to commit bank robbery when his lyrics were used against him in court. He left prison with a new lease on life, founded an independent record company, and then was murdered just when he began to emerge as a star. For the first time ever, his mother Wanda reveals the true experiences of a hip-hop legend.

Black Box BRD

May 2001 •German

Black Box BRD steps back into German history, showing the Federal Republic of Germany of the 70s and 80s. The country is polarized due to the power struggle of the German state and the "Red Army Faction". Society is torn, the fronts are irreconcilable. The life stories of both Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen are tragically linked to this era. Grams is the one who takes up arms for moral rigor; Herrhausen however seizes power and dies when powerful.

Captain Blood: A Swashbuckler Is Born

April 2005 •English

This documentary is featured on the DVD for Captain Blood (1935), released in 2005.