Warp and Weft: A Snapshot of Raw Denim in the United States

Riveted: The History of Jeans

February 2022 •English

Riveted: The History of Jeans reveals the fascinating and surprising story of this iconic American garment. At any given moment, half the people on the planet are wearing them. They have become a staple of clothing the world over, worn by everyone from presidents and supermodels to farmers and artists. More than just an item of apparel, America’s tangled past is woven into the indigo blue fabric. From its roots in slavery to its connection to the Wild West, youth culture, the civil rights movement, rock and roll, hippies, high fashion and hip-hop, jeans are the canvas on which the history of American ideology and politics is writ large.

Waiting for the Carnival

February 2019 •Portuguese

A documentary film about the Brazilian town of Toritama, the self-proclaimed capital of jeans. The workers of the city’s self-managed small businesses only get one real break from their self-exploiting lives in the textile business: the annual Carnival.

Maneuvers in the Dark

March 2012 •English

Maneuvers in the Dark is the story of how three young Swedish entrepreneurs manage to sneak through the backdoor of North Korea in an attempt to produce jeans in the country, and of the spiraling repercussions that follow as they begin to trade with the worlds most sealed dictatorship.

666 - At Calling Death

January 1993 •English

In different times and spaces, genres like Death Metal are born. The early 90′s were still full of the 80′s vibe of over-consumption & greed, which found it’s way into everyday life, even into the music that was created. Just like hardcore in the early 80′s, not all of the teenagers of this decade wanted to hear the bubblegum pop that had invaded the airwaves. Death Metal did not want to be digested by the masses, and as a sub culture it was totally happy being the outsider. I’m not sure what was in the water in Florida during the late 80′s, because those kids were on some next shit, and they helped push the genre to other heights. When you are living in a certain period of time, you do realize that the life you are living could become historic to others in the future.

Flyin' Cut Sleeves

February 1993 •English

FLYIN' CUT SLEEVES, completed in 1993, portrays street gang presidents in the Bronx. Their world was the streets, set against a backdrop of uprooted families, cultural alienation, drugs and violence. Neighborhood teenagers responded by organizing into street groups known to the members as "families", but labeled in the most alarming terms as violent gangs by the press. The documentation of these lives over a twenty-year period offers a remarkable perspective on life in the ghetto (spanning four generations), and the means that people devise to cope from the time that they are children to when they serve as parents and role models for a new generation.

Studies on Hysteria

November 2012 •German

Short film about a young man discovering pants in a nudist world. A parable of the societal intolerance to anything different.

The Thistle in the Kiss

Invalid date •English

Declan has had no luck with the holidays: his girlfriend Stephanie broke up with him on the way to Christmas dinner. He's managed to keep it secret until New Year's Day, when his car breaks down and his sister Rachel shows up to help him fix it. Crumbling under her relentless curiosity, Declan is now on a crash course to confront the poor decisions of his life.

JEANStopia

November 2021 •Portuguese

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

June 2005 •English

Four best friends (Tibby, Lena, Carmen & Bridget) who buy a mysterious pair of pants that fits each of them, despite their differing sizes, and makes whoever wears them feel fabulous. When faced with the prospect of spending their first summer apart, the pals decide they'll swap the pants so that each girl in turn can enjoy the magic.

Hey Babu Riba

October 1985 •

In 1985, four middle-aged Yugoslav emigres return to Belgrade for the funeral of Mariana, their beautiful compatriot. They called her Esther, for Esther Williams, she was the coxswain for their four-man rowing team, and they each loved her. They'd last seen her in 1953, when they rowed her across the Adriatic, pregnant, to join her exiled father in Italy. In flashbacks we learn the story of their youthful baptism into sex, smoking, rock and roll (Hey Ba-ba-re-bop), Hollywood and Swedish films, blue jeans on the black market, and their rivalry with Ristic, the Communist Party youth leader for whom they had instant antipathy.

So Fine

September 1981 •English

While trying to get his father out of a financial jam, a man comes up with an idea that turns into an unexpected overnight financial fashion success - the bottomless pants.

bling ring (whip-its!)

July 2020 •English

denim and the 2000s

The Endless Summer

June 1966 •English

Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.

Land Without Bread

December 1933 •Spanish

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Megacities

August 1998 •English

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

Railway Station

January 1980 •Polish

Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec (Station, 1980) portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.

Gimme Shelter

December 1970 •English

A detailed chronicle of the famous 1969 tour of the United States by the British rock band The Rolling Stones, which culminated with the disastrous and tragic concert held on December 6 at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival, an event of historical significance, as it marked the end of an era: the generation of peace and love suddenly became the generation of disillusionment.

Primary

November 1960 •English

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.

Dont Look Back

May 1967 •English

In this wildly entertaining vision of one of the twentieth century’s greatest artists, Bob Dylan is surrounded by teen fans, gets into heated philosophical jousts with journalists, and kicks back with fellow musicians Joan Baez, Donovan, and Alan Price.

Black Man White Skin

June 2015 •Spanish

This film chronicles the health and social problems that African albinos face and details the fight waged on their behalf by advocacy groups in Spain.