Soulless City

Peace to This House

July 1994 •Portuguese

A film photo-montage about an old house that belonged to a traditional local family that was later demolished.

Survival in Berlin-Neukölln

November 2017 •German

About Stefan Stricker, who calls himself Juwelia and has been running a gallery on Sanderstraße in Berlin Neukölln for many years. Every weekend he invites guests to shamelessly recount from his life and to sing poetic songs written with his friend from Hollywood Jose Promis. Juwelia has been poor and sexy all her life, has always struggled for recognition, but only partially.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City

September 1927 •German

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

Felling of Hibson Road Brick Works Chimney in Nelson

January 1906 •English

It is a dramatic film, with its colossal explosion and smouldering remains. Within seconds of the chimney's collapse, crowds swarm in to inspect the site; issues of the crowd's health and safety are clearly not a concern, as people smile, wave and salute the camera.

Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City

April 2010 •English

Make No Little Plans: Daniel Burnham and the American City reveals the fascinating life and complex legacy of architect and city planner Daniel Hudson Burnham. In the midst of the late nineteenth century urban disorder, Burnham offered a powerful vision of what a civilized American city could look like, one that provided a compelling framework for Americans to make sense of the world around them. A timely, intriguing story in the American experience, Make No Little Plans explores Burnham's impact on the development of the American city as debate continues today about what urban planning means in a democratic society.

Quand la Seine débordera

March 2023 •French

A Respectable Life

March 1979 •Swedish

A decade has gone by and the spirit of the preceding film, Dom kallar oss mods, has disappeared. Kenta is an alcoholic and lives with his girlfriend Eva. Together they have a son, Patric. Kenta's mom is in jail for manslaughter and Kenta goes to Kronoberg to greet her. Heroin also comes to play and Stoffe is one of those who falls victim to it. He lives with his girlfriend Lena and their young son, Janne. Lena later throws Stoffe out their home when she gets enough of his abuse, and he is forced to live with his mother. Kenta calls Stoffe and decides to meet him, and he tries to persuade him to give up heroin, but the two have a falling out and they separate. This film features other users from the previous film, such as Jajje and Kenta Bergkvist. The film ends with the death of a prominent person in the trilogy.

Misfits to Yuppies

April 1993 •Swedish

Misfits to Yuppies is the last of three films (Dom kallar oss mods, Ett anständigt liv, Det sociala arvet) that shows conditions for addicts in Stockholm and try to find out how social legacy have been transferred to their children from previous films.

Nadja in Paris

January 1964 •French

Nadja is a guest student, who stays at Cité Universitaire and visits the Sorbonne, while preparing a thesis on Proust; she also likes to stroll about Paris.

Father of the City

June 2001 •Swedish

A film about "the father" of Malmö Eric Svenning and how the city has developed during his time.

Nemesis

August 2020 •German

The film explores the destruction of a unique train station in Zurich and the construction of the new prison and police centre in its place. From the perspective of the filmmaker’s window, and with testimony from prisoners awaiting deportation, the film probes how we deal with the extinction of history and its replacement with total security.

Rekordåren 66/67/68

May 1969 •Swedish

Critical documentary about urban planning in the city of Stockholm. Made by students at the Swedish Film Institute's film school. The film created a great debate in Swedish media and especially between the film institute's CEO Harry Schein and the filmmakers.

Moments in Helsinki

January 1971 •Finnish

A compilation of excerpts from old Helsinki-themed documentaries and new material.

Two Doors

June 2012 •Korean

The documentary Two Doors traces the Yongsan Tragedy of 2009, which took the lives of five evictees and one police SWAT unit member. Left with no choice but to climb up a steel watchtower in an appeal to the right to live, the evictees were able to come down to the ground a mere 25 hours after they had started to build the watchtower, as cold corpses. And the surviving evictees became lawbreakers. The announcement of the Public Prosecutors’ Office that the cause of the tragedy lay in the illegal and violent demonstration by the evictees, who had climbed up the watchtower with fire bombs, clashed with voices of criticism that an excessive crackdown by government power had turned a crackdown operation into a tragedy.

A Life's Work

September 2020 •English

What’s it like to dedicate your life to work that won’t be completed in your lifetime? Fifteen years ago, filmmaker David Licata focused on four projects and the people behind them in an effort to answer this universal question.

Khamsin

January 2019 •French

Lebanon today. The traces of the civil war are all too tangible as government corruption becomes unbearable. In a country where conflict and peace are caught in an endless cycle, musicians from different backgrounds pool their talents to create an underground music scene. Each evokes his or her representation of Lebanon: its shifting geographical, political, historical and social borders, its painful passage through conflict and instability. A touching portrait of a young generation trying to build an oasis in a hostile environment where the forces of destruction continue to wreak havoc.

The Bannfoot Ferry

June 2024 •English

A forgotten history of Northern Ireland is unveiled through a journey into Ulster Television’s archives, and the rediscovery of the first locally-produced network drama, Boatman Do Not Tarry.

Manhatta

January 1921 •English

Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor. The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.

15 Miles On The Erie Canal (Part 1)

March 2006 •English

The Erie Canal was an engineering marvel in its time and remains so today. This documentary travels from Palmyra to the Genesee River, stopping along the way to visit the people and places that make the canal so special. Canal historian Thomas Grasso offers insight into the canal’s past while the Golden Eagle String Band provides the music track.

Ramps to Nowhere

September 2018 •English

A film about the cross coalition of communities that stopped a planned network of freeways from being built in Seattle in the late 60s and early 70s. It weaves together archival material with the filmmaker's personal narrative about living next to freeways, and features interviews with participants from the freeway revolt.