Un-Documented: Unlearning Imperial Plunder

The Homecoming

September 2023 •Finnish

Sámi artefacts from the Finnish National Museum are returning home to Sápmi, while the holy drums of the Sámi people are still imprisoned in the basements of museums across Europe. The returning objects symbolise the dignity, identity, history, connection to ancestors and a whole world view that was taken from the Sámi people. Director Suvi West takes the viewer behind the scenes of the museum world to reflect on the spirit of the objects, the inequality of cultures and the colonialist burden of museums.

Concerning Violence

January 2014 •Swedish

Concerning Violence is based on newly discovered, powerful archival material documenting the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, accompanied by classic text from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.

Una identidad en absurdo Vol. 1

April 2011 •Spanish

Guillermo Gómez Álvarez explores the identity politics of Puerto Rico via archival footage from various sources that clash with nine original songs from local independent musicians and a thematic analysis from a psychoanalyst and a historian. From the juxtaposition the absurd becomes coherent and the coherent becomes absurd as Puerto Rican identity is defined and rejected almost simultaneously.

Religulous

October 2008 •English

Commentator-comic Bill Maher plays devil's advocate with religion as he talks to believers about their faith. Traveling around the world, Maher examines the tenets of Christianity, Judaism and Islam and raises questions about homosexuality, proof of Christ's existence, Jewish Sabbath laws, violent Muslim extremists.

Homes Apart: Korea

January 1991 •Korean

They speak the same language, share a similar culture and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early 90s, as the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Cold War, Koreans remain separated between North and South, fearing the threat of mutual destruction. Beginning with one man's journey to reunite with his sister in North Korea, filmmakers Takagi and Choy reveal the personal, social and political dimensions of one of the last divided nations on earth. The film was also the first US project to get permission to film in both South & North Korea.

Grenada: Confronting the Past

May 2022 •English

In the eighteenth century, the family of BBC World News anchor and correspondent, Laura Trevelyan, were absentee slave owners on the island of Grenada, profiting for years from the sale of sugar harvested from five different sugar cane plantations. When slavery was abolished in 1834, the UK government paid compensation to slave owners, but the enslaved received nothing. In the wake of the racial reckoning in America following the death of George Floyd, Grenada's national commission on reparations for slavery has begun to meet and debate what reparations means. In this film, Laura she travels to Grenada to try and learn more about the legacy of slavery on Grenada and her family's involvement in the slave trade.

Hearts and Minds

December 1974 •English

Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.

Leninland

November 2013 •Russian

At the peak of Perestroika, in 1987, in the village of Gorki, where Lenin spent his last years, after a long construction, the last and most grandiose museum of the Leader was opened. Soon after the opening, the ideology changed, and the flow of pilgrims gradually dried up. Despite this, the museum still works and the management is looking for ways to attract visitors. Faithful to the Lenin keepers of the museum as they can resist the onset of commercialization. The film tells about the modern life of this amazing museum-reserve and its employees.

Faces Places

June 2017 •French

Director Agnès Varda and photographer/muralist JR journey through rural France and form an unlikely friendship.

The Last Dragon

March 2004 •English

"The Last Dragon" is a nature mockumentary about a British scientific team that attempts to understand the unique incredible beasts that have fascinated people for ages. CGI is used to create the dragons.

Promises & Betrayals: Britain and the Struggle for the Holy Land

November 2002 •English

A documentary on how British double-dealing during the First World War ignited the conflict between Arab and Jew in the Middle East. The bitter struggle between Arab and Jew for control of the Holy Land has caused untold suffering in the Middle East for generations. It is often claimed that the crisis originated with Jewish emigration to Palestine and the foundation of the state of Israel. Yet the roots of the conflict are to be found much earlier – in British double-dealing during the First World War. This is a story of intrigue among rival empires; of misguided strategies; and of how conflicting promises to Arab and Jew created a legacy of bloodshed which determined the fate of the Middle East.

Os Comprometidos - Actas de um processo de descolonização

June 1984 •Portuguese

The film deals with the judgment of the so-called "compromised", who integrated the colonial apparatus. At Josina Machel school, in an amphitheater with a full audience and balcony, there is a stage where Samora Machel and the members of the Frelimo political committee are located. He records Samora, an impeccable political actor, sometimes histrionic, in the role that he is attributed as the animator of the scene in the trial.

De Charles de Gaulle à Emmanuel Macron, les gardiens de l'empire

March 2022 •French

Hermitage Revealed

September 2014 •English

To celebrate its 250th anniversary, this documentary tells the story of one of the world’s greatest museums, from its foundation by Catherine the Great, though to its status today as a breathtakingly beautiful complex which includes the Winter Palace. Showcasing a vast collection of the world’s greatest artworks together with contemporary art galleries and exhibitions, it holds over 3 million treasures and world class masterpieces in stunning architectural settings. This is its journey from Imperial Palace to State Museum, encompassing a sometimes troubled past, surviving both the Revolution in 1916 and the siege of Leningrad by the Nazis in 1941-44.

The World of Dario Argento 3: Museum of Horrors

January 1997 •Italian

Documentary about Dario Argento, "Profondo Rosso" shop in Rome, and most important works throughout his career.

Resistencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley

January 2015 •English

In 2009, the first coup d'etat in a generation in Central America overthrows the elected president of Honduras. A nation-wide movement, known simply as The Resistance, rises in opposition. Resistencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley centers on the most daring wing of the movement, the farmers of the Aguan. Not satisfied with just marching and blocking highways, 2000 landless families take possession of the palm oil plantations of Miguel Facusse, the country's largest landowner and a key player in the coup. The camera follows three farmers over four years as they build their new communities on occupied land, in the face of the regime's violent response, while waiting for the elections The Resistance hopes will restore the national democratic project.

Musei Vaticani 3D

October 2014 •Italian

An extraordinary voyage of discovery to see the most impressive collection of works of art built up over two thousand years of history. VATICAN MUSEUMS 3D, a SKY production in collaboration with the Vatican Museums Directorate, for the very first time brings Ultra HD 4K/3D film cameras inside the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, to show the masterpieces in these collections as they have never been seen before.

De Gaulle, the Last King of France

March 2017 •French

Charles de Gaulle, the first president (1958-1969) of the Vth Republic, France’s current system of government, left his mark on the country . He was statesman of action and has been compared to a monarch. This film depicts the general’s personality through the great events of his presidential term, at a time when the world was undergoing considerable changes.

Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii

July 2004 •English

Filmmaker Kevin McMahon accompanies the Haida delegation on a repatriation trip to Chicago in 2003. His film reveals the whole repatriation process through the stories and experiences of the people who participated, both Museum staff and the Haida people.

Rembrandt: From the National Gallery, London and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

December 2014 •English

Documentary tour of the "Rembrandt: Late Works" exhibit at the National Gallery, London and subsequently at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.