Displaying 1–51 of 51 items

Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case

Art Documentaries · Biography · Culture

An intimate and powerful encounter with one of today's most politically influential artists and the system he challenges.

American Yogi

Spirituality · Meditation · Documentary

This delightful autobiographical documentary follows a nice Jewish boy turned hippie who travels to India after reading Ram Dass’s iconic book Be Here Now, a trip which altersthe trajectory of his life.

BIX: "ain't none of them play like him yet"

Jazz · Documentary · Music

Using archival photographs and rare footage and interviews with friends and colleagues, Oscar® winner Brigitte Berman's acclaimed documentary paints a vivid portrait of a vanished era and brings to life the only cornetist Louis Armstrong regarded as an equal.

Baby Peggy: The Elephant in the Room

Biography · Documentary

A Hollywood star at age two, Baby Peggy was a has-been at 11, forced to perform in vaudeville to support her family. As Diana Serra Cary, she became an author and advocate for children's rights.

Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton

Film Documentaries · LGBTQ · Tribeca Film Festival

A chronicle of the iconoclastic life of gay poet, filmmaker, and spiritual visionary James Broughton, one of the defining voices of the sexual revolution, whose groundbreaking artistic celebrations of sexuality and the body influenced generations of the 1960's and 70's to profoundly embrace life and…

Brakhage

Film Documentaries · Biography · Documentary

Stan Brakhage (1933-2003) was possibly the most important filmmaker of the avant-garde, and one of the greatest artists of our time. From 1952, at the age of nineteen, until his death, Brakhage created more than 400 films, ranging in length from several seconds to several hours, constantly and consi…

Camille Claudel

Drama · Biography · History

The biography of the iconic French sculptor Camille Claudel in a tale of love, betrayal and female empowerment, starring Isabelle Adjani and Gérard Depardieu.

Camille Claudel 1915

Drama · World Cinema · RT Certified Fresh

In CAMILLE CLAUDEL 1915, Juliette Binoche gives a mesmerizing performance as Auguste Rodin's protégé (and later mistress), and sister of the Christian/mystic poet Paul Claudel. Inspired by the correspondence between Paul and Camille, writer/director Bruno Dumont (Humanité, La Vi…

Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies

Biography · Documentary

CAPTURED ON FILM deploys archival film clips, rare home videos and narration by Charlize Theron to explore Marion Davies' one-of-a-kind life and work.

Chris & Don. A Love Story

LGBTQ · Biography · Documentary

CHRIS & DON: A LOVE STORY is the true-life story of the passionate three-decade relationship between British writer Christopher Isherwood (whose Berlin Stories was the basis for all incarnations of the much-beloved Cabaret) and American portrait painter Don Bachardy, thirty years his junior. Fro…

Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt

Biography · Documentary · History

The Memorial Quilt was started by the NAMES Project in the summer of 1987...and by the fall of '88, the quilt had grown to include 8,288 panels. Through on-the-scene documentation, filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman wove the NAMES Project's efforts to memoralize AIDS victims into an emotion…

Daddy and the Muscle Academy

LGBTQ · Biography · Documentary

Tom of Finland is one of the major icons of the gay world. His provocative erotic drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity, attitude and self-understanding. This ground-breaking work combines interviews with Tom (prior to his death in 1992) and his leather men acolytes with hundreds o…

Dziga and His Brothers

Biography · Documentary

Using rare archival footage from Russian film archives, Dziga Vertov and brothers' lives are traced from Bialystok to Moscow, Paris, and the Hollywood hills.

Eva Hesse

Art Documentaries · Biography · Documentary

Eva Hesse (1936-1970) is one of America’s foremost postwar artists. Her pioneering sculptures, using latex, fiberglass, and plastics, helped establish the post-minimalist movement. Dying of a brain tumor at age 34, she had a mere decade-long career that, despite its brevity, is dense with comp…

A Gesar Bard's Tale

Music & Dance · Spirituality · Meditation

As a boy, Dawa was an illiterate Tibetan nomad whose life revolved around herding yaks. At 13, his life changed: through a series of visions, Dawa acquired the gift of telling the epic story of Tibet's King Gesar. Now, at 35, Dawa receives a salary from the government as a guardian of national cultu…

Hieronymus Bosch: Touched by the Devil

Drama · Fine Art · Documentary

In 2016, the Noordbrabants Museum in the Dutch city of Den Bosch will be holding a special exhibition devoted to the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who died 500 years ago.

I Am Chris Farley

Biography · Documentary

Chris Farley lived his life full speed and committed to make everyone around him laugh out loud. His hilarious, touching and wildly entertaining story - from his early days in Madison, Wisconsin, through his work at the legendary Second City to his rapid rise to the top of the comedy world on &ldquo…

I Am Woman

Drama · Biography

This uplifting biopic tells the story of Helen Reddy, the fiercely ambitious Australian singer behind the 1971 megahit anthem that became the rallying cry of the women’s liberation movement.

Joan the Maid: The Battles

Period Drama · Biography · History

For the first installment of his ambitious yet restrained two-part study, director and co-screenwriter Jacques Rivette surveys the revelatory period where Joan met with royalty, joined the army, and led the French into battle against the English. As Joan, Sandrine Bonnaire gets at the reality behind…

Joan the Maid: The Prisons

Period Drama · Biography · History

The second part of Rivette’s diptych, brought leading lady Sandrine Bonnaire a César Award nomination for her powerful performance. Joined in this installment by other excellent French actresses, including Edith Scob, Hélène de Fougerolles, and Nathalie Richard, Bonnaire t…

Luther

Theatre · Biography · Religion

John Osborne's play is a fascinating and powerful psychological study of the Augustinian monk Martin Luther, examining his central role in the birth of Protestantism and revolt against the Roman Catholic Church.

M.C. Escher: Journey to Infinity

Artists · Documentary · Biography

The story of world famous Dutch graphic artist M.C Escher. Robin Lutz’s entertaining, eye-opening portrait gives us the man through his own words and images.

The Man You Loved To Hate

Film Documentaries · Biography · Documentary

A full-length documentary on von Stroheim’s life and career. Filled with rare photographs and excerpts from Stroheim’s legendary and lesser-known works, it is the definitive documentary profile of this most fascinating artist. U.S. 1979. 78 min. Color/B&W.

Matter Of Heart

Biography · Documentary · Health and Healing

The original, compelling and inspiring portrait of Carl Gustav Jung, whose extraordinary genius and humanity projected his voice far beyond the realm of psychiatry, redefining the essential nature of who we are and what we hope to become. Stirring score by John Adams.

Millay at Steepletop: Two Films by Kevin Brownlow

Biography · Documentary · History

MILLAY AT STEEPLETOP aims to recapture the joyous fire of Edna St. Vincent Millay's work by combining readings of her poetry with rare archival footage, while THE LAST TRAM offers a poetic farewell to Glasgow's trolleys.

Money Man

Art · Biography · Documentary

Is a dollar worth anything on paper, or is it simply in the eye of the beholder… or the spender? Filmed by director Philip Haas, Money Man followed artist J.S.G. Boggs as he created drawings dangerously close to legal currency.

The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation

Animation · Biography · Documentary

John Canemaker’s Academy Award®-winning animated documentary enlists actors Eli Wallach (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) and John Turturro (Barton Fink) to explore a difficult father/son relationship.

Moving from Emptiness: The Life and Art of a Zen Dude

American Independent · Culture · Spirituality

With brush, ink, and rice paper, Zen painter Alok Hsu Kwang-han uses the play of light and dark to explore energy, creativity, and the art of life. On the verge of his 75th birthday, with a new love in his life, Alok employs his teachings to confront his personal history.

Mozart: A Chilhood Chronicle

Drama · Documentary · Biography

Traces the development of the young composer from age seven to his death at thirty-five, combining personal letters, period art, historic locations, and his finest music.

The Mystery of Picasso

Art · Biography · Documentary

Filmmaker Henri-Georges Clouzot and painter Pablo Picasso used experimental and innovative techniques to create an entirely new kind of art documentary — one that is both joyous and suspenseful.

NOTFILM

Biography · Documentary

After restoring the short Film, Ross Lipman wanted to explore its surprising history. He ended up making a mesmerizing feature-length essay about Samuel Beckett, Buster Keaton and other luminaries! 

The Olive Thomas Collection

Comedy · Biography · Documentary

Beautiful, talented and charismatic, Olive Thomas reigned as a Hollywood star briefly but magically… and her untimely death was mourned worldwide. Also features her charming comedy, The Flapper

On Meditation

American Independent · Culture · Spirituality

ON MEDITATION explores the deeply personal practice of meditation through an exploration of extraordinary people and their practices including David Lynch, Giancarlo Esposito, Russell Simmons, Congressman Tim Ryan, Peter Matthiessen, Mark Epstein and others.

Oporto of My Childhood

Biography · Documentary · History

With the rigor of inspiration, director Manoel de Oliveira returns to Oporto (commonly referred to as Porto), the city of his birth, to reveal a society unseen by most travelers or tourists.

Ornette: Made in America

Jazz · Biography · Documentary

Ground-breaking filmmaker Shirley Clarke combined forces with Ornette Coleman to create this dazzling window into the life of the great jazz artist and innovator. 

Paradjanov: A Requiem

Biography · Documentary

An absorbing portrait of one of the most colorful and revered figures in world cinema, Paradjanov: A Requiem offers an affectionate and insightful look at the tumultuous career of the late Sergei Paradjanov; artist, dissident, romantic and iconoclast.

Pasolini

Drama · World Cinema · Based on Literature

The Roman life and the imaginary worlds of Pier Paolo Pasolini intermingle in Abel Ferrara’s retelling of the final days in the life of the fifty-year-old filmmaker and writer (played by Willem Dafoe), in a lovely, haunting film that draws on his last interview and envisages scenes f…

Portrait of Jason

Biography · Documentary

Shirley Clarke filmed gay actor, hustler, chanteuse Jason Holliday's 12-hour soliloquy, creating a documentary that Ingmar Bergman said was "the most extraordinary film I’ve seen in my life.”  

SEMBENE!

World Cinema · Sundance Film Festival · Documentary

In 1952, Ousmane Sembene, a Senegalese dockworker and fifth-grade dropout, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. This true story celebrates how the father of African cinema, against enormous odds, fought a monumental, 50-year battle to give Africans a voice.

Scenes and Songs from Boyd Webb

Art · Biography · Performing Arts

A lush and astonishing visual treat, SCENES AND SONGS FROM BOYD WEBB sees the titular artist stage eight new works specifically to be viewed on film.

Seni's Children

Art · Biography · Documentary

SENI'S CHILDREN is a powerful ode to pride and ingenuity, following a Senegalese woman's process of crafting clay sculptures of otherwordly animals.

Shari & Lamb Chop

Biography · Documentary

The legendary ventriloquist Shari Lewis rose to stardom with her beloved sock puppet Lamb Chop. When her popular children’s show gets cancelled, Shari must find a way to make peace with her alter ego. Together they spend decades reinventing themselves until Shari’s unlikely comeback wher…

Stones and Flies: Richard Long in the Sahara

Art · Biography · Documentary

Director Philip Haas follows land artist Richard Long on his walk across Algeria’s Hoggar, a volcanic region of the Sahara Desert.

Sweet Love, Bitter

Biography

No Description Available

Tom of Finland

Drama · LGBTQ · World Cinema

This stirring biopic follows the life of the artist whose proudly erotic drawings of leather-clad studs served as an emblem of gay liberation and influenced art, fashion and culture for decades to come.

Violeta Went to Heaven

Music & Dance · Drama · Romance

The extraordinary story of the iconic poet, musician and folksinger Violeta Parra, whose songs have become hymns for Chileans and Latin Americans alike. Director Andres Wood (Machuca) traces the intensity and explosive vitality of her life, from humble origins to international fame, her defense of i…

Winsor McCay: The Master Edition

Animation · Biography · History

Winsor McCay was the first master of animation and one of its greatest and most influential artists. His films — joyous, hilarious and beautiful —continue to delight and astonish audiences today. 

Winstanley

War · Biography · Drama

Filmmaking team Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo weave a nearly perfect rendering of historical events in WINSTANLEY, the true story of one Englishman's quest to reclaim land for the poor.

Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Power of Women in Hollywood

Documentary · Film · Biography

For over two decades, Frances Marion was one of the most powerful names Hollywood; now, her fascinating story come alive in this insightful documentary narrated by Uma Thurman and Kathy Bates.

Yangsi

Spirituality · Meditation · Documentary

Jigme Lhundrup is the Yangsi, the reincarnation of a greatly revered Tibetan Buddhist meditation master. He must train to uphold this legacy from the age of four. Even with the loving support of his teachers and family, questions begin to arise about the place of his tradition in the modern world.

A Young Man's Dream and a Woman's Secret

Art · Biography · Documentary

Filmmaker Philip Haas travels to two distinct ends of the Earth – the island nations of Madagascar and Papua New Guinea – for his next set of documentaries on diverse artforms around the globe.