An isolated monastery in the Italian hills. A kung fu master. A community of Christian monks, with a touch of Asian disciplines. A single faith: to fight evil in the name of the Father. For twenty years, the Warrior Monks, former martial arts champions, have been preparing for a “higher” war, amid night-time prayers and […]
In 1948, Édith Piaf offers his first camera to Charles Aznavour, a Paillard that he’ll keep forever. Until 1982, Charles filmed hours of reel, as he would have kept a diary. Aznavour films his life and lives as he films. Wherever he goes, his camera is there with him, recording everything, the key moments of […]
For Sama is the first documentary by 26-year-old citizen journalist Waad al-Kateab. She dedicates the film to her newborn daughter: “I need you to understand why your father and I made the choices we did, what we were fighting for.” With a simple digital camera, she documents the Syrian uprising against Assad in the rebel stronghold […]
The Forum centres on Klaus Schwab, the 81-year-old founder of the World Economic Forum, the non-for-profit organisation that looks to improve the state of the world through dialogue between leaders across all areas of society. It follows Schwab for a year when the world is dealing with issues including the climate crisis, Brexit, France’s ‘gilets […]
Director Jimmy Hendrickx adopts the energetic, edgy attitude of his film’s subject in this study of Indonesia’s Muslim punk community, which he sets in the context of a much older tribe – the Dayak – who are also viewed as “outsiders” by the general populace. Both these ancient and modern clans share a sense of […]
In China, career-focused women who haven’t married by their late-twenties are often referred to as “sheng nu” or “leftover women”, a derogatory term to begin with, and especially so when one considers that many have achieved tremendous professional success in highly competitive sectors. Returning to China after making an impact with their internet addiction treatment […]
You’ve heard of climate change but this latest documentary-spectacle from Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter (The Border Fence, DocPoint 2019) is about landscape change. Geyrhalter’s film is alerting us to the vast changes to terrain and geology that are being made with large-scale mining and construction, industries that are gouging out the Earth’s contents, hollowing out […]
The Symphony of the Ursus Factory is a creative documentary, which applies the methods of participatory art and social practice, and combines video art. With choreography and experimental music. Above all, though, it is a voice commemorating the Ursus Factory and the industrial and workers’ culture, a voice which fights for the dignity of the working […]
In interviews, Russian director Andrey Tarkovsky (1932-1986) enjoyed expounding on his life, work and ideas. This material—the sound and film recordings—forms the basis for this film meticulously compiled by his son. The only speaker is Tarkovsky himself, talking on subjects ranging from his first memory to the importance of religion and spirituality; film critics (who […]
Comrade Ivan Komendantov, the secretary of ideology for a regional youth association, has a mission: to revive the socialist state. Sipping a soft drink, he shakes his head, hardly believing he’s only 16. He takes his new star status in the communist sphere very seriously, so he hastens from funerals to dinners, party meetings and […]