1997: The Birth of the Camera Phone

On June 11th, 1997, Philippe Kahn created the first camera phone solution to share pictures instantly on public networks. The impetus for this invention was the birth of Kahn's daughter, when he jerry-rigged a mobile phone with a digital camera and sent photos in real time. In 2016 Time Magazine included Kahn's first camera phone photo in their list of the 100 most influential photos of all time.

Lux Santa

The millennia-old myth and tradition of St. Lucy's fire told through the eyes of teenagers on the shores of the Ionian Sea.

Věčná píseň

Karol Plicka was an important musician and composer. He recorded folk songs immediately after hearing them in musical notation to preserve them for future generations. Similarly, he records and interprets traditions associated with dance, folk song and local stories that vary from region to region in his film The Eternal Song. The short documentary presents merry-making in Slovak and Czech regions that are changing with the coming modernization and transformation of musical records.

Sviatočné chvíle rodov Hontu a Novohradu

Scottish Myths & Legends

"Scottish Myths & Legends" explores the magic, mystery and sprinkling of mayhem that covers the dramatic landscape of Scotland. From the ancient tales of the Loch Ness Monster to the stories of shape shifting Kelpies, we go on a fascinating journey of discovery to uncover the stories behind the myths and the magnificent Scottish landscape that has inspired these truly legendary legends.

Oaxacalifornia: El Regreso

The Mejia family emigrated from Oaxaca to Fresno, California 40 years ago. Filmmaker Trisha ZIff filmed the family in 1996, and returns now to see the changes that have settled over them, and follows the family on their return to Mexico.

Barber Shop City

A documentary revealing an observation on three barbershops throughout the course of one summer's day in the city of London - Hackney, Herne Hill, and Catford.

The Dreamtime

The Europeans want to be forgiven for the tragic colonial period. The aborigines try to preserve their ancient roots from the present and the future. In the North Territory.

Out of State

Out of State is the unlikely story of native Hawaiians men discovering their native culture as prisoners in the desert of Arizona, 3,000 miles, and across the ocean, from their island home.

Staré Valašsko

A short film about traditional crafts and culture that can still be found in the Wallachian mountains today.

Bancoco

A New Yorker journeys to the jungle in the Darien Gap of Panama to reconnect with an indigenous tribe he met and photographed 20 years ago. Their reunion highlights the profound power of photos and the human connection that transcends cultural barriers.

El Mapa del Agua

The Water Map is an essayistic journey through the ethnography and landscapes of the Region of Murcia. These places are in the process of disappearing due to the increasing and abundant agricultural exploitation. Water has marked the territory and the culture of the area, and with its disappearance, the memories of four characters fade away.

Angano... Angano... nouvelles de Madagascar

Venerable storytellers recount for the camera and their listeners the founding myths of Malagasy culture.

A bissele Glik

Like It Is

This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.

Baraka

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

The 50 Year Argument

Follows the waves of literary, political, and cultural history as charted by the The New York Review of Books, America’s leading journal of ideas for over 50 years. Provocative, idiosyncratic and incendiary, the film weaves rarely seen archival material, contributor interviews, excerpts from writings by such icons as James Baldwin, Gore Vidal, and Joan Didion along with original verité footage filmed in the Review’s West Village offices.

Susanne Bartsch: On Top

Dubbed New York's "Queen of the Night," proto–club kid Susanne Bartsch has been throwing unforgettable parties for over 30 years and is still going strong.

Bruno & Bettina

Masao Adachi, the author and director of experimental works and pinku-eiga in the 1960s, was a member of the Japanese New Left that shifted from being a filmmaker to a guerrilla fighter. In 1974, he joined the Japanese Red Army in Lebanon, which worked closely with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Filmmaker Lutz Dammbeck met Adachi in Tokyo in 2018 and talked with him about a wide range of topics, including art, revolution, the influence of western avant-garde art and American underground; the Japanese Red Army; collaboration with secret services; the role of the Left after 1968; and the reasons for failures of leftist ideas and strategies.

Qipisa

The director goes back to her roots in Pangnirtung, amongst her family and community. It leads her to another journey: to Qipisa, the outpost camp from where they were uprooted.