
Writer and cineast Jørgen Leth is the fascinated observer of a country where reality often seems surreal and resembles fiction. Haïti’s history is written in blood. Voodoo plays an important role in politics. Death and horror are part of Haïti’s everyday life. Over five years Leth and his small crew witnessed dramatic events, but he also captured moments of sensuality and beauty in his epic and very personal documentary.
Writer and cineast Jørgen Leth is the fascinated observer of a country where reality often seems surreal and resembles fiction. Haïti’s history is written in blood. Voodoo plays an important role in politics. Death and horror are part of Haïti’s everyday life. Over five years Leth and his small crew witnessed dramatic events, but he also captured moments of sensuality and beauty in his epic and very personal documentary.
1996-08-01
6.5
6.1A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
6.4A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
6.4The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.
6.5A journey inside the world of real life caped crusaders. From all over America, these self-proclaimed crime fighters, don masks, homemade costumes and elaborate utility belts in an attempt to bring justice to evildoers everywhere.
7.5A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
6.2A documentary about ten very different lives connected by having appeared onscreen wearing masks or helmets in Star Wars.
5.9Serial killer Dennis Nilsen narrates his life and horrific crimes via a series of chilling audiotapes recorded from his jail cell.
6.0A night of drunken chaos rocks a quiet Dutch town in this shocking documentary about a teen's birthday invite that accidentally went viral on Facebook.
7.5Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence.
7.1Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
6.5A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
7.3Alex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all way to the Vatican.
6.7A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
7.6A documentary focused on plastic pollution in the world's oceans.
7.0Photographer Estevan Oriol and artist Mister Cartoon turned their Chicano roots into gritty art, impacting street culture, hip hop and beyond.
6.5In this documentary, recovering addict and amputee John Wood finds himself in a stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction and believes it therefore to be his rightful property.
7.4This revealing documentary honors the legendary Sidney Poitier—iconic actor, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Featuring interviews with Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Halle Berry, and more.
7.7In this chilling and groundbreaking documentary, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various film genres. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia's 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.
7.1Documentary filmmaker Amy Berg investigates the life of 30-year pedophile Father Oliver O'Grady and exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed him to abuse countless children. Victims' stories and a disturbing interview with O'Grady offer a view into the troubled mind of the spiritual leader who moved from parish to parish gaining trust ... all the while betraying so many.
6.1The evolution of the zombie from its roots in Haitian voodoo to its coveted role as the world's most popular monster: from being a clumsy corpse to becoming a cannibal killer and the main agent of every infectious pandemic, the zombie has come a long way in seventy years. A look at the rising tide of zombie culture examining why something so dead has so much life in viewers' nightmares and at the box office.
Haïti Chérie is a respond to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. A few weeks after the catastrophe Huber carries out a performance over the snowy, seemingly endless, frozen sea in Finland, waters carrying on to reach the coasts of Haiti. Snow angels drawn by Huber’s body symbolize sorrow and lives lost, but also solidarity and hope.
7.1In the slum of Cité Soleil, President Aristide's most loyal supporters were ruling as kings. The five major gang leaders were controlling heavily armed young men; the Chiméres. The Secret army of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "Ghosts of Cité Soleil" is a film about Billy and Haitian 2pac. Two brothers. Gang Leaders of the Chiméres.
0.0The slave ships during the XVII and XVIII century transported millions of colored people from Africa to America carried within it the seed of a religious cult that would help the slaves in the Confederacy for their freedom. This is the story of the formation of African roots syncretic cults that worship spirits of two faces: black continent mystical entities hidden behind Catholic imagery.
6.2This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her years in Haiti (1947-1951); she never edited the footage, so this “finished” version was made by Teiji Ito and Cherel Ito after Deren’s death.
Filmmaker Herbert Alfonso and musician Glenn de Randamie travel to Ghana to do some research on polyrhythm and the West-African spirituality. However, their trip to The Motherland makes them realize that home is more than the place where they grew up. Years later, they recollect their faded memories and try to find the right words to describe their intense experience. What exactly made them feel at home and lost at the same time? What does being home actually mean for a black individual from Europe while visiting Africa? Only abstractions seem to persevere as this colourful and musically-charged collage serves to show how a life-changing experience can leave us with nothing but fragments of a truth that has yet to be discovered.
7.6An exploration of the cinematic history of the folk horror, from its beginnings in the UK in the late sixties; through its proliferation on British television in the seventies and its many manifestations, culturally specific, in other countries; to its resurgence in the last decade.
0.0One hundred years after the Haitian Revolution, the people of Haiti find themselves once again having to defend their liberty, this time against a powerful neighbor, the United States.
7.0About the extraordinary doctors and activists—including Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, and Ophelia Dahl—whose work 30 years ago to save lives in a rural Haitian village grew into a global battle in the halls of power for the right to health for all.
Living Memories is a documentary film that traces the history of the director’s neighborhood and native country, Haiti, through a personal and engaged perspective. Brick by brick, through encounters and wanderings throughout Port-au-Prince’s neighborhoods, archival photos, graffiti, and animations, the filmmaker introduces us to architect Léon Mathon and the residential architecture of the early 20th century. Over the ruins of her family home, Dominique, the director's mother, an architect like her father and grandfather before her, searches through her memories and significant places for traces of the past and the history of her country. Many of her landmarks are no longer there. From this tragedy arises a quest — a need to reconnect memory and history to understand the present better. The filmmaker follows her mother during her journey, capturing her reflections and conversations and documenting them to bring memories back to life.
0.0John is a Haitian migrant who fled his country due to political instability and death threats. After a long journey, he managed to be recognized as a refugee in Mexico, allowing him to start a new chapter in a new land. However, for John, this story is far from over as his wife and baby remain stranded in Chile. Every day, John takes steps towards family reunification, longing to embrace those who are his true refuge.
0.0Zombies are part of pop culture, but what are they? Where do they come from? To find real zombies we visit Haiti where Zombies are an integral part of the island's cultural and religious roots.
8.0An acting ensemble rehearses for an upcoming theater festival. They rig up stage scenery and practice dialogue and set pieces in the middle of a residential area. But this is no ordinary theater setting, as evidenced by the armed guards at the entrance. Festival 4 Chemins is taking place in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Gangs are active in the city; you can hear machine-gun fire in the distance.
5.9Follow the rise, fall, and reinvention of controversial and revered '90s television psychic Miss Cleo. Featuring interviews with celebrities and those closest to the self-proclaimed voodoo priestess, this documentary explores the many layers behind a complicated and charismatic figure.
1.0Why are there so many ghosts on the island of Jamaica? Why is the island so notoriously haunted by tales of voodoo and dark mystical lore? "Haunted Jamaica" seeks to answer these questions ...
6.8Music and politics collide when international music star, Pras Michel of the Fugees, returns to his homeland of Haiti following the devastating earthquake of 2010 to mobilize a presidential campaign for Haiti's most controversial musician: Michel Martelly aka Sweet Micky. The politically inexperienced pair set out against a corrupted government, civil unrest, and a fixed election. When Pras's former bandmate, superstar Wyclef Jean, also enters the presidential race, their chances seem further doomed. But with the help of a few friends, including Ben Stiller and former president Bill Clinton, they never give up on their honest dream of changing the course of Haiti's future forever
8.7A documentary that reveals the underbelly of the global aid and investment industry. It's a complex web of interests that span the earth from powerful nations and multinational corporations to tribal and village leaders. This documentary offers unique insights into a multi-billion dollar world by investigating how aid dollars are spent.
5.0Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary follows families of those affected by the 2013 legislation stripping citizenship from Dominicans of Haitian descent, uncovering the complex history and present-day politics of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the grassroots electoral campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris.
0.0What is the role of an ethnographic filmmaker as an outsider and student of a culture? Is it about representing, demonstrating, and reflecting or exposing, participating, and transposing? Although these are not binary terms of the historic discussions in anthropology, they share a lot to be experimented through shared cine-anthropology and sensory multimodal ethnography.