Social & External
The people behind it
The saying 'time heals all wounds' couldn't be farther from the truth for the family of Mekayla Bali, the Yorkton teenager who vanished without trace more than three years ago. In the years that followed her disappearance, the feeling of grief, anger, and confusion only grew for her family. But despite their pain, they have vowed to never stop searching for Mekayla and never stop looking for answers. Focus Saskatchewan host Marney Blunt shares their story.
Tímamót, or Changes in English. An upbeat, heartwarming story about Gudjon, Sigurbjorn and Steinthor who lived together for decades along with several other inhabitants in the Tjaldanes Institution, in a peaceful valley close to Reykjavik. When a decision is made to close down the institution, their life takes an unexpected turn and they discover a new side to life and to themselves.
Part documentary/part dramatization, this film details several of the highest-profile unsolved cases of disappearances, mysterious changes in personality and other strange occurrences related to the Bermuda Triangle.
Mitrice Richardson, a lovely 24 year old African-American woman, was released late at night from the Malibu, California Sheriffs jail after having been detained for not paying her bill at an upscale restaurant. She was described as 'acting crazy' and, in fact, was having a mental crisis. She was released into the mountainous region with no cell, no purse, no ID, no car, no way home and vanished. Eleven months later her remains were found in a desolate Malibu canyon. 'Lost Compassion,' shot from ten days after Mitrice went missing, tells the complex, emotional inside story of the search for Mitrice and struggles with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, whose deputies lied about her arrest and likely were involved with her disappearance and murder.
During the last argentine military dictatorship, the Army developed a systematic plan for the abduction of children, with maternity wards inside the clandestine detention centers. This film proposes itself as a trip to the truth "to bring to light the places where lots of babies saw the light for the first time"; Three restored children show the part for the whole :how a genocide was orchestrated,a scheme which planned the deprivation of identity of babies born in captivity, children of illegally kidnapped and detained women.
Is that what mass graves are like, one body on top of the other and nothing else? Through the rain, Oliver sends signals to his mother to help her unearth the truth.
On November 25, 1973, the first of four car-free Sundays transformed West Germany's deserted highways into spaces for walking, cycling, and horse-drawn carriages, while towns and cities took on a festive atmosphere. Introduced during the oil crisis to conserve fuel after the Arab oil embargo and production cuts following the Yom Kippur War, the measure became an unforgettable collective experience. Beyond the immediate energy shortage, the crisis marked a turning point, ending the postwar economic boom and encouraging greater awareness of energy use, consumerism, and environmental issues.
Santiago Maldonado disappeared in the midst of repression against a Mapuche community that claimed to Luciano Benetton for his land. His body was found 78 days later. The need for truth and justice continues
In 2023, Writer/director Aaron Irons went deep into the Appalachian wilderness area known as Jeffrey's Hell to expand on the legends and stories from his 2022 found footage film, CHEST. He was never seen again. This documentary explores what really happened to Aaron and what secrets are being kept below the surface.
In southern Italy, stateless migrants pick the tomatoes the rest of the world will taste. But what about these workers’ European dreams? Will they be ground to a pulp? Our canned tomatoes are picked by migrant workers who have come to southern Italy to realise their dream of Europe. However, they never get beyond the tomato fields. This documentary shows how the tomato broaches a broader issue. Will the pickers keep believing in their dream, or fight against a Europe where others reap the sweet rewards of their disillusion?
Nine fictitious documentaries and films reflect the mood of late 1970s Germany, particularly the two-month period in 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped by the RAF (Red Army Faction). The kidnap had been made to orchestrate the release of the original leaders of the RAF, aka the Baader-Meinhof.
The film takes us to Georgia, where the shadows of the post-Soviet past still loom large. At its center is investigative reporter Tamuna Museridze, who sets out to unravel a profoundly personal mystery. As she follows the trail of a widespread 1990s scheme in which newborns were taken from Georgian maternity wards and trafficked across the world, she exposes networks, mechanisms, and long-buried secrets along with family tragedies that remain just as painful today. The scale of the practice is staggering: as many as 100,000 children were stolen from hospitals and sold. Among them were Amy and Ano, twin sisters separated at birth who finally found each other in 2024 through social media.
The Rastreadoras de El Fuerte are a group of mothers of disappeared persons in northern Sinaloa who, in the absence of the authorities, twice a week go out with picks and shovels in search of the remains of their children; a testimony of the abandonment of the State, the aggressions of the drug traffickers, the indifference of society and the pain, but also of the strength and courage that keep these women together, and of their empowerment to mobilize society in community organization.
This poetic film follows director Marialuisa's journey with Anita and Leticia, Central American women traveling with the Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants.
After delivery of a parcel, on leaving a restaurant, hotel or train, or following an exchange with the customer service department of your telephone operator, the same request: to rate. On a scale from 0 to 10, embellished with colors, or by awarding pretty, playful little stars. A simple, mechanical and painless action for the rater. But behind this harmless gesture lies a brutal management system, operated directly by the customer, without their knowledge. Even more worrying: without knowing it, we are all being rated, to feed the algorithms of opaque companies that claim to be able to predict the future. The film questions this invasion of rating systems, and the consequences of this practice for our individual realities and collective freedoms.
As clichés go, in 1999 the World as we knew it was about to change - and we'd been expecting it. Since childhood we'd been promised that the 21st century would bring us dramatic new technologies like flying cars and Utopian cities. Instead it bought us the smart-phone, social media, and virtual societies. And as it turns out these technologies began to transform society almost as dramatically as the moon colonies we'd been expecting. Now over a decade into the revolution, 'DSKNECTD' explores how digital communication technology is profoundly changing the way we interact and experience each other - for the good and for the bad.
THE PERFUMED GARDEN is an exploration of the myths and realities of sensuality and sexuality in Arab society, a world of taboos and of erotic literature. Through interviews with men and women of all ages, classes, and sexual orientation, the film lifts a corner of the veil that usually shrouds discussion of this subject in the Arab world. Made by an Algerian-French woman director, the film begins by looking at the record of a more permissive history, and ends with the experiences of contemporary lovers from mixed backgrounds. It examines the personal issues raised by the desire for pleasure, amidst societal pressures for chastity and virginity. The film discusses pre-marital sex, courtship and marriage, familial pressures, private vs. public spaces, social taboos (and the desire to break them), and issues of language.
In 1994, a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later, he is found alive in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.
A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.
To a growing number of Mexicans and Latinos in the Americas, narco-traffickers have become iconic outlaws and the new models of fame and success. They represent a pathway out of the ghetto, nurturing a new American dream fueled by the war on drugs. Narco Cultura looks at this explosive phenomenon from within, exposing cycles of addiction to money, drugs, and violence that are rapidly gaining strength on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border
After the death of her daughter at the hand of her boyfriend, Marisela Escobedo began to fight for justice not only against the murderer but also against the corrupt Mexican judicial system.
Step into Casa Madrigal for a special concert spectacular as the original voice cast of Disney Animation's Oscar®-winning "Encanto," Stephanie Beatriz, Adassa, Carolina Gaitán, Jessica Darrow, Diane Guerrero, Mauro Castillo, Angie Cepeda and Olga Merediz, along with special guests including Colombian superstar Carlos Vives, reunites for "Encanto at the Hollywood Bowl." This unprecedented concert experience gives you a front-row seat to the musical extravaganza celebrating the global phenomenon.
Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez.
Using raw, firsthand footage, this documentary examines the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed.
This intimate, in-depth look at Beyoncé's celebrated 2018 Coachella performance reveals the emotional road from creative concept to cultural movement.
Over 35 years after Bob Lazar's revelations, this documentary exposes secrets of a facility the government still denies. Featuring Lazar's testimony, recreations, and new evidence, it reopens a case that continues to spark global curiosity
Sea life in a whole new way. Deep Sea 3D, an underwater adventure from the filmmakers behind the successful IMAX® 3D film Into the Deep, transports audiences deep below the ocean surface. Through the magic of IMAX®; and IMAX 3D, moviegoers will swim with some of the planets most unique, dangerous and colorful creatures, and understand this inspiring underworld.
Darwin meets Hitchcock in this documentary. Directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have created a parable about the search for paradise, set in the brutal yet alluring landscape of the Galapagos Islands, which interweaves an unsolved 1930s murder mystery with stories of present day Galapagos pioneers. A gripping tale of idealistic dreams gone awry, featuring voice-over performances by Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger, and Gustaf Skarsgard.
Those who knew iconic funnyman John Candy best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery, and interviews.
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici go on an adventure to find the lost city of Atlantis by using Greek philosopher Plato as a virtual treasure map.
On the 30th of January, 1969, the Beatles performed an unannounced concert from the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters at Savile Row, within central London's office and fashion district. Experience the final and unforgettable iconic performance of The Beatles in a special 60-minute presentation, digitally remastered into the image and sound quality of IMAX DMR technology.
Michael Kamen conducts the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in support of metal rockers Metallica in this 1999 concert performance.
Fourteen years after his first visit, Louis Theroux meets some of the growing community of religious-nationalist Israelis who have settled in the occupied West Bank.
In her own words, through personal video and diaries, Pamela Anderson shares the story of her rise to fame, rocky romances and infamous sex tape scandal.
An unorthodox investigation into the wrongful conviction of Randall Dale Adams for the 1976 murder of Dallas police officer Robert Wood. Using stylized reenactments and interviews with key figures, conflicting testimonies and evidence are presented to argue that Adams was framed by a corrupt justice system, ultimately leading to his exoneration.
Home movies, photographs, and recited poetry illustrate the life of Tupac Shakur, one of the most beloved, revolutionary, and volatile hip-hop MCs of all time.
