The Cooking Show

(There Is No) Cure

November 2022 •English

In this new video essay, filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe delves into the dread-inducing mood and tone of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s modern horror classic Cure, deploying a dizzying range of cinematic references to unravel the film’s eerie magic.

Moving Memories

May 2024 •Portuguese

On April 1st, 2022, my grandfather passed away and i felt lost. I think my path changed when, some days after he passed away, i was offered a small VHS camera. "Moving Memories" is a visual journey that makes the viewer reflect on our momentary presence on earth and questions the nature of memory. Throughout this journey, we get to the conclusion that memories are more than just static photographs in our minds, they're alive and in constant movement, changing while we evolve as individuals. These memories have influence and help us to move on.

Visions of Europe

May 2004 •English

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Vowellet - An Essay by Sarah Vowell

March 2005 •English

This Pixar documentary short follows Sarah Vowell, who plays herself as the title character, on why she is a superhero in her own way. (This short piece is included on the 2-Disc DVD for "The Incredibles", which was released in 2005.

Zaniklý svět Karla Pecky

March 2000 •Czech

The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography

January 1998 •English

Every image in The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography comes from gay erotic videos produced in Eastern Europe since the introduction of capitalism. The video provides a glimpse of young men responding to the pressures of an unfamiliar world, one in which money, power and sex are now connected.

Oachkatzlschwoaf

Invalid date •English

Words are loaded with meaning. Certain ones conjure joyful memories and others remind us of less happy times. For Nenda Neururer, the word 'oachkatzlschwoaf' invokes a range of emotions. The German word is very hard to pronounce and is synonymous with the Austrian state of Tyrol where locals tease outsiders by asking them to pronounce it. Despite growing up in Tyrol, Nenda Neururer often felt like an outsider when confronted with this word. But when she moved to London she grew nostalgic for it and it became her little secret. Found in Translation is a series made as part of the In The Mix project, in partnership with BBC Studios TalentWorks, Black Creators Matter and the Barbican.

this evening out of boredom washed my hands three times in succession in the bathroom

August 2024 •English

Reminiscences of a trip to Čáslav

She Chef

May 2023 •German

We’re travelling from luxury kitchen to luxury kitchen with Agnes, from Bergisch Gladbach via Barcelona to the Faroe Islands. The cook’s luggage always includes her backpack containing various knives, cleavers and tweezers. The camera watches over the inquisitive young woman’s shoulder as delicacies are being prepared. Our mouths water. At the same time, we get insights into the different ways of running a restaurant. It’s about team spirit and equality at the stove.

White Noise

November 2019 •French

A reflection on the fate of humanity in the Anthropocene epoch, White Noise is a roller-coaster of a film, a whirlwind of sounds and images. The fourth feature-length work by Simon Beaulieu, this film essay plunges viewers into a subjective sensory adventure—a direct physical encounter with the information overload of daily life. White Noise transforms the imminent collapse of our civilization into a visceral aesthetic experience.

Letters from Wolf Street

October 2025 •Polish

A street in downtown Warsaw transforms into a kaleidoscopic portrait of Polish society. Behind the viewfinder is an Indian immigrant, who seeks to overcome the boundaries between himself and an anxiety-ridden country.

New Hyperion or Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood

April 1992 •Czech

From the behavior, discourse, and appearance of individual actors, Vachek composes, in the form of a mosaic, a broad and many-layered film-argument about Czechoslovak democracy in the period of its rebirth, all administered with the director’s ini­mitable point of view.

Chemistry in the Kitchen

January 1957 •Czech

The kitchen is an alchemist’s workshop, and the chef is a master of secret teachings. He commands molecules to bubble, boil, rise, change their state, shape, and colour. This educational film shows that cooking an egg or letting dough rise can be a fascinating chemical and physical process, and that our body is a small laboratory, with its own test tubes, gauges, and instruments.

Panoramas

November 2019 •German

In 1829 the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt attempted a russian-siberian expedition. Humboldt travelled to obtain a clear view of nature, people and life in this immense country. 2019 naturalists and humanists attempted a transdisciplinary expedition on the trails of Humboldt. To capture the events various cameras were taken along. A non-chronological narration.

Exergo

May 2024 •Basque

Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.

Eating Well for Optimum Health

July 2000 •English

Andrew Weil, M.D., program director of integrated medicine at the University of Arizona, teaches doctors and the public about nutrition, In this video, he describes good eating habits, nutritional health, and cooking. He also shares some cross-cultural perspectives on these fundamental topics.

Im Reich Des Squatters

April 2020 •German

The Universe of the Manas

December 1995 •Russian

It has been a lifelong dream of Kyrgyz director Melis Ubukeyev to create an elaborate film version of the Kyrgyz national epic 'Manas'. He spent years working with the National Academy of Sciences of Kyrgyzstan to gather material for this film project, which would ultimately remain a dream. However, the director's efforts were not in vain: Not only did he make films in 1962 and 1988 about Manasçı – the revered oral storytellers who have preserved the epic for generations through melodic recitation –, but in 1995, to mark the 1,000th anniversary of 'Manas', he also created a beguiling essay film that not only recounts the epic’s sweeping narrative through a mix of breathtaking imagery and opulent costumes, but also weaves it into a semi-documentary exploration of Kyrgyz history and identity. Once almost impossible to find, the film has recently been restored by the film studio Kyrgyzfilm and uploaded to YouTube in 4K.

Mrs. Mortimer Jones Prepares "Dinner for Eight"

January 1934 •English

Promotional film for Southern California Edison. We see a housewife in a tastefully colour-coordinated kitchen equipped with the latest electrical appliances as she prepares dinner for her husband and his business associates. While the dishwasher takes care of the dirty dishes, she bakes a cake and puts a roast in the oven. As it cooks, she’s off to the theatre… Mrs. Mortimer Jones promotes not only Edison, but also Natalie Kalmus’ subtle sense of colour and the “home cooking” principle of the Technicolor franchise.

On Memory

November 2021 •English

Musing on the nature of memory, Don Hertzfeldt recounts stories about a kiss from The King, a floating child in a backyard and a giant foot.