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In 1995, siblings Anna and Adam Broinowski, the children of Australian diplomats in Tokyo decided to embark on the exploration of underground Japanese counter-culture. The high-wire exercise gave life to Hell Bento. As relevant as Tod Browning’s notorious movie Freaks (1932), this one-hour documentary has gathered a reputation of the perverse masterpiece.
A close-up of Berlin coal carriers from Prenzlauer Berg. No portrayal of heroic workers or progress here. Instead, bright, deeply-felt sketches of rough men and their resolute female boss.
As the Nazis increase their stranglehold in Europe and enter World War II, millions of Jews are senselessly killed. The least likely ally during this time would be a German businessman, especially one who joined the Nazi Party to maintain the status quo. But as this documentary demonstrates, by employing Jews in his factory, Oskar Schindler becomes a hero, saving the lives of hundreds of Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia from the horrors of ethnic cleansing.
Petr Vaclav’s documentary Pani Le Murie depicts the last survivor of an aristocratic family who refused to bow to Communism.
A documentary filmed in secret during the 1985 state of emergency in South Africa, exploring the problems of police violence and repression in South African townships via the testimonies of the victims and witnesses of these occurences, with particular focus on the effects of apartheid on children. The program also shows interviews with white South Africans and their own conflicting opinions of the situation. Included is an interview with Bishop Desmond Tutu.
Simon Trevor follows an elephant from almost the moment of its birth through the seasons as it grows and learns, and its herd experiences good times and draught. It ends with Ahmed of Marsabit, the fabulous tusker who was the only Kenyan elephant ever to be protected by Presidential Decree. Lovingly and exquisitely photographed.
Shot over a period of two years, and with unprecedented access to the Aum sect accused of mass killing with Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway, this astonishing documentary by Tatsuya Mori offers a complex view of subjects as diverse as personal responsibility, public responses to terrorism, surveillance, and individual rights.
