1990s Documentary Movies

This historic film, completed in 1995 by filmmaking duo Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud tells the true story of a troupe of singers traveling through the refugee camps and zones of war during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The film blends documentary and fictional genres in a musical structure to tell the story of the birth of a nation and the ideals of secularism and tolerance on which it was founded. The filmmakers combined footage of the cultural troupe and their activities, shot by American filmmaker Lear Levin in 1971, with historic footage collected from archives around the world, to create “Muktir Gaan” (Song of Freedom).

A documentary with fictious elements. Ms. Elisabeth (Lieschen) Müller from Austria comes to Bonn, Germany to find herself a man. During the search she investigates the connections between neckties, political power and prostitution, and tries to look for the influence the german feminist movement had on the men in Germany's capital.

A full length documentary on sexy Chinese movies (including sizzling scenes from EROTIC GHOST STORY, SEX AND ZEN, CONFESSIONS OF A CONCUBINE, SEX AND THE EMPEROR and many more.

No overview available

Explores the sensuous rhythms and movements of the dance style known as the rumba, as demonstrated by the celebrated Havana rumbero Papá Montero. Blending vintage documentary footage with meticulously staged recreations, the dancer's tragic assassination at Carnival is connected with the passing of a cultural era in Cuban life.

About the difficult fate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The film contains 4 parts: "Wreath of Thorns", "Ridges on me", "Neophytes", "And not the seventh seal".

No overview available

A look at Hong Kong's nightlife, where gigolos service women.

The Grüninger case from Switzerland. This is a documentary about a police officer who showed civil courage back in the forties when he led many refugees fleeing German Nazi terror immigrate to Switzerland, although he was advised not to do so. Grüninger later was sued by the state of Switzerland, lost his job and died in the early seventies. The film constructs a just lawsuit with eye-witnesses and thus fully legitimates what Grüninger did.

There's a funeral in Sapmi. The dead is the father of 17-year old John-Andreas. He now remembers what his father told him shortly before his death. Will John-Andreas manage to take over? It's tough to continue, when reindeers keep disappearing.

Filmmaker Gyula Gazdag's fascinating documentary follows Hungarian poet, playwright and activist István Eörsi on a trip to the streets of New York to visit his friend and contemporary, the iconic beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Shot just two years before Ginsberg's death, the film follows the two friends as they share poetry and laughs, wandering the streets of the Lower East Manhattan, musing about the past and contemplating the future.

A documentary about French naturism with some perspectives from Germany. The film includes discussion on the history of French naturism; distinctions between naturism and nudism; nudism in various historical, social, cultural and political contexts; and personal shares from many individuals. Naturists from a wide age range, young children to adults in their 80s, speak to how naturism supports self-acceptance, acceptance of others, deep meaninful relationships, wellness and vitality.

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

No overview available

Attrazione d'Amore is a touching illustration of the unique relation that has developed between the Conductor Riccardo Chailly and his famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Voyage to Cythera navigates through wonderful musical quotes made of performances conducted by Berio, rehearsals, archival documents and interviews featuring Riccardo Chailly and Louis Andriessen.

A documentary on one of the most important Portuguese Plastic Artists, with greatest International projection. Shown here are his techniques, themes, and obcessions developed for over two decades, as well as its ramifications into different supports such as Video, Photography, literature, taking the rare oportunity granted by a full retrospective of his work at the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, including the works dispersed through International collections.

The story of how two boys from war-torn Germany turned their never-ending dreams into reality. The story is recounted within the virtual realms of the magic box, a surreal environment where past and present converge into 3D storybook reflections on their life's journey.

"The Poor Hunter of the South" is the title of the film Stavros Tornes never got to make, rightfully featured alongside his name on this documentary by Stavros Kaplanidis ("Canteen", "Play it Again, Christos"). The film traces his imagery, listens for his whispers and infiltrates the memories of his closest friends, looking for clues in order to piece together the portrait of a filmmaker who made something out of nothing and stayed true to himself and his vision until the very end. Besides Tornes' own films, this documentary includes footage from films where the "poor hunter" appeared as an actor, like "The Secret of the Red Cloak" by Kostas Fotinos, "Kierion" by Dimos Theos and " Allonsanfan" by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

No overview available

Documentary on the life and art of New York City born Puerto Rican artist, Rafael Tufiño.

The folkloric Dance of the 24 Devils sheds new light on the reality of Guatemala. The Devils reveal a strong antagonism, both contemporary and mythological: they've declared war on humanity and have set out "to capture all souls", while Death heralds the end of mankind! Combining lyricism, realism and irony, The Devil's Dream explores the soul of this paradoxical country. We discover not only the beauty of the landscape, the people and their creative imagination, but also the wretched conditions of life, the spectre of violence, and a pervasive sense of the absurd. Guatemala is a society split between native and non-native, rich and poor, civil and military. Native people pick cotton for two dollars a day, their children work for half that amount. Those who dare to protest risk their lives. In this documentary, the people tell the story in their own words.

To attain knowledge, man and woman had to be willing to give up their innocence," says Boris Lehman. Life Lesson is a poetic and philosophic reflection on the theme of paradise lost. Some fifty persons illustrate the planet's convulsions and the world's vacillations. Trying to communicate, to commune with the invisible, they cry out, sing out, give out messages, each in their own way, in their own state of solitude. These are like multiple echoes that resemble waves in the water or stars in the sky. " Behind these images and sounds that have been stifled by today's society, Lehman hunts for noises, cries, songs, messages that go astray. He says that if we look at the invisible we may hear the words. He invites us to look beyond the appearances of social life and to vibrate in tune with life's polyphony that is all around us."

For a decade, the unexpected theater group “Os Felizes da Fé” left its mark on the late 20 century’s art map. With its street happenings, the Felizes defied all forms of authority: civil, political or moral. However, their activity stopped suddenly in 1995.

American Movie documents the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mission, and his dream. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, American Movie is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man's quest for the American Dream.

In the unemployed Vimmerby there is one who does not need to be afraid of losing the job. On the contrary, he has never had so much to do before. Tom Alandh follows the crown bailiff Bror Carlsson as he treads away on his bicycle with the document portfolio on the package holder.

A documentary film that explores the relationship between publicists and journalists in Hollywood.

The documentary follows Annabel Chong, former record holder for the world's largest gang bang, which she set in 1995 by having sex with 70 men. It focuses on her reasons for working in porn, and her relationship with friends and family.

In Ulan Bator, Mongolia, the cur Baatar is shot by a hunter hired by the authorities to get rid off the dogs in the city...

Is the country of the future where children get pregnant? Is the largest Catholic country in the world where more than thirty thousand women die as a result of abortion? Is the 10th largest economy on the planet where 27% of women are sterilized? VENTRE LIVRE tells the story of Vera, Ivonete, Carmen, Denise, Maria do Carmo, Marlove - people who were born in the country with the most unequal income distribution on the planet. A documentary about reproductive rights in Brazil, while the future is not yet here.

Through dramatization and interviews with her colleagues, this film captures the life and work of famed Puerto Rican poet Mercedes Negrón Muñoz (also known as Clara Lair).

Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."

Film archivist and former director of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Jenni Olson created this fast-paced and often funny, campy 75-minute film comprised entirely of spliced together movie trailers. Some of the segments have themes such as a breezy look back at John Travolta's career that includes trailers from such films as Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, Grease, Perfect, and Moment by Moment. Other trailers include Mae West in Sextette, the disco camper Thank God It's Friday, Raquel Welch in Kansas City Bomber, Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew and the rarely seen Chastity, the serious acting debut of Cher.

Marcel Ophüls interviews various important Eastern European figures for their thoughts on the reunification of Germany and the fall of Communism.

No overview available

Eisenstein shot 50 hours of footage on location in Mexico in 1931 and 32 for what would have become ¡Que viva México!, but was not able to finish the film. Following two wildly different reconstruction attempts in 1939 (Marie Seton's 'Time in the Sun') and 1979 (Grigori Alexandrov's '¡Que viva México!') Kovalov has here compiled another hypothetical version of what Eisenstein's film might have been.

This documentary is set in the New Marilyn night club in Tokyo, Japan - where the hosts are transgender men. They can only make their living as hosts in a nightclub with other wannabes like them. The young women who come there often have relationships with them but the underlying fear is whether such a relationship can withstand the pressures on a girl to get married and have children. All three boys deal with this in different ways. These three hosts, the Shinjuku Boys, take us into their lives.

A portrait of Swedish troubadour Cornelis Vreeswijk.

The real-life story of Benjamín García, a man who dressed up as Dracula in Barranquilla's Carnival and ended up believing he was the Count of Transylvania.

The first life story of one of the "children of Golzow", continued beyond the "Wende" as an independent feature-length film, which tells of the career of the first hero of our first film, using the rich material available from Jürgen, who became a painter and upholsterer, and "his" Golzow, where he still lived at the time.

A portrait which explores the legacy and impact of novelist Julio Cortazar's art, perceptively examining it within the context of shifting tides of Argentine culture and politics. The author reads his own texts in this poetic documentary.