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Ten thousand years ago we were all hunter-gatherers. Now, the Yanomami Indians in the Venezuelan Amazon are the last large group of semi-nomadic hunter gathers remaining on earth. For thousands of years their lifestyle remain fundamentally unchanged. During a short 13 year period, when Hugo Chavez decided to bring remote Yanomami Indians into the modern Venezuelan welfare state, new stresses emerged. The filmmakers have been documenting the path of one Yanomami village in the Venezuelan Amazon, from November, 2000 to December, 2020. This period coincided with the rise and fall of the Venezuelan economy and the related Chavez socialist revolution. The challenges and changes for the people in this village as a result of these forces... compressing thousands of years of adaptation into two decades... created dramatic conflicts still unresolved.
2023-03-07
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"When the shamans stop dancing and life in the rainforest loses its balance, the sky will collapse and come to crush everything." This wisdom is passed down from generation to generation by the Yanomami of Brazil. But gold miners are polluting the rivers, shamans are dying, the rainforest is disappearing and the earth is getting hotter. Davi Kopenawa, a tribal leader and spokesman for the Yanomami, has been fighting relentlessly against the colonization of his land for 40 years. He warns Westerners that when the sky collapses, they too will be crushed. Why don't they listen? Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Halfway between fiction and documentary, Initiation of a Shaman tells the story of Rarowe, a young Yanomami who is about to be initiated and must make contact with spirits brought by other shamans. The young man feels the effects of the initiation and always waits until the end to see if he can withstand it. The initiation itself is a rare event and occurs only when the old medicine man is about to die. The ancient rites includes the struggle of the youth with evil spirits which attempt to prevent the old witch doctor from imparting his wisdom to the young man. Hallucinogetic plants are used by the tribe to increase perception. The eerie images depicted are similar to those evoked in the books of Castaneda.
Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)
Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.
Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec (Station, 1980) portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.
A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.
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.
In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.
A top-secret handbook takes viewers on an undercover journey to Titanpointe, the site of a hidden partnership. Narrated by Rami Malek and Michelle Williams, and based on classified NSA documents, PROJECT X reveals the inner workings of a windowless skyscraper in downtown Manhattan.
A television special broadcast on PBS in honor of composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist Joe Raposo after he passed away.
The definitive film on the harmonica. A comprehensive exploration of the culture, the players, the politics, and of course the music associated with the only instrument where one must breathe naturally to produce sound. This simple act, breathing through the harmonica, forms an undeniable connection between the player and the instrument as it captures the body and spirit of each individual musician that puts it to their mouth. It’s truly a universal phenomenon and the sound, well, it’s undeniable.
The author of the film decides to leave the country where she lives, in connection with the outbreak of the dramatic events, and return home to Armenia in search of a worthy example and solutions on how to live on. Paradjanov's house becomes a place of inspiration and a point of no return to toxic reality.
A portrait of a seemingly ordinary house - one that holds cherished memories while also bearing the burden of abandonment and neglect. Revisiting my grandparents’ house, I find myself exploring the intersection of home, nostalgia, and the passage of time while trying to grasp the essence of a place where time seems to stand still.
This is the first generation of Russian youth to have grown up after the fall of the Soviet Union, and are looking inwards to the Eastern Bloc for inspiration, rather than the wider Western world. With designers like Gosha Rubchinskiy popularising post-Soviet style around the world, we discover what effect the former Soviet Union has had on modern creativity, the impact of this cultural explosion on the rest of the world, and what it is to be young in Russia today.
Scientologists at War examines the independent Scientology movement and the high level defectors who have publicly renounced their membership from the Church of Scientology. Marty Rathbun is one of the most senior defectors in Scientology's history. As the former Inspector General of Ethics in the organisation that was created by science fiction writer L Ron Hubbard, Rathbun worked closely with its leader, David Miscavige, and celebrity follower Tom Cruise. The film provides a rare insider view of the Church of Scientology.
A fascinating quest for proof of life after death -- a true-life enigma that begins with one small, odd incident and mushrooms into a huge scientific inquiry into apparent messages from the 'Other Side.'