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.
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.
Millions of years scroll by in 10 minutes, illustrated by ingenious designers: this is the geological history of Canada.
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.
This short documentary captures life in Filippa di Mesoraca, a little village in Calabria in southern Italy. Inspired by the migration of young people to the cities of the north, "Grigio. Terra bruciata" ("Burnt. Land of Fire") tells about what's left in the village and how the older people live the last years of their life. Just like elderly faces ravaged by time, the walls of the unfinished houses decay slowly, returning to nature. This film is about a place that transformed alongside the people who live there.
Luca Guadagnino left for Sicily from Milan to knock on the doors of his childhood friends and discuss with them their experience of this exceptional moment, which has united the entire world.
Short documentary on people who survived the Nazi concentration camps.
A 10-minute portrait of modernist poet and de Andrade’s godfather, Manuel Bandeira, is clear in its affection for it subject, though like many New-Waveish films of the time, depicts the modern urban landscape as an ominous and alienating force.