Que ta joie demeure is not a documentary about being a slave to the machine, alienation, dehumanisation or exploitation. Sound and image, editing and dramatic structure are merely employed to transpose workshops and factory floors into the cinematic space so as to explore the bizarre environments that workers adapt to and with which they skillfully interact, as if humanity had never done anything else since time immemorial.
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Truck mechanic, husband and father of two, Eddie Hall wants to be the World’s Strongest Man. This feature documentary vividly illustrates the sacrifices that this extremely driven man must make to chase his dream. He will stop at nothing. He trains, eats, sleeps and breathes strongman, competing all over the world and breaking records. He faces not only gargantuan competitors, but his own inner demons as he strives to leave behind the scars of his teenage years. This film gets under the skin of a man totally dedicated to becoming the greatest and offers an engrossing snapshot of an unforgettable character, Eddie – Strongman.
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Anthony Wonke directs this documentary marking the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster. Re-examining the events that led to the drilling platform, at the time the largest and oldest in the North Sea oilfield, exploding on the night of the 6th July 1988, killing 167 men, the film includes testimonies from rescuers and some of the 61 survivors, many of whom were forced to jump hundreds of feet into a flaming, oil-covered sea, and discovers what the physical and psychological legacy of the disaster has meant for those involved.
The homosexual witch-hunt of public servants and military personnel in Canada from the 1950s through the early 1990s and its effects on the people whose lives and careers were disrupted or destroyed by it.
Joe Corré, son of punk visionaries Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, burns an estimated £5M worth of punk memorabilia protesting the commodification of punk. The film takes this incendiary act of ‘cultural terrorism’ and the questions it raised to explore the lifespan and true worth of punk – the 20th century’s most volatile movement.
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“White Boy Rick”, as he was called, was a novelty: A white teenager seemingly running a major inner-city drug operation. In May of 1987, 17-year-old Richard Wershe Jr. was charged with a non-violent, juvenile drug offense. By the time of his arrest he was already a Detroit legend, frequently making front-page headlines and leading the local television news. In this film, gangsters, hit men, journalists and federal agents struggle to explain why he remains in prison at nearly 50 years old. The possible explanation is more stunning than the crimes Wershe was alleged to have committed.
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