The Decline of Western Civilization

We Need to Talk About A.I.(en)

Conflict between man and machine has been a science fiction staple for over a century. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Terminator the perceived threat posed by super-intelligent robots has been exploited by Hollywood for decades. But do advances in Artificial Intelligence mean we are now facing a future in which that threat could become a reality?

The Donut King(en)

Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy builds a multi-million dollar empire by baking America's favourite pastry: the doughnut.

Travelling at Night with Jim Jarmusch(en)

A portrait of the American director Jim J. at work on the set of his latest film, Only Lovers Left Alive.

Gringo Trails(en)

Are tourists destroying the planet-or saving it? How do travelers change the remote places they visit, and how are they changed? From the Bolivian jungle to the party beaches of Thailand, and from the deserts of Timbuktu, Mali to the breathtaking beauty of Bhutan, GRINGO TRAILS traces stories over 30 years to show the dramatic long-term impact of tourism on cultures, economies, and the environment.

Dance In The Desert(lt)

The author Jurga Ivanauskaitė (1961-2007) was considered a pioneer of contemporary Baltic literature well beyond the borders of Lithuania. Her work deals intensively with the tension between religion, sexuality and emancipation. Film documents and interviews serve to reconstruct the life of this independent and willful woman - from her childhood to her artistic breakthrough as a companion of the Lithuanian rock and punk scene, but also depicting her spiritual side, which brought her all the way to India, where she turned to Buddhism. She is shown as fighting for the Dalai Lama and a "free Tibet", shown as a literary mind, but first and foremost she is shown as a woman who stood bravely in the face of inconvenience, pain and inner demons.

L’endemà(ca)

Velorama(en)

Documentary looking at a century of cycling. Commissioned to mark the arrival of the 2014 Tour de France in Yorkshire, the film makes full use of stunning British Film Institute footage to transport the audience on a journey from the invention of the modern bike, through the rise of recreational cycling, to gruelling competitive races. Award-winning director Daisy Asquith artfully combines the richly-diverse archive with a hypnotic soundtrack from cult composer Bill Nelson in a joyful, absorbing watch for both cycling and archive fans.

I Remember Me(en)

In 1984-85, people at Lake Tahoe fell ill with flu symptoms, but they didn't get better. Medical literature documents similar outbreaks: in 1934 at LA county hospital, in 1948-49 in Iceland, in 1956 in Punta Gorda, Florida. The malady now has a name, chronic fatigue syndrome, and filmmaker Kim Snyder, who suffered from the disease for several years, tells her story and talks to victims and their families, and to physicians and researchers: is it viral, it is psychosomatic, is it one disease or several (a syndrome) ; what's the CDC doing about it; what's it like to have a disease that's not yet understood? Her inquiry takes her to Punta Gorda and to a high-school graduation.

Uncle Peckerhead(en)

When a punk band scores their first tour, life on the road proves tough when they are joined by a man-eating demon as a roadie.

Beastie Boys: Video Anthology(en)

The Beastie Boys are among the most influential groups of the last two decades. As their music has opened hip-hop to a wider audience and changed the parameters of its sound, their ambitious music videos have carried the medium to new levels of artistic expression. This groundbreaking two-disc anthology showcases eighteen videos containing alternate visual angles and multiple audio tracks. Loaded with never-before-seen footage and unreleased music tracks, this special edition also contains a trove of rare still photos and exclusive audio commentary by the band and the video directors.

Ydessa, the Bears and etc.(fr)

Ydessa Hendeles' exhibition entitled "The living and the Artificial" (consisting of works of art all comprising a photograph of living persons in the company of one or several teddy bears) had puzzled Agnès Varda so much that she decided to go to Toronto where the artist lives and interview her. In front of Agnes Varda's DV camera, Ydessa tells about the singularity of her artistic approach. She also expresses herself about the Holocaust, which both her parents survived.

Styx(en)

A very unusual exploration of the Philadelphia subway and its riders, which creatively utilizes black and white photography.

Merge Records: 25 Years in 24 Minutes(en)

Founded by Superchunk's Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance in 1989, North Carolina’s Merge Records quickly grew to become one of America’s essential indie labels. From supporting their fertile local indie rock scene to launching international stars, for 25 years Merge has carved out uncompromising success by staying true to its independent roots. Google Play is proud to celebrate 25 years of Merge Records with this exclusive documentary and series of covers of Merge classics by Merge acts including Superchunk, the Mountain Goats, Telekinesis and more.

Eden(fr)

Paul, a teenager in the underground scene of early-nineties Paris, forms a DJ collective with his friends and together they plunge into the nightlife of sex, drugs, and endless music.

The Blob: A Genius without a Brain(fr)

This documentary outlines the unique properties and latest studies of "Physarum Polycephalum", also known as Blob.

Borowitschi(de)

An insight into life in the small Russian town of Borovichi.

Glitter and Dust(de)

Four girls living in the lonely vastness of the USA share one passion: The wild world of rodeo. Although they move about in the powerful imagery of the American prairie and the myths of the Wild West, they give it new resonance and break free of it. In a world which used to belong to their fathers and brothers, they prove that "you ride like a girl" is not an insult but a compliment.

Four Daughters(fr)

Between light and darkness stands Olfa, a Tunisian woman and the mother of four daughters. One day, her two older daughters disappear. To fill in their absence, the filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania invites professional actresses and invents a unique cinema experience that will lift the veil on Olfa and her daughters' life stories. An intimate journey of hope, rebellion, violence, transmission and sisterhood that will question the very foundations of our societies.

The Lives of Albert Camus(fr)

Albert Camus died at 46 years old on January 4, 1960, two years after his Nobel Prize in literature. Author of “L'Etranger”, one of the most widely read novels in the world, philosopher of the absurd and of revolt, resistant, journalist, playwright, Albert Camus had an extraordinary destiny. Child of the poor districts of Algiers, tuberculosis patient, orphan of father, son of an illiterate and deaf mother, he tore himself away from his condition thanks to his teacher. French from Algeria, he never ceased to fight for equality with the Arabs and the Kabyle, while fearing the Independence of the FLN. Founded on restored and colorized archives, and first-hand accounts, this documentary attempts to paint the portrait of Camus as he was.

L7: Pretend We're Dead(en)

A real time journey witnessing the rise, fall, and ultimate redemption of the fierce feminist pioneers of American grunge punk: L7.

Ecce Bombo(it)

Michele, Goffredo, Mirko and Vito are four friends who have participated in the battles of the student in Sixties. Now in the Seventies, the four friends don't know what to do, though young and with so many possibilities to find a job in life. Intellectuals marginalized and misunderstood, the four friends find themselves when they can in a restaurant to discuss their outlandish theories. A girl named Olga disrupts their life, but Michele is her favorite, although he does not know what to do with the girl.

The Five Obstructions(da)

In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.

Cradle Will Rock(en)

A true story of politics and art in the 1930s USA, centered around a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.

Suburbia(en)

When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years(en)

An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..

The Pit and the Pendulum(en)

Set during the height of Spanish Inquisition. The beautiful and kind-hearted Maria is arrested as a witch when she inadvertently cries out in horror at the public whipping of a child. As Maria’s husband Antonio tries to save her, Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, determines to punish Maria with torture for the desire she inflames in him. Loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's classic short story.

Mabel's Strange Predicament(en)

A tramp gets drunk in a hotel lobby and, upstairs, causes some misunderstandings between Mabel, two hotel guests across the hall from her room, and Mabel's visiting sweetheart.

The Decline of Western Civilization Part III(en)

A musical study of Los Angeles in the late 90s, where homeless teens roam the streets and profess to live a punk lifestyle of music, drugs, and flouting authority.

Poachers(es)

Angel is a poacher who lives in the forest with his domineering mother. One day he goes to the city and meets Milagros, an escapee from a reform school and the lover of a known criminal so he takes her to his house in the mountains.

Turning Table(fr)

On a winter night, the author of "The King and the Mockingbird" is visited by the cartoon characters he created in his studio. Along with a little clown, he screens a selection of his favorite shorts

On The Go - Eyeshocker Express(en)

On The Go Magazine produced Philadelphia Graffiti Documentary featuring Cornbread, Den, NM, and Des.

Trevor Moore: The Story of Our Times(en)

Trevor Moore's special finds him struggling through an insufferable brunch with his girlfriend and her friends as they discuss pop culture and hot-button issues. Naturally, he can't stop himself from expressing his own views on the topics through a series of songs and music videos, including "My Computer Became Self Aware" and "Bullies."

Hated: GG Allin and The Murder Junkies(en)

An overview of the life of the most shocking, vile, and notorious of punk rock legends.

Water Lilies(fr)

Set during a sultry summer in a French suburb, Marie is desperate to join the local pool's synchronized swimming team, but is her interest solely for the sake of sport or for a chance to get close to Floriane, the bad girl of the team? Sciamma, and the two leads, capture the uncertainty of teenage sexuality with a sympathetic eye in this delicate drama of the angst of coming-of-age.

Fyre(en)

He promised supermodels and yachts, but delivered tents and cheese sandwiches. How one man engineered a music festival disaster.

Battle Royale(ja)

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Dunkirk(en)

The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.

Main Tera Hero(hi)

Seenu loves Sunaina but they're chased by a stalking cop, an infatuated beauty and her mafia don dad - can Seenu's heroics work?

The Return(en)

After twenty years away, Odysseus washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The king has finally returned home, but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan war.

The Psychic(it)

A woman with psychic powers has a vision of a murder that took place in a house owned by her husband.