Cat Nation
★ 6.7 · 2017 · 52m · Documentary
A journey into the unique, often bizarre, world of Japanese cat culture. Cat themed cafes, bars, temples, cat islands, cats with human jobs, cat friendly businesses, and the origins of the iconic beckoning cat statue.
More Like This
Shinjuku Boys
1995 · ★ 6.9
This documentary is set in the New Marilyn night club in Tokyo, Japan - where the hosts are transgender men. They can only make their living as hosts in a nightclub with other wannabes like them. The young women who come there often have relationships with them but the underlying fear is whether such a relationship can withstand the pressures on a girl to get married and have children. All three boys deal with this in different ways. These three hosts, the Shinjuku Boys, take us into their lives.
More info →
Eyewar
2013
What threads of history bind Manhattan's Ground Zero to those of Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Or connect sight to truth, games to war, or the silkworm to the drone? What does the United States hold to be the role of science in warfare? How has war historically been waged in Buddhist traditions? These are some of the topics addressed in Eyewar: 80 minutes of found footage which traces the development of the digital image from the maps of the second century to the screens of the twenty-first, and the uses of the field of cybernetics from Japan in the 1940s to Chile in the 1970s and Iraq in the 1990s.
More info →
GI Joe: The Story of America's Movable Fighting Man
2002
Watch the history of the GI Joe Action figure unfold in this two hour documentary, with the story told by the original Hasbro creative team. Memorable Hasbro television commercials spanning four decades take you back through the 60's, 70's, 80’s and 90's as GI Joe was brought into our living rooms. Also included is the original marketing film used to present the concept of GI Joe to the 1964 International Toy Fair.
More info →
Hell Bento: Uncovering the Japanese Underground
1995 · ★ 5.9
An exploration of underground Japanese counter-culture including the Yakuza, the nationalists, the gay and lesbian community, the bikers and the homeless.
More info →
Trek Nation
2011 · ★ 7.1
Trek Nation is a documentary film directed by Scott Colthorp examining the positive impact that Star Trek and creator Gene Roddenberry may have had on people's lives as seen through the eyes of his son, Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. ("Rod"). It includes interviews with castmembers and crew from all five Star Trek shows, as well as various fans and celebrities who were markedly influenced by the show while growing up. Rod Roddenberry also visits Skywalker Ranch to interview George Lucas on the influence that Star Trek had on him. Lucas shares how he had gone to Star Trek conventions prior to creating Star Wars.
More info →
9 Lives: Tales from the Cat Show
2018
A young autistic woman defies her doctor's prognosis of lifelong mutism and finds her voice through showing cats.
More info →Sukekiyo - Mutans - 2016 Live
2016
Concert by the Japanese band Sukekiyo played 2016. 17 July at the Chofu City Green Hall.
More info →
Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run
2017 · ★ 8
Chronicling the definitive story behind the creation of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's "Born to Run" album, this exclusive documentary incorporates rarely seen archival film shot inside the studio, recent band interviews and intimate footage of the artists at work.
More info →
The Devil's Share
2018 · ★ 8
Quebec, on the cusp of the 1960s. The province is on the brink of momentous change. Deftly selecting clips from nearly 200 films from the National Film Board of Canada archives, director Luc Bourdon reinterprets the historical record, offering us a new and distinctive perspective on the Quiet Revolution.
More info →The Cat
1968 · ★ 6
Johan van der Keuken explains, "Some fifteen filmmakers were asked to make a film series in a relay style for a very popular variety program on Dutch television: each new program was to start from the last image of the previous program, developing the story from that image. It was necessary to work according to codes of the crime thriller. I 'sabotaged' these codes, following a close-up of a pistol, inherited from my predecessor, by a series of comic observations of my cat, accompanied by a text on the need to innovate methods of expression and communication in cinema."
More info →
Whereabouts of Sound
2022
As they play carefree music, their musicianship is met with surprise, wonder, and sometimes even laughter. Captivating all who watch, Otoasobi Project’s rich variety of expression reshapes the concept of improvised music. Formed in 2005 in Kobe, Japan, Otoasobi Project has some 50 members, including people with intellectual disabilities, musicians, and music therapists, who pursue music and well-being through improvised performances. After many years of numerous workshops, concerts, and other activities, they even held their first tour in the UK in September 2013. The movie “Whereabouts of Sound” depicts the appeal of the improvised music Otoasobi creates, and the beauty of its natural, honest expression.
More info →