A bold reveal of a rose tattoo opens this 1980 documentary on tattooing in New Zealand. The potted history includes visits to tattoo parlours on K' Road and Hastings, and the studios of industry legends Steve Johnson and Roger Ingerton. Tattooists discuss public stigma, people's reasons for getting inked, and popular designs: sailors, serpents, swallows and tā moko. Made for documentary slot Contact, Skin Pics chronicles a time when "folk art has become high art".
The larger-than-life story of Kim Dotcom, the 'most wanted man online', is extraordinary enough, but the battle between Dotcom and the US Government and entertainment industry—being fought in New Zealand—is one that goes to the heart of ownership, privacy and piracy in the digital age.
Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web
2017
6
A 60-minute salute to American International Pictures. Entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff founded AIP (then called American Releasing Corporation) on a $3000 loan in 1954 with his partner, James H. Nicholson, a former West Coast exhibitor and distributor. The company made its mark by targeting teenagers with quickly produced films that exploited subjects mainstream films were reluctant to tackle.
It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures
2001
6
In 1990 Barry J. Gillis began shooting wicked world on 16mm film. Eddie Platt, took his video camera along to many of the locations, capturing footage of the insane Movie Shoot.
Reality Behind the Scenes of Wicked World
2019
0
The dramatic story of the British expedition that made the first ascent of Everest. Combining interviews with the surviving members of the 1953 British and 1952 Swiss attempt on Everest with rare archival material, this film tells the story of the race to climb Everest in the early 1950s and its climax in 1953.
The Race for Everest
2003
0
Samuel Fuller discusses his career as a filmmaker, illustrated by plenty of clips.
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller
2002
5
Dorothy Johnson was a Western writer ahead of her time. Women saved men, heroes died unwept and unsung, whites lived with Indians and benefited from the experience. Three of her stories were made into films and many critics consider "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" to be the cornerstone of the modern western. This documentary looks back on Dorothy's life, and her place in history.
Gravel In Her Gut and Spit In Her Eye
2005
0
An East Coast community in Ruatōria, New Zealand attempts to live in autarchy according to the tenets of their movement. Bob Marley, a prophet of our electronic age, is the soundtrack to the everyday lives of these Māori who feel closer to their own roots by observing a blend of Afro-Carribean Rastafarianism and the Ringatū faith. Merata Mita's camera respectfully portrays this singular cultural dialogue. The outsider cultures of Jamaicans, Ethiopians and Māori have come together, vibrating to a common cosmic chord. They find an underground brotherhood, across continents and seas.
Dread
1996
0
This 1981 NFU film is a tour of the contemporary world of Aotearoa’s tangata whenua. It won headlines over claims that its portrayal of Māori had been sanitised for overseas viewers. Debate and a recut ensued. Writer Witi Ihimaera felt that mentions of contentious issues (Bastion Point, the land march) in his original script were ignored or elided in the final film, and withdrew from the project. He later told journalists that the controversy showed that educated members of minority groups were no longer prepared to let the majority interpret the minority view.
Māori
1981
0
When Sarah accidentally proposes to her girlfriend in Provincetown, the mixup turns their loving relationship into a minefield of marital exploration.
The Ring Thing
2017
4
A visit with a master of the Oldest Art In The World: tattooing. Disabled by arthritis since the age of four, confined to a wheelchair, his growth stunted, Stoney St. Clair joined the circus at 15 as a sword swallower. A year later he took up tattooing, and traveled with circuses and carnivals for fifty years practicing his craft. As we watch him at work, we see the determination which led Stoney to use his crippled hands in an art where mistakes are permanent, and we realize Stoney has overcome his handicap to heal himself and others with the magic of symbols. The film ends with a visit by New Age tattoo master Don Ed Hardy, who receives a permanent souvenir by Old School tattoo master Stoney.
Stoney Knows How
1981
5
A series of indie filmmakers are documented over the course of a few months throughout the production of their passion projects, as they change professionally and personally; moving closer to the lives they wish to live.
INSIDE: Narrative of Our Journey
2023
9
Reflects a depressing and hopeless reality by following some of the members of "la dieciocho", the so-called 18th Street gang in a poor San Salvador neighborhood.
La vida loca
2008
6
Pixar director Peter Sohn takes viewers on a humorous personal journey through the inspiration behind Disney and Pixar’s feature film “Elemental.” “Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental” traces his parents’ voyage from Korea to New York, explores his dad’s former grocery shop in the heart of the Bronx, and delves into his choice of a career in animation, rather than the family business.
Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental
2023
6
DA-DUN DA-DUN DA-DUN-DA-DUN-DA-DUN-DA-DUN-DA-DUUUUN Henry Mancini’s iconic score, Peter Sellers’ bumbling Inspector Clouseau, and those unforgettable animated opening sequences - delve into the history of the Pink Panther films, the pink diamond hunting comedy-mystery franchise that was a smash hit, made a megastar of Peter Sellers and spawned an empire. Paul Joyce’s typically thorough and entertaining documentary focuses on star Peter Sellers’ creation of a comedy icon and his relationship with director Blake Edwards. Hosted by Burt Kwouk, who played Clousea’s manservant and martial arts sparring partner Cato, and featuring interviews with Mark Kermode, Herbert Lom (Chief Inspector Dreyfus), Graham Stark (Pepi) and more, THE CURIOUS CASE OF INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU is a must-see... if you can catch it!
The Curious Case of Inspector Clouseau
2002
0
To help Francis Hallé in his fight to save the last tropical forests, a documentary filmmaker with a passion for nature decides to make his first film: "The Botanist", an ecological thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio. He traces his path with malice, obstinacy, and discovers, with candor, the arcana of the seventh art. Even if he never gives up, will his film ever exist?
Poumon Vert et Tapis Rouge
2021
4
The director Andrés Kaiser combines hundreds of amateur films and photographs from the treasure trove of images belonging to his migrant grandparents creating a cinematic firework of analogies.
Teorema de Tiempo
2022
6
Dealing heavily with perceptions of time, Aeon documents the urban cityscape as Wellington transforms through a zen-influenced eternal cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth within a 24-hour period.
Aeon
2004
0
Is there a mental health crisis in agriculture in Colorado? Farming and ranching has become increasingly difficult over the years. An industry that is typically viewed as romantic, hardworking, and "salt-of-the earth" is actually a job full of tremendous stress outside of anyone's control. Combine that with the enormous generational pressure to continue the family farm, and you have a large group of people that are suffering silently. How do we take care of those that are taking care of us?
Legacy
2024
0
The word kewaaj (কেওয়াজ) is colloquially used to explain chaos, noisiness or annoyance. "Kewaaj" is an audiovisual attempt to give you a glimpse into how the people of Dhaka function in one of the most unliveable cities, according to the Global Liveability Index. Dhaka is fast, dense, intense. Yet the people try to find their peace in it.
কেওয়াজ
2023
0
Filmmakers stay at a haunted lodge and find themselves in over their heads when they encounter something otherworldly.
The Haunting Lodge
2023
3