The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness

Follows the behind-the-scenes work of Studio Ghibli, focusing on the notable figures Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki.

I Am a Girl

Six girls coming of age, ready to become something extraordinary.

Sunset Story

The free-spirited denizens of Sunset Hall, a Los Angeles retirement home, haven't let advanced age stand in the way of their voicing their concerns about the social and political topics of the day. Documentary filmmaker Laura Gabbert focuses on two of the facility's more outspoken residents — irascible cynic Irja Lloyd and upbeat, wheelchair-bound Lucille Alpert — as they attend political rallies and discuss their often opposing viewpoints on hot-button issues.

They Made the Land

Documentary highlighting how land has been reclaimed for agriculture in Scotland.

Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People

The film explores the role of photography, since its rudimentary beginnings in the 1840s, in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present. The dramatic arch is developed as a visual narrative that flows through the past 160 years to reveal black photography as an instrument for social change, an African American point-of-view on American history, and a particularized aesthetic vision.

Dance for All

Kaleidoscope

Naomi Kawase collaborates with Shinya Arimoto, a Taiyo award-winning photographer she knows from university, to create a photo album of Machiko Ono (who Kawase scouted for her previous feature film Moe no Suzaku) and Mika Mifune (daughter of famous actor Toshiro Mifune) with the idea to contrast these two aspiring actresses, Ono coming from the rural Nara and Mifune from Tokyo. Kawase documents the photo shooting and interviews Arimoto, Ono and Mifune as the work progresses, while the tension between her and Arimoto increases over disagreement on the direction of the project.

Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq

Of all the great ballerinas, Tanaquil Le Clercq may have been the most transcendent. With a body unlike any before hers, she mesmerized viewers and choreographers alike. With her elongated, race-horse physique, she became the new prototype for the great George Balanchine. Because of her extraordinary movement and unique personality on stage, she became a muse to two of the greatest choreographers in dance, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She eventually married Balanchine, and Robbins created his famous version of Afternoon of a Faun for her. She had love, fame, adoration, and was the foremost dancer of her day until it suddenly all stopped. At the age of 27, she was struck down by polio and paralyzed. She never danced again. The ballet world has been haunted by her story ever since.

Lost and Found

Lost and Found depicts a life of a man with no homeland. 10 years ago Konstantin G fled the persecutions of homosexuals from Moscow to Finland. He lives now in Helsinki, living the different roles of his life: he is a nurse and a friend of the aged, a bright personality of the nightlife in Helsinki's gay-world, a solitary figure of the Russian community and the Orthodox Church, and as well as an intensive cabaret performer. Film is a mosaic-like journey to the loves and lives of Konstantin, where poems, songs and encounters form a picture of one passionate and unusual life. In the roles of his own life Konstantin Gontcharev.

Last Hijack

Documentary that follows the lives of two pirates and their community on the Somali coastline; what are the incentives of the pirates, why did they become pirates, how did they grow up in a country with political chaos, war and extreme poverty? The narrative structure is built around two interweaving story-lines; one depicting the "present", the daily lives of the pirates and their community, and the second in the "past", revealing through epic animation, the unfolding of a recent hijacking.

Travelling with Tove

In early 1970s, the graphic designer Tuulikki Pietilä had seen enough of stative visual art and purchased a film camera from Japan. Her film immortalized her trips with Tove Jansson.

Haru, Island of the Solitary

In early 1970s, the graphic designer Tuulikki Pietilä had seen enough of stative visual art and purchased a film camera from Japan. She filmed the games and chores of the artist couple in their beloved hideout, the island of Klovharun.

Tinkebell - Who Killed the Blue Bird?

Artist Katinka Simonse, alias Tinkebell, is a controversial, very mediagenic phenomenon. In her universe there is no distinction between life, art and activism; Tinkebell is her own work of art. Everything she encounters on her life path can become part of her story. Filmmaker Judith de Leeuw was given access to all images about Tinkebell, including her entire private archive. She thus constructed an archive film about how as a human being, living on the ruins of the past, you can be a character in your own story. What is the price you can afford if you continue to believe at any cost?

The Witch Hunt Is On

Passage des arts: Renoir et la petite fille au ruban bleu

Inés María Mendoza: la palabra como destino

The life and work of this visionary woman who carried out a valuable social, educational, and conservation work unprecedented in the history of Puerto Rico.