Liu Xiaodong: Hometown Boy

One of the best-known Chinese figurative painters, Liu Xiaodong goes back to his hometown of Jincheng, in the province of Liaoning (North-East China), to re-paint again friends and relatives after several years have gone by. With a soundtrack by famed composer Lim Giong (Millennium Mambo, The Assassin).

Freeports: The Beauty Of Tax Free Storage

Documentary that exposes the secret world of these unknown tax havens. There is a global network of tax-free storage facilities valuable goods, catering to the super rich - and it's virtually unknown, until now. Freeports feature highest security levels, confidential record keeping and an offshore legal status and are a huge potential for tax savings. The film investigates their rise, who is using them, and why.

The Rembrandt Association, an exceptional year

Documentary about the Rembrandt Association. In the 19th century, a lot of Dutch art disappeared abroad, before the Rembrandt Association stood up in 1883 to put a stop to it. Today, 140 years later, the Association still helps determine what art lovers see in Dutch museums. In their crowning year, the Association faces a difficult choice: will they make the largest contribution in their history to the purchase of Rembrandt's De Vaandeldrager? The amount of 175 million needed for the painting is causing discussion. Is this money well spent?

Mi Vida Me Pasa

Arturo Urbiola, independent singer/songwriter, talks about the influence music has had on his life, it's impact, and what's in store for his artistic career after becoming a father.

Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali

A documentary about surrealist artist Salvador Dali, narrated by Orson Welles.

Vízie z Inferna-umenie proti zabúdaniu

Aleš I.

The first part of the documentary about the work of the Czech painter Mikoláš Alš called "The Song of Life", which focuses on the part of his work that draws its themes from life in the village.

Pablo Picasso et Françoise Gilot : la femme qui dit non

Painter Françoise Gilot shared Pablo Picasso's life from 1943 to 1953. This union nourished their respective artistic creations.

White Walls Say Nothing

Buenos Aires is a complex, chaotic city. It has European style and a Latin American heart. It has oscillated between dictatorship and democracy for over a century, and its citizens have faced brutal oppression and economic disaster. Throughout all this, successive generations of activists and artists have taken to the streets of this city to express themselves through art. This has given the walls a powerful and symbolic role: they have become the city’s voice. This tradition of expression in public space, of art and activism interweaving, has made the streets of Buenos Aires into a riot of colour and communication, giving the world a lesson in how to make resistance beautiful.

Mysterium Gotik - Als die Kathedralen in den Himmel wuchsen

I'll See You Again

A group of artists settle in a swamp on the banks of the Indre River. Meanwhile, a voice describes a utopian world.

Max Ernst: Journey into the Subconscious

The inner world of the great painter Max Ernst is the subject of this film. One of the principal founders of Surrealism, Max Ernst explores the nature of materials and the emotional significance of shapes to combine with his collages and netherworld canvases. The director and Ernst together use the film creatively as a medium to explain the artist's own development.

Grayson Perry and the Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman

Artist Grayson Perry has been working behind the scenes at the British Museum to stage his most ambitious show yet: The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. Given free rein to choose whatever he wants from the Museum's vast collections, Perry has also produced some 25 new works of art, from his trademark ceramics to a working motorbike. Imagine follows Perry for more than two years as he creates his own imaginary civilisation at the heart of the British Museum.

Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition

With loans from across the world, this major retrospective will bring together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, and Woman Holding a Balance. This film invites audiences to a private view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of the Rijksmuseum and the curator of the show.

The Real Beauty and the Beast

It's a condition known as "hypertrichosis" or "Ambras Syndrome," but in the 1500s it would transform one man into a national sensation and iconic fairy-tale character. His name: Petrus Gonsalvus, more commonly known today as the hairy hero of Beauty and the Beast.

Goya

Presents life in 18th century Spain as the painter Francisco de Goya showed it to us.

A Day on the Grand Canal with the Emperor of China or: Surface Is Illusion But So Is Depth

Director Philip Haas and artist David Hockney invite you to join them on a magical journey through China via a marvelous 72-foot long 17th-century Chinese scroll entitled The Kangxi Emperor's Southern Inspection Tour (1691-1698), scroll seven . As Hockney unrolls the beautiful and minutely detailed work of art, he traces the Emperor Kangxi’s second tour of his southern empire in 1689.

Magicians of the Earth: Kings of the Water

Cyprien Tokoudagba is from the city of Abomey in the Benin Republic of West Africa, where he paints the religious houses of the vodun. Haas and his film crew follow Cyprien as he first paints and then takes part in the ceremony to open a new temple. The paintings include three vodun figures and several emblems, including a pipe and a duck. Cyprien explains his work in the context of the religion and takes the crew to film two other local ceremonies, one where the dead are believed to come back to instruct the living through wild dancing and, another, where women warriors perform their war dances.

Under the Weight of a Waking Dream

‘Under the Weight of a Waking Dream’ is Zefier's debut swan song to the ending year. Comprised of poetry and endless enumerations is a diaristic film chronicling the lessons and contradictions found throughout the human experience.

Memórias do Subúrbio: O que é o Acervo da Laje

The story of the first house/museum/school in the surburbs of Salvador: Acervo da Laje. Through interviews and photographic records of the Plataforma neighborhood, the short film proposes a reflection on the right to the city, especially the right to art in Salvador's favelas. As well as problematizing the lack of incentives for peripheral culture, it also explores the relationship between care and learning. With moving stories, Zé Eduardo and Vilma Santos will tell us a little about the construction of the collection they designed together. Acervo da Laje goes beyond being just a physical space; it is a daily practice that encourages art and knowledge for people with a voice who have never had the opportunity to be heard.