A Life's Work

Jugaad

September 2020 •Hindi

Jugaad is a Hindi word that can be translated as "innovative or effective solution that bends the rules". It refers to the extreme capacity developed by Mumbai's inhabitants to adapt and get around any type of constraint or obstacle posed by the city's urban structure. In a relatively small piece of land where 21 million people live today, the inhabitants of Mumbai demonstrate great creativity when it comes to managing the spaces (for sale, for prayer, for traffic) and the flows that cross them every day. Without using language, Hong Kong artist Chak Hin Leung brings together in this video a dozen unique situations in which people, animals, vehicles and natural elements intermingle and brush up against each other, without ever colliding.

Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race

October 2014 •English

When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon in 1969, America went down in popular history as the winner of the space race. But that history is bunk. The real pioneers of space exploration were the Soviet cosmonauts. This remarkable feature-length documentary combines rare and unseen archive footage with interviews with the surviving cosmonauts to tell the fascinating and at times terrifying story of how the Russians led us into the space age. A particular highlight is Alexei Leonov, the man who performed the first spacewalk, explaining how he found himself trapped outside his spacecraft 500 miles above the Earth. Scary stuff.

The Forest

December 2024 •English

The story of a brilliant ecologist with a plan to save the world by restoring the planet's forests. His original work was hijacked by corporations and politicians with disastrous effect. Now he's using science to fight back.

Hubble's Cosmic Journey

April 2015 •English

This is your window into the universe… Hubble was launched in April 1990 on board Space Shuttle Discovery. Its release into orbit over 500km above the Earth marked the birth of one of humanity’s biggest dreams; to place a telescope into space, high above the obscuring effects of the atmosphere, to gain the clearest view of the cosmos we could hope to see. But in the months which followed it was clear that the dream had turned into a nightmare, as Hubble’s mirror was found to have a flaw. Three years of heartache and huge human resolve followed, to mount a rescue mission to fix the flaw. The results were breath taking and produced the most complete view of the Universe we’ve ever had. This is the story of the men and women who conceived, built, fixed and operated Hubble – the most celebrated science instrument in history.

Collision Point: The Race to Clean Up Space

February 2014 •English

No matter how clear the night sky is, no matter how many millions of stars are within view, looking up at the sky on a clear night still hides the halo of man-made debris around Earth that threatens the future of space exploration and endangers us all.

Architecton

October 2024 •Italian

An extraordinary journey through the material that makes up our habitat: concrete and its ancestor, stone. Victor Kossakovsky raises a fundamental question: how do we inhabit the world of tomorrow?

The Architects of Hope: The First Steps in Rebuilding Ukraine

Invalid date •English

This feature documentary follow 5 architects on their determined journeys to continue building during wartime, as they seek a new people-focused identity for Ukrainian architecture. While Russia continues to turn former Ukrainian cities to dust, Ukraine’s leading architects are already building upwards & advanced new buildings are rising again as symbols of hope.

除蛙記

November 2023 •Chinese

Making Dust

October 2023 •English

Making Dust is an essay film, a portrait of the demolition of Ireland's second largest Catholic Church, the Church of the Annunciation in Finglas West, Dublin. Understanding this moment as a 'rupture', the film maps an essay by architectural historian Ellen Rowley on to documentation of the building's dismantling. Featuring oral interviews recorded at the site of the demolition and in a nearby hairdressers, the film invites viewers to pause and reflect on this ending alongside the community of the building. The film is informed by Ultimology, and invites its audience to think about the life cycles of buildings and materials, how we mourn, what is sacred, how we gather, what we value and issues of sustainability in architecture.

Apollo 8: Christmas at the Moon

March 2002 •English

The first effort to send human beings to the Moon coincides during Christmastime on Earth.

Dorchester: au coeur de la mêlée

January 2025 •French

Under Dorchester Square in Montreal lies the cemetery where 55,000 people were buried in the 19th century. The square is still at the heart of social conflicts in Quebec, 150 years later.

The Reverend

July 2022 •English

Winner of the DOC NYC Audience Award, Director Nick Canfield’s first film follows gospel-rock icon and activist Reverend Vince Anderson. After entering seminary, Vince dropped out to follow his second calling - music. With his band The Love Choir, he has played a now-legendary weekly show for over twenty years. Reconnecting with his faith and using his intense soulful music, he began to preach a type of spirituality that is open to all, meets people where they are, and moves everyone that sees him play. Reverend Vince is also deeply involved in social justice, working with other faith leaders around the country to build inclusive communities. Featuring Questlove and an ensemble of eccentric musicians, The Reverend is a rocking concert film as well as an intimate portrait of Reverend Vince’s inspiring personal and spiritual life.

The Saturn V Story

April 2014 •English

In 1961, no one believed President Kennedy’s pledge to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. To win the race to space, the USA needed to create a multi-billion dollar space program. Using stunning NASA footage, this inspirational film tells the story of the colossal challenges NASA faced to fulfill Kennedy's pledge. With the accolade of flying 24 men safely to the moon, Saturn V is considered one of mankind's greatest technological achievements. This is the story of the most powerful machine ever built, and the men and women who believed it could fly.

Amazing Grace

December 2018 •English

A behind-the-scenes documentary about the recording of Aretha Franklin's best-selling album finally sees the light of day more than four decades after the original footage was shot.

Islands of Creation

June 2015 •English

In the jungles of the Solomon Islands, a remote archipelago in the South Pacific, a biologist is attempting to do something Charles Darwin and Ernst Mayr never accomplished: catch evolution in the act of creating new species. Albert Uy is on the verge of an amazing discovery in the Solomon Islands, but there's a threat looming on the horizon. The islands' resources are being exploited, putting all local wildlife at risk. It's a race against time to gather the evidence necessary to prove the existence of a new species before it's lost forever.

Paradise Circus

September 1988 •English

Mothers, architects, artists, shoppers and other women who live and work in Birmingham explore the contradictions of the city, its promises, frustrations and disappointments, and suggest that listening to the experiences of women may hold the answer to the impoverished 'concrete jungle' so familiar today.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

March 2016 •English

Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

Losing Blue

September 2023 •English

What does it mean to lose a colour? Losing Blue is a cinematic poem about losing the otherworldly blues of ancient mountain lakes, now fading due to climate change. With stunning cinematography, this short doc immerses the viewer in the magnificence of these rare lakes, pulling us in to stand on their rocky shores, witness their power and understand what their loss would mean—both for ourselves and for the Earth.

Star Men

September 2015 •English

Four exceptional astronomers celebrate 50 years of work and friendship on a return road trip in the southwestern United States, recapturing youthful adventures and recounting each other's influences on the most exciting period in astronomy’s history. Roger the instrument-maker, Donald the theoretician, Nick the visionary, and Wal the observer. Together they represent the most productive period astronomy has ever had. They helped build the world’s biggest observatories and made revolutionary discoveries about the evolving universe, discoveries that have the power to change the way humanity sees itself. Alison Rose’s film is a funny, insightful, humbling and intimate portrait of friendship, as the men reflect on how their profound work on the universe has reflected back on the individual, affecting their sense of religious faith, how life may have purpose, and what is knowable and unknowable.

Desert Utopia: Mid-Century Architecture in Palm Springs

January 2010 •English

Southern California’s Coachella Valley, including the communities of Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, boasts hundreds of extraordinary midcentury modern homes, public buildings and commercial structures. Modern designers such as William F. Cody, Albert Frey, William Krisel, John Lautner, Richard Neutra, R.M. Schindler, Donald Wexler, E. Stewart Williams left their collective mark on this desert paradise. Desert Utopia: Mid-Century Architecture in Palm Springs traces the history of modern architecture in Palm Springs from the first bold forays into modernist design to the preservation challenges facing the region today. Director Jake Gorst’s film features rare archival images and footage as well as interviews with historians, homeowners and the architects who helped create this mecca of modernism.