Wim Wenders

Near the Eastern borders with West Germany, Bruno, a solitary, permanent citizen of the road and film projection equipment repairman, witnesses the sad sight of a VW beetle car storming straight into the River Elbe. After a while, however, the depressed driver, Robert, instinctively accepts an offer for a lift in Bruno's repair van, and just like that, an impromptu relationship begins. Now, against the backdrop of the German countryside, the new companions find themselves sharing the same need for freedom, visiting dilapidated movie theatres for maintenance, and getting to know each other one small town after another. But, no one knows, or cares, how long is the road that stretches out ahead of them. After all, the only thing that matters is one's commitment to a precious ideal. Have the kings of the road found life's true meaning?—Nick Riganas

Kings of the Road

Kings of the Road (1976)

Peter Jackson

Andy Warhol

Filmmaker Alyssa Bolsey stumbles on a treasure trove of vintage cameras, old film reels, fading photos, technical drawings and boxes of documents that belonged to her great-grandfather Jacques Bolsey. Among the many boxes, she spots an old movie camera with the word "Bolex" embossed on its side and a dangling tag with the date, "1927." Entranced, she embarks on a journey to reveal how Jacques aimed to disrupt the early film industry with a motion picture camera for the masses.As she delves into the long-forgotten archive, Alyssa discovers that the reels of 16mm films inside the collection of rusty cans are too brittle to run through a projector. Once the films are restored, she is captivated by their casual style as commonly seen today with digital cameras and smartphones. Jacques comes to life through his films.Reading his journals, Alyssa learns firsthand of the trials he faced both as an idealistic inventor and as an immigrant. In his words and films, she finds a man living stateless in Switzerland, torn from his homeland by the Russian Revolution. After many years of inventing in Switzerland and still unable to gain acceptance, Jacques finds his way to the US, and creates a new generation of military cameras for the fight against fascism.Alyssa travels to Switzerland - the birthplace of the Bolex and Jacques' two sons. She traces her own roots to her great-grandmother Sima's apartment in Geneva, visits the Paillard factory where the Bolex Model H was designed and built, and stops at the current headquarters of Bolex International.Along the way, Alyssa seeks insight from camera collectors, historians and renowned filmmakers who explain how the iconic Bolex reached the farthest corners of the globe, unleashed the imagination and became synonymous with creative freedom. Simple and functional, it became a perfect tool for a diverse range of filmmakers. Alyssa speaks to Wim Wenders, Jonas Mekas, Barbara Hammer, Bruce Brown and others, who share the unbridled creative potential that the cameras' user has at their fingertips. Ninety years after Jacques released the first Bolex, she discovers that his pioneering invention continues to inspire filmmakers today.Drawing on expert interviews, memories of her family members, excerpts from Jacques personal diary and clips from his own movies, Beyond the Bolex is the remarkable tale of an immigrant, who in the face of adversity, made his lifelong ambition of making film and photography accessible to all, and inspired new generations of filmmakers.

Beyond the Bolex

Beyond the Bolex (2017)

Martin Scorsese

Ridley Scott

Ken Loach

Why are we still able to watch moving images captured over 125 years ago? As we move ever further into the digital age, our audiovisual heritage seems to be taken increasingly for granted. However, much of our filmed history and cinema has already been lost forever. Film archivists, curators, technicians and filmmakers from around the world explain what film preservation is and why it is needed. Our narrators are custodians of film whose work behind the scenes safeguards the survival of motion pictures. It is a task they undertake based on their closely held belief in the artistic and cultural value of the moving image, in tune with a shared mantra that a film might one day transform someone's life. This documentary pays homage to them all and sheds some light on their critical undertaking.—El Grifilm Productions

Film: The Living Record of Our Memory

Film: The Living Record of Our Memory (2021)

Woody Allen

Alec Baldwin

The docufilm is not only the biography of the legendary cinematographer and director, Carlo Di Palma, but an emotional journey into the greatest moment of Italian Cinema. From the neorealism of Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica, Roberto Rossellini, to Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blow Up" and "Red Desert" to the masterpieces of Woody Allen. Anecdotes, reflections and commentary by prestigious figures of world cinema such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Woody Allen, Wim Wenders, Volker Schlondorf and Ken Loach, accompany us on this fascinating voyage infused with the colours and vision of an Italian cinema that will remain forever in the annals of world cinema and the films of the great contemporary genius, Woody Allen.

Water and Sugar: Carlo Di Palma, the Colours of Life

Water and Sugar: Carlo Di Palma, the Colours of Life (2016)

Gerry Bamman

Nicholas Ray

Ronee Blakley

Director Nicholas Ray is eager to complete a final film before his imminent death from cancer. Wim Wenders is working on his own film Hammett (1982) in Hollywood, but flies to New York to help Ray realize his final wish. Ray's original intent is to make a fiction film about a dying painter who sails to China to find a cure for his disease. He and Wenders discuss this idea, but it is obviously unrealistic given Ray's state of health.—Karl Engel

Lightning Over Water

Lightning Over Water (1980)

As he approaches 90, Dani Karavan embarks on an emotional, political journey. En route, the complex and fascinating character of one of the greatest artists of our time is revealed.

High Maintenance

High Maintenance (2020)

For the last 40 years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed some of the major events of our recent history; international conflicts, starvation and exodus. He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of wild fauna and flora, and of grandiose landscapes as part of a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty.

The Salt of the Earth

The Salt of the Earth (2014)

Julian Schnabel

Isabel Coixet

Anton Corbijn

Easy Rider legend Dennis Hopper's unflappable veneer belied a man constantly teetering towards his next larger than life incarnation. Influential artist, filmmaker, musician and eccentric, Hopper's crammed and exorbitant life offers a riveting narrative. Director Hermann Vaske knew him well and delivers an often hilarious exposé of the man behind the mask. We discover a delicate and fascinating man, who harbored a troubled soul. —Marie Dupont

Dennis Hopper: Uneasy Rider

Dennis Hopper: Uneasy Rider (2016)

Lars von Trier

Jim Jarmusch

Steve McQueen

Director of Photography Robby Müller is one of the few people in the world who knows how to play the sun. How to catch its rays like butterflies. How to strike its beams like chords. When Robby moves his camera, the camera turns into a musical instrument. And the whole world dances, radiates, is illuminated. For her extraordinary film essay Director and DoP Claire Pijman had access to Müller's personal archive: thousands of Hi8 video diaries, personal pictures and Polaroids that Müller photographed throughout his career; often with long term collaborators such as Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Lars von Trier. The film intertwines these images with excerpts of his oeuvre, thus creating a fluid and cinematic continuum. In his score for Living the Light Jim Jarmusch gives this wide raging scale of life and art an additional musical voice. With his ground-breaking camerawork, inventive lighting methods, his exceptional sense for the depth of colour, and the freedom of framing, plus his ...

Robby Müller: Living the Light

Robby Müller: Living the Light (2018)

Samuel Fuller

Alex is Finlander married to an Italian who works as a taxi driver in Berlin. One night in his taxi come two men with a briefcase full of money. Unluckily for Alex, they are being chased by gangsters whose money was stolen. During the shooting, they get killed, and he must get rid of their bodies. —Karlo "Zapi" Bosnjak

Helsinki Napoli All Night Long (1987)

Helsinki Napoli All Night Long (1987) (1987)

German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer's block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected. After returning to Europe, the innocent friendship between Winter and Alice grows as they travel together through various European cities on a quest for Alice's grandmother. —Karl Engel

Alice in the Cities

Alice in the Cities (1974)

Dennis Hopper

Bruno Ganz

Tom Ripley has a sweet deal with an art forger. The forger creates the paintings; Tom sells them. But another criminal business associate wants Tom to go in for an even riskier enterprise: murder. Tom suggests his associate ask a local picture framer instead. That man has a fatal disease, or so it's rumored. More, he has a wife and kid that surely he wouldn't want to leave penniless. Let this picture framer be a hit man, and no one will suspect. The terminally ill craftsman may agree to the misdeed, and several more, but he'll end up needing Tom Ripley in a pinch.

The American Friend

The American Friend (1977)

Roger Corman

Patrick Bauchau

On location in Portugal, a film crew runs out of film while making their own version of Roger Corman's Day the World Ended (1955). The producer is nowhere to be found and director Friedrich Munro attempts to find him in hopes of being able to finish the film. —Karl Engel

Der Stand der Dinge

Der Stand der Dinge (1982)

After letting in an easy goal, the experienced German goalkeeper, Josef Bloch, believing it is offside, engages in a loud and fierce argument with the referee. Moments later, Josef is sent off, then, packs his things in a small bag, and catches the first tram into Vienna, to wander aimlessly from his cheap hotel to the local cinema. Before long, Gloria, the movie theatre's polite cashier, catches Josef's eye. She seems willing to hear him; however, can she provide a cathartic means of escape?

7.7 / 10

Drama

8.6 / 10

Documentary

7.8 / 10

Documentary

7.3 / 10

Biography
Documentary

6.7 / 10

Documentary

7.4 / 10

Documentary

8.4 / 10

Action
Biography

6.7 / 10

Documentary

7.1 / 10

Documentary

6.3 / 10

Comedy
Thriller

8 / 10

Drama

7.4 / 10

Action
Crime

7 / 10

Action
Drama

6.6 / 10

Action
Drama