How Chee!
2026 · 50m · Documentary · Comedy · History
From 1996 to 1998, a low-budget TV commercial for Saskatoon’s Great Buffet of China aired relentlessly. Featuring a Caucasian pitchman introducing the phrase “How Chee” and a group of amateur young actors repeating it, the ad became infamous. Some laughed. Others cringed. Many called it the worst commercial ever made. Thirty years later, it still resurfaces—at one point even going viral in China. How Chee! explores the unlikely origins of the ad, the friendship between an immigrant restaurant owner and the professor who tried to help save his business, and the now-adult actors who became locally famous long before going viral was a thing.
More Like This
A Christmas Story
1983 · ★ 7.2
The comic mishaps and adventures of a young boy named Ralph, trying to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift for the 1940s.
More info →
Juzo Itami: The Man with 13 Faces
2007 · ★ 5
A documentary about the legendary Japanese filmmaker.
More info →
The Secret of Selling the Negro
1954 · ★ 6
Film commissioned by the Chicago-based publisher of Negro Digest, Ebony, Tan, and Jet to encourage advertisers to reach out to African American consumers. The Secret of Selling the Negro depicts the lives, activities, and consumer behavior of African American professionals, students, and housewives. A Business Screen reviewer noted that the film focused on the “bright positive” aspects of the “new Negro family.” The sponsor issued a companion booklet offering the “do’s and don’ts of selling to the Negro.”
More info →
Putney Swope
1969 · ★ 6.3
Swope—the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm—is accidentally put in charge after the death of the chairman.
More info →
Carpool Guy
2005 · ★ 4.6
Joel Goodman is a hotshot advertising executive angling for a promotion, but he feels stuck - not least of all in traffic. A seeming answer to his prayers comes in the form of a homeless man whom Joel pays to sit in his passenger seat so he can use the carpool lane. The two form an unexpected bond, and Joel comes to realize that sometimes changing lanes can change your life.
More info →
Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future
1985 · ★ 6.6
While trying to expose corruption and greed, television reporter Edison Carter discovers that his employer, Network 23, has created a new form of subliminal advertising (termed "blip-verts") that can be fatal to certain viewers.
More info →
Art & Copy
2009 · ★ 7
The personal odysseys of some of the most influential advertising visionaries of all time and the stories behind their campaigns.
More info →
Hook, Line and Sinker
1930 · ★ 5.6
Two fast-talking insurance salesmen meet Mary, who is running away from her wealthy mother, and they agree to help her run a hotel that she owns. When they find out that the hotel is run down and nearly abandoned, they launch a phony PR campaign that presents the hotel as a resort favored by the rich. Their advertising succeeds too well, and many complications soon arise.
More info →
Crime at the Chinese Restaurant
1981 · ★ 6
The officer Nico Giraldi investigates a homicide which has taken place in a Chinese restaurant in Rome. His wife and his son are kidnappeded by the murderer in the course of the inquiry. In the end the case is worked out.
More info →
Thank You for Smoking
2005 · ★ 7.2
Nick Naylor is a charismatic spin-doctor for Big Tobacco who'll fight to protect America's right to smoke -- even if it kills him -- while still remaining a role model for his 12-year old son. When he incurs the wrath of a senator bent on snuffing out cigarettes, Nick's powers of "filtering the truth" will be put to the test.
More info →
Greetings From Planet Smurf
2018 · ★ 8.2
The Smurfs were created in 1958 by the Belgian comic author Peyo (Pierre Culliford, 1928-1992) and they are one of Belgium's most recognized exports. From Brussels to Los Angeles, via Dubai, a journey into the tiny world of the famous little blue people, from the story of the creation of the original comic to the account of their huge global commercial exploitation.
More info →X-Rated: The Ads They Couldn't Show
2005 · ★ 4
Every year, thousands of commercials are made that never reach our TV screens, deemed too shocking to see. In order to make it onto the screen, they must clear all manner of obstacles, from fussy clients to obsessive regulators and restrictive rights issues. X-Rated takes a look at these outlawed pieces of advertising, revealing the most explicit, controversial and shocking ads never seen. These are ads that break all manner of taboos, from sex, violence, blasphemy, homosexuality, animal cruelty, rapping pensioners, swearing children, suicidal toys and naked athletes to Kylie in her undies on a bucking bronco. Amongst the contributors are advertising executives, producers and censors. The programme also takes a look at the embarrassing world of western celebrities in Japanese ads.
More info →