De Barlovento a Sotavento

Racing Around the World Alone

January 2010 •English

The story of the 2008/2009 Vendée Globe race. 30 skippers embark on a quest to be the fastest to sail 27000 miles around the world, non stop, without assistance and alone on 60 foot sailboats. This is one of the most extreme challenges a human being can face. The sailors are alone at sea for months and physical and emotional strength are essential. Growlers (Icebergs), sea mammals, and massive waves are a constant danger. On any day the forces of nature can bring an end to the best sailor's well made plans. They harness the wind, hope for safe passage over the sea and push hard to win. They are a testament to the audacity of the human spirit.

White Squall

February 1996 •English

In 1960, a hardy group of prep school students boards an old-fashioned sailing ship. With Capt. Christopher Sheldon at the helm, the oceangoing voyage is intended to teach the boys fortitude and discipline. But the youthful crew are about to get some unexpected instruction in survival when they get caught in the clutches of a white squall storm.

Lotawana

February 2022 •English

A monotonous life has pushed the unfulfilled Forrest (Todd Blubaugh) to a voyage of self-discovery by living aboard his sailboat on an alluring, Missouri lake. Soon he catches wind of the rebellious and free-spirited Everly (Nicola Collie) and their idealistic dreams align for a thrilling and thought-provoking, romantic adventure. Can they survive, reconnect with nature and rewrite their own rules of modern existence, or will they discover that society operates the way it does for a reason?

Half Sour

April 2014 •English

A group of young skateboarders find direction in their lives when they move to New York and start a pickle business.

The Conquest Of The Ruins

August 2020 •Spanish

Quarry workers and construction sites. Private neighborhoods. Paleontological digs. The earth unites and separates all of them, and everyone has an interpretation of how this world should be inhabited. The documentary follows their interests to build a story about the expansion of the city and its consequences.

Genie Français – Les Fortresses de Vauban

February 2020 •German

Chambord: The Leonardo Da Vinci Mystery

November 2018 •French

A building lost in the midst of a 5 000 hectare park, that's the equivalent of the surface of Paris, Chambord is the castle of all superlatives. Having required nearly 220,000 tonnes of stone to build, the Chateau de Chambord, in the Loir-et-Cher department, is an architectural gem. 156 metres of facade, it has more than 70 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 426 rooms. The castle commissioned by Francis 1st in the 16th century is also the most mysterious. The majestic monument has its share of mysteries: identity of its architect, influence of the Florentine painter Leonardo da Vinci in its design, location in the middle of marshes in the heart of the forest and even longevity because it has survived through time without being damaged since the beginning of its construction in September 1519.

Live Aid Against All Odds

June 2005 •English

Documentary which traces the story of Live Aid from its humble beginnings, a pop tune cobbled together in the back seat of a taxi, to the eve of the biggest televised event ever. Artists from the time tell the story of the day that music rocked the world. Organiser Bob Geldof recalls how after 12 weeks of manic preparation, the big day finally arrived.

Kelvin and His Friends

August 1988 •English

A closely observed portrait of a single man in his 40's who lives in St. Kilda. Although he has none of the trappings of conventional existence, Kelvin's obsessive interest in born again Christianity, physical culture and recent German/Jewish history has given him a way of making sense of the world and led him to a number of people, friends through whom we see something of his life and beliefs.

The Last Day's Work

August 1987 •English

Work is becoming more service oriented and more and more services rely upon us doing harm to each other. In most people's lives, work operates as a degrading and debilitating force. It disables people's critical and perception capacities. Unless workers assume responsibility for evaluating the meaning and implications of the work they do, there will never be the capacity to redirect the modern work institutions from their courses of violence and exploitation. Built in seven parts which correspond to each day of the week, this film studies the relationship between work being done and the nature of the people that are doing it.

The Drowned

March 2017 •Russian

The film details the independent electronic scene of the 80s and 90s in the industrial city of Izhevsk (USSR). Today so called "Izhevsk electronic wave" is an important underground phenomenon in the history of modern Russian music. Appearing: "СД", "Стук бамбука в XI часов", "Красивая пришла", Rodesia, "Самцы дронта", "Организация сна", "Новые испанские кролики", Velvet & Velvet Dolls, "Вторая африканская охота", Lancer, Virgo Intacta, Birdwood, Digital Meet, "Юка".

Kontinuasom

March 2009 •English

"Beti is a dancer in the Raiz di Polon company in Cape Verde. She receives an offer from Lisbon to join a Cape Verde music show and start a new career there. The offer unchains the deep-set Cape Verde conflict in her: identity built on the Diaspora century after century. Doubts, nostalgia, uprooting, they all soar over her and accompany her decision. The same dilemma that surrounds all Cape Verdeans, the yearning to leave, the yearning to return. Expressed and brought together around music, hallmark of the people of Cape Verde."

Underground Chinese Hip-Hop - The Rap Pioneers of China

March 2012 •Chinese

'Chinese Hip-Hop Underground' is an insider documentary following the story of Weber - one of Mainland China's first rappers. Weber's uncanny musical talents allow him to spearhead the creation of Chinese rap music - a free form of creative self-expression that spreads like wildfire amongst those struggling the most; young working class students and grassroots migrants left out of the country's meteoric rise. Even while Weber's music electrifies China's youth and gains a huge following, he is challenged by enemies posing a threat to his musical existence: state censors, on the one hand, and armies of state-backed pop stars seeking to steal the name of hip-hop for their own gain, on the other. Can Weber and underground musicians like him survive this assault? Will Underground Chinese hip-hop survive?

Adam and Joe's Fourmative Years

December 1997 •English

In 1997, Channel 4 called on cult couch-potatoes Adam and Joe to look back over its first 15 years of groundbreaking television. And take the p*ss out of it...

Manuel Cepeda Vargas: Un Artista en la Política

June 2018 •Spanish

Let's rock-n-roll

January 1989 •German

Documentary film for german TV about rock music in Soviet Union. Featuring: "Мистер Твистер", "Ва-Банкъ", "Чудо-Юдо", "Женская Болезнь", "Ночной Проспект", "Аквариум", "Ноль", "Аукцыон", "Телевизор", "АВИА", "Звуки Му". In 1989 an album with recorded soundtrack was released.

The Squatters of the Devil's House

August 2015 •Spanish

"The Squatters of the Devil's House" is the choral portrait of Fercho, 'El Diablo' and 'El Jipi', ephemeral owners of a no-man's-land that is - perhaps - their only corner in the world. The ruins allow them to share the fragments of their days, survive the city and time, and become a small family. By making vestiges the foundation of their lives, their own ability to be reborn is revealed.

The Crossroad Of Rock

June 1988 •Estonian

Documentary film written by music critic Artemiy Troitskiy. It depicts the variety of Soviet and Baltic rock music and offers its viewer an idea that all this forbidden music is not really dangerous for society. Featuring music bands: "Круиз" (Tambov), "In Spe" (Estonia), "Новый мир" (Estonian hard-rock), "Великие Луки" (punk-rock from Tallinn). Moscow music scene represented by: "Тупые", "Нюанс", "Звуки Му". Leningrad music scene: "Джунгли", "Алиса". Also appearing: "Воплі Відоплясова" from Kiev and "Антис" from Lithuania. Not credited: Roman Neumoev with "Инструкция по выживанию" and Oleg Sudakov with "Гражданская оборона".

Dig!

May 2004 •English

A documentary on the once promising American rock bands The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. The friendship between respective founders, Anton Newcombe and Courtney Taylor, escalated into bitter rivalry as the Dandy Warhols garnered major international success while the Brian Jonestown Massacre imploded in a haze of drugs.

In the Realms of the Unreal

January 2004 •English

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.