Travis: The Ultimate Documentary

Travis—a sex-addicted, multi-lingual Scientologist—travels across Thailand sharing stories and entertaining his company.

School Town King

It follows two teenage rappers in Bangkok who use their musical talent to navigate their difficult circumstances.

80.000 Schnitzel

Battering, breading, frying – Berta has prepared thousands of schnitzels in her old cast-iron pan over the years. This 83-year-old landlady’s life on the family farm with adjoining guest house in the Upper Palatinate has been marked by constant hard work. A life that her granddaughters Monika and Hannah never wanted to lead. Now, the deeply indebted farm is on the brink of collapse. Despite having an academic background and contrary to her intentions, Monika, in her early thirties, decides to give up her modern life and save the family business. The two women join forces and give themselves a year to sort out the farm’s problems.

The Songs of Rice

In Thailand, a hymn to rice need not always be sung. A dance, or spectacular homemade fireworks can say the same thing. As can a film, as is convincingly demonstrated by this lyrical, beautifully filmed homage to this essential staple food.

Chez Schwartz

Chez Schwartz takes us inside a year in the life of Schwartz's Deli - the unique 75-year-old landmark on Montreal's historic Main. Filmed through changing seasons, from the quiet of early morning preparation to the frenetic bustle of packed lunch times and never ending line-ups, to the more relaxed ambiance late at night - Chez Schwartz is an evocative, cinematic portrait of a small spunky deli known worldwide equally for its atmosphere and smoked meat.

Paradoxocracy

Paradoxocracy, co-directed with Pen-ek's longtime friend and producer, Pasakorn Pramoolwong, begins with the 1932 Siamese Revolution - which transformed Thailand from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one - and works its way to the present day, chronicling the country's major political revolutions, movements and countless coups along the way. Using a combination of archival footage, voice-overs and interviews with 15 unnamed academics, activists and political leaders, the film presents the directors' personal journey to come to an understanding of how their country arrived at its current state of near-constant political division and dysfunction.

A Taste of Sky

Danish culinary entrepreneur and Noma co-founder Claus Meyer has kickstarted a gastronomic revolution in Bolivia’s capital of La Paz with the opening of Gustu, a fine-dining restaurant and cooking school for the country’s impoverished youth. Kenzo, a hunter raised in the Bolivian Amazon, and Maria Claudia, a native of the Andean altiplano, have resettled in La Paz in order to pursue a career in the culinary arts. Under the tutelage of Meyer, these young Bolivians are working towards a better future as they attempt to establish their country as the world’s next great culinary destination.

Bloodroot

Douglas Tirola’s latest documentary traces the evolution of feminism through the lives of two exceptional women, Noel and Selma, who came of age in the ’50s when women were relegated to the roles of wives and mothers. During the height of the women’s movement, Noel, a former teen model and Playboy bunny, meets and falls in love with Selma, a tough, outspoken radical feminist. Both women choose to leave their comfortable, yet unsatisfying marriages and children to come out as lesbians. The two share a love of cooking and gardening and, in the ’70s, open Bloodroot, the first vegetarian collective restaurant and bookstore in Bridgeport, Connecticut. By interspersing archival footage and clips from The Stepford Wives, Tirola affectionately chronicles the cultural shifts of the last 40 years as Noel and Selma attempt to keep Bloodroot open as an indispensable gathering spot for progressive women.

Art as a Weapon

Street art, creativity and revolution collide in this beautifully shot film about art’s ability to create change. The story opens on the politically charged Thailand/Burma border at the first school teaching street art as a form of non-violent struggle. The film follows two young girls (Romi & Yi-Yi) who have escaped 50 years of civil war in Burma to pursue an arts education in Thailand. Under the threat of imprisonment and torture, the girls use spray paint and stencils to create images in public spaces to let people know the truth behind Burma's transition toward "artificial democracy." Eighty-two hundred miles away, artist Shepard Fairey is painting a 30’ mural of a Burmese monk for the same reasons and in support of the students' struggle in Burma. As these stories are inter-cut, the film connects these seemingly unrelated characters around the concept of using art as a weapon for change.

Stage: The Culinary Internship

Stage: The Culinary Internship follows a group of interns during a nine month apprenticeship at one of the best restaurants in the world, Mugaritz. While the restaurant’s notorious avant-garde cuisine and creative working environment elevates these young hopefuls to think outside the confines of a kitchen, the extremely high standards prove to be mentally and physically exhausting. Ultimately, not everyone can handle the heat.

Planet Food: Thailand

The Golden Kingdom of Thailand is home to some of the most pungent and spicy fresh ingredients in the world. Regarded as the world's fourth most popular cuisine, Thailand is valued for its low fat content and health enhancing properties. Join Merrilees as she visits paddy fields and aircraft-hangar sized rice barges, shops in the floating markets of Bangkok and the night market in Chiang Mai and discovers beautiful fresh fruit and the notoriously smelly durian fruit.

Noma at Boiling Point

This documentary about Rene Redzepi's Copenhagen restaurant follows the proceedings in the kitchen for six months as Noma climbs to the top of the world's 50 best restaurants.

Katoey

Katoey meets three people in rural Thailand who are clearly and confidently women even though their bodies are male. Integrated to an impressive degree into society, these women have successfully overcome the difference between their physical and mental genders.

Les singes qui voulaient voir la mer

The King of Fish and Chips

In the late 1960s, Haddon Salt built a fast-food empire. Then Kentucky Fried Chicken came knocking.

¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!

Casa Bonita opened in 1974 in an unassuming strip mall. The massive "Disneyland of Mexican restaurants" is an Old West and Acapulco-inspired fever dream made famous by its indoor waterfall, cliff divers, and haunted caves, and was featured in a classic 2003 episode of South Park. When its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, learn that Casa Bonita might close its doors for good, they attempt to preserve a crumbling piece of their childhood and Denver history.