Grisha
★ 7 · 1996 · 82m · Documentary · TV Movie
An up-close look into the life of the often misunderstood movie director Grigori Kromanov through the lens of old friends and colleagues.
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2011 · ★ 5
A breathtaking investigation into blockbusters, a film genre that enjoys worldwide success yet keeps its secret weapon well hidden backstage in Hollywood. The blockbuster appeals to a very wide audience, from 7 to 77 years and from Paris to Beijing. These films, which have boosted the film industry, started out with "Jaws" and "Star Wars" and are still prospering with Avatar or Alice in Wonderland. To succeed, the films must meet a few precise criteria, one of them being their cost - at 100 million dollars minimum. But in Hollywood, the films' ingredients are a well-kept secret; perhaps for fear of discovering that the studios' house rules are not as rosy as in certain fruitful happy endings? The pressure and the stakes are colossal. This fascinating documentary reviews the numerous professions affiliated with the blockbuster, via interviews with producers of the major studios (Walt Disney Studio, 20th Century Fox...)...
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Encounters in Yakutia
1970
Taking the form of a travel diary of a television journalist, this documentary tells about the life and work of the people of Yakutia: pilots, artists, drivers, and reindeer herders.
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Red Chairs - Parma and the Cinema
2014
The relations between Parma and cinema were so strong for almost the whole of the twentieth century that this city became an early laboratory of ideas and theories on cinema and a set chosen by some of the greatest Italian authors and beyond. Furthermore, a considerable number of directors, actors, screenwriters and set designers were born in Parma who have made their way internationally, testifying to the fact that in this small city in Northern Italy there was a decidedly cinematic air. Red armchairs takes up the thread of this story, wondering why, unique among the Italian provincial cities, Parma has given so much to the cinema, accompanying the viewer on a journey backwards that from the first projections of the Lumière cinema reaches the ultramodern experience of new multiplexes. During this journey we will meet the characters who created the conditions for this diffusion of cinematographic culture in Parma.
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My Best Fiend
1999 · ★ 7.3
A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.
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My Dad and the Volcano
2024
Gavin built a giant volcano sculpture that's now in his dad's shed. Gavin seeks his dad's understanding but he's uninterested in modern art and refuses to participate in the documentary.
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In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema
2007 · ★ 6.5
This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when African American filmmakers and studios created “race movies” exclusively for black audiences. The best of these films attempted to counter the demeaning stereotypes of black Americans prevalent in the popular culture of the day. About 500 films were produced, yet only about 100 still exist. Filmmaking pioneers like Oscar Micheaux, the Noble brothers, and Spencer Williams, Jr. left a lasting influence on black filmmakers, and inspired generations of audiences who finally saw their own lives reflected on the silver screen.
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What Is Love?
2023 · ★ 8
Documentarian Steve Bollman joins together scientific discovery, real-life stories and faith to investigate love.
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Kurosawa's Way
2011 · ★ 5.8
Eleven major film makers from Europe, America and Asia talk about Akira Kurosawa and discover surprising influences on their own work.
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La nostra magnifica ossessione - Bernardo Bertolucci e la sua generazione
2025 · ★ 7
No synopsis available.
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Like It Is
1968 · ★ 5.4
This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.
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Frankenstein: The College Years
1991 · ★ 5.2
When professor Lippzigger dies, his favorite student Mark inherits the key to his secret laboratory. There he and his friend Jay find the hundreds of years old body of Frankenstein - and revive it. But where to go with him? They take him with them to their dorms. He's dumb as a brick, but makes it into their football team and becomes popular. If there only wasn't Prof. Loman, who wants to become famous with Lipp's inventions...
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Music Palace
2005
Previously a central part of communal life, the movie palaces of New York’s Chinatown are now extinct. This documentary short takes us inside the title theater located on the Bowery, as it’s about to close its doors, with its caretakers ruefully looking back at the life that once was. Eric Lin’s poignant first film serves as a glimpse into the usually private—and, according to the Music Palace’s projectionist, “lonely”—operations of a theater, and mourns the loss of a once-vital movie-going locale.
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