This short documentary shows the reactions of European immigrants as they land in Halifax at the beginning of the 1960s. From the port, we follow them on a snowy journey by train to Montreal.
Social & External
A documentary about the making of, and legacy of, the Forbidden Planet movie.
Seven strangers are interviewed to talk about the relationship they have with their mother.
This 2007 behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of PERSEPOLIS features interviews with codirectors Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud as they undertake the complex process of adapting Satrapi’s graphic novel into a film.
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
“An Untitled Film” by George Alshevskij-Jones is a short documentary/visual essay about the struggles of moving to seek a better future in a different country. The research for the film was done by observing and talking to people who have left their home country. It doesn’t matter what country a person has left and in which country he has found himself, the general experiences and emotions stay the same. The most important message that I want the film to convey is that everything is possible and home is not a place on a map, but a place in the soul of each person that I spoke to. The unconventional way of showing many people as one is not just a way of making the film more convenient to create, but a way to fit a much information into one consistent image, that the audience is more likely to understand and perceive as the author intended it. My own experience blended in with the experiences of others.
From the mind of Chris Benchetler comes TGR's latest short film collaboration. Improvisation is the silver thread that weaves this crew together. Just as the Grateful Dead did not fit their music into an established category, this short film finds a cast of some of the world’s best athletes on a spontaneous journey of skiing, snowboarding, surfing, and music, complete with a soundtrack comprised of only Grateful Dead music.
In 2012, Stephen Vaughan and Kay Ferreter are invited to address the congregation at St. Joseph's Redemptorists Church in Dundalk, Ireland for the Solemn Novena Festival. In a powerful speech, the pair describe their experiences being gay and lesbian in Ireland, feeling excluded by Catholic doctrine, and the importance of a more inclusive church.
An absurd game of “finding happiness” is being played by local Latvian coyotes* and illegal immigrants on the Russian and the European Union border. It is a game with no winner – all participants are driven to play by the sense of despair. While one side leaves home and undertakes a perilous journey to the other side of the globe, hoping to spend the rest of their lives in a free country, the other side risks their freedom to earn a chance to stay right where they are, in their homeland. *coyote – someone who smuggles illegal immigrants
A Ghanaian maintenance technician at a Virginia retirement community dreams of becoming an American citizen to provide a better life for his family. With their future at stake, he enlists the help of two elderly residents to prepare for the biggest test of his life: the US Citizenship exam.
Per Persson left Sweden 40 years ago. In Pakistan he fell in love and became the father of two daughters. Trouble starts when the girls grow up and the family decides to emigrate to Sweden. When they end up living in a caravan outside Hässleholm, all their expectations are dashed.
Time passes, slips away, dissolves. But what if we could hold it for a moment? "Capturing Memories" is a dive into the essence of the inconsistent, an invitation to reflect on the importance of preserving moments before they are lost in oblivion. Through visual fragments, the documentary reveals how small scenes of everyday life carry echoes of the past and seeds of the future. In a world where everything passes, what really remains? This film is a tribute to the art of immortalizing the moment, to the beauty of seeing beyond the present and to the need to give meaning to what may one day become a memory.
A Liberian refugee SAM REAYAH and his family have been separated for five years and live in uncertainty waiting for family reunion. While Sam and his younger daughter Ruth continue their lives in Buduburam Refugee camp in Ghana, his wife Decontee and his older daughter Joyce have already started a life in Rochester, USA. The film explores the idea of home. Sam's family had a home in Liberia, but they had to give it up. They were forced to build homes elsewhere. They built a home in Ghana. They build a home in The United States. They built homes together, they build homes separate of each other. But which home does the heart want?
Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, co-creators of the hit television series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, reflect on the creation of the masterful series.
'Odd One Out' is a 15 minute, short coming of age documentary, about the Head Designer & Co-owner of the OSCAR & BAFTA winning prosthetics, animatronics and creature design company, Odd Studios. In a sit down interview, Adam deep dives into his pathway to success. Stories from 'Farscape', the opening of Fox studios, to the stark reality of leading the mould shop in prosthetics at the age of 20, and the lessons he learnt along the way whilst creating his dream career. Taking inspiration from supernatural, sci-fi 90s classic films and monsters through the mind of a 10 year old in 1985, guided by the words of his 43 year old self in 2023. We explore how an 'odd one out' kid, feeling the pressure and disregard of society can become a pioneer for prosthetics and animatronics across Australia and Hollywood.
Documentary that shows the changing attitude towards immigrant labor in The Netherlands. The documentary follows three immigrants that arrived in Holland 30 years ago to work in a bakery.
Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
On Manhattan's jam-packed streets, NYC's most iconic driving instructor prepares students for the road ahead.
"Ellis Island Tales" - From 1892 to 1924, nearly 16 million emigrants from Europe passed through Ellis Island, a small block of land where a transit center was built, near the New York Statue of Liberty. "Ellis Island Tales, Stories of Wandering and Hope" - the book is composed of three major parts. Georges Perec and Robert Bober visited Ellis Island and with the help of texts and documents, restored what everyday life was about what some called "the island of tears".