The director embarks on a journey to reveal the story behind the legendary Café Nagler, owned by her family during the 1920s in Berlin, and finds that historical truths can be overrated.
Social & External
The people behind it
Mor Kaplansky
Herself
Naomi Kaplansky
A film that evokes the period between the end of the First World War and the Great Depression of 1929. For some, it was the golden age of pleasure and the easy life, with memories of Charleston, short-haired tomboys, wild races in a Torpedo, and the dizzying banks of Deauville. For the rest of us, it was a time of illusions, when the carefree post-war era did little to conceal the profound upheavals that were shaking the world: the Soviet Revolution, the establishment of Fascism in Italy, German rearmament, a changing China, and finally the great economic depression of 1929, which took on the proportions of a global catastrophe.
Erna and Dževad are the owners of a pub in the vicinity of a steel mill, a complex that used to be one of the largest of its kind in Eastern Europe. Taking place one week before the pub’s official closedown, the film follows a series of conversations between visitors and frequent guests, who discuss the ways of reaching Germany – a new utopia of former socialist workers.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, is remembered as the instigator of the October Revolution of 1917 and, therefore, as one of the men who changed the shape of the world at that time and forever, but perhaps the actual events happened in a way different from that narrated in the history books…
A film record of a Soviet expedition to Pamir, not to be confused with Krysha Mira, a different 1928 expedition film also about Pamir, directed by Vladimir Erofeyev, released in USA as Roof Of the World. A pictorial record of the 1928 Russian-German expedition to explore and map an area of the unexplored heart of the Pamirs. During the expedition, three German researchers (E. Allwein, E. Schneider and Karl Wien) made the first attempt to reach the highest point of the Trans-Alai Range, which at that time had the name of the Kaufman Peak (today, Lenin Peak or Ibn Sina). They started climbing upstream of the Saukdara river and continued climbing along the Greater Saukdara Glacier towards the Krilenko Pass at 5820 m. On September 25, 1928 they started climbing from the saddle along the NE Ridge and at 15.30 they made the first ascent of Lenin Peak at an altitude of 7127 m.
A showcase of German chancellor and Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.
Pellegrini's Espresso Bar is a testament to the enduring power of community, tradition, and love. This documentary explores the cafe's rich history, its cultural impact, and the profound legacy of its beloved figure, Sisto Malaspina.
A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.
Documentary made for the University of York, UK, and DMDA exhibition New Fashion for the New Woman 1900-1950. Footage filmed by University of York students, edited by Ray Fairhurst.
"Café Quente" is a heartwarming documentary guided by Dona Ângela, a 69-year-old woman who, in addition to sharing life experiences, reflects on the arrival of old age.
A travelogue set in the jungles of Borneo.
Winston Churchill, one of the most revered men of the twentieth century. Adolf Hitler, one of the most hated leaders in contemporary history. Between 1940 and 1945, these two enormously contradictory personalities faced each other in both politics and war. A clash of giants whose story begins in the trenches of the World War I and ends with the debacle of the World War II.
In the wake of the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923), which killed nearly 100,000 people, more than 6,500 Koreans were murdered by the military, the police and civilians. This film uses evidence and testimony to examine the history behind this massacre.
Explores Leni Riefenstahl's artistic legacy and her complex ties to the Nazi regime, juxtaposing her self-portrayal with evidence suggesting awareness of the regime's atrocities.
Sports enthusiast Ernest is to cover 6,000 kilometers on his motorcycle in 15 days, crossing Austria, Italy, Switzerland, the Balkans and Czechoslovakia.
Film journalist and critic Rüdiger Suchsland examines German cinema from 1919, when the Republic of Weimar is born, to 1933, when the Nazis come into power. (Followed by Hitler's Hollywood, 2017.)
During the summer of 2023, my father decided to hang up the boots and walk away from the family business of 25 years. This is my love letter to the cafe in which my family and I have worked, encapsulating the good vibes and cheery nature the business held for a quarter of a century.
Still today, people say that during the stormy night from March 31st to April 1st, 1922, the devil had come to Hinterkaifeck. On the farmstead near Schrobenhausen, all 6 inhabitants – 4 Adults and two children – are struck down bestially. The police did not manage to seek out the murderer(s). As the case is still unsolved as of today, the story still lives on in the minds of the people. Motion pictures, theatre plays, and the bestselling novel “Tannöd”, behind all of them stands Hinterkaifeck. Aspiring police investigators and a self-declared “Internet – special commission ‘Hinterkaifeck’” have now once again taken up the trail of the case. This exciting search for traces is followed by the film, and its findings are recreated in elaborate play scenes. Thereby, a picture of an era thought to be bygone and an idea of what really happened back then comes into existence. More precise than any fiction, the docudrama manages to get closer to the truth.
A documentary about the cultural effect of film censorship, focusing on the tumultuous times of the teens and early 1920s in America.
Finnish filmmaker and artist Sami van Ingen is a great-grandson of documentary pioneer Robert Flaherty, and seemingly the sole member of the family with a hands-on interest in continuing the directing legacy. Among the materials he found in the estate of Robert and Frances Flaherty’s daughter Monica were the film reels and video tapes detailing several years of work on realising her lifelong dream project: a sound version of her parents’ 1926 docu-fiction axiom, Moana: A Romance of the Golden Age.
A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
A backstage and on-stage look at Justin Bieber during his rise to super stardom.
The history of cinematic sound, told by legendary sound designers and visionary filmmakers.
BBC Arena's documentary on the Dames of British Theatre and film featuring Maggie Smith, Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright on screen together for the first time as they reminisce over a long summer weekend in a house Joan once shared with Sir Laurence Olivier.
Martin Scorsese spends an evening with larger-than-life raconteur Steven Prince—a former drug addict, road manager for Neil Diamond, and actor—as he recounts stories from his colorful life.
A years-in-the-making documentary on the legendary punk band the Ramones. Through a mixture of archival footage, archival and new interviews with all members of the band's various lineups, and new interviews with a number of their contemporaries, the film traces the peaks and valleys the band experienced over the course of its 20-plus year career before disbanding in 1995.
Using the book 'Fragments', which collects Marilyn Monroe's poems, notes and letters, and with participation from the Arthur Miller and Truman Capote estates who have contributed more material, each of the actresses will embody the legend at various stages in her life.
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother and her beloved dog.
Martin Scorsese's documentary intertwines footage from The Band's incredible farewell tour with probing backstage interviews and featured performances by Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and other rock legends.
The epic life story of Alice Guy-Blaché (1873–1968), a French screenwriter, director and producer, true pioneer of cinema, the first person who made a narrative fiction film; author of hundreds of movies, but banished from history books. Ignored and forgotten. At last remembered.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg now 84, and still inspired by the lawyers who defended free speech during the Red Scare, Ginsburg refuses to relinquish her passionate duty, steadily fighting for equal rights for all citizens under the law. Through intimate interviews and unprecedented access to Ginsburg’s life outside the court, RBG tells the electric story of Ginsburg’s consuming love affairs with both the Constitution and her beloved husband Marty—and of a life’s work that led her to become an icon of justice in the highest court in the land.
Giving fans unprecedented access to the real life of the music sensation, Katy Perry: Part of Me exposes the hard work, dedication and phenomenal talent of a girl who remained true to herself and her vision in order to achieve her dreams. Featuring rare behind-the-scenes interviews, personal moments between Katy and her friends, and all-access footage of rehearsals, choreography, Katy’s signature style and more, Katy Perry: Part of Me reveals the singer’s unwavering belief that if you can be yourself, then you can be anything.
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
This documentary focuses on the actors and their journey over two summers to create the remake to the original IT, by Stephen King. The documentary originally released as bonus material, bundled with IT: Chapter Two.
A documentary chronicling Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour's preparations for the 2007 fall-fashion issue.
A documentary about ten very different lives connected by having appeared onscreen wearing masks or helmets in Star Wars.