The Beast Within

An Apology to Elephants

April 2013 •English

Elephants are among the most majestic and intelligent creatures on Earth--but for hundreds of years, they have suffered at the hands of humans. Narrated by Lily Tomlin, this documentary short traces our long history with elephants and explores the many problems that arise when they are brought to live in captivity in zoos and circuses.

Fight

November 2024 •Armenian

In a conservative Armenian family a 16 years old Karine dreams to become a veterinarian, but her family, especially her father, who is a well-known dog-fighter, is against it. They say it’s not a proper job for women. Karine needs to choose: to follow her dreams or to listen to her patriarchal family.

Markus Raetz

January 2007 •German

Cobby: The Other Side of Cute

June 2018 •English

Cobby's Hobbies was a 1960's children's TV program featuring a chimpanzee getting hmself into all sorts of mischief. For filmmaker Donna McRae, the show was a crucial part of getting through a lonely childhood. McRae seeks people that made the show, Cobby's zoo friends, zoo keepers and the animal rights activists that help her piece together the story of an animal stolen from his natural habitat to work on TV before, being retired into the San Francisco Zoo at age 7. Most primates chimps in entertainment suffered horrifically, becoming research animals or caged in roadside zoos. This documentary examines how we perceive animals in entertainment and how we address their plight now.

In the Interstices of Reality or The Cinema of António de Macedo

October 2016 •Portuguese

He was the most prolific within the New Portuguese Cinema generation. He would try western spaghetti, esoteric allegory, supernatural, and science-fiction. Without state subsidies, he would quit filmmaking in the 1990s. Who remembers António de Macedo?

Super Greed: The Fight for Football

March 2022 •English

In April 2021, in the perfect storm left behind by the Coronavirus pandemic, owners and executives of the 12 most powerful clubs in world football attempted a bullish and brazen power grab. Years of secret talks and backroom dealings culminated in a seismic late-night announcement - these dozen rivals were joining forces and breaking away from centuries of sporting tradition to launch a brand new competition that would secure their club's futures for decades to come. Designed to secure the financial future of football for the next 23 years, The Super League created a fury of opposition from the entire football world and collapsed in just 48 hours. Super Greed: The Fight for Football tells the dramatic inside story of the doomed league through the eyes of those who helped to bring it tumbling down.

Wir und das Tier: Ein Schlachthausmelodram

November 2023 •German

Attempting an ethical perspective on the meat industry. Various people who work in the industry have their say. Can they justify killing animals?

Der Imker

June 2013 •German

A documentary about Ibrahim Gezer, who escaped from war in Kurdistan to Switzerland. All is lost, except his love for beekeeping.

De la cuisine au parlement

January 2012 •French

Switzerland was one of the last countries in the world to grant women the right to vote. This film guides us through a century of Swiss history, tracing the imprint left by the women who fought for the right to leave hearth and home – and by the men who did everything they could to send them back – until they gained legal equality, whose implementation seems to be in question still today.

The Highs and Lows of Ken Bone's Fifteen Minutes of Fame

October 2020 •English

Ken Bone became an overnight sensation after participating in a Clinton-Trump town hall in 2016, but the excitement of the moment came with some unexpected consequences.

The Paris Opera

April 2017 •French

A behind-the-scenes look at the of how the Paris Opera is run under the direction of Stephane Lissner.

Saving Flipper

December 2009 •Turkish

Our love affair with dolphins began with 'Flipper' and ended in a multi-million dollar industry of abuse. From the dazzling sea shows where dolphins are driven to suicide, to an annual dolphin slaughter in a small cove in Japan, 'Saving Flipper' reveals the nightmare behind the dolphin's indelible smile.

A Home Far Away

April 2012 •English

The extraordinary destiny of two people. After the Second World War, Lois is an actress in Broadway theatre, television and Hollywood films. Her husband, Edgar Snow, is world famous. A pioneer fascinated by China, he is the first journalist to film and interview Mao Tse-tung. Suspected by the American authorities of Communist sympathies, Ed and Lois are blacklisted. Together with their two small children, they go to Switzerland, mid-way between China and America, where they find a new home. A story of revolution, utopia, disillusionment, and hope.

Someone Besides You

January 2007 •English

Along with several courageous psychiatrists and their clients, the author sets out to film a documentary road movie that takes him to Switzerland, Europe, and the U.S. On their travels in mobile homes, they explore the depths of the human psyche in search of answers to the question: What is the human mind and how does it behave in psychotic extreme situations?

Mirr

January 2017 •Khmer

Nicki Minaj: Pink Planet

January 2013 •English

An in-depth look at the personal life of rapper and singer Nicki Minaj, whose fast-paced rap style and interesting alter-egos connected with audiences all over the world.

The Cat: A Cuddly Killer

June 2019 •French

Cats are cuddly felines and lovely pets, but also highly evolved predators that hunt huge amounts of small mammals, birds and reptiles; perfect killing machines that threaten delicate ecosystems around the world.

Dare to Dream: Anarchism in England in History and in Action

January 1990 •English

Dare to Dream was directed by Marianne Jenkins, a film student from Goldsmiths' College, University of London, in 1990. It looks at the history of anarchism in the UK and beyond, as well as the state of the movement in the tumultuous year the poll tax uprising finally led to the resignation of Thatcher. Among the anarchist heavyweights interviewed are Albert Meltzer, Vernon Richards, Vi Subversa, Philip Sansom, Clifford Harper and Nicholas Walter, as well as a host of lesser known but equally committed dissidents. The film also features the miners strike and class struggle, squatting and social centres such as Bradford's 1in12 club, animal rights and feminism.

Cyclique

April 2015 •French

Balifilm

December 1997 •English

Balifilm was originally commissioned as a stage performance, created from diary images and sounds collected in 1990 and 1992 by Peter Mettler on the island of Bali. The soundtrack is a live recording of eight Gamelan musicians playing the bronze and wooden instruments of Indonesia during the projection of the film. balifilm is a personal, lyrical observation and expression of the creative pulse of an extraordinary culture.