Heidi in China

Around China with a Movie Camera

July 2016 •English

A new film compiled from the BFI National Archive's unparalleled holdings of early films of China, features films from 1900-48 filmed across China. The cinematic journey of Around China with a Movie Camera contains many films which may never have been seen in China, or at the very least not for over 70 years. These travelogues, newsreels and home movies were made by a diverse group of British and French filmmakers, some professionals, but mainly enthusiastic amateurs, including intrepid tourists, colonial-era expatriates and Christian missionaries.

Children in the Morning Light

May 2018 •Chinese

Phantoms of the Sierra Madre

September 2024 •English

A Danish writer travels to Mexico with the purpose of locating a mysterious Apache tribe that fervently seeks to remain in obscurity.

Monsieur Mayonnaise

July 2016 •English

Artist and filmmaker Philippe Mora (Mad Dog Morgan; The Howling II; Swastika) is producing a graphic novel about his late father, Georges, widely known in Melbourne as a beloved contemporary art patron and owner of bohemian eateries Mirka Café, Café Balzac and the Tolarno Restaurant and Galleries. Less known, however, is Georges' astonishing history as part of the French resistance during World War II, his friendship with renowned mime Marcel Marceau (Philippe's godfather), and how together they saved thousands of Jewish lives with a fiendishly simple trick involving baguettes and mayonnaise.

Falling From the Sky

September 2009 •Chinese

The little-known Hunan Suining County is an ordinary but full of magical places. As the theoretical point of the rocket wreckage launched by the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, it has greeted the rocket wreckage from the sky dozens of times in the past 20 years since 1990. This mysterious and dangerous “out-of-town visitor” broke the poor and peaceful life of the 160,000 locals in the jurisdiction. 2008 is China's "Olympic Year" and "Aerospace Year." The people of Suining, like the people of the whole country, are looking forward to the Olympics to pay attention to the Olympics and are proud of the growing strength of the comprehensive national strength including aerospace strength. They also have to bear the fate of falling from the sky.

Faces from Home

February 2024 •Portuguese

In an empty house, we see the memories of a home, from those who once lived and filled it with joy and love.

Harvested Alive

November 2016 •English

As a doctor, Zhiyuan Wang spent 30 years studying how to save lives. He never imagined that he would spend another 10 years investigating how Chinese doctors take innocent lives. 95% of his evidence comes directly from China. His sources are Chinese doctors, judges, legislators, military officials, government officials, the media, and hospital websites. His research reveals an inconceivable truth – China’s hospitals, judiciary, and military worked together under the authority of the previous Chinese president Jiang Zemin to mercilessly slaughter a large number of Falun Gong practitioners through the harvesting of their organs. Today in a time of peace, it is difficult for people to believe that such a large-scale massacre has been silently taking place in China. But the truth shows that this frenzied killing machine, driven by huge profits, is still running rampant in society.

2019阅兵盛典

October 2020 •Chinese

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/

Outside

January 2005 •Chinese

Wang Wo’s experimental documentary takes the direct cinema approach to the realm of avantgardism, immersing the viewer in a non-narrative, highly sensory experience of urban China in its visual and aural splendor.

China: A Class By Itself

January 1979 •English

An inside look at China working towards the goal of becoming a superpower by the year 2000 via education as the key to modernization. Filmed in Peking, on a rural commune in central China, and in the industrial northeast region, Jack Reynolds interviews Vice Premier Fang Yi and the president of Peking University, as well as students, workers, and peasants.

The World According to Xi Jinping

December 2018 •French

The Windmill

February 1975 •French

In preparation for a feature-length film about windmills, an assistant director travels through the Vaud region to search for locations with windmills. The research leads to a serious engagement with the meaning and purpose of windmills, which has something Don Quixote-like about it in the age of nuclear power stations. The transitions between document and fiction flow constantly and result in a charming and intellectual mixture of seriousness and fun, determination and coincidence, weightlessness and the weight of meaning.

The Giacomettis

October 2023 •German

The rugged Swiss mountain valley of Bregaglia has produced an entire dynasty of artists: the Giacomettis. Alberto revolutionised the art world with his slender sculptures. Before him, his father was an Impressionist of the first hour. What makes this valley the birthplace of so many artists?

Patent Ochsner MTV Unplugged Tonbildshow

February 2022 •German

MTV Unplugged Tonbildshow - Unplugged Concert from Patent Ochsner, one of Switzerland's best-known rock bands

Caribou in the Archive

November 2018 •English

In Caribou in the Archive, rustic VHS home video of a Cree woman hunting caribou in the 1990s is combined with NFB archival film footage of northern Manitoba from the 1950s. In this experimental film, the difference between homemade video and official historical record is considered. Northern Indigenous women hunting is at the heart of this personal found footage film in which the filmmaker describes the enigmatic events that led to saving an important piece of family history from being lost forever.

Villa Madjo

November 2023 •French

Lenin kam nur bis Lüdenscheid - Meine kleine deutsche Revolution

February 2008 •German

Beethoven In Beijing

August 2020 •English

"Beethoven in Beijing" starts with a forgotten moment in history —the first American orchestra's visit to communist China. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 1973 tour was a gesture of cultural diplomacy that resonates still today, as the revival of classical music in China energizes the world of music.

Overloaded Peking

January 2002 •English

A documentary about Peking in the dawn of the new Millenium. Contains interviews with Jia Zhangke and dj Gaohu