Microcosmos : Le peuple de l'herbe

A documentary of insect life in meadows and ponds, using incredible close-ups, slow motion, and time-lapse photography. It includes bees collecting nectar, ladybugs eating mites, snails mating, spiders wrapping their catch, a scarab beetle relentlessly pushing its ball of dung uphill, endless lines of caterpillars, an underwater spider creating an air bubble to live in, and a mosquito hatching.

Alfons Mucha

Philippe-Alain Michaud, le réel traversé par la fiction

To be in Venice and see the architecture of New York, to perceive in a painting by Tintoretto the birth of animated images, to look at the burlesque Cretinetti as the ancestor of montage - so many shifts, displacements, and striking telescopings that Philippe-Alain Michaud proposes in this film dedicated to him. To follow this art historian, curator of the cinema collections at the Centre Pompidou, is to go from the oriental carpet to the film, or from the first fireworks to the cinema. And everywhere the animation of the images - projections of Antony McCall, or of Paul Sharits, Column without end of Brancusi, Pasolini's Accatone - everything moves! Under the tutelage of Aby Warburg, the great art historian of the early twentieth century, precursor of iconology and image comparison, to whom Philippe-Alain Michaud was the first in France to devote an important essay, eleven images are placed on the table to describe the singular journey of this art historian.

Destruction of the Berlin Wall

Filmed in Berlin, July 1990. Images of workers taking down the wall and street peddlers selling pieces of it to make a living.

Otar Iosseliani, le merle siffleur

Jean-Michel Basquiat, artiste absolu

The life and work of New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat have been marked by a long quest for identity, by his Haitian and Puerto Rican family origins and by a founding trip to Africa. To portray this major painter of the 20th century, who died in 1988 at only 27 years old, is also to evoke the place of black American artists in the conservative and racist America of the Reagan years.

Rainbow Family

Siblings Aru, age 3, and Kino, age 1, have 3 parents: father Fumino, who is transgender; mother Honoyo, Fumino's partner who gave birth to the children; and father Gon, a close gay friend who donated his sperm. The 3 are now raising their children together, struggling repeatedly to find their own way of being a family. This program covers their first 3 years of parenting. And it asks an important question: What does it take to be a family?

Chasing Evel: The Robbie Knievel Story

Robbie Knievel, 52 and the owner of 20 world records and 350 jumps worldwide, life is uncovered through his personal pursuit of sobriety and the need of continuing his father's legacy by jumping once again.

Unacknowledged

Dr. Steven Greer presents brand new top-secret evidence supporting extraterrestrial contact, including witness testimony, classified documents, and UFO footage, while also exploring the consequences of ruthlessly enforcing such secrecy.

Cinema Now

A fragmented collection of independent closed cinemas, in London during lockdown, captured on Super 8mm film.

Je vous salue salope : La misogynie au temps du numérique

This documentary by Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist plunges us into the vortex of online misogyny and documents hatred towards women. This bleak opus, reminiscent of a psychological thriller, follows four women across two continents: former President of the Italian parliament Laura Boldrini, former Democratic representative Kiah Morris, French actor and YouTuber Marion Séclin, and Donna Zuckerberg, a specialist in online violence against women and the sister of Facebook’s founder. This tour de force reveals the devastating effects such unapologetic hatred has on victims, and brings to light the singular objective of cyber-misogyny: to silence women who shine. Some targets of cyber-violence will crumble under the crystallizing force of the click. Others, proud warriors, will stand tall and refuse to be silenced.

Kier-La Janisse on Cockfighter

The author of Cockfight: A Fable of Failure recounts her long history with Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter (1974), which is effectively illegal to screen in the UK due to staged scenes of the titular blood sport.

Alexej Čepička – Z vojína generálem

Your War (I'm One of You): 20 Years of Joan of Arc

Your War (I'm One Of You) chronicles the life and career of Chicago's Tim Kinsella, frontman of ever-shifting band Joan of Arc and '90's pioneers Cap'n Jazz. With appearances from Tim's friends, family, and admirers, we learn what has made his legacy so unique and enduring for more than 20 years.

The Obama Years: The Power of Words

Barack Obama launched into our national consciousness at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and ever since, he's delivered messages of patriotism, unity, and hope through the power of words. But of all the speeches he's given, six in particular may define his legacy as, in historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's words, "one of the best writers and orators in the presidency." Interviews with eminent historians and key figures in his writing process give rare insights into these iconic speeches, as well as the Obama presidency and the man himself.

The Opera Game

The tortured life of Paul Morphy (1850s New Orleans chess prodigy) is examined.

The Perfect Crime: Leopold & Loeb

The shocking story of Richard Leopold and Nathan Loeb, two wealthy college students who murdered a 14-year-old boy in 1924 to prove they were smart enough to get away with it.

Les premiers pas du cinéma - À la recherche du son

Documentary illustrating the birth of sound cinema.

Bringing Godzilla Down to Size: The Art of Japanese Special Effects

A look at the unrecognized work of the talented artists and craftsmen who've maintained the tradition of Japanese special-effects. Highlighted is Yasuyuki Inoue along with various crew members who crafted meticulously detailed miniatures and risked life and limb as suit actors. All done to bring to life some of film's most iconic monsters through a distinct Japanese artform.

The Promised End

A documentation of artist JP Meldrum as he prepares for an experimental gig with noise-rock drummer Maxwell Paterson. A concert film, a rehearsal, and an exploration of Victoria outlets and ways-of-creating beyond the traditional spaces.