MediaPlex

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  Considering Democracy: 8 Things to Ask Your Representative

  1. A film by Keya Lea Horiuchi
  4. run time 57 minutes 40 seconds

  While the U.S. is the most flaunted democracy in the world, how do we compare, and what does the rest of the world think of U.S. domestic and foreign policy? Americans are continually told through their media that freedom and democracy are being given to people abroad, but is it true?The documentary looks at seemingly different topics and creates a tapestry of tantalizing information that...  (more)

  
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  Behave (Juízo)

  1. A film by Maria Ramos
  4. run time 90 minutes

  JUIZO (BEHAVE) follows the process of minors (less than 18) who have fallen into the hands of the Brazilian legal system. Boys and girls from underprivileged backgrounds faced with crime, ruling, and sentences handed down for theft, drug trafficking, and even murder. Due to legal constraints about revealing the true identity of the minors charged, the accused adolescents were substituted with...  (more)

  
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  Tony Zear (Tony Zoreil)

  1. A film by Valentin Potier
  4. run time 19 minutes 30 seconds

  Tony is a 28 year-old single who inherited from an remarkable physical particularity. He has like the rest of his family very big ears and suffers from an extreme sensitivity to the slightest noise.  (more)

  
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  a disappearance foretold (dans les décombres)

  1. A film by olivier meys
  4. run time 85 minutes 1 seconds

  “Qianmen” is a popular neighbourhood in the very heart of Beijing, just south of the Tiananmen Square. In the perspective of the 2008 Olympic games, the city decided that the six hundred years old neighbourhood has to be “rehabilitated”. It is now in the line of fire of the promoters, and the 80000 people living there are facing drastic (and dramatic) changes.  (more)

  
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  Of Shadows and Men (Les ombres de Yunmeng)

  1. A film by Aurélien Foucault
  4. run time 22 minutes 11 seconds

  In Yunmeng, a rural city in the Hubei Province, there’s a theater, a teahouse where old men gather amongst the shadows of the past, drinking tea and playing cards. There, an ancient art takes place and brings magic back into everyday life.But China’s growth towards a new century brings up a few questions…  (more)

  
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  Anne and the Reverend (Anne et le Révérend)

  1. A film by Francois Uzan
  4. run time 49 minutes

  Anne and the Reverend tells the story of Makoto Otsuka, a reverend from Hiroshima, who met Anne Frank's father 30 years ago and, since then, transmits the memory of the Holocaust to Japanese children. Through the portrayal of this moving man, a surprising Japan, searching for its own memory, unveils itself.  (more)

  
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  My own 1000 square meters (My own 1000 square meters)

  1. A film by Atousa Bandeh Ghiasabadi
  4. run time 14 minutes 5 seconds

  Een Iraanse vrouw besluit, na 17 jaar in Nederland gewoond te hebben, om terug te gaan naar haar thuisland met de droom een stuk grond te kopen. Langzaamaan ontdekt ze dat haar droom minder gemakkelijk te realiseren is dan zij had gedacht.  (more)

  
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  how i am (wie ich bin)

  1. A film by Ingrid demetz
  4. run time 49 minutes

  "I’m like a hermit on an island." This is what Patrick writes about his life as an autistic who lives caught in his own body. With the wisdom of a thinker and the dreams and fears of a teenager, Patrick takes us on a trip into his world and allows us a glimpse of his inner feelings.  (more)

  
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  A Long Day ('Na sciurnata longa)

  1. A film by Anna Bianco
  4. run time 17 minutes 40 seconds

  Giuseppina feels that her days never end. She lives alone in her flat with her habits, her daily tasks that her age makes longer and more fatiguing with every day that goes by, and the glimpses of life seen through the window. Against this existence, with its so few happenings, Giuseppina has her liveliness and the wealth of her interior world.  (more)

  
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  Mirror Mirror

  1. A film by John Winter
  4. run time 10 minutes 29 seconds

  The story of an elderly crossdresser... After so many years together, Joe faces life without Jana. Saying goodbye to yourself is never easy.  (more)

  
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  Nature's Beauty (Water is Life)

  1. A film by Saroj Khan
  4. run time 13 minutes 40 seconds

  Scene taken from Chawkkalmi village under Bargahchali Mouza of West Bengal where village is surrounded by water and dry land is very rare where water is all as because it has necessity of ferrying by small boats and castles by villagers and peoples are used to fishing and hands to mouth by fishing as it is their profession.  (more)

  
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  Rapping with Shakespeare

  1. A film by Michael King
  4. run time 83 minutes

  RAPPING WITH SHAKESPEARE is a modern day hip-hop version of Shakespeare’s tales that explores the lives of five South Central Los Angeles’ teenagers attending Crenshaw High School. The student’s personal stories subtly parallel Shakespeare’s archetypal characters. Also, the documentary examines how a popular English teacher, Andy Molnar uses the students’ popular culture, hip-hop/rap to...  (more)

  
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  River Ways

  1. A film by Colin Stryker
  4. run time 85 minutes

  “River Ways” explores the lives of regular working people affected by the issue of whether to remove four dams on the Snake River in Eastern Washington. Environmental groups and fishing interests criticize the dams for their negative impact on salmon populations, but agricultural communities dependent on the dams oppose efforts to remove them. Combining interviews with careful everyday...  (more)

  
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  1000 Journals

  1. A film by Andrea Kreuzhage
  4. run time 88 minutes

  1000 blank journals are passed from hand to hand throughout the world, collecting stories, pictures, collages -- slices of the lives they touch. One came back, filled. Where are the other 999? 1000 Journals investigates their worldwide journeys, and chronicles the self-governed collaboration of thousands of random people who added to this global "message in a bottle."  (more)

  
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  Word on the Str33t

  1. A film by Shekinah Apedo
  4. run time 66 minutes

  WORD ON THE STR33T" is a feature-length documentary that investigates the legitimacy of Christian Hip-Hop as a tool for ministry or as another genre of music aimed at acquiring profits. The investigation examines the history and growth of this movement in the United States through interviews from the industry's pioneering rappers. Further investigation on the topic covers the status of Christian...  (more)

  
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  They Turned Our Desert Into Fire

  1. A film by Mark Brecke
  4. run time 88 minutes 42 seconds

  Mark Brecke's They Turned Our Desert Into Fire tells the story of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan, through the perspectives of Amtrak passengers during a three-day, cross-country train trip. In dramatic contrast to the benign American landscape outside the train, Mark's photographic images of desolation, death, and human suffering in the burned out villages of Darfur and refugee...  (more)

  
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  From The 50 Yard Line

  1. A film by Doug Lantz
  4. run time 98 minutes

  The documentary tells the emotional marching band story more up-close and personal than ever before. Travel on adventures through the audition process, practices, band camp, the marching season, and 2006 competitions. See the life-changing effects for these exceptional students and consider the ramifications when music programs are cut. Learn about the substantial rewards of disciplined practice,...  (more)

  
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  Games of the European Countries (ΤΑ ΠΑΙΧΝΙΔΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΚΡΑΤΩΝ ΤΗΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΣΗ)

  1. A film by Gregory Zorzos
  4. run time 47 minutes 4 seconds

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  Playing Between Elephants (Di Antara Gajah-gajah)

  1. A film by Aryo Danusiri
  4. run time 90 minutes

  There is an Indonesian saying that when the elephants are locked in a fight, the mousedeer would die in the middle. But in this documentary, the mousedeer does not die - instead, it manages to play between them and get what it wants. This film documents a post-tsunami and post-conflict Aceh, where an international body that is assigned to build houses, while an Acehnese village chief leads his...  (more)

  
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  Every Step You Take (Every Step You Take)

  1. A film by Nino Leitner
  2. Independent Film Festival Osnabrück
  3. October 08 - 12, 2008
  4. run time 65 minutes

  With an estimated four million surveillance cameras, Britain is by far the most-watched nation on earth. How could this come about in George Orwell's mother country? Why haven't other nations copied the schemes if they really are as successful as the Home Office is saying? Is there a real effect in crime reduction or has CCTV only been introduced for the people's 'peace of mind'? Trying to...  (more)

  
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  Rock 'n Tokyo (Rock 'n Tokyo)

  1. A film by Pamela Valente
  4. run time 90 minutes

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  Naked on the Inside

  1. A film by Kim Farrant
  4. run time 81 minutes

  naked on the inside comes at a time when the Western world has never been more obsessed with body image. This unnerving feature-length documentary asks a simple, but audacious, question: Beyond our clothes and skin, who are we? In Taiwan, a female Sunday school teacher lives a covert life as a man. On the streets of East LA, the gangland tattoos of a convicted killer brand him to his past,...  (more)

  
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  Ilya and Marusya (Иля + Маруся)

  1. A film by Vladimir Nepevny
  4. run time 39 minutes

  At the core of this poetically edited assemblage are the love letters between the writer Ilya Ilf (1897-1937) and his wife, Maria Tasarenko (Marusya), recently published by their daughter, Alexandra. The film uses beautiful, historic black and white footage, scenes from Russian film history, superbly chosen background music, as well as countless photographs made by Ilya Ilf himself, to bring to...  (more)

  
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  4 Elements

  1. A film by Jiska Rickels
  4. run time 89 minutes

  4 Elements consists of four chapters that each show the struggle of mankind with the different elements. FIRE shows the ‘smokejumpers’ of Siberia that control the fire but also shows how they paradoxically make a fire in the base camp to cook their dinner. WATER tells the story of the Kingcrabfishers in Alaska and shows the men during the season of four days and nights. In EARTH two...  (more)

  
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  Indestructible

  1. A film by Ben Byer
  4. run time 117 minutes

  When 31 year-old Ben Byer is diagnosed with ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, he begins documenting his life on camera. What begins as a series of video diaries grows into a three-year journey that takes him around the world looking for answers, and maybe even a cure.  (more)

  
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  Monster Camp

  1. A film by Cullen Hoback
  4. run time 78 minutes

  A rare and fascinating glimpse into a real-life version of World of Warcraft where gamer stereotypes are simultaneously shattered and confirmed. For 48 consecutive hours-- there are no breaks, not even for sleep -- immerse yourself in a world completely unlike our own. A world built upon fantasy, chivalry, and imagination; a place where you can be anything, dress however, have almost any power,...  (more)

  
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  Village People Radio Show (Apa Khabar Orang Kampung)

  1. A film by Amir Muhammad
  4. run time 72 minutes

  In the propaganda war against the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), much was made of the fact that the party comprised ethnic Chinese who adopted an atheistic political philosophy. This tactic proved effective as the country was mainly Malay and Muslim. However, a large and influential division of the CPM comprised Malay-Muslims. This documentary is a portrait of life in a tranquil South Thailand...  (more)

  
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  Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

  1. A film by Stephen Kijak
  4. run time 95 minutes

  Scott Walker: 30 Century Man is a rare glimpse into the creative world of the most enigmatic figure in rock history, and will trace the undeniable impact he has had on popular music through casual interviews with some of his biggest, highest profile fans. We explore his fascinating trajectory, from jobbing bass player on LA’s Sunset Strip, to his domination of the British pop scene that...  (more)

  
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  Two Homelands, Cuba and the Night (Dos Patrias, Cuba y la noche)

  1. A film by Christian Liffers
  4. run time 84 minutes

  ”Life for gay men in Cuba is explored via six protags in novice helmer Christian Liffers' handsome "Two Homelands. Cuba and the Night." Nicely structured without being rigidly tied down, docu steers clear of colonialist patronizing or prurient exploitation, aiming instead for a more nuanced view of the Cuban character and gay life under Castro's homophobic rule. Respectful p.o.v. may leave...  (more)

  
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  Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress

  1. A film by donnie l. betts
  4. run time 110 minutes

  A powerful and gripping portrait of the remarkable artistry and life of poet, singer, playwright, composer and social activist Oscar Brown Jr. A playful and charismatic performer, Brown is also an acclaimed jazz lyricist who worked closely with Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone and collaborated with Max Roach and Bobby Timmons on some of the most memorable compositions of the hard bop era. Beyond...  (more)

  
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  Hell on Wheels

  1. A film by Bob Ray & Werner Campbell
  4. run time 90 minutes

  Hell on Wheels is the ass kicking documentary film telling the story of a group of Texas women who band together to resurrect roller derby for the 21st century. Emerging from the Austin music and arts scene, these women create a rock and roll fueled version of all-girl roller derby that has spawned the derby craze that's sweeping the nation. Hell on Wheels is the birth of the rollergirl...  (more)

  
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  Darkbeat

  1. A film by Iris B. Cegarra
  4. run time 60 minutes

  Darkbeat An Electro World Voyage is a documentary on the Electro music experience told by artists from the oldschool to the new school. The film aims to recognize this form of music and expose the passion it takes by the artists, D.J.’s and small communities around the world to create and preserve it. This documentary expands on the past, present and future uses of technology and its...  (more)

  
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  Kamp Katrina

  1. A film by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon
  4. run time 74 minutes

  Ms. Pearl — a New Orleans native — converts her backyard into a tent city where 14 displaced people live for 6 months. She provides construction jobs and basic resources to help them assist in rebuilding the city. The situation gradually goes violently awry and she is confronted with an array of abuses amidst a broken city. Kamp Katrina is a verité documentary set in post-Katrina New...  (more)

  
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  Queens of Sound- A Herstory of Reggae and Dancehall

  1. A film by Sandra Krampelhuber
  4. run time 74 minutes

  For the first time the feature length documentary film "QUEENS OF SOUND – A Herstory of Reggae and Dancehall" explores the long neglected female side of Reggae and Dancehall music in Jamaica. Three generations of women in the Jamaican music business tell us about their role in past and present, their first steps into the career, their struggle for acceptance in a male-dominated business, their...  (more)

  
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  Quilombo Country

  1. A film by Leonard Abrams
  4. run time 73 minutes

  Brazil, once the world's largest slave colony, was a brutal and deadly place for millions of Africans. But many thousands escaped or rebelled, creating their own communities in Brazil's untamed hinterland. Today they navigate the hazards of the modern world. “Quilombo Country” (“Quilombo” is an Angolan word meaning “encampment”), which ranges from the Northeastern sugar-growing...  (more)

  
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  Soufre (Soufre)

  1. A film by Florian Geyer
  4. run time 40 minutes

  A day in the life of a sulfur miner on the island of Java. Twice daily, he carries out the woven baskets containing the 80 kilograms of sulfur he has dug with his bare hands. At night, he does it by torchlight. He delivers his load by foot, picking his way among the rocks on the Green Crater, breathing the highly toxic hydrochloric and sulfuric fumes of the still active volcano. The film is...  (more)

  
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  The Snowman

  1. A film by Bente Petersen
  4. run time 3 minutes

  A memorable snowman  (more)

  
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  Tiny Katerina (Malenkaya Katerina)

  1. A film by Ivan Golovnev
  4. run time 24 minutes

  Northwestern Siberia, Russia. Small Khanty girl Katerina observes and understands the outer world. She learns the voices of people, animals and other beings. Gradually she approaches the unknown and the unknown comes closer - not far from Katerina’s nomad camp an oil rig appears.  (more)

  
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  Triumph of Life: The Survivors

  1. A film by Nick Upton
  4. run time 60 minutes

  For over 4 billion years, life has struggled to survive. We are surrounded today by resilient veterans in this ancient war - creatures descended from long lines of successful ancestors that survived to bred and to continue their line. The rule of life is that ancestral lineages continue. The Survivors investigates why some dynasties and even species go extinct, and what makes a good survivor in...  (more)

  
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  The Hobart Shakespeareans

  1. A film by Mel Stuart
  4. run time 50 minutes

  The Hobart Shakespeareans is a one-hour documentary centering on the unusual teaching methods of an extraordinary teacher as he take on the difficulties of teaching fifth grade at a inner-city grade schools: Hobart Elementary in Los Angeles. This documentary focuses on the unique relationship between Rafe and his young students during the course of a school year as they pursue his unorthodox...  (more)

  
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  Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea

  1. A film by Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer
  4. run time 71 minutes

  A hair-raising and hilarious documentary narrated by John Waters that tells the story of a desert resort wonderland that has turned into America's worst ecological disaster. Amid the flooded towns, empty cities, and beaches of dead fish, we meet the hardy eccentrics that continue hang on to hope, including a roadside nudist waving at passing European tourists, a man building a religious mountain...  (more)

  
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  Radiophobia

  1. A film by Julio Soto
  4. run time 54 minutes

  RADIOPHOBIA examines the Chernobyl disaster and its consequences 20 years later from the perspective of a group of survivors and people who were on duty at the reactor on the fateful night. This is the first time that they have returned to the 'Zone' to reconcile their past with the ruins of the present. Inside the 'Zone' we also meet many of the peculiar inhabitants who never left this highly...  (more)

  
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  Shaken

  1. A film by Deborah Fryer
  4. run time 27 minutes

  Paul Schroder was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease shortly after graduating from college. For ten years he took medications, but as his disease progressed, the pills became less effective, leaving Paul either paralyzed or flailing about uncontrollably 90% of the time. The most only treatment option left was a radical kind of brain surgery called Deep Brain Stimulation -- a cross between The Far...  (more)

  
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  Single Mum

  1. A film by Martin Drange
  4. run time 29 minutes 50 seconds

  An "Impressionist picture book" about a group of single mothers who live together in a large house. The director has followed three women and their children from sunrise to sunset for more than a year. The film explores the question: "Is it possible to be young, go out, have a sound economy and be a good and attentive mother at the same time?  (more)

  
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  John & Jane

  1. A film by Ashim Ahluwalia
  4. run time 83 minutes

  A fresh new blend of observational documentary and tropical science-fiction, JOHN & JANE follows the stories of six call agents that answer American 1-800 numbers in a Mumbai call center. After a heady mix of American "culture training" and 14 hour night shifts, the job soon starts to take its toll. Counter pointing the fluorescent interiors of late night offices and hyper-malls with the uneasy...  (more)

  
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  JUMP

  1. A film by Justin Bookey
  4. run time 67 minutes

  In some counties, length is everything. Every Spring since 1928 thousands converge upon Calaveras County to see whose frog will jump the farthest. JUMP follows the sweat and sacrifice of those who yearn to be the County's top frog jockey and be enshrined on the Hop of Fame. This heartfelt "frogumentary" uncovers an historical community that honors its feisty connection to a Wild West past.  (more)

  
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  From Shtetl to Swing

  1. A film by Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir
  4. run time 57 minutes

  To its collective journey from synagogue choirs to Harlem hotspots, from Yiddish theater to musical extravaganza, from klezmer to ragtime, from symphonic jazz to swing all the way from the Bowery to Tin Pan Alley to Broadway to Hollywood. FROM SHTETL TO SWING recounts the ebullient story of a musical metamorphosis born in darkest Russia, only to blaze across the sky of the Great White Way. FROM...  (more)

  
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  Conflict Tiger

  1. A film by Sasha Snow
  4. run time 61 minutes

  In the forests of the Russian Far East, an inexperienced and foolhardy poacher triggers an infamous series of tiger attacks on people. The authorities call upon the services of Yuri Trush, a specialist in tracking and eliminating tigers that have lost their fear of man. ˘Conflict Tiger" takes Yuri's most notorious pursuit of a ˘man-eating" tiger as the basis for a documentary thriller. From...  (more)

  
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  Brookyln: Among the Ruins

  1. A film by Suzanne Wasserman
  4. run time 13 minutes 58 seconds

  Brooklyn: Among the Ruins introduces audiences to Brooklyn born and bred Paul Kronenberg. Paul is a 60 year-old subway buff who built a life-size replica of a 1930s motorman's subway cab in his tiny bedroom in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Paul, a former math tutor and delivery truck driver, describes himself as a classic underachiever. But Paul has his own worldview that is reflected in his...  (more)

  
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  Angry Monk

  1. A film by Luc Schaedler
  4. run time 97 minutes 52 seconds

  ANGRY MONK portrays the life of an unorthodox monk, revealing a face of Tibet that goes against popular cliches. The film makes unique historical footage available to the general public for the first time. But it does not dwell on the past; rather it oscillates between tradition and modernity. ANGRY MONK offers an insight into a country whose past is refracted in the contradictions of everyday...  (more)

  
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  Balloonhat

  1. A film by A.G. Vermouth
  4. run time 88 minutes

  BALLOONHAT follows the travails of an eccentric balloon artist and a photographer on a worldwide journey recording random moments of joy and absurdity. They return home to pursue their goal of publishing a photo art book, and are forced instead to confront the realities of a post-millennial America.  (more)

  
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  Be Fruitful & Multiply

  1. A film by Shosh Shlam
  4. run time 50 minutes

  How does it feel to have been pregnant or breastfeeding for 25 of 26 years of your married life? This and other questions are posed openly and directly for the first time in this film, and they expose the consequences of the commandment "Be fruitful and multiply" the mother of all Mitzvot, upon the ultra-orthodox Jewish woman. The center of her life is pregnancy, childbirth and constant nursing....  (more)

  

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