Hand-Drawn: Documentary

Bob Ross: The Happy Painter

December 2011 •English

A behind-the-scenes look at the beloved public television personality's journey from humble beginnings to an American pop-culture icon. "The Happy Painter" reveals the public and private sides of Bob Ross through loving accounts from close friends and family, childhood photographs and rare archival footage. Interviewees recount his gentle, mild-mannered demeanor and unwavering dedication to wildlife, and disclose little-known facts about his hair, his fascination with fast cars and more. Film clips feature Bob Ross with mentor William Alexander and the rough-cut of the first "Joy of Painting" episode from 1982. Famous Bob Ross enthusiasts, including talk-show pioneer Phil Donahue, film stars Jane Seymour and Terrence Howard, chef Duff Goldman and country music favorites Brad Paisley and Jerrod Niemann, provide fascinating insights into the man, the artist and his legacy.

Made in the USA

September 1993 •English

A Paul Joyce documentary on the American independent film scene.

Queens Don’t Cry

February 2002 •German

Bosom buddies BeV StroganoV, Ovo Maltine, Ichgola Androgyn and Tima die Göttliche are four Berlin drag queens who met in the mid 1980s. These four queens became Germany’s most popular drag performers and have been busy fertilizing the German cultural scene. Besides being performers, they are also political activists – in AIDS awareness, anti-gay violence, the sex workers movement and the struggle against the extreme right and racism. The film tells their story.

There’s No Such Thing as Ghosts?

February 2020 •English

Do ghosts exist? In this new documentary, a filmmaker travels to rumored haunted places interviewing psychics, scientists, and skeptics in search of the truth. Along the way, his crew captures unexplained phenomena including a box that allows the dead to speak.

Maa Guruvu Bharathiraja Ki Jathakam Cheppadam Kuda Telusu

December 2023 •Telugu

Telugu Film Director Vamsy, reminisces about his early days as an Assistant Director Working at "Seethakoka Chilaka" sets with his Mentor Bharathi Raja and how he made a Unique Trailer Cut for the Film.

Idi Bhimanjaneyudi Story

December 2023 •Telugu

Telugu Film Director Vamsy Shares the Story of Actor Rajanala.

Stop the Movie (Cruising)

Invalid date •English

A short film documenting street protests against the filming of William Friedkin's Cruising (1980)

The Beginner's Guide to Spinning in Loops

July 2022 •English

From June 2021 to June 2022, Justin "Jastun" Bland records whatever that is in front of him. He presents an abstract montage of collected videos varying from onscreen recordings to filming special, intimate & mundane in-real-life moments. This short captures our daily routines in life and how we choose to spontaneously record them.

The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam

January 2003 •English

Long Tack Sam was an internationally renowned Chinese acrobat and magician. He overcame isolation, poverty, cultural and linguistic barriers, extreme racism and world wars to become one of the most successful vaudeville acts of his time. His showmanship was unrivalled, yet he refused to appear in movies because of the way Chinese were portrayed at the time. A celebration of the spirit of Long Tack Sam's magic and art, this richly textured first person road movie is an exhilarating testament to his legacy and a prismatic tour through the 20th Century. It all begins in a small village in China... https://www.nfb.ca/film/the_magical_life_of_long_tack_sam/

Back To Africa

April 2008 •English

Tintoretto: A Rebel in Venice

February 2019 •Italian

Five hundred years after his birth, the life and career of the Italian Renaissance's last great painter is explored.

Pelle vegetale. Un'intervista

May 2019 •Italian

Life Itself

July 2014 •English

The surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert (1942-2013): his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.

Crystal Christ I: La Pasarela de la Muerte

November 2018 •Spanish

Based on an installation by Alberto vev

Made by Machine: When AI Met the Archive

September 2018 •English

Dr Hannah Fry and a virtual host present a new way of making television, as the BBC uses artificial intelligence to delve into the treasures of the BBC Archive.

Sunset over Mulholland Drive

May 2019 •German

Hidden away at the end of Mulholland Drive, just north of Los Angeles, lies the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Its residents were once the backbone of American showbiz. The Fund gives them a home and new meaning in their old age. Still going strong in their own studio, they produce short films and pursue other creative projects. This documentary follows one such project from the first brainstorming session all the way to the premiere, revealing enduring dreams and hopes beyond the limelight — and lessons in life and love.

What Happened to East Detroit?

December 2021 •English

A documentary by Justin Arment that explores the 1991 rename of Michigan city 'East Detroit' to 'Eastpointe', and the racially motivated reasonings behind it.

Tread

February 2020 •English

Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him.

At The Helm | The Making of Lotawana

May 2022 •English

This hilarious, behind-the-scenes adventure shows the unforgettable, year-long production that Trevor Hawkins and his skeleton-crew of endearing renegades went through to bring their gritty film, Lotawana, to life.

Fieldwork Footage

January 1928 •English

Under the tutelage of anthropologist Franz Boas (her former Columbia professor) and Harlem Renaissance arts patron Charlotte Osgood Mason, Zora Neale Hurston spent nearly two years, from 1927 to 1929, studying the folkloric customs, work songs, spirituals, and vernacular language of African American communities along the River Road and from New Orleans to Florida.