Primary

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.

Maestra

Cuba, 1961: 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. MAESTRA explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island - and found themselves deeply transformed in the process.

Thursday's Children

Won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Short of 1954. The subject deals with the children at The Royal School for the Deaf in Margate, Kent. The hearing-handicapped children are shown painstakingly learning what words are through exercises and games, practicing lip-reading and finally speech. Richard Burton's calm and sometimes-poetic narration adds to the heartwarming cheerfulness and courage of the children. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with British Film Institute in 2005.

Here and Elsewhere

Here and Elsewhere takes its name from the contrasting footage it shows of the fedayeen and of a French family watching television at home. Originally shot by the Dziga Vertov Group as a film on Palestinian freedom fighters, Godard later reworked the material alongside Anne-Marie Miéville.

Třetí revoluce

Inquilab

A documentary that traces the life and times of Bhagat Singh, a committed Marxist who fought against British imperialism in undivided India and most ably exemplified the spirit of revolutionary resistance in the struggle for freedom.

Dry Wood

Featuring the stories and music of seminal Cajun musicians "Bois Sec" Ardoin and Canray Fontenot, Dry Wood is a short, vibrant documentary portrait of life, food, music and festivity in the Louisiana Delta from the singular Les Blank. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.

The Towers

Documentary about the Watts Towers. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

Children of the Revolution

Inspired by the student revolutions of 1968, two women in Germany and Japan set out to plot world revolution as leaders of the Baader Meinhof Group and the Japanese Red Army. What were they fighting for and what have we learned?

Let's Ask Nostradamus

Nostradamus writes a letter to his young son, and his prophecies are compared to events of the French Revolution.

Adventures on the New Frontier

A look at the daily business of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, with a focus on some of the political issues he faces six weeks into his term. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.

Steal This Film II

These are strange times indeed. While they continue to command so much attention in the mainstream media, the 'battles' between old and new modes of distribution, between the pirate and the institution of copyright, seem to many of us already lost and won. We know who the victors are. Why then say any more?

John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums

An overview of John F. Kennedy's political career. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., in 2014.

Busy Little Bears

Busy Little Bears is a 1939 American short family film directed by John A. Haeseler. The film follows three bear cubs are observed exploring the forests of the Sierra Nevadas, encountering other wildlife, and invading the kitchen of a local ranch house. It won an Oscar at the 12th Academy Awards in 1940 for Best Short Subject (One-Reel). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with UCLA Film & Television Archive in 2013.

City of Wax

City of Wax is a 1934 American short documentary film produced by Horace and Stacy Woodard about the life of a bee. It won the Oscar at the 7th Academy Awards in 1935 for Best Short Subject (Novelty). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2007.

Wings Over Everest

A documentary about the first flight over Mt Everest. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with UCLA Film & Television Archive in 2014.

Torpedo Squadron

John Ford splices together footage of Torpedo Squadron 8, all but one of whom were later shot down and killed in the Battle of Midway. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 2007.

Hoop Dreams

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.

Portugal: Carnations Against Dictatorship

In Portugal, during the night of April 24-25, 1974, a peaceful uprising put an end to the last government of the Estado Novo, the authoritarian regime established in 1933 by dictator António de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970), paving the way for full democracy: a chronicle of the Carnation Revolution.

Oriana Fallaci intervista Ayatollah Khomeini

Oriana Fallaci, the Italian journalist who is noted for her provocative interviews, interviews the leader of the Islamic Revolution, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, on Sept 12, 1979. For 10 days Oriana Fallaci waited in the holy city of Qum for her interview with the 79 year old Ayatollah, who is the de facto ruler of Iran. On Sept. 12, she was led into the Faizeyah religious school, where Khomeini holds his audiences. She was accompanied by two Iranians Nyho and Iran prime minster Banisadr who had helped set up the interview and who served as translators. Oriana Fallaci, barefoot, enveloped in a chador, the head to toe veil of the Moslem woman, was seated on a carpet, when the Ayatollah entered, and the recorded interview could begin.