Detroit Lives

Guide to a Midwest Hometown(en)

Coming back during Winter, Alex Powell explores both the places and personal connections found in his hometown and how they've changed. “Guide to a Midwest Hometown” explores what makes the barren places at home feel sentimental and special, and the good and bad feelings that come when being back home. Inspired by "How To With John Wilson".

Boblo Boats: A Detroit Ferry Tale(en)

For over 85 years, steamship Ste. Claire transported generations of Detroiters to Boblo Island, an amusement park nestled in the waters between the US and Canada. When the vessel comes under threat of ruin, a doctor, psychic and amusement park fanatic unite to save their beloved steamship from the scrapyard. Interweaving local lore and mythology, "Boblo Boats" explores the whitewashed history of amusement parks and one crew's crusade to bring back the memories.

THIS IS WHAT TRANS PUNK LOOKS LIKE(en)

"This Is What Trans Punk Looks Like" is a documentary about the transgender punk culture in Texas and the beauty of community. It features several interviews with trans individuals within the scene, talking about their childhood experiences, Texas' political climate, and what punk means to them.

Food and Country(en)

America's policy of producing cheap food at all costs has long hobbled small independent farmers, ranchers, and chefs. Worried for their survival, trailblazing food writer Ruth Reichl reaches out across political and social divides to uncover the country's broken food system and the innovators risking it all to transform it.

Acasă, My Home(ro)

In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents lived in perfect harmony with nature for 20 years – until they are chased out and forced to adapt to life in the big city.

The Point(en)

This documentary is a portrait of Point St. Charles, one of Montreal’s notoriously bleak neighbourhoods. Many of the residents are English-speaking and of Irish origin; many of them are also on welfare. Considered to be one of the toughest districts in all of Canada, Point St. Charles is poor in terms of community facilities, but still full of rich contrasts and high spirits – that is, most of the time.

The Lost Highway(en)

Once the main road between Toronto and Ottawa, Highway 7 is a black ribbon of failed businesses and derelict properties. Howard Gibbs's 80-year-old gas station needs new tanks or the inspectors will shut him down. He's desperate to lure his daughter back from the city to help carry on the family legacy. Next door, David and Linda, a couple who moved from the city, are set to open an upscale B&B. But what would lead them to build here, along a derelict stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway?

Cathedrals(en)

In CATHEDRALS, filmmaker Dan Algrant embarks on a journey to reconnect with two black collaborators from a film made nearly 50 years ago. CATHEDRALS becomes a powerful exploration of the bonds that tie us together and the experiences that shape our identities. Through the lens of a creative collaboration, the film illuminates the struggles and triumphs that define life in a close-knit community, ultimately reaffirming the importance of human connection and the power of collective memory.

Ma bande magnétique arrière(fr)

The Times of Harvey Milk(en)

Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.

Little White Lie(en)

Lacey Schwartz grew up in a typical upper-middle-class Jewish household in Woodstock, NY, with loving parents and a strong sense of her Jewish identity - despite the open questions from those around her about how a white girl could have such dark skin. She believes her family's explanation that her looks were inherited from her dark-skinned Sicilian grandfather. But when her parents abruptly split, her gut starts to tell her something different. At age of 18, she finally confronts her mother and learns the truth: her biological father was not the man who raised her, but a black man named Rodney with whom her mother had had an affair.

Meow Wolf: Origin Story(en)

When a group of young DIY artists in Santa Fe can’t find a door into the art world, they blow open an entirely new portal with their grit, passion, and tenacity. Within just a few short years – and with a little help from George R.R. Martin – this group called Meow Wolf ultimately hits a cultural nerve and garners massive, unexpected success with their exhibit, House of Eternal Return.

Half Serious, Half Kidding(en)

Marc with a C is the stage name of Orlando indie/DIY singer-songwriter Marc Sirdoreus and was formally a persona enacted on stage for over 20 years. This documentary covers their career using only filmed stage performances, interviews, and other video and audio releases published online by Marc or their audience. Made from a myriad of videos with view counts ranging from 15 to 30k, it chronicles their attempts to use music and lyrics to connect to and understand others, as well as their relationship to attention and performance as social media swallows up small artists to turn art into content.

Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405(en)

56-year-old artist Mindy Alper has suffered severe depression and anxiety for most of her life. For a time she even lost the power of speech, and it was during this period that her drawings became extraordinarily articulate.

The Decline of Western Civilization(en)

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

Radiant City(en)

Since the end of World War II, one of kind of urban residential development has dominate how cities in North America have grown, the suburbs. In these artificial neighborhoods, there is a sense of careless sprawl in an car dominated culture that ineffectually tries to create the more organically grown older communities. Interspersed with the comments of various experts about the nature of suburbia

Havakeen Lunch(en)

After eighteen years of operating the favourite lunch counter in Manitoba's Interlake region, Ellen and Martin Kihn have retired. A poignant look at the last day, The Kihns, their friends and their customers, demanding rural life and the place the disappearing institution of the country cafe plays in these people's lives. A tribute to the cafes found in small towns.

Mr. Hidayet(tr)

Hidayet Usta is a shoemaker in his early 80s who has made a living repairing shoes. Having separated from his wife years ago and with a strained relationship with his children, Hidayet lives alone, but contentedly in his own world.

Smudge(en)

This short documentary follows three Indigenous women as they practice ancestral forms of worship: drumming, singing, and using sweetgrass. These ancient spiritual traditions may at first seem at odds with urban life, but to Indigenous people in Canada who are used to praying in natural settings, the whole world is sacred space.

The Written Face(de)

In Japanese theater, women's roles are traditionally played by men. The man playing the woman's role, the Onnagata, does not imitate the woman, as in the West, but tries to capture her significance. He need not stick close to his model, but draws far more from his own identity - a shift of value takes place, which is nonetheless not a step beyond. THE WRITTEN FACE is an attempt to offer an insight into the Japanese Kabuki star Tamasaburo Bando, one of the last defenders of this ancient and disappearing performing tradition.

Strange Object(en)

An archival investigation into the imperial image-making of the RAF ‘Z Unit’, which determined the destruction of human, animal and cultural life across Somaliland, as well as Africa and Asia.

The Night Generation(tr)

It’s Saturday night in Istanbul and the storm suppresses the sound of music around the city. Özge and Tarık, who have had too much to drink, decide to end the night and jump in a cab. However, the journey back home doesn’t go as they expect.

Hello(en)

I wouldn't answer if I were you' Hello is the story of a young lady who falls prey to an evil killer.. alone in her apartment, eagerly awaiting the return of her boyfriend, the phone rings...

Red(en)

Three years living in Sunset Park, living between the BQE and the Greenwood Cemetery, accumulating footage of junkyard cats, Park Slope strollers, burned out cars, flying birds.

Zombie Fight Club(zh)

It's the end of the century at a corner of the city in a building riddled with crime - Everyone in the building has turned into zombies. After Jenny's boyfriend is killed in a zombie attack, she faces the challenge of surviving in the face of adversity. In order to stay alive, she struggles with Andy to flee danger.

Film(en)

"This piece, with the generic title Film, is a series of short videos built around one protocol: a snippet of news from a newspaper of the day, is rolled up and then placed on a black-inked surface. On making contact with the liquid, the roll opens and of Its own accord frees itself of the gesture that fashioned it. As it comes alive in this way, the sliver of paper reveals Its hitherto unexposed content; this unpredictable kinematics is evidence of the constant impermanence of news. As well as exploring a certain archaeology of cinema, the mechanism references the passage of time: the ink, whether it is poured or printed, is the ink of ongoing human history." –Ismaïl Bahri

Insane Fight Club(en)

A group of friends have created a brand new subculture that is taking over the streets of Glasgow. They've established their very own fight club, but this is no ordinary wrestling event - this is brutal, riotous chaos. Fights don't always stay inside the ring, people are bounced off the side of buses and thrown off balconies in pubs. They now plan the biggest show of their lives. The stakes are high, will it bring them the fame and recognition they need to survive?

Nuclear Assault: Handle With Care - European Tour '89(en)

Handle With Care European Tour '89 is a live video released by Nuclear Assault in 1990. The video is a recording of a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England on October 4, 1989. Set List: 01. F# (Wake Up) 02. When Freedom Dies 03. Rise From The Ashes 04. Brainwashed 05. F# 06. New Song 07. Critical Mass 08. Game Over 09. Nightmares 10. Buttfuck 11. Fight To Be Free 12. Survive 13. Torture Tactics 14. Trail Of Tears 15. Mothers Day 16. My America 17. Hang The Pope 18. Lesbians 19. Emergency 20. Funky Noise 21. Good Times Bad Times 22. Technology 23. Equal Rights

Film(en)

Before the three feature films, Mario Schifano directs the camera towards the people around him to create real film diaries. His friends, his time partner and the artists he frequented are portrayed in their everyday life or object of the mechanical gaze of the camera, a filter through which to look at the outside world.

Paths of the Soul(bo)

Eleven Tibetans prostrate themselves every few steps during a 1,200-mile pilgrimage that lasts for seven months.

Animal Instincts 2(en)

An unhappy divorcée has the bad fortune to move next door to a security systems installer, a voyeur whose hobby is planting hidden video cameras in the bedrooms of all his clients. He then monitors the sex lives of his customers through an elaborate TV monitor system in his garage. Joanna Cole becomes his latest victim, but when she discovers the camera by accident, she reverts back to her exhibitionist ways and begins putting on sex shows for his pleasure. Things gets ugly when Jim professes his love for her but is rebuffed.

Six: Inside(en)

Delves deep into the anxiety, thrill and uncertainty of six aspiring animation artists as they are plunged into the twelve-week trial-by-fire that is the NFB's Hothouse for animation filmmakers.

These Birds Were Made for Walking(en)

These Birds Were Made For Walking Few things are more wondrous than the gift of flight, but some birds have chosen to give it up – the question is, why? Whether it is to save energy, tap into new food resources, or invest in other skills, they all have their reasons.

Collage(fr)

Considerations on collage as a cognitive act in artists’ cinema. A pedagogical film adrift: 35mm photographs and other materials collected over the last fifteen years by artist Stefano Miraglia meet a text written by Baptiste Jopeck and the voice of Margaux Guillemard.

MAD(te)

Have you ever felt lonely in a Relationship..., Marriage or Live_In , doesn't matter, when you can't share your feelings with your companion, it is like travelling to an unknown destination with a troublesome partner.

Absolut(en)

Two guys against globalization want to plant a virus in the network of a finance corporation. On the day of the attack Alex has an accident and cannot remember anything. Visions and reality are thrown together in a confusing maze. Alex tries to escape from this muddle but what he discovers turns out to be rather frightening…

Billy Connolly: Two Night Stand(en)

This 90 minute recording is excerpts of 45 minutes each from Billy Connolly's live appearances in London and Glasgow in 1997. Topics include; The Irish, Limousine Service, fat people, "toffs", mad cow disease, Ageing and shouting.

D-Day Recon(en)

A White Trash right wing extremist militia’s (unintentionally hilarious) home movies.