Yakuza and Constitution

Since the enactment of the Anti-Boryokudan Act and Yakuza exclusion ordinances, the number of Yakuza members reduced to less than 60,000. In the past 3 years, about 20,000 members have left from Yakuza organizations. However, just numbers can’t tell you the reality. What are they thinking, how are they living now? The camera zooms in on the Yakuza world. Are there basic human rights for them?

Gloria

Dusty, a Baltimore motorcycle builder, finalizes his shovelhead chopper named Gloria.

1917 - Jahr der Entscheidung

Four documentary scenes with subtitles document the year 1917 as the beginning of a new era. In addition to the military situation and the supply situation in Germany, the intervention of the USA and the events in Russia are shown in particular.

Unknown Beauty: François Nars

Photographer and make-up artist François Nars reveals his visually stunning inner world in this feature-length documentary by filmmaker Lisa Immordino Vreeland. Mr. Nars takes us on a tour of the fashions, designers and models of '70s Paris, the underground of '90s New York, and the timeless world of cinema, filled with actors, actresses, and directors who have shaped his visual aesthetics.

Vowellet - An Essay by Sarah Vowell

This Pixar documentary short follows Sarah Vowell, who plays herself as the title character, on why she is a superhero in her own way. (This short piece is included on the 2-Disc DVD for "The Incredibles", which was released in 2005.

Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible

Best known for their megahit ’80s anthem "Don't You (Forget About Me)”—made famous in John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club—Simple Minds is one of the most iconic and influential Scottish bands in history. From working-class kids growing up in post-industrial Glasgow to rock stars playing Live Aid, this is the unlikely story of an extraordinary band that continues touring to this day.

Infinite Place

Loitz is one of those former GDR towns that still suffer from the effects of German reunification. For a year "Infinite Place" looks behind the gray facade of the seemingly dying town and questions concepts of home and identity through the perspective of its old and new inhabitants. The town’s vacancy and people’s urge for self-realization create a fruitful look into the future.

Giraffes: The Forgotten Giants

"Giraffes: The Forgotten Giants" delves into the reasons behind the "silent" extinction of giraffes worldwide, and introduces us to the scientists who are gathering new information that may stave off their decline.

Lerchenlieder

Documentary about the special friendship between the 72-year-old music machine collector Johann Bartisch and the 12-year-old farm boy Gerd from the village of Arnsgereuth. As a child, the Romanian Johann played "O sole mio" on the piano while his brother accompanied him on the violin. Even then, he was fascinated by the music machines that could be found at fairgrounds, in cinemas and on trains. As an adult, Johann began his passion for collecting in Bucharest, rescuing self-playing instruments from barns, cellars or even garbage dumps. With great attention to detail, Johann restores his found treasures in his 250-year-old schoolhouse in the village of Arnsgereuth.

The Contract

In 2005 Beverly Charpentier declared an oath of allegiance to French writer Catherine Robbe-Grillet. In doing so she gave up her freedom for the rest of her life. The Contract portrays two strong women's unconventional love story, two women who have chosen to explore their love in a unique way, without compromise.

Met Dieric Bouts

A filmed essay about the painter Bouts.

Vanilla

Look around. Everything you see and touch can taste like vanilla.

L'Olympia, du rêve à la scène

Shannon Amen

Shannon Amen unearths the passionate and pained expressions of a young woman overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety as she struggles to reconcile her sexual identity with her religious faith. A loving elegy to a friend lost to suicide.

People Unite!

In the face of AAPI violence, an intergenerational coalition of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, People of Color organizers come together to organize a march across historic Washington Heights and Harlem, as a continuation of the historic and radical Black and Asian solidarity tradition.

Den förbjudna gangsterrappen

Modern Life

For ten years, Raymond Depardon has followed the lives of farmer living in the mountain ranges. He allows us to enter their farms with astounding naturalness. This moving film speaks, with great serenity, of our roots and of the future of the people who work on the land. This the last part of Depardon's triptych "Profils paysans" about what it is like to be a farmer today in an isolated highland area in France. "La vie moderne" examines what has become of the persons he has followed for ten years, while featuring younger people who try to farm or raise cattle or poultry, come hell or high water.

Visions of Europe

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Birders

Bird watchers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border share their enthusiasm for protecting and preserving some of the world's most beautiful species.

Without Me

An aspiring documentary filmmaker named Simon Rosenthal tries to get some attention for his film about skinheads versus Turkish immigrants. However, as a Jewish man in today's Germany, his fears for the future prompt him to move to the moon.