2-part portrait of a girl suffering from anorexia and bulimia.
Social & External
The people behind it
The animated documentary shows a day in life of a person suffering a mental illness called anorexia nervosa. It is an intimate insight into the mind of an anorexic, who must somehow interact with raw reality.
Diane Israel, a former world-class triathlete, becomes a psychotherapist after battling anorexia. She shares her story while interviewing champion athletes, body builders and models about self-image.
Using home videos recorded by her voice coach, Diana takes us through the story of her life.
In a society where "celebutantes" like Paris Hilton dominate newsstands and models who weigh less than 90 pounds die from malnutrition, female body image is one of the more dire problems facing today's society. "America the Beautiful" illuminates the issue by covering every base. Child models, plastic surgery, celebrity worship, airbrushed advertising, dangerous cosmetics - no rock is left unturned.
This is a Dutch documentary about the last weeks of life in a Portuguese clinic for Emma Caris, a 18 year old girl who had been suffering anorexia nervosa since she was 16 years old.
What does it feel like to have a panic attack? In this animated short from our Arts x Radio collaboration, Vancouver-based filmmaker and illustrator Karla Monterrosa animates a clip from CBC Radio'sCampus to imagine what it's like inside an 18-year-old's mind and body during her first attack.
This documentary tells the story of Deborah whom suffered from anorexia.
No Numbers is a documentary that looks at the general sense of "dis-ease" in our society and the increasing normalcy of hating ourselves. Three women speak out, sharing their stories of recovery from anorexia and bulimia. In telling their stories through the creative medium of film they rediscover values in life that move beyond inches, weight, and other measures that society too often champions as benchmarks for success. Though the issues raised in No Numbers stem from individual stories, they are inescapably connected to society and thus to the community as a whole. No Numbers focuses on healing that recognizes community and creativity as integral players in recovery. Finding identity beyond measures isn't just about recovery from eating disorders, it's about re-discovering the fullness of our lives.
At sixteen years old Peter Czerwinski was hospitalized and nearly died as a result of anorexia. Seven years later, not only has he won that battle, he is one the greatest competitive eaters in the world. This is the inspiring (and ironic story) of Furious Pete.
A mother fed up with her spoiled daughter goes on a world wide search to figure out what mistakes have been made and how she can fix them.
Colin, born in Bermuda, is feral. Hell deep in a life of drugs, jail, and sexual perversion, Colin falls in love with Hedi, who is hell deep in spiritual perfectionism, legalism and anorexia. They meet at an inner healing school in England. Eventually they marry, and travel throughout East Africa teaching grief and trauma recovery. One year later they are ambushed by child soldiers from the LRA. Colin is killed, and Hedi eventually returns with their two year old daughter to express forgiveness to the children who were abducted by the LRA
Comedian Chelsea Tolle tells her story of battling anorexia and addiction to chase her dream.
A Calling Void is a short documentary-drama that sheds light on the complexity of emotion, distortions of reality and desperate needs for control a young woman encounters during her struggle with anorexia. Limited screenings in Vancouver are pending further festival submissions.
Isabelle Pilling struggles with anorexia and learns to overcome her demons and embrace her life.
Cheryl Nasso struggled with anorexia for five years. At her worst, she weighed 85 pounds, was hospitalized, and went through 4 months of rehab. Just two years later Cheryl was one of only 50 women competing in the 2011 Reebok CrossFit Games, an international competition involving the fittest and strongest athletes in the world. Box of Salvation follows Cheryl as she trains for the competition while telling her story of adversity, loss and overcoming the worst to become one of the best.
Based on 'Frank Kafka"s Metamorphose story, the documentary presents 2 metamorphosis of the present society: anorexia, as an disruption of our self-perception; depression, as an isolating illness ; and physically handicapped conditions, as mobility problems.
Two young married adults with differing eating disorders share their experiences, insights, and stories of struggles, social expectations, misconceptions, and recovery.
This documentary offers an unprecedented access into anorexia's hidden underground and considers how legal and free-speech issues are contested in a new media landscape.
An independent feature-length documentary about women, food, fat, and dieting.
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
Ten of Muhammad Ali's former rivals pay tribute to the three-time world heavyweight champion.
An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. This unflinching look at Anthony Bourdain reverberates with his presence, in his own voice and in the way he indelibly impacted the world around him.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
9to5 - Days in Porn focuses on the people behind a controversial and multi-billion dollar industry "The Adult Entertainment industry". It depicts their stories, each one different, unadorned and authentic, without glorification or prejudice. It delivers deep insight into their personal lives - from glamorous to grotesque - strange, fascinating, offensive, absurd and sometimes funny moments all at once.
A subjective documentary that explores various theories about hidden meanings in Stanley Kubrick's classic film The Shining. Five very different points of view are illuminated through voice over, film clips, animation and dramatic reenactments.
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably.
In 1972, a seemingly typical shoestring budget pornographic film was made in a Florida hotel: "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace. This film would surpass the wildest expectation of everyone involved to become one of the most successful independent films of all time. It caught the public imagination which met the spirit of the times, even as the self-appointed guardians of public morality struggled to suppress it, and created, for a brief moment, a possible future where sexuality in film had a bold artistic potential. This film covers the story of the making of this controversial film, its stunning success, its hysterical opposition along with its dark side of mob influence and allegations of the on set mistreatment of the film's star.
In this documentary, recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it therefore to be his rightful property.
Using previously unheard audiotapes recorded shortly after John Belushi’s death, director R.J. Cutler’s documentary feature examines the too-short life of the once-in-a-generation talent who captured the hearts and funny bones of devoted audiences.
Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, based on his famous 1994 autobiography.
A detailed account of the life and artistic career of legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, from his early days as a video club manager to the scandalous fall in disgrace of producer Harvey Weinstein. A story about how to shoot eight great movies and become an icon of modern pop culture.
An investigation of how Hollywood's fabled stories have deeply influenced how Americans feel about transgender people, and how transgender people have been taught to feel about themselves.
A funny, intimate and heartbreaking portrait of one of the world’s most beloved and inventive comedians, Robin Williams, told largely through his own words. Celebrates what he brought to comedy and to the culture at large, from the wild days of late-1970s L.A. to his death in 2014.
The most famous murder scene in movie history comprises 78 camera settings and 52 cuts: the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. 78/52 tells the story of the man behind the curtain and his greatest obsession.
A documentary on the Z Channel, one of the first pay cable stations in the US, and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey. Debuting in 1974, the LA-based channel's eclectic slate of movies became a prime example of the untapped power of cable television.
In 1968, art students Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey “Po” Powell made a trippy photo collage for their musician friends Syd, David and Roger. The resulting album and album cover, A Saucerful of Secrets, helped launch two careers: that of Pink Floyd, one of the 70s megabands, and of Hipgnosis, which, over the course of the next 25 years, designed a stream of iconic album covers.
When Steve Jobs died the world wept. But what accounted for the grief of millions of people who didn’t know him? This evocative film navigates Jobs' path from a small house in the suburbs, to zen temples in Japan, to the CEO's office of the world's richest company, exploring how Jobs’ life and work shaped our relationship with the computer. The Man in the Machine is a provocative and sometimes startling re-evaluation of the legacy of an icon.
Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free lance, " goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.