The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
★ 6.9 · 2011 · 39m · Documentary
On 11 March 2011, an earthquake caused a tsunami to hit the Tōhoku (Northeast) region of Japan. In this film, survivors of the tsunami rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. The film is a stunning visual haiku about the ephemeral nature of life–and of the healing power of Japan's most beloved flower.
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1974 · ★ 7
In 1971, inmates at Attica State Prison seized control of D-yard and took 35 hostages after peaceful efforts for reforms failed. Attica investigates the rebellion and its bloody suppression, revealing institutionalized injustices, sanctioned dishonesty, and abuses of power.
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The Korean Wedding Chest
2009 · ★ 5
Ulrike Ottinger’s provocative mélange of ethnography, stunning tableaux and baroque vignettes was inspired by what she calls the “well-stocked miracle” of Korean wedding chests, assembled according to time-honored customs. This exploration of love and marriage in South Korea looks closely at ancient and present-day rituals, revealing what is old in the new and new in the old. Her inquiry leads us from shamans, temples and priests, to the enchanted maze of 21st-century Seoul, where vendors of medicinal herbs co-exist with high-tech beauty salons for wedding couples and secular marriage palaces. Using film much like a canvas, Ottinger creates a modern fairytale flush with mythological heroes, traditional rites, ancestral symbolism, dreams of eternal love, and a whole lot of Western kitsch. One of her most acclaimed documentaries, it captures the amazing phenomenon of new mega-cities and their contradictory societies caught in a balancing act.
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My Own Breathing
2000 · ★ 5.5
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Ulysse
1986 · ★ 6.9
At the sea shore, a goat, a child, and a naked man. This is a photograph taken in 1954 by Agnès Varda. The goat was dead, the child was named Ulysses, and the man was naked. Starting from this frozen image, the film explores the real and the imaginary.
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Dream Land
2004 · ★ 7
There are places that we don’t want to know anything about, places that we would rather pretend don’t exist at all. One such place is a dumpsite. From the humans’ point of view, it is a ghastly place, a stinking desert of trash. But it’s a desert that is teaming with life.
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Itinerary of Jean Bricard
2008 · ★ 5.8
The film is a commemoration of the lost livelihood of the earth, the lost lives of the War and to the work of two of the cinema’s greatest artists.
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2017 · ★ 7.6
Far from home, 17-year-old Ying Ling practices for her examination to become a mortician at one of China's largest funeral homes. The everyday routine of this unusual occupation also serves up both humorous and life affirming moments.
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A Free Man
2017
22-year-old Kei refuses to conform to the Japanese achievement-oriented society. He is homeless by choice, living on the streets and under the bridges of Kyoto. His love for nature and music keeps him afloat in his dream world. However, when he runs out of money, he is forced to face reality.
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Official Film of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Side B
2022 · ★ 6
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2008
Filmed in New York in the summer of 2006: a march across the Brooklyn Bridge in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese populations. Habibi means "beloved" in Arabic.
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2017 · ★ 6
An animated history of American health care provider, Planned Parenthood.
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The Man Who Made Angels Fly
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