Movie: The Letter to a Chinese Friend

Recommendations Movies

For Sama
82%

For Sama(en)

2019-07-26

A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.

The Atomic Cafe
73%

The Atomic Cafe(en)

1982-03-17

A disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

Naqoyqatsi
61%

Naqoyqatsi(en)

2002-09-02

A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
72%

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country(en)

2008-11-12

Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, the acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, brings us close to the video journalists who deliver the footage. Though risking torture and life in jail, courageous young citizens of Burma live the essence of journalism as they insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country.

Fuck
64%

Fuck(en)

2006-11-10

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Night Will Fall
76%

Night Will Fall(en)

2014-06-07

When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".

Interstellar: Nolan's Odyssey
78%

Interstellar: Nolan's Odyssey(en)

2014-11-05

A look behind the lens of Christopher Nolan's space epic.

Einstein and the Bomb
62%

Einstein and the Bomb(en)

2024-02-16

What happened after Einstein fled Nazi Germany? Using archival footage and his own words, this docudrama dives into the mind of a tortured genius.

Why We Fight: Prelude to War
64%

Why We Fight: Prelude to War(en)

1942-05-27

Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.

Bitter Lake
76%

Bitter Lake(en)

2015-01-24

An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction
69%

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction(en)

2013-09-11

An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.

In the Realms of the Unreal
71%

In the Realms of the Unreal(en)

2004-01-15

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

Man with a Movie Camera
78%

Man with a Movie Camera(ru)

1929-05-12

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

Kino Eye
67%

Kino Eye(ru)

1924-10-31

This documentary promoting the joys of life in a Soviet village centers on the activities of the Young Pioneers. These children are constantly busy, pasting propaganda posters on walls, distributing hand bills, exhorting all to "buy from the cooperative" as opposed to the Public Sector, promoting temperance, and helping poor widows. Experimental portions of the film, projected in reverse, feature the un-slaughtering of a bull and the un-baking of bread.

HyperNormalisation
75%

HyperNormalisation(en)

2016-10-25

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

Koyaanisqatsi
79%

Koyaanisqatsi(en)

1983-04-27

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

The Battle of San Pietro
61%

The Battle of San Pietro(en)

1945-05-03

This documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the way for the Allied forces from the Germans. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.

Tread
66%

Tread(en)

2020-02-21

Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him.

Life in a Day
72%

Life in a Day(en)

2011-01-27

A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.

20 Days in Mariupol
80%

20 Days in Mariupol(en)

2023-07-14

As the Russian invasion begins, a team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting the war's atrocities.

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The Aqueduct of Seyssuel
0%

The Aqueduct of Seyssuel(fr)

2025-07-15

Five fragments of observation and sensations during a journey with Gorneton's trail in Seyssuel, Isère. A work-in-progress with sounds, the interest of light and the solitude of a digital camera.

John Ford Goes to War
53%

John Ford Goes to War(en)

2002-01-01

When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."

The Occupation of the American Mind
84%

The Occupation of the American Mind(en)

2016-01-19

Over the past few years, Israel's ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world—except the United States. This documentary takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S.

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
90%

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989(sv)

2024-10-04

Archival film maestro Göran Hugo Olsson has assembled—from a vast catalogue of footage in the vaults of Sweden’s national television service SVT—accounts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as witnessed and represented by Swedish journalists. Stories of the beginning of the Israeli state interwoven with the Palestinian struggle for independence. News coverage with Yasser Arafat and interviews with Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban during a visit to Sweden unseen since first broadcast. From the tenth anniversary of Israel’s founding to the First Intifada, perspectives and encounters with statesmen, civilians, revolutionaries, and intellectuals tell the story from myriad angles of an evolving media landscape, revivifying a history of the ongoing conflict.

The Atomic Cafe
73%

The Atomic Cafe(en)

1982-03-17

A disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years
50%

Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years(en)

2003-11-15

Behind-the-scenes footage, rare screen tests and insightful interviews highlight this engrossing two-hour look at one of Hollywood's greatest dream factories. Such film luminaries as Tom Hanks, William Friedkin, George Lucas, Oliver Stone and Robert Altman discuss their work at the studio. Clips include scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Patton, Young Frankenstein, Star Wars, Alien, Big, Home Alone, Die Hard and dozens more.

Prisoners of Propaganda
60%

Prisoners of Propaganda(en)

1987-12-01

In 1943, the Imperial Japanese Secret Service made a film called Calling Australia! to show the "exemplary conditions" under which prisoners of war were kept, and to "soften up" the Australian public for the anticipated occupation of their country by Japanese forces. Prisoners of Propaganda tells why the film was made, and how it came to be forgotten.

Lenin and the Other Story of the Russian Revolution
75%

Lenin and the Other Story of the Russian Revolution(fr)

2017-02-28

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, is remembered as the instigator of the October Revolution of 1917 and, therefore, as one of the men who changed the shape of the world at that time and forever, but perhaps the actual events happened in a way different from that narrated in the history books…

The Battle of France
80%

The Battle of France(fr)

1964-06-03

A montage of newscasts tracing the events of the "damned war" and the German invasion of 1940.

Forbidden Films
65%

Forbidden Films(de)

2014-03-06

Between 1933 and 1945 roughly 1200 films were made in Germany, of which 300 were banned by the Allied forces. Today, around 40 films, called "Vorbehaltsfilme", are locked away from the public with an uncertain future. Should they be re-released, destroyed, or continue to be neglected? Verbotene Filme takes a closer look at some of these forbidden films.

The Phoney War
80%

The Phoney War(fr)

2019-08-27

September 3rd, 1939. Britain and France declare war on Nazi Germany, only two days after the Wehrmacht invades Poland. This day, the sad date when the fate of the world changed forever, the Phoney War began: eight months of uncertainty, preparations, evacuations and skirmishes.

The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
72%

The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari(en)

2022-11-03

A close examination of the Whakaari / White Island volcanic eruption of 2019 in which 22 lives were lost, the film viscerally recounts a day when ordinary people were called upon to do extraordinary things, placing this tragic event within the larger context of nature, resilience, and the power of our shared humanity.

Naples Is a Battlefield
62%

Naples Is a Battlefield(en)

1944-09-01

The capture of Naples, the first great European city to be liberated, revealed the magnitude of the tasks involved in re-creating the means of livelihood and the machinery of government in a devastated, starving and disease-ridden city.

Heroic Spain
50%

Heroic Spain(es)

1938-08-02

Documentary produced by Falange and edited in Berlin, in response to the international success of the Republican production "Spain 1936" (Le Chanois, 1937).

Food Will Win the War
56%

Food Will Win the War(en)

1942-07-20

World War II propaganda film on the importance of American farming. A morale booster film stressing the abudance of American agricultural output.

Golden Chains
0%

Golden Chains(en)

2025-08-25

A new exploration of familiar places located in the region of Rhône and Isère throught an reinvention of digital nuances, a study of perceptions and fluidity around the nature of motion in landscapes and human interactions.

The Invisible Front
58%

The Invisible Front(en)

2014-03-20

Between 1944–1953, courageous resistance movement took place in the Baltic region of Europe, uniting the partisan troops for struggle against the Soviet Union. “The Invisible Front” was a coded name used by the Soviet Interior forces to describe the resistance movement in Lithuania. Film depicts the story of the fighters through the words and experience of the partisan leader, Juozas Luksa, and interviews with eyewitnesses of those events - both the partisans and the Soviet fighters. Tales of horror, torture and courage are told in the rare archival footage that has never been screened before, and interviews with the surviving members of the resistance movement.

I Am Ireland
58%

I Am Ireland(ga)

1959-09-01

Inspired by Patrick Pearse’s poem Mise Éire (“I Am Ireland”), this documentary assembles archival footage from across Europe to trace the rise of Irish nationalism from the 1890s through the 1916 Easter Rising. Directed by George Morrison, the film chronicles key figures and events of the independence movement, with Irish-language narration and a score by Seán Ó Riada.

Man with a Movie Camera
78%

Man with a Movie Camera(ru)

1929-05-12

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

The Battle of San Pietro
61%

The Battle of San Pietro(en)

1945-05-03

This documentary movie is about the battle of San Pietro, a small village in Italy. Over 1,100 US soldiers were killed while trying to take this location, that blocked the way for the Allied forces from the Germans. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.