The Man Who Saved the World

During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Soviet Navy officer Vasily Arkhipov refused to launch a nuclear strike and saved the world from nuclear war and total destruction.

Diving Women of Jeju-do

Jeju-do is the largest of Korean islands and lies between Korea and Japan. There, for hundreds of years, women dive without breathing apparatus, to the ocean floor and collect shellfish, octopus, and urchins that they sell. The divers are in their sixties and seventies and their daughters do not want to inherit their work, lifestyle, and health problems that go with diving. As a filmmaker I was privileged to meet many of these women and dive with them. Their stories of hardship and pride confirmed my desire to record this unique and ancient tradition.

The Freddie Mercury Story: Who Wants to Live Forever?

The last years of Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), rock legend and frontman of Queen, a band that conquered the world of music in the seventies and eighties: what was his lifestyle and the path that led him to a tragic death due to AIDS when he was only 46 years old.

Operación Pedro Pan

Between 1960 and 1962 more than 14,000 cuban children were sent alone by their parents to the USA. This clandestine operation -with the participation of the CIA and the Catholic Church- became known as "Operation Peter Pan". Many of the parents had expected to follow their children, who had been granted visa waivers by the US government, but the Missile Crisis terminated the flights between the two countries and the children found themselves stranded in the USA. In 2009, for the first time a group of the Peter Pan children, now adults visited Cuba to give "closure and make peace with the land where they were born".

El Olimpo vacío

A powerful Argentine political film stands on the figure of an outsider intellectual, Sebreli, but manages to transcend it, he becomes a touchstone to go through Argentina and its dilemmas, through this country that is proud of almost everything it should be ashamed of. From national icons like Gardel, Evita, Che, and Maradona the film dialogs with recent Argentine history and it does so with extraordinary energy, supported by a rarely seen use of all kinds of archive material in an almost Dionysian state of sampleadelia. The film arrives to a surprising reflection on nationalism, demagogic governments and delusions of unanimity; problems that are common to emerging societies that cannot find their ways to a freer and more egalitarian society.

Freddie Mercury: The Final Act

The story of the extraordinary final chapter of Freddie Mercury’s life and how, after his death from AIDS, Queen staged one of the biggest concerts in history, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium, to celebrate his life and challenge the prejudices around HIV/AIDS. For the first time, Freddie's story is told alongside the experiences of those who tested positive for HIV and lost loved ones during the same period. Medical practitioners, survivors, and human rights campaigners recount the intensity of living through the AIDS pandemic and the moral panic it brought about.

Rite of Spring

Black-and-white film projections by Bill Morrison, using archival footage of frigid Arctic scenes.

The Ballad of Crowfoot

Released in 1968 and often referred to as Canada’s first music video, The Ballad of Crowfoot was directed by Willie Dunn, a Mi’kmaq/Scottish folk singer and activist who was part of the historic Indian Film Crew, the first all-Indigenous production unit at the NFB. The film is a powerful look at colonial betrayals, told through a striking montage of archival images and a ballad composed by Dunn himself about the legendary 19th-century Siksika (Blackfoot) chief who negotiated Treaty 7 on behalf of the Blackfoot Confederacy. The IFC’s inaugural release, Crowfoot was the first Indigenous-directed film to be made at the NFB.

La story de Freddie Mercury

This documentary tells the story of Freddie Mercury in the form of a trip to England in which we retrace his life, visiting the apartments he lived in, the studios in which he recorded his albums, his school friends and the venues in which he gave his most memorable concerts. Every one of these locations provides us with the opportunity to look back over Freddie Mercury’s career, and to interview those who knew him.

1996, hold-up à Moscou

Moscow, January 1996. Boris Yeltsin gets ready to run for a second mandate of the presidency of the young Russian Federation. Polls are in the single digits. A painful economic transition, war in Chechnya, and the rise of criminal groups have left the majority of Russians dissatisfied with Yeltsin… and willing to vote for the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. Yet six months later, Yeltsin won the election with nearly 54% of the vote. How did that happen?

The Propaganda Game

North Korea. The last communist country in the world. Unknown, hermetic and fascinating. Formerly known as “The Hermit Kingdom” for its attempts to remain isolated, North Korea is one of the largest sources of instability as regards world peace. It also has the most militarized border in the world, and the flow of impartial information, both going in and out, is practically non-existent. As the recent Sony-leaks has shown, it is the perfect setting for a propaganda war.

Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist

This one-hour film, narrated by Actor BURT LANCASTER, explores the lingering effects of The Hollywood Blacklist, which occurred in the late forties and early fifties as part of the Anti-Communist witch-hunts that terrorized the nation. This film is seen through the eyes of the wives and children of the now deceased Hollywood figures whose careers were destroyed when studio bosses, along with guild and union officials capitulated to the demands of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

노후 대책 없다

Punk bands in Korea get invited to biggest hardcore punk festival in Tokyo. This movie shows how one of the loudest and most active punk bands in Asia live and deliver message very closely and pleasantly.

불안한 외출

탐욕의 제국

A documentary about the continuing case of Samsung semiconductor plant. The film is a story about nameless people wearing white coat, hat and mask worked in a clean room exposing eyes only.

Le Dernier Prince rouge

A journey through several countries to find those who really know Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader, in an attempt to profile a contradictory dictator who seems to rule his nation with both disturbing benevolence and cold cruelty while being worshipped as a living god by his subjects in exalted displays of ridiculous fanaticism.

Salvatore Adamo - Quand je chante

A portrait of one of the most successful European singers of all time. Salvatore Adamo arrived in Belgium from Sicily at the age of three. A miner’s son, he began singing at an early age before finding fame at home and then internationally, in the 1960s.

Queen : The American Dream

Created from backstage material filmed during Queen’s 1977 USA News of the World tour, this documentary was included in a special box set of Queen's landmark 1977 album News of the World, marking the 40th anniversary of the original release.

Erich Mielke - Meister der Angst

Docudrama about life, career and breakdown of Erich Mielke, the former Security chief of East Germany.

Françoise Hardy, une icône

Françoise Hardy is one of the rare artists who keeps an intact aura and arouses such a fascination throughout her career with all generations. Her androgynous figure, her exceptional photogeny and her hieratic allure have inspired photographers and fashion designers alike and seduced the greatest rock stars such as David Bowie and Mick Jagger. This documentary film, rich in archives, skillfully mixes songs and confidences. It takes us on a fascinating journey through time, from the yéyé period to today, and into the artist's feelings.