
6.7In thirty years, the video game has conquered an increasingly wide audience. Drawing on the recent work of economists, sociologists, experts and interviewing major players in this field, this investigation unravels the overwhelming domination of this new mass media.
7.510 years before the debut of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 1979, Bill Viola and Frank Caliguri dreamed up a contest pitting barroom bigmouths against wrestlers, martial artists, boxers, bouncers and brawlers, billed as no-holds-barred new type of competitive fighting. When the fights succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, they were swept up in a chain of events that ended in the first mixed-martial arts ban in the nation. “Tough Guys” chronicles the inception of Caliguri and Viola’s first bouts and the colorful, crazy cast of fighters who made them a hit as well as the politicians who brought it all crashing down. The film brings to life a moment when the national martial arts craze was building to a crescendo as the economies of Pennsylvania steel towns were plummeting to levels of unemployment never seen, breeding desperate men looking for a chance to prove their worth and make some money in the ring.
6.2If your bedroom has become too small a stage for your air guitar antics, take inspiration from the competitors featured here as they battle their way from the inaugural U.S. Air Guitar Championship to the world championship in Oulu, Finland. Along the way, filmmaker Alexandra Lipsitz documents the fierce rivalries that develop as would-be rock legends vie for top honors in technical accuracy, stage presence and "airness."
4.4Can exercise sharpen the brightest minds? In this ground-breaking experiment, four world-class gamers, competing in eSports, Chess, Mahjong and Memory Games, put this to the test.
6.0Lara Croft Tomb Raider: 10 Years profiles the creators, the games, the live-action models, and the fans who have collectively made Tomb Raider a pop culture phenomenon.
7.3This documentary follows 8 teens and pre-teens as they work their way toward the finals of the Scripps Howard national spelling bee championship in Washington D.C.
7.6Filmmaker S.R. Bindler profiles Texas contestants trying to win a truck by keeping one hand on it longer than everyone else.
6.5The history of the Ariane rocket is a space epic that has seen Europeans unite and innovate to make a place for themselves in the space race. Faced with Soviet and then American supremacy, men and women from the four corners of Europe have achieved the impossible. Ariane has become a true monument, thanks to the passion of those who dreamed of it and to their tenacity in the face of the various obstacles that stood in their way. This undeniable European success is now at a turning point in its history. The new Ariane 6 program is currently being developed to meet the challenges of tomorrow: will it be able to meet the challenges of a more competitive environment than ever before?
6.0After an absence of five years, six times Mr Olympia winner Arnold Schwarzenegger makes a comeback and attempts to take the World Body Building Championship for the 7th time.
It's a story about post-90 generation in China and how they chasing their dreams through a talent show. The summer of 2013 saw a group of young boys enter a Chinese TV talent show called Super Boy, hoping to be catapulted to fame. The film documents how the young boys coped with their new challenging lives. While under unthinkable pressure, they proved themselves by trying to make the right choices during live shows. Talent shows create a new type of entertainer, but can they still keep their true selves? Can they adjust themselves and balance the ups and downs? What have the ten years of Chinese talent shows given us? What is urging us to grow up?
9.0Across Africa, people are using soccer to lift themselves up, to create change in their communities and to pave the way for progress. "The Beautiful Game" follows several unforgettable Africans who are beating the odds on and off the pitch.
Follows the journey of two high school teams vying for the coveted UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship title.
6.9The oral history of a team of geeks and misfits in the back of a Chicago factory creating the biggest video games of all time. Midway Games pioneered the concept of live-action gaming, kick-starting a new arcade boom and grossing billions of dollars with hits like Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam. The documentary covers much of Mortal Kombats history, including the creation of fatalities and characters such as Liu Kang, Kitana, Johnny Cage and Scorpion.
Cao Fei recorded her experiences within the online social platform Second Life. The result is a wistful, surreal vision of an alternative reality sprung from the pop culture fantasies and hyper-consumerism of contemporary urban China, while also trying to transcend its real-life limitations. It can be seen as an answer to the challenge posed by River Elegy: how to envision a new Chinese destiny founded on principles of individuality, creativity, discovery, and freedom. The film also reflects the contemporary condition of the virtual supplanting our experience of the real.
Stay calm. You’ve spent your whole life practicing and preparing yourself for this moment of truth, and now it has finally arrived. The Cliburn, or more properly, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held every four years in Fort Worth, Texas, is about to begin. Pressure? What pressure? Running 17 days, with three grueling rounds, The Cliburn invites 30 of the world’s finest pianists to battle it out for top honors. At stake are prizes worth millions, but more than money, the winner is practically guaranteed a performing career. Did we mention you’re playing not just for the judges, but for a live audience of thousands and a webcast of 170,000 viewers throughout the world? Pressure? What pressure? Just sit back, relax and enjoy the show. No pressure.
7.5A brief documentary providing a basic overview of the Final Fantasy Series up to the point of creation in 2006. Has the look of a fan-made documentary and was never released for television. Released as part of the Collector's Edition for Final Fantasy XII.
6.2Behind Mortal Kombat 3: Into The Outworld was a piece of promotional material used to promote the upcoming Mortal Kombat 3. It was later included along with Midway Arcade Treasures that shipped with Mortal Kombat 3.
6.0Laura, a French programmer, inherits the task of creating a game about the World War II Battle of Okinawa. Her research and interviews with Japanese experts and witnesses prompt her to reflect on life, humanity, and the lasting influence of history and memories.
6.7The Name of the Game is a feature-length documentary about the team up between the legendary arcade game designer, Eugene Jarvis, and the Finnish game developer, Housemarque. The end result of the collaboration was the critically acclaimed PS4/PC title Nex Machina. The film gives the audience an unprecedented access to the unpredictable and plain crazy world of making a video game – uncensored.
5.9Five siblings gather to celebrate a wedding at their family estate on the day Spain plays the final of the 2010 World Cup.
6.0Pug, a wisecracking 13 year old living on a dangerous Westside block, has one goal in mind: to join The Twelve O'Clock Boys; the notorious urban dirt-bike gang of Baltimore. Converging from all parts of the inner city, they invade the streets and clash with police, who are forbidden to chase the bikes for fear of endangering the public. When Pug's older brother dies suddenly, he looks to the pack for mentorship, spurred by their dangerous lifestyle. Pug's story is coupled with unprecedented, action-packed coverage of the riders in their element. The film presents the pivotal years of change in a boy's life growing up in one of the most dangerous and economically depressed cities in the US.
7.1A chronicle of the long career of American filmmaker Roger Corman, the most tenacious and ingenious low-budget producer and director in the US film industry, a pioneer of independent filmmaking and discoverer of new talent.
6.0Tom Selznick, the most talented pianist of his generation, stopped performing in public because of his stage fright. Years after a catastrophic performance, he reappears in public in a long awaited concert in Chicago. Just moments after starting his performance in the packed theater, in front of an expectant audience, Tom finds a threatening message written on the score: 'Play one wrong note and you die'. Without leaving the piano, Tom must discover the anonymous sniper's motives and look for help without anyone realizing.
7.5Follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world. It's about making video games, but at its core, it's about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work.
6.0At an international school in Jakarta, a philosophy teacher challenges his class of twenty graduating seniors to choose which ten of them would take shelter underground and reboot the human race in the event of a nuclear apocalypse.
7.0Average student and eternal optimist Lloyd Dobler seeks to capture the heart of Diane Court, a beautiful but unattainable valedictorian classmate. He surprises just about everyone - including himself - when she returns the sentiment. However, Diane's divorced, over-protective father soon begins to disapprove of the match, and Lloyd realises that it's going to take more than just the power of love to conquer all.
7.7In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.
7.3Batman works desperately to find a bomb planted by the Joker while Amanda Waller sends her newly-formed Suicide Squad to break into Arkham Asylum and recover vital information stolen by the Riddler.
7.6In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.
5.7Deep in the African jungle, a baby named George, the sole survivor of a plane crash, is raised by gorillas. George grows up to be a buff and lovable klutz who has a rainforest full of animal friends: Tookie, his big-beaked toucan messenger; Ape, a witty talking gorilla; and Shep, a peanut-loving pooch of an elephant. But when poachers mess with George's pals, the King of Swing swings into action.
6.2In this sequel to the 1980 classic, two children are stranded on a beautiful island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple life together and eventually become tanned teenagers in love.
7.3A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child leads her and her best friend, also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
6.4As the city is locked down under quarantine, Alice finds out that the people that died from the previous incident at the Umbrella Corporation have turned into zombies. She then joins a small band of elite soldiers, who are enlisted to rescue the missing daughter of the creator of the mutating T-virus. Once lack of luck and resources happen, they begin to wage an exhilarating battle to survive and escape before the Umbrella Corporation erases its experiment from the face of the earth.
6.4Minions Stuart, Kevin and Bob are recruited by Scarlet Overkill, a super-villain who, alongside her inventor husband Herb, hatches a plot to take over the world.
7.9In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.
7.2Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, "300" is very loosely based the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians; the battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy.
8.4A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.
7.2Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone.
8.2WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.