Calling the Shots

A film pioneer, Binka Zhelyazkova was at the forefront of political cinema under Bulgaria's Communist dictatorship. Though she remained faithful to the communist ideals she became an avid critic of the regime and brought upon herself the wrath of its censorship. As a result four of her nine films were shelved and released to the public only after the fall of the regime in 1989, and Binka Zhelyazkova became known as the bad girl of Bulgarian cinema. A provocative portrait that reveals the pressures and complexities that arise when art is made under totalitarianism.

"Diablo Viejo" was going to be a family road trip movie, but the production stops when the co-directors' 9 year relationship comes to an end. After the separation both put together their own version of the story with the pieces of a broken relationship and a frustrated documentary.

An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the Western genre forever.

An all-new documentary about filmmaker Anthony Mann and his time making films for Universal Studios in the 1950's.

An in-depth look at the creative process behind "Society of the Snow," featuring cast, crew, director J.A. Bayona and even real-life survivors.

How the Uruguayan-Spanish actor, writer, producer and director Narciso «Chicho» Ibáñez Serrador changed forever the way of producing programs for Spanish television.

A mockumentary about Turkey-based Kurdish film director, scenarist, novelist, and actor Yilmaz Güney, shot three years after the filmmaker's death. It's also a political portrait of 20th century Turkey.

When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."

The very first full-length documentary on Scorsese offers an invaluable look at how he was perceived by his colleagues, and himself, in 1977. Catching Scorsese while he was in post-production on New York, New York and editing The Last Waltz, British filmmaker Peter Hayden gets the manically hyper Scorsese to comment on his youth, his relation to his lead characters, and most importantly, his approach to direction. The doc doesn’t quite move at the pace of Scorsese’s revved-up speed-talking, but it does offer some real insight into his productivity in the 1970s, thanks to an impressive array of talking heads. Included are Scorsese’s collaborators Jay Cocks, Mardik Martin, Brian De Palma, Steven Prince (who co-produced this doc), and his mentor John Cassavetes. Also the performers, who discuss his working methods in detail — Jodie Foster, Liza Minnelli, and, of course, Robert De Niro.

Jorge Prelorán was one of the most prolific documentary filmmakers from Argentina. This documentary presents an interview which focuses on his creative work, and on how his ideas about documentaries are key in the uniqueness of his topics and characters.