California's Golden Beginning
★ 9 · 1948 · 16m · Documentary
A description and enactment of the discovery of gold by James Marshall, and the role played by John Sutter. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.
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Ferrum
1963 · ★ 7.2
Unconventional portrayal of mining in the Swedish Lapland ore fields, a powerful image and sound symphony that can be experienced both as a documentary and symbolic work.
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Riding Giants
2004 · ★ 7.6
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
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Margaret Kilgallen: Heroines
★ 9
"I especially hope to inspire young women, because I often feel like so much emphasis is put on how beautiful you are, and how thin you are, and not a lot of emphasis is put on what you can do and how smart you are. I'd like to change the emphasis of what's important when looking at a woman." Filmed in San Francisco in 2000, Margaret Kilgallen (1967-2001) discusses the female figures she incorporated into many of her paintings and graffiti tags. Loosely based on women she discovered while listening to folk records, watching buck dance videos, or reading about the history of swimming, Kilgallen painted her heroines to inspire others and to change how society looks at women. Three of Kilgallen's heroines—Matokie Slaughter, Algia Mae Hinton, and Fanny Durack—are shown and heard through archival recordings. Kilgallen is shown tagging train cars with her husband, artist Barry McGee, in a Bay Area rail yard and painting in her studio at UC Berkeley (source: Art21).
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Women in Defense
1941 · ★ 5.6
Short documentary extolling the virtues and necessity for women to participate in America's preparation for war, showing women working in scientific, industrial, and voluntary-services activities. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.
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1968
An early short film by Penelope Spheeris about a boy enjoying the age-old pleasures of making a wish on a dandelion. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.
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Sikkim
1971 · ★ 6.7
Satyajit Ray's poetic documentary was commissioned by the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim at a time when he felt the sovereignty of Sikkim was under threat from both China and India. Ray's documentary is about the sovereignty of Sikkim. The film was banned by the government of India when Sikkim merged with India in 1975. The ban was finally lifted by the Ministry of External Affairs in September 2010. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.
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The Center Of The Universe
2004 · ★ 10
The Center Of The Universe chronicles four days in the life of German climber Alexander Huber in Yosemite Valley, California. Living the typical Yosemite vagabond lifestyle, Alex reflects on his goal of successfully free-climbing "El Corazon" (35 pitches, 8a) on the famous El Capitan face, which is a combination of the historic routes "Salathé," "Albatross," "Son of Heart," and "Heart Route," connected by newly laid out sections. 35 challenging pitches, combining technicality, stamina, and commitment, with difficulty levels up to 8a. The film showcases the unique style of climbing in Yosemite, as well as a piece of history of the famous valley, narrated by Heinz Zak, Jim Bridwell, Lynn Hill, Alexander Huber, and Chongo Chuck themselves.
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Flood in the Desert
2022 · ★ 10
Explore the 1928 collapse of the St. Francis Dam, the second deadliest disaster in California history. A colossal engineering and human failure, the dam was built by William Mulholland, a self-taught engineer who ensured the growth of Los Angeles by bringing the city water via aqueduct. The catastrophe killed more than 400 people and destroyed millions of dollars of property.
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Lust for Gold: A Race Against Time
2021 · ★ 6.2
A team of modern adventurers is on a quest for gold in the mountains of eastern Arizona.
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Appointment in Tokyo
1945 · ★ 6.4
Produced by the Army Pictorial Service, Signal Corps, with the cooperation of the Army Air Forces and the United States Navy, and released by Warner Bros. for the War Activities Committee shortly after the surrender of Japan. Follow General Douglas MacArthur and his men from their exile from the Philippines in early 1942, through the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on September 1, 1945. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.
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The Town
1944 · ★ 6
The Town was a short propaganda film produced by the Office of War Information in 1945. It presents an idealized vision of American life, shown in microcosm by Madison, Indiana. It was created primarily for exhibition abroad, to provide international audiences a more well-rounded view of America, and was therefore produced in more than 20 translations. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
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God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance
1968 · ★ 5.6
Les Blank's poetic documentation of 1967's Los Angeles Easter Sunday Love-In. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2002.
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