To Be Destroyed
2024 · 31m · Documentary
A 30-minute documentary on book banning and censorship that follows author Dave Eggers as he investigates why a Rapid City, SD school board wanted to ban his book.
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The Cleaners
2018 · ★ 7.2
A deep dive into the hidden industry of digital cleaning, which rids the Internet of unwanted violence, porn and political content.
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Goodbye Words
2023
In the aftermath of a death, a home is cleaned out; the accumulation of a life is removed in bags and recycle bins. But what becomes of the collection of books? Laura Rantanen’s resoundingly moving and wistful documentary reflects on the end of life, what lingers behind, and the moments when a book breaks through the monotony to open the world around us.
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Censored: Kuhle Wampe
1975 · ★ 10
A detailed reconstruction of the censorship case against the landmark Weimar-era communist film, Kuhle Wampe, or Who Owns the World? (1932). Directed by Slatan Dudow, the crew and cast included left-wing luminaries, such as playwright Bertolt Brecht, composer Hanns Eisler and balladeer Ernst Busch. The film was the subject of vehement disputes and was banned twice for revolutionary and communist tendencies that were perceived to threaten the state. About 230 meters of the original film fell victim to the censor’s shears. This historic censorship case was argued over the course of three sessions. Censored: Kuhle Wampe re-enacts the censorship hearings, based on original minutes and documents, as well as personal records of the case. In addition to footage from the original film, this docudrama includes original clips of Berlin in the 1920s and '30s and short testimonies, filmed in the 1970s, with some of the actors involved in the original Kuhle Wampe film production.
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Freedom to Love
1969 · ★ 5.2
A sex education film dedicated to all forms of human sexuality.
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Das Haus der guten Geister
2020
A documentary about the Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) in Germany.
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1999
A documentary about the cultural effect of film censorship, focusing on the tumultuous times of the teens and early 1920s in America.
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The Sheik and I
2012 · ★ 5.6
When an American filmmaker is commissioned to make a film for a Middle East Biennial on the theme of 'art as a subversive act,' his film is banned for blasphemy, he is asked to destroy every copy, and threatened with arrest.
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Building for Books
1958
Though commissioned by Trinity College Dublin as a fundraiser for the Berkeley Library and with extensive discussion of the history, architecture and collections of the Old Library, this film also provides a rare insight into student life in Dublin in the 1950s – at work and at play – and lauds the arrival of women and students from many lands.
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Germán Araújo
2025
In Germán Araujo, director Aldo Novick revives the memory of a journalist who defied censorship during one of Uruguay's darkest periods. Through previously unseen archival footage, testimonies, and music, the film honors the courage of those who reported the truth when it was risky. This powerful documentary is shaping up to be one of the most important Uruguayan film releases of the year.
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Forbidden Films
2014 · ★ 6.5
Between 1933 and 1945 roughly 1200 films were made in Germany, of which 300 were banned by the Allied forces. Today, around 40 films, called "Vorbehaltsfilme", are locked away from the public with an uncertain future. Should they be re-released, destroyed, or continue to be neglected? Verbotene Filme takes a closer look at some of these forbidden films.
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Arthur Miller: Writer
2017 · ★ 7.1
One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Arthur Miller created such celebrated works as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, which continue to move audiences around the world today. He also made headlines for being targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee at the height of the McCarthy Era and entering into a tumultuous marriage with Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Told from the unique perspective of his daughter, filmmaker Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller: Writer is an illuminating portrait that combines interviews spanning decades and a wealth of personal archival material, and provides new insights into Miller’s life as an artist and exploring his character in all its complexity.
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Les Scandales de « La Religieuse »
2023 · ★ 8
Released in 1796 posthumously, The Nun, a novel that Diderot did not dream of publishing during his lifetime, as he knew it to be revolutionary, caused the same explosion in the 19th century France as in that of the 1960s, when Jacques Rivette decided to adapt it, with Anna Karina in the title role. “This film is banned and it will remain so!” said the General de Gaulle. Exploration of an indictment of incredible modernity which, through the tragedy of the young Suzanne, locked up in the convent against her will, denounces the inequity of a society denying women all moral, political and sexual freedom.
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