Street Scene in unidentified European city

Vincenz Priessnitz

October 1999 •Czech

Paris Train Stations: Shaping the City

October 2020 •French

Every day, Paris’ six railway stations welcome over 3,000 trains and more than a million travelers coming from France and all over Europe. The stations’ sizes are impressive: Gare du Nord is bigger than the Louvre or Notre-Dame de Paris. These railway stations are architectural landmarks and a model of urban planning despite the radical changes they’ve undergone since their construction in the middle of the 19th century. How did the railway stations manage to absorb the boom of travelers in just a few decades? What colossal works were necessary to erect and then modify these now essential buildings? From the monumental glass walls of Gare du Nord to the iconic tower of Gare de Lyon, to the first-ever all-electric train station, each has its own story, technical characteristics, and well-defined urban image.

Robber of the Cruel Streets

June 2006 •English

This program presents the life and ministry of George Muller, who cared for thousands of orphans in 19th century England. He never asked anyone for money. Instead he prayed, and his children never missed a meal.

Gare du Nord : La Plus Grande Gare d'Europe

July 2018 •French

TGV Paris-Bordeaux, la ligne de tous les records

November 2021 •French

Magnicidios Poe

January 2017 •Spanish

The sarcastic account of the assassination of five Spanish politicians between 1870 and 1973 is mixed with the narration of five short stories by Edgar Allan Poe illustrated by five skillful pencil artists. A documentary, a video essay, a collage, a provocative experiment where various pop culture figures and icons perform unexpected cameos. The macabre joke of a jester. Never more.

Fall 2

March 1970 •English

Bas Jan Ader rides his bike into a canal in Amsterdam.

Orsay, les grandes métamorphoses

June 2020 •French

Inaugurated in 1986 by François Mitterrand, a link between the Louvre and Pompidou, Orsay houses the largest collection of Impressionist art in the world. Project after project, the museum has been transformed to modernize and welcome more visitors, while preserving its historic character. Challenges taken up with each new project.

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge

October 1888 •

A film by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, shot in late October 1888, showing pedestrians and carriages crossing Leeds Bridge.

Darwin's Darkest Hour

October 2009 •English

In 1858 Charles Darwin struggles to publish one of the most controversial scientific theories ever conceived, while he and his wife Emma confront family tragedy.

Les Misérables et Victor Hugo : au nom du peuple

October 2020 •French

The prodigious genesis of a monument of world literature, too often reduced to its popular success, also recounts the tormented conversion of its author, Victor Hugo, to the ideal of social progress.

The Derby 1895

November 1895 •English

A stationary camera, looking diagonally across a racetrack toward the infield, records the horses as they race past. Once they are out of view and the race is over, police officers run onto the infield. The crowd moves around.

Abegweit

January 1998 •English

A day-to-day record of the construction of the Confederation Bridge linking Prince Edward Island to the mainland, Abegweit reveals some of the innovations that made this mammoth project one of the most impressive engineering feats in Canadian history.

General Buller Embarking on the 'Dunottar Castle' at Southampton

November 1899 •English

Watched by crowds, Sir Redvers Buller, Lady Buller, the Mayor of Southampton and others walk along the gangway leading to the ship towards the camera. Sir Redvers pauses to be introduced to one of the ship's officers before embarking. According to BFI programme notes, the filmmaker William K.L. Dickson can be seen bottom left, attempting to introduce himself to General Buller as he passes. Film companies were in competition to film reportage of the Boer War and Dickson was one of those filmmakers keen to do so.

The 'Roslin Castle' (Troopship) Leaving for South Africa

November 1899 •English

Spectators on the quayside at Southampton wave farewell as the crowded troopship Roslin Castle moves away to the right of the picture. Large numbers of troops on board wave back to loved ones and the crowd including thr 2nd Battaliion West Yorkshires. Date: 20th October 1899.

Wisconsin Death Trip

September 1999 •English

Inspired by the book of the same name, film-maker James Marsh relays a tale of tragedy, murder and mayhem that erupted behind the respectable facade Black River Falls, Wisconsin in the 19th century.

L'Extrême Droite dans l'Histoire : Du général Boulanger à Jean-Marie Le Pen

April 2002 •French

Namibia: The Story of a German Colony

April 2019 •German

Germans colonized the land of Namibia, in southern Africa, during a brief period of time, from 1840 to the end of the World War I. The story of the so-called German South West Africa (1884-1915) is hideous; a hidden and silenced account of looting and genocide.

Friedrich Engels - Der Unterschätzte

November 2020 •German

Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx formed one of the most famous duos in world history. In contrast to Marx, however, Engels seems to have fallen into oblivion today. Unjustly so. Moving archive images, documentary footage and graphic novels lead us back to the time of Friedrich Engels, who shaped the Communist movement like no other.

Moments Like This Never Last

August 2021 •English

Dash Snow rejected a life of privilege to make his own way as an artist on the streets of downtown New York City in the late 1990s. Developing from a notorious graffiti tagger into an international art star, he documented his drug- and alcohol-fueled nights with the surrogate family he formed with friends and fellow artists Ryan McGinley and Dan Colen before his death by heroin overdose in 2009. Drawing from Snow’s unforgettable body of work and involving archival footage, Cheryl Dunn’s exceptional portrait captures his all-too-brief life of reckless excess and creativity.