Witnesses

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

A woman’s Holocaust memoir takes the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher-turned-detective reveals her story as an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.

Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.

Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.

In 1975, Ryszard Kapuściński, a veteran Polish journalist, embarked on a seemingly suicidal road trip into the heart of the Angola's civil war. There, he witnessed once again the dirty reality of war and discovered a sense of helplessness previously unknown to him. Angola changed him forever: it was a reporter who left Poland, but it was a writer who returned…

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the "DP" (the director of photography), illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.

“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its crimes were made taboo, and the complete story of Europe’s most murderous regime has never been told. Until now...

From the heights of her modeling fame to her tragic death, this documentary reveals Anna Nicole Smith through the eyes of the people closest to her.

A journalist and a photographer set out to memorialize the bedrooms left behind by children killed in school shootings.

In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.

An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.

Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?

Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that this war may never end.

A look at how the community of Newtown, Connecticut came together in the aftermath of the largest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history.

More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Over the course of one year in 23 countries, Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.

As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.

SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.

Follow the evolution of the 'Halloween' movies over the past twenty-five years. It examines why the films are so popular and revisits many of the original locations used in the films - seeing the effects on the local community. For the first time, cast, crew, critics and fans join together in the ultimate 'Halloween' retrospective.

Inspired by the complexity of the entire film-footage captured by Eva Braun, while in the inner most circle of Adolf Hitler and his private world, these observations challenge the viewer's perception of what is fact and to a greater extent what is unperceived. History teaches us the horrors of manipulation, unaccountability and ignorance. Historical moments that mirror all aspects of today’s society and humanity.

Confessions of people who have lost their sight during their lives. What are their feelings and how do they view their apparent handicap?

Explore the history of the world's most famous battleship, the USS Missouri, with this revealing documentary that chronicles the ship's distinguished career that spanned more than 50 years of service. Narrated by decorated Navy officer Wes Carey, this portrait combines archival film footage, photographs and personal accounts to paint a vivid picture of the celebrated ship, affectionately known as "Mighty Mo."

A 64 year old cardboard collecting grandmother and a Brazilian bodybuilder reveal the identity of Macau through the pointillist minutiae of their life experience, emotional strength, and driving passions.

Supernatural visions and indigenous folk myths intrude in an unpredictable and dreamlike Mexican film about a family living in the shadow of the apocalypse. A living, organic work.

Taking into account the latest historical evidence, this documentary attempts to shed new light on the bombing of Dresden, one of the most controversial raids of World War 2. Contemporary witnesses, previously unheard, describe the events and the terror of what it was like to be in Dresden through the night of bombing.

During the worst days of World War II, the British government asks the mathematician Alan Turing to unravel the mysteries of the German Enigma encryption machine, an impossible task to accomplish without the invaluable information that Hans-Thilo Schmidt, a disenchanted but greedy German citizen, had been handing over to the French secret services since 1931.

The film presents the life and work of two sisters Grażyna and Violetta, who run a center for homeless men. The heart and unconventional approach to their children makes them build a real home together.

To historians, physicist Lise Meitner deserves to be placed on a par with Einstein, Heisenberg and Otto Hahn. In the 1930s on the verge of World War II, she led a small group of scientists who discovered that splitting the atomic nucleus of uranium releases enormous energy. This extraordinary film tells the story of a woman who was far ahead of her time as a scientist and a pioneer of feminism.

The Via Emilia changes and becomes an open-air museum: hidden installations - although architecturally majestic - invite us to shift our perspective, to rethink the journeys that we thought we knew by heart.

A double portrait of two dictators who were thousands of miles apart but were constantly fixated on each other.

By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.

A rare documentary that shows how Soviet war propaganda presented the events of the Finnish front in 1941–1944. The main emphasis is on the resolution of the war. The film contains plenty of unique footage of the final stages of the Continuation War.

October 24, 1944, the world’s greatest battle at sea begins in the Philippines. Japan’s navy gambles on a decisive victory against the United States to turn the tide of World War II. Instead, Musashi, its top-secret super battleship, ends up at the bottom of the ocean.

Willem was an artist who lived openly as a gay man at a time when few did. Frieda was a well-connected musician who became the first woman to lead an orchestra. We learn of their early lives and the selfless decisions that informed their devotion to the anti-Nazi cause, often at great personal risk. The gentle revelation of these extraordinary lives is gradually revealed through archive footage, skillfully combined with photographs and interviews with experts, journalists and family members.

Traces Malick's artistic journey – from his philosophical studies at Harvard through his early masterpieces "Badlands" and "Days of Heaven" to his later films "The Thin Red Line" and "A Hidden Life." Hollywood stars like Brad Pitt and actresses like Valerie Pachner and Maria Simon talk about working with a director who gave them the greatest possible freedom.

"Double Quotes" delves into a filmmaker's journey of self-discovery as he navigates through the intricacies of India's Constitution, uncovering the absence of a definition for "untouchability" in Article 17. Through encounters with legal experts and introspective reflections, the documentary explores the implications of this omission on societal perceptions and the persistent challenges of caste-based discrimination.

In August 1903, the King of Portugal, D.Carlos I, proceeds to, by Royal Charter, the auction sale of the Fort St. Joseph - located in a small islet near the city of Funchal. In October 2000, the old fort is acquired by professor Renato Barros, without him even knowing that the Royal Charter documented not only the sale of the property but also the domain over the islet. Overnight, the professor becomes the Prince.