Ashkenazy Observed

The Guerilla is a Poet

September 2013 •English

The tale of an activist’s journey during the turbulent years of Martial Law, until his capture in the mountains and the dark, nine years of imprisonment that followed, leading to his birth as a poet.

Det ska va gôtt å leva - en film om Galenskaparna After Shave

September 2022 •Swedish

One of Sweden's most successful humor groups of all time; we tell their story. How it all started with small steps of success, radio sketches, folk park tours, setbacks and eventually like an albatross that is difficult to lift, in the end the humor group flies and once it lifts it flies well and long. Still after 40 years, they work together. The film also contains never before shown material, and premieres in connection with the group's 40th anniversary.

A Brief History of Time

October 1991 •English

This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

Wizard of the Desert: An Alexander Vesely Film

December 2014 •English

This documentary explores the personal life and incredible career work of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., founder of Modern Hypnotherapy. This unsung American genius was a pioneer in psychiatry using radical and unconventional hypnotic techniques to cure not only patients but to control his own debilitating pain and paralysis. The work of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., often referred to as “The Mozart of Communication,” shocked the scientific community with new and effective theories for therapeutic intervention, which even today defy scientific explanation. But it is his personal story that commands our initial attention. How does a child born in the silver mining community of Aurum, Nevada, and soon to be ghost town at 7,500 feet above sea level, survive all odds after being stricken with polio to grow into the man destined to become an evolutionary genius in the fields of hypnosis and psychotherapy?

True Record of an Ando Gang Side-Story: Starving Wolf's Rules

April 2002 •Japanese

Former yakuza gang boss Noboru Ando reminisces about old partner in crime Kei Hanagata.

Dreams adrift

March 2021 •Spanish

Mike Porcel is the lost member of the Cuban Nueva Trova musical movement. His lack of “revolutionary spirit” condemned him to the scorn of his peers and made him a pariah for a decade, until he managed to go into exile. Without resentment, but without forgetting, the film reconstructs his story and revives a forgotten brilliance.

Fairless

July 2015 •English

This is the story of unsung hero Steve Fairless, a country boy who represented Australia in road cycling at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. After the games, with professional opportunities limited, Steve retired from the sport to return to dairy farming to provide for his young family. He was 26 and in physiological terms, only really just arriving at his peak. However, the desire to compete never left him and at 50, Steve made a comeback of sorts. Within a season he was one of the best on the country for any age. Our film tracks his life, his comeback and his journey to the ultimate proving ground, the UCI World masters Championships in Slovenia. Steve is a great character, and his story is one of never letting go of a dream.

Metamorphic

Invalid date •Spanish

Octavio Ocampo is the creator of the metamorphic style painting technique, a technique of overlapping and juxtaposing realistic and figurative details within the images he creates. This is his story.

The Return of Agnieszka H.

January 2014 •Polish

A full feature co-production documentary about the famous Polish director Agnieszka Holland and her relationship to Czechoslovakia. „Czech culture was a different mirror to our world.“ Agnieszka Holland in an interview for Czech daily MF Dnes The film has two basic storylines: It depicts the life of Agnieszka Holland during her studies at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague towards the end of the 1960’s, her friends, her participation in a student strike and her arrest for supporting the dissident movement and anti-state tendencies. The second storyline follows her return visits from 1989 until a historical series about the death of Jan Palach called Burning Bush. It is also a story about courage, fear, honesty and friendship and all its trials.

Be Water

January 2020 •English

In 1971, after being rejected by Hollywood, Bruce Lee returned to his parents’ homeland of Hong Kong to complete four iconic films. Charting his struggles between two worlds, this portrait explores questions of identity and representation through the use of rare archival footage, interviews with loved ones and Bruce’s own writings.

Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado

January 2020 •English

Once the world's most famous astrologer, Walter Mercado seeks to resurrect a forgotten legacy. Raised in the sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico, Walter grew up to become a gender non-conforming, cape-wearing psychic whose televised horoscopes reached 120 million viewers a day for decades before he mysteriously disappeared.

Tanglewood Music School and Music Festival

July 1949 •English

This video depicts Tanglewood in its very early years. It contains very rare footage of Serge Koussevitzky and Aaron Copland.

The Gruffalo and Me: The Remarkable Julia Donaldson

December 2020 •English

The programme offers unique access to Julia Donaldson, her family, her rich archives and home movies, and the remarkable cast of characters that have sprung from her imagination. Specially commissioned animations from Julia's long-term illustrator Axel Scheffler bring her biography to life. With contributions from well-known admirers and collaborators, this is a tribute to the woman who has created the characters and stories that have become a fixture of children’s bedtime routines all around the world and spawned multi-award-winning adaptations for stage and screen. Looking at her works, the programme uncovers the surprising stories behind how Julia's iconic characters were created and what they mean to a generation of readers. It also explores why Donaldson’s books appeal to both children and adults alike – tackling serious themes of love, loss, fear and bullying in a poignant but subtle way.

Boulez at 80

November 2005 •English

Pierre Boulez conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a special concert from the Barbican, as part of the composer's 80th birthday celebrations. The programme contains two compositions by Debussy; Jeux and Trois ballades de Villon, as well as Daphnis et Chloé by Ravel, featuring soprano Elizabeth Atherton as soloist.Presenter Charles Hazlewood interviews Boulez and discusses the concert with guest Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.

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.

Bratříček Karel

November 2016 •Czech

The Cinema of Carl Th. Dreyer

May 1982 •English

Pavel Wonka Commits to Cooperate

November 2014 •Czech

Pavel Wonka, a Czech dissident and anti-Communist, was the last political prisoner to die in a communist prison. Libuse Rudinská investigates his life, uncovering potential cooperation with the secret police through archived reports and interviews. The film, featuring Rudinská as a reporter and narrative commentary from officer Zdenek Spulák, prompts reflections on revising historical perspectives.

Casting Crowns: Home by Sunday

November 2023 •English

Relates the amazing stories that have shaped the band's music, ministry and journey. from their unusual beginnings to the motivation for one of their most well-known songs and a sickness that could have ended their lives.

The Perfect Crime: Leopold & Loeb

February 2016 •English

The shocking story of Richard Leopold and Nathan Loeb, two wealthy college students who murdered a 14-year-old boy in 1924 to prove they were smart enough to get away with it.