Everything's Better than a Hooker

Germany in Autumn

March 1978 •German

Germany in Autumn does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped, and later murdered, by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the orginal leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.

Such a Resounding Silence

November 2024 •French

Through this documentary, Emmanuelle Béart aims to uncover the truth about incest. The actress, accompanied by director Anastasia Mikova, breaks her silence and confronts her reality with that of others, shedding light on a taboo subject.

Who Is Arthur Chu?

January 2017 •English

Documentary feature about 11-time Jeopardy! champion and Internet iconoclast, Arthur Chu.

Cyborg Society

September 2023 •English

What does the looming A.I. revolution mean for us as individuals and as a society?

DSKNECTD

October 2013 •English

As clichés go, in 1999 the World as we knew it was about to change - and we'd been expecting it. Since childhood we'd been promised that the 21st century would bring us dramatic new technologies like flying cars and Utopian cities. Instead it bought us the smart-phone, social media, and virtual societies. And as it turns out these technologies began to transform society almost as dramatically as the moon colonies we'd been expecting. Now over a decade into the revolution, 'DSKNECTD' explores how digital communication technology is profoundly changing the way we interact and experience each other - for the good and for the bad.

The Perfumed Garden

April 2000 •Arabic

THE PERFUMED GARDEN is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world. Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity. The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.

Chicken Ranch

May 1983 •English

Documentary on the "Chicken Ranch," a legal Nevada brothel.

Kill Zone USA

December 2014 •German

30,000 people die in the US each year by firearms. Collateral damage of an undeclared civil war, from which the arms industry has benefited for decades under German and European participation. Starting from the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, this documentary examines why we can't stop the arms madness.

Hookers, Hustlers, Pimps and Their Johns

December 1993 •English

British filmmaker Beeban Kidron ventures onto the mean streets of the South Bronx and other New York locales to examine the lives of those involved in the city's thriving sex industry.

Porn

May 2023 •French

Body Without Soul

November 1996 •Czech

Documentary look at doomed male prostitutes in Prague, ages 15 to 18, who troll at the public swimming pool, the train station, a video arcade, and a disco. After the boys talk about how they got in the game, the camera follows them to the home of Pavel Rousek. Under the name Hans Miller, he makes gay porno videos, primarily for German distribution. Intercut with a movie shoot chez Rousek is an interview that follows him to his day job at a morgue, where he performs an autopsy as he talks about his work. The sex is without protection; the boys are without family. They talk about their bodies and souls, money, their sexual orientation, AIDS, their dreams, and death.

Chained Girls

March 1965 •English

This exploitation classic purports to expose the secrets of the 1960s lesbian underworld.

Not Angels But Angels

July 1994 •Czech

Interviews with a procurer and with nineteen boys and young men who are prostitutes in Prague. The youths range in age from 14 to 19. They hustle at the central train station and at clubs. Most of their clients are foreign tourists, many are German. The youths talk about why they hustle, their first trick, prices, dangers, what they know about AIDS, their fears (disease and loneliness), and how they imagine their futures. The film's title, its liturgical score, much of it elegiac, and shots of the city's statues of angels underline the vulnerability and callow lack of sophistication of the young men.

ABBA Forever: A Celebration

October 2019 •English

This definitive music documentary, featuring a greatest hits soundtrack and bounty of classic performance clips, provides an inside look into how Swedish pop group ABBA's music was made, as the former members and various colleagues tell their story from pre-ABBA days onward.

Human

September 2015 •French

A collection of stories about and images of our world, offering an immersion to the core of what it means to be human. Through these stories full of love and happiness, as well as hatred and violence, it brings us face to face with the Other, making us reflect on our lives. From stories of everyday experiences to accounts of the most unbelievable lives, these poignant encounters share a rare sincerity and underline who we are – our darker side, but also what is most noble in us, and what is universal. Our Earth is shown at its most sublime through never-before-seen aerial images accompanied by soaring music, resulting in an ode to the beauty of the world, providing a moment to draw breath and for introspection. This film is a politically engaged work which allows us to embrace the human condition and to reflect on the meaning of our existence.

Trashed

January 2020 •Czech

The short reportage film depicts the situation of hard-to-recycle waste. Our guides are a local government employee and the staff of Technical Services Zlín, whom the director interviewed and filmed at work. In the local context of an East Moravian municipality, it examines the technical, economic and political aspects of the problem. In addition, there are the inevitable social issues regarding the wider sustainability of the contemporary consumer lifestyle.

Whores' Glory

September 2011 •German

In Bangkok, Thailand, women punch a clock and wait for clients in a brightly lit glass box; in the red-light district of Faridpur, Bangladesh, a madam haggles over the price of a teenage girl; and in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, crack-addicted women pray to a deity named Lady Death.

The Building and Burning of a Refugee Camp

January 2024 •English

Three men seeking asylum in Ireland find themselves on the streets, caught between restrictive migration policies and an increasingly aggressive far-right movement. Dennis Harvey captures an explosive sequence of events on the streets of Dublin.

High Class Call Girls

May 2015 •English

High Class Call Girls is a a revealing glimpse into the lives of Emily B and Cookie Jane, two self-dubbed high class call girls who charge thousands of pounds for a night with clients who find them through new location-based apps.

Yung Lean: In My Head

April 2020 •Swedish

When a Swedish teen rapper finds a rabid fanbase via the internet, international superstar Yung Lean is born. But as his fame grows, darkness settles in, blurring the line between reality and his own vivid imagination.