1. Jesus Christ Saviour (Jesus Christus Erlöser)
Klaus Kinski has perhaps the most ferocious reputation of all screen actors: his volatility was documented to electrifying effect in Werner Herzog’s 1999 portrait My Best Fiend. This documentary provides further fascinating insight into the talent and the tantrums of the great man. Beset by hecklers, Kinski tries to deliver an epic monologue about the life of Christ . The performance becomes a stand-off, as Kinski fights for control of the crowd and alters the words to bait his tormentors. Indispensable for Kinski fans, and a riveting introduction for newcomers, this is a unique document, which Variety called ‘a time capsule of societal ideals and personal demons.’
It has an average vote of 7.1 on TMDB.
2. Busy Little Bears
Busy Little Bears is a 1939 American short family film directed by John A. Haeseler. The film follows three bear cubs are observed exploring the forests of the Sierra Nevadas, encountering other wildlife, and invading the kitchen of a local ranch house. It won an Oscar at the 12th Academy Awards in 1940 for Best Short Subject . Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with UCLA Film & Television Archive in 2013.
3. Maria
Maria Lang is my very close filmmaker friend who lives in the southern german countryside. We see her gardening and visiting an exhibition of female impressionist painters.
4. Anselmo
Strand spent over twenty years documenting her friend Anselmo Aguascalientes’ life, eventually creating a stunning trilogy of films—Anselmo, Cosas de mi vida, and Anselmo and the Women—tender portraits that are also glimpses into poverty, resourcefulness, perseverance and patriarchy. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.
5. Forever
Père-Lachaise - one of the world's most famous and beautiful cemeteries - is the final resting-place of a gifted group of artists from all eras and corners of the world. Some - such as Piaf, Proust, Jim Morrison and Chopin - are worshiped to this day. Others have fallen into oblivion, or are visited occasionally by a single admirer. In Forever we see the mysterious, calming and consoling beauty of this unique cemetery through the eyes of people of flesh and blood. Many come for their 'own' beloved: husbands, wives, family and friends. Others Honor 'their' artist by leaving behind a personal message or a flower. While admirers share with us the importance of art and beauty in their lives, the graveyard gradually reveals itself as a source of inspiration for the living. Death offers little consolation except for the passing of time, the melancholia of a moss-covered tomb, and the beauty and power of a piece of music, a poem or a painting Written by Cobos
It has an average vote of 8.6 on TMDB.
6. Orchard Street
This short film documents the daily life of the goings-on on Orchard Street, a commercial street in the Lower East Side New York City.
It has an average vote of 6.8 on TMDB.
7. John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums
An overview of John F. Kennedy's political career. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive, in partnership with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., in 2014.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
8. City of Wax
City of Wax is a 1934 American short documentary film produced by Horace and Stacy Woodard about the life of a bee. It won the Oscar at the 7th Academy Awards in 1935 for Best Short Subject . Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with the UCLA Film and Television Archive in 2007.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
9. Camera Thrills
Academy Award nominated short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division in 2012.
10. Rhytmical Lines (Linie rytmiczne)
A short experimental film dedicated to Polish artist Wacław Szpakowski .
It has an average vote of 2 on TMDB.
11. DAS ES (DAS ES)
The long flights of spacecraft have been in the past, as well as the chronicle of accomplishments. Snatches of memory bring to us the fragments of those memories that are confused and do not leave a coherent and consistent trace. All in the past. But was it really ?!
It has an average vote of 8.5 on TMDB.
12. Spit Earth: Who is Jordan Wolfson?
Spit Earth: Who Is Jordan Wolfson? is a feature documentary film about this controversial and divisive artist who in the ensuing five years has only solidified his stature with unnerving and provocative new works that elicit extreme reactions from both critical naysayers and vocal proponents alike. Wolfson is not content to play by the rules of a conservative self-policing art market that favors the status quo, instead preferring to make us squirm as he engages a host of lightning-rod issues facing our society today; homophobia, misogyny, racism, white nationalism, antisemitism and violence to name but a few. Wolfson is an art maker on the world stage whose immersive works take on today’s endemic virtue signaling and politically correct narratives, veritably throwing it all back into our faces.
It has an average vote of 6.5 on TMDB.
13. Bronx, New York, November 2019
(Bronx, New York, Novembre 2019)
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
14. Cal State Long Beach, CA, January 2020
A wordless portrait of sculptor Jessica Jackson Hutchins shows us the artist in the process of transforming clay into uncanny forms.
It has an average vote of 5 on TMDB.
15. Imitating Life - The Audacity of Suzanne Heintz
Satirical artist and art director, Suzanne Heintz, adopted her fake family more than 15 years ago to challenge persisting stereotypes about women's lives.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
16. Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Berlin, die Symphonie der Großstadt)
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
It has an average vote of 7.679 on TMDB.
17. Listening to the Space in my Room (Listening to the Space in my Room)
Ostensibly a portrait of a place where the artist had resided until recently, the new film by Robert Beavers conjures not only the memory but also the physical presence of those who have previously stayed there. Adhering to a solitary intimacy while simultaneously acting as an ode to human endeavour and shared impulses toward fulfillment through art, Listening to the Space in my Room is a moving testament to existence and our endless search for meaning and authenticity. The film's precise yet enigmatic sound-image construction carries a rare emotional weight.
It has an average vote of 10 on TMDB.
18. Fade to Black
In this meditation on contemporary race relations, two black men discuss in voiceover certain “casual” events in life and cinema that are unnoticed or discounted by whites—gestures, hesitations, stares, off-the-cuff remarks, jokes—details of an ideology of repressed racism.
19. Rummaging for Pasts
Rummaging for Pasts is an experimental juxtaposition of two cinematic documents: the video diary of an international archaeological excavation and a collection of assorted eight millimeter found footage of Indian weddings.
20. Cormorant
A 16mm experimental short film loosely following a cormorant as it attempts to dry its wings.
