Ibn Kenyatta has been in prison since 1974. In 2019, he reflects on his refusal to appear before the New York State Board of Parole. The words resonate from his cell with images of the Great Migration. The invocation of a life before walls. The images' epistolary narrative takes us from Alabama, his birthplace, to the New York subway where he was arrested and beaten. Before arriving to Haiti's spiritual world, his words pass through cotton fields and factories. We encounter Bobby Seale in prison, a youth who embodies his African heritage during the Vietnam War, while his fathers are murdered in the United States.
Experimental short made by Olivier Assayas for Fondation of Contemporary Art and starring Maggie Cheung.
This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.
Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.
As children, British actor Paul Blackthorne and Australian photographer Mister Basquali both fell in love with America. Later they each fulfilled their dream to live here, but after two wars, a near economic collapse, and uncertainty about the country's direction, these two expats began to have doubts - was America still the great place they once dreamed of? They drive across America to find out, interviewing random people about issues that affect and confront us all. From the ghetto to the gun show, the courthouse to the cattle yard, they are touched by the wisdom and insight of the people they meet. This American Journey is a cinematic postcard from the people to the people, teaching us that hearts can be healed at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected places.
Millions of years scroll by in 10 minutes, illustrated by ingenious designers: this is the geological history of Canada.
A new film compiled from the BFI National Archive's unparalleled holdings of early films of China, features films from 1900-48 filmed across China. The cinematic journey of Around China with a Movie Camera contains many films which may never have been seen in China, or at the very least not for over 70 years. These travelogues, newsreels and home movies were made by a diverse group of British and French filmmakers, some professionals, but mainly enthusiastic amateurs, including intrepid tourists, colonial-era expatriates and Christian missionaries.
A group of treasure hunters discover a mysterious object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in this documentary. Theories abound about the large object's origins. It might be a UFO, manmade, or it might be a naturally occurring phenomenon. Nobody knows.
First it's paint bombs, followed hard by riots. Tweets proclaim what is to be done. Resistance is everywhere. Something has to give. Two young activists meet amid turbulent events. They dance. The city belongs to them.
This documentary is an informal portrait of the great modern composer Igor Stravinsky. Proudly American, though still very much an Old World figure with a long and alert memory for people and events in music, literature and art, Stravinsky is depicted here conducting the CBC Symphony Orchestra in a recording of his Symphony of Psalms.