A reflection between nature and man in Los Angeles about the city's surroundings' desertification due to enormous water consumption.
Social & External
A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current-day Watts neighborhood.
A documentary film that highlights two street derived dance styles, Clowning and Krumping, that came out of the low income neighborhoods of L.A.. Director David LaChapelle interviews each dance crew about how their unique dances evolved. A new and positive activity away from the drugs, guns, and gangs that ruled their neighborhood. A raw film about a growing sub-culture movements in America.
Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.
This short film takes a look at the off-screen personas of screen actors. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
From Pulitzer Prize-finalist Rosanna Xia and Academy Award®-winning L.A. Times Studios, OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT is a cinematic exposé of an environmental disaster lurking just off the coast of Southern California. Not far from Catalina Island, aboard one of the most-advanced research ships in the world, David Valentine discovered a corroded barrel on the seafloor that gave him chills. The full environmental horror sharpens into greater clarity once he calls Los Angeles Times journalist Rosanna Xia, who pieces together a shocking revelation: In the years after World War II, as many as half a million barrels of toxic waste had been quietly dumped into the ocean – and the consequences continue to haunt the world today.
Scientists dive deep on the mysterious and unusual predatory behavior of orcas attacking great white sharks, and the disappearance of the other sharks after these attacks.
In the second largest school district in the United States, 98% of teachers vote to authorize a strike. Watch as one of the largest educator strikes in modern U.S. history unfolds in real-time, highlighting the stories and leadership of some of the women who led it, from union leaders to classroom teachers. From strike vote to contract vote, When We Fight goes behind the picket lines, documenting how and why teachers strike. "This powerful and beautifully crafted film is a must watch for anyone interested in the state of labor in America today." - Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor and Professor of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Swimming, Dancing examines audiovisual representations of the Yangtze (1934–present), from silent film to video art to the contemporary vlog. Inspired by the city symphonies of the 1920s, Swimming, Dancing pieces together a “river symphony”, evoking the images, sounds and contradictions that make up the river’s turbulent history.
Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.
An exhilarating documentary film that celebrates the unsung hero of aviation - the local airport - by tracing the life, history, and struggles of an airport icon: Southern California's Van Nuys Airport. Featuring thrilling aerial photography and a sweeping original score, the film dispels common misconceptions and opposes criticism of General Aviation airports.
A film's art director is in charge of the set, from conception to construction to furnishing. This short film walks the viewer through art directors' responsibilities and the demands on their talents. They read a script carefully and design a set to capture the time and place, the social strata, and the mood. They must be scholars of the history of architecture, furnishings, and fashion. They choose the colors on a set in anticipation of the lighting and the mood. Their work also sets styles, from Art Deco in the 20's to 30s modernism. Then it's on to the next project. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked several days of protests, violence and looting in Los Angeles, LA 92 immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.
Many times during his presidency, Lyndon B. Johnson said that ultimate victory in the Vietnam War depended upon the U.S. military winning the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people. Filmmaker Peter Davis uses Johnson's phrase in an ironic context in this anti-war documentary, filmed and released while the Vietnam War was still under way, juxtaposing interviews with military figures like U.S. Army Chief of Staff William C. Westmoreland with shocking scenes of violence and brutality.
Long considered a cult classic, "Mondo Hollywood" captures the underside of Hollywood by documenting a moment in time (1965-67), when an inquisitive trust in the unknown was paramount, hope for the future was tangible and life was worth living on the fringe. An interior monologue narrative approach is used throughout the film, where each principal person shown not only decided on what they wanted to be filmed doing, but also narrated their own scenes. The film opens with Gypsy Boots (the original hippie vegan - desert hopping blender salesman), and stripper Jennie Lee, working out 'Watusi-style' beneath the 'Hollywood' sign -- leading into the 'sustainable community' insight of Lewis Beach Marvin III, the S&H Green Stamp heir, who lived in a $10 a month garage while owning a mountain retreat in Malibu.
The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.
The decision to move to Holland doesn't sound like a wise idea. Why move to a country that could be flooded at any moment? For the last 25 years, the political climate has shifted. The public debate on migration has become harsher, more heated, and polarized. What would have been considered right-wing xenophobia back then, is now considered mainstream. Populists simplify complex realities into good and evil, victims and perpetrators: ‘us’ versus ‘them’. Their rhetoric often consists of dehumanizing words and metaphors. One of these is ‘water’. In reality, water is not an immediate threat to the average Dutch person; but it is a huge threat to the thousands trying to reach the Netherlands. People trying to survive the Mediterranean Sea in rubber boats. Trying to survive winter on the Aegean coast in primitive tents. To them, water really is deadly.
Mixing archival footage with interviews, this film celebrates one of Los Angeles's most influential painters and Chicano art activists from the 1970s.
The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.
Tongue-in-cheek look at 20-something singles clubbing and partying in L.A. Voice-over narration, charts and graphs, and visits to a research laboratory punctuate the story of a single night when groups of friends go out, drink alcohol, take drugs, dance and talk, and look for someone to go home with.
A documentary exploring the importance of revival cinema and 35mm exhibition - seen through the lens of the patrons of the New Beverly Cinema - a unique and independent revival cinema in Los Angeles.
A serial killer and the detective who tracked him down find themselves in an unexpected stalemate.
In the late 1960s, Dhofar rose up against the British-backed Sultanate of Oman, in a democratic, anti-imperialist guerrilla movement. Director Heiny Srour and her team crossed 500 miles of desert and mountains by foot, under bombardment by the British Royal Air Force, to reach the conflict zone and capture this rare record of a now mostly-forgotten war.
Pluto walks past the zoo and sees the huge bone the sleeping lion has but getting it out is easier said than done. He gets it out of the lion's cage, but then has to face the kangaroo and its playful joey. Next is the gorilla, then the crocodiles.
Two teenagers are playing by night in a dirty parking lot. After they are driving on an empty road, they start to tease each other on the way to the sea, but they seem to be too young to drive and the road is a bit strange.
In 1988, Andrew Wight and his team went on to attempt a record cave dive in Pannikin Plains Cave on the Nullarbor Plain, where flash floods turned the expedition into a life-or-death adventure. This was captured on film by his support team, and eventually published as Nullarbor Dreaming. This short film launched his career as an international film-maker and culminated in him becoming James Cameron's right-hand man on many 3D and other film projects. Sanctum was inspired by his Nullarbor experience
This is a story about a city guy Nikolai, who will have to go instead of his friend on a rural business trip. A series of funny events, meetings and the beauty of the Yakut village encourage Nikolai to make an important decision in his life…
Two unsuspecting thieves break into the wrong house and must face a sinister home owner.
After winning big at the races, Torajiro Kuruma wants to take his aunt and uncle on a trip to Hawaii to partly pay the great filial debt he feels he owes them, but the plan hits a snag. Also, a pretty kindergarten teacher rents a room at Toraya.
A look at the life and films of the expressionistic movie and television director John Brahm.
A spy ring attempts to steal rocket secrets from Cape Canaveral.
Two young lads in Munich, Germany manage to score dates with drop-dead gorgeous underwear models. Now they must find a way to get past the formidable bouncers of Munich's poshest night club, 'Spy.'
Oliver's Divine Delivery Theory is put to the test when he and the POstables seem to be unable to deliver a damaged letter from a military veteran that's a matter of life and death.
A suspicious boyfriend believes his girlfriends card nights are much more than that, but he gets more than he bargains for when he spies on the ladies.
Lisa, a widow on vacation with her son, meets Alessandro and falls in love. The man is actually a former agent of the communist Germany who escaped from Berlin and is pursued by some former colleagues.
This documentary tells the story about the athlete Vera Nikolić, Europan champion at 800 m, who trains hard in order to break the world. She is missing just a little bit…
The main character, Niko (Gia Peradze) returns home after neighbors insisted he be taken to the clinic for treatment of alcoholism. On his return home Niko trying to do something to initiate the case. He wanted to work with old friends. Along with his father Nick assures that the work has begun. Also attached to the unlucky thoughts about love. After Niko lives of seriously thinking about it, things change - it would offer the neighbor woman to live together, to work and caring for her family finds.
