Built upon a 14 hour interview, McKellen: Playing the Part is a unique journey through the key landmarks of McKellen’s life, from early childhood into a demanding career that placed him in the public eye for the best part of his lifetime. Using an abundance of photography from McKellen’s private albums and cinematically reconstructed scenes, a raw talent shines through in the intensity, variety and devotion to that moment in the light.
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In 2009, actors Hugh Jackman and his wife, Deborra-lee Furness, traveled to Ethiopia as ambassadors for World Vision Australia, one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid organizations. As longtime donors, the Jackmans wanted to visit a World Vision community development project to see how rural communities were being empowered to eradicate poverty. While in the Yirgacheffe region, Hugh met a 27 year-old coffee farmer named Dukale, working to lift his family out of poverty. Spending time on Dukale’s farm, Hugh learned first-hand about the value of fair trade coffee and clean cookstove technology. (C) Official Site
The story of Christopher Reeve is an astonishing rise from unknown actor to iconic movie star, and his definitive portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman set the benchmark for the superhero cinematic universes that dominate cinema today. Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care – all while continuing his career in cinema in front of and behind the camera and dedicating himself to his beloved family.
During the Vietnam War, the US bombed Laos more heavily than any other country had been bombed before. Today, the Lao people live among, and risk their lives to clear, over 80 million unexploded bombs on their doorsteps. With great beauty and empathy, this documentary reveals the unbelievable stories of the men and women at the forefront of this monumental task.
Documentary short by Humphrey Jennings
About the last two years of movie goddess Jayne Mansfield’s life and the speculation swirling around her untimely death being caused by a curse after her alleged romantic dalliance with Anton LaVey, head of the Church of Satan.
Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Peter Greenaway’s first fiction feature (after the mock-documentary The Falls) made him immediately famous and was named one of the most original films of the 1980s by British critics. The action is set in the director’s beloved 17th century. Ambitious young artist Mr. Neville (Anthony Higgins) is invited by Mrs. Herbert (Janet Suzman) to make 12 elaborate sketches of her estate. Besides money, the contract includes sexual favors that Mrs. Herbert will offer to the draughtsman in the absence of Mr. Herbert. Entirely confident in his ability to weave a web of intrigues, Mr. Neville eventually becomes a victim of someone else’s elaborate scheme. The film is structured as a sophisticated intellectual puzzle like the ones popular in the 17th century.
It is the word “horde” that had meant, for many countries and nations, bloody raids and being under humilating contribution for centuries – a strange and scary world with its own rules and customs. To be or not to be for Rus (Ruthenia), that is the price of the one-man mission as he is departing to this world to accomplish a feat. The film tells the story of how Saint Alexius, the Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia, healed the Tatar Queen Taidula, Jani-Beg’s mother, from blindness, in 1357.
A documentary on the life of the people of the Aran Islands, who were believed to contain the essence of the ancient Irish life, represented by a pure uncorrupted peasant existence centred around the struggle between man and his hostile but magnificent surroundings. A blend of documentary and fictional narrative, the film captures the everyday trials of life on Ireland’s unforgiving Aran Islands.
This powerful follow-up to “The Gathering Storm” follows Churchill from 1940 to 1945 as he guided his beleaguered nation through the crucible of the war years–even as his marriage was encountering its own struggles.
Senna’s remarkable story, charting his physical and spiritual achievments on the track and off, his quest for perfection, and the mythical status he has since attained, is the subject of Senna, a documentary feature that spans the racing legend’s years as an F1 driver, from his opening season in 1984 to his untimely death a decade later.
Celebrating the joys of an Irish Wedding in all its pleasant predictability – the requisite chats about the weather, the haggle over the beef or salmon, the losing of the rings, the ditching of the heels, the intergenerational whirl around the dancefloor. Alex Fegan (Older than Ireland, The Irish Pub) captures all that is familiar but also conveys the momentousness of the day from the pre-wedding nerves, to the tenderness of the first kiss, from the affectionate humour of the speeches to the melancholy moments as absent friends are remembered. The Irish Wedding presents a pleasingly diverse community of brides and grooms in this warm-hearted and thoroughly entertaining survey of Irish nuptial activity.
