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A
- Algeria's Bloody Years - Chronicles the country's struggle for peace, stability and democracy since independence, and the surprising origins of the brutal conflict between Islamic fundamentalists and the national Army.
- Amateur Photographer - The story of a German soldier and the photographs that he took, while serving on the Eastern Front during WWII.
- Americas in Transition - A concise and fast-paced history of the volatile forces at work in Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in the 1980s
- Andre's Lives - The story of Andre Steiner, dubbed "the Jewish Schindler," who saved thousands of Slovak Jews during the Holocaust.
- Angry Monk - Gendun Choephel, a legendary figure in Tibet, turned from the monastic life he was born to (as the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama), to become a fierce critic of his country's religious conservatism and isolationism.
- Antonio Negri - Traces the biography and current relevance of this controversial moral and political philosopher, his work, and his contemporary role as an intellectual leader of the anti-globalization movement.
- Ariel Sharon - Rare archival footage and interviews with family, colleagues, critics and historians form an essential biographical portrait of the former general and Israel's controversial Prime Minister.
- August Sander - A portrait of one of the most important photographers of the 20th century, who though uncelebrated in his own lifetime, pioneered social documentary photography.
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B
- Back to Ararat - Examines this century's first genocide - the killing of 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.
- The Battle of Chernobyl - Previously secret archives and documents provide the basis for an unprecedented examination of the disaster and the efforts to contain it.
- The Battle of Chile (Part 1 & 2) - The epic chronicle of Chile's open and peaceful socialist revolution, and of the violent counter-revolution against it in 1973. Judy Stone of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "a landmark in the presentation of living history on
- The Battle of Chile (Part 3) - Deals with the creation by ordinary workers and peasants of thousands of local groups of "popular power."
- Ben Barka - A biography of Moroccan opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka, abducted on the streets of Paris and murdered in 1965, the infamous "Ben Barka affair."
- The Bible Unearthed - A four-part series based on the best-selling book The Bible Unearthed by Israel Finkelstein (Prof. of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University) and Neil Silberman (Director of the Ename Center for Public Archaeology & Heritage Presentation).
- A bientôt j'espère - Workers at a textile factory on strike in pre-May '68 France, not just for more money, but for a different way of life. By Chris Marker.
- Black Market - A fictionalized account of the events leading to the Opium War.
- Blockade - Made entirely from footage discovered in Russian archives, and featuring a meticulously reconstructed soundtrack, this film vividly re-creates the 900 day siege of Leningrad during World War II.
- Blowing Up Paradise - The story of thirty years of French nuclear testing in the South Pacific, including the lethal bombing of the "Rainbow Warrior" — the Greenpeace ship sunk by the French Secret Service.
- Bonhoeffer - The dramatic story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German theologian who was one of the first clear voices of resistance against Adolf Hitler, and who openly challenged his church to stand with the Jews in their time of need.
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C
- Charlotte - Based on the autobiographical series "Life or Theater?" by Charlotte Salomon, a young Jewish painter from Berlin, who sought refuge in Nice during World War II.
- A Child's Century of War - Takes the viewer on a journey through the past century - the bloodiest in history - from the perspective of children, and tells their stories in their voices.
- Chile, Obstinate Memory - Patricio Guzmán's landmark film The Battle of Chile (1976) documented the "Popular Unity" period of Salvador Allende's government, the tumultuous events leading up to the 1973 coup, and Allende's death. Guzmán has returned to
- China Yellow, China Blue - Two-part documentary tells the history of China in the 20th Century - entirely with original archives and motion pictures.
- Chronicle Of A Genocide Foretold - Shot over three years, CHRONICLE OF A GENOCIDE FORETOLD follows several Rwandans before, during, and after the 1994 genocide.
- Church of Liberation - Looks at the recent history of the Church in Brazil, the largest Catholic country in the world, in light of the drastic changes which occurred during the years of military dictatorship.
- Coffee is the Gold of the Future - The intertwined histories of coffee and of Colombia, one of the world's largest producers of the bean.
- The Commodities Series - A seven-part look at Third World commodities and their producers' relationships to sellers and traders at major exchanges.
- The Comrade - The story of Luiz Carlos Prestes, legendary leader of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) for over 35 years, who died in 1990.
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D
- Deadly Enemies - From early attempts to use bacteria as weapons, to the advent of gene splicing and the creation of superbugs, this is the chilling story of the development of biological weapons.
- Dealing with the Demon - Three-episode series that interweaves contemporary human stories with crucial scenes from the history of the drug trade, providing a provocative and timely commentary from which to view the ongoing debate.
- Death Squadrons - The previously untold story of how the French military trained Latin American death squads in the 60s and 70s (and even U.S. Special Forces in the early days of our Vietnam War).
- The Democratic Revolutionary Handbook - A how-to manual to the recent democratic (but definitely not spontaneous) revolutions in Georgia, Serbia, and the Ukraine.
- Devils Don't Dream! - Analysis of the CIA-sponsored 1954 coup in Guatemala.
- The Diaries of Yossef Nachmani - A history of the early Zionists' acquisition and settlement of Palestinian lands in the Galilee, from the 1920's thru 1948. Based on the diaries of a land broker for the Jewish National Fund.
- The Discreet Charm of Bucharest - A picture of Romania's capital, and the lives of six individuals who live there, through stories of the houses they live in.
- Division of Hearts - Ordinary people from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh recount their tumultuous experiences after the 1947 British subdivision of colonial India.
- Dreaming Lhasa - A narrative feature about a Tibetan filmmaker looking to reconnect to her roots by making a documentary in the Tibetan exile community.
- Drowning by Bullets - Exposes the massacre, cover-up, and the years of denial of what was undoubtedly one of the darkest nights in the history of France.
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E
- East of War - Former Wehrmacht soldiers talk about their experiences beyond the bounds of "normal" warfare on the Eastern Front of World War II.
- Eisenstein - A vivid portrait of the places and events which fostered Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein's genius.
- El Salvador: Another Vietnam - examines the civil war in El Salvador in light of the Reagan administration's decision to "draw the line" against "communist interference" in Central America.
- The Embassy - In one of Chris Marker's few fiction films, political dissidents seek refuge in a foreign embassy after a military coup d'état in an unidentified country.
- End of the Dialogue - A landmark film that was one of the first to reveal the full horrors of apartheid to the world.
- Epoca - How is history created? What does or does not enter our memory? By staging a variety of historical fragments, this meditative documentary challenges the idea of "authentic" history.
- Euskadi: A Stateless Nation
- Excellent Cadavers - A dramatic investigation of the recent history of the Mafia and its integral relationship to postwar Italian politics. Based on the book by Alexander Stille.
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F
- The Face of Evil - A history of attempts to categorize the physiognomy of evil. From the paintings of Hieronymous Bosch to physiognomics, phrenology, eugenics, and anthropometrics.
- FALN - A remarkable time capsule of Venezuelan political and social history, and valuable background to the ongoing social conflicts in that country.
- Fang - Mixes documentary and fiction techniques to recount an African art object's 100 year journey - a whole century of Western attitudes towards African culture packed into 8 minutes!
- Fernando is Back - Documents the workings of Chile's Forensic Identification Unit in its quest to reclaim the identities of those 'disappeared' and killed during the Pinochet dictatorship.
- Fighter - Two old friends, Holocaust survivors, journey into their past, to retrace one's daring escape through Nazi-occupied Europe.
- First Kill - Compellingly brings out the contradictory feelings that war evokes - fear and anger, but also seduction, fascination and excitement. With Michael Herr (Apocalypse Now, Dispatches).
- For These Eyes - The story of the daughter of Uruguayan activists "disappeared" by the Argentine military in the 1970s, and raised by an agent of the Argentine secret police.
- Forever Lenin - Why, and how, was Lenin mummified in 1924? And how, and why, is he still on display in Red Square today?
- Forging Identity - The remarkable' life of Adolfo Kaminsky, master forger. He helped thousands of Jews escape Nazi persecution, and after the war many 'underground' movements.
- Forgiving Dr. Mengele - The remarkable story of Auschwitz survivor and former 'Mengele twin' Eva Mozes Kor and the transformation that led her to forgive the Nazi perpetrators as an act of self-healing.
- Free Markets for Free Men - The consequences of fluctuating prices on commodity producing nations.
- The Future Is Not What It Used To Be - A fascinating profile of Erkki Kurenniemi, an early inventor of electronic synthesizers and microcomputers, whose career represents a surprisingly natural blend of music, film, computers, robotics, science and art.
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G
- A Grin Without A Cat - Chris Marker's epic film-essay on the worldwide political wars of the 60's and 70's: Vietnam, Che, May '68, Prague, Chile, and the fate of the New Left.
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H
- Hiding and Seeking - Through this complex, personal story of the effects of the Holocaust on four generations, this film becomes a plea for tolerance for non-Jews.
- History Lessons - Experimenting with the form of historical documentary, an entertaining pastiche of cultural celluloid artifacts, appropriated historical footage, and dramatically composed skits focusing on lesbian life and revelry pre-Stonewall.
- The Holocaust Experience - An exploration into how the memory of the Holocaust is kept alive via preserved concentration camp ruins in Poland and hyper-realistic holocaust museums in America.
- House of the World - Examines the Holocaust through the eyes of survivors and their descendants.
- How Putin Came to Power - A detailed investigation, with archives and exclusive interviews with the participants, into how Vladimir Putin rose from mayoral aide in St. Petersburg, to President of Russia, in only eight years.
- How to Behave (Chuyen Tu Te) - A Vietnamese documentary centered on the concept of "tu-te" - humanity, fraternity, or, simply, kindness.
- Human Weapon - The first sober, in-depth examination of the history of suicide bombing. Filmed in Iran, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Israel, Palestine, Europe and the United States.
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I
- I'll Sing for You - Mali, and the delicate yet powerful rhythms of the country's most famous musician, Boubacar Traoré, who sang songs of independence to an entire generation.
- In Rwanda We Say... - 2004 was the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, and the government released 16,000 confessed killers into their communities. Captures the first steps toward reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi that followed.
- The Internationale - Draws on people's stories of an emotionally charged radical song (the long-time anthem of socialism and communism) to celebrate the relationship between music and social change.
- Intervista - Albanian artist Anri Sala's moving reflection on his mother's history, and his country's.
- Isaak Babel - Interweaving fragments of Isaak Babel's stories and interviews with surviving family members, an intimate portrait of the writer emerges.
- The Ister - A journey up the Danube River, this film takes up some of the most challenging paths in Martin Heidegger's thought. With the philosophers Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernard Stiegler, and filmmaker Hans-Jürgen Syberberg.
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J
- J'y Crois - I Believe In It - A beautifully composed political documentary investigating the decentralization process in Mali.
- Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir - From 1967, for the first time on video or DVD, a portrait of two of the most influential and controversial writers and thinkers of the 20th century. They discuss their work, lives, and the role of intellectuals in modern society.
- Just Watch Me - The Canadian "70's Generation" - growing up under the elegant and enigmatic Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau.
- Justice and the Generals - Investigates the human rights and legal issues involved when two Salvadoran generals are sued in an American court for atrocities (such as the murder of four American churchwomen) committed during El Salvador's civil war.
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K
- Kim's Story: The Road from Vietnam - The story of Kim Phuc, the subject of perhaps the most famous photograph of the Vietnam War - a story of the personal and public healing of wounds from this century's longest, most divisive war.
- Kuxa Kanema - The story of Mozambique's National Institute of Cinema (INC) - a history of the birth and death of local cinema, and the birth and death of an ideology.
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- La Commune - The new film by Peter Watkins. A 5 hour 45 minute event. Based on a thorough historical research into the Paris Commune of 1871, this film leads to an inevitable reflection about the present.
- The Last Bolshevik - Chris Marker's tribute to Russian film director Alexander Medvedkin.
- Last Grave at Dimbaza - Shot secretly and smuggled out of South Africa at the height of the apartheid era, this was the most widely screened and influential anti-apartheid documentary. Now restored and on DVD for the first time.
- Letters From Home - The filmmaker delves into a startling family secret: her grandfather, a successful Chinese immigrant, was also husband and father to a second family in China.
- The Life and Times of Sara Baartman - The strange and sad case of Sara Baartman, kidnapped from South Africa in 1810, "exhibited" around Great Britain, and then treated as a scientific curiosity.
- Living With The Past - Cairo is one of the few medieval cities in the world that remains relatively intact. This a portrait of Darb al-Ahmar, a neighborhood in the old city now facing a process of radical change.
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M
- Magnitogorsk - The fortunes of three generations living in the shadow of Russia's most breathtaking industrial project of the 1930s. The film was inspired by Joris Ivens' Song of the Heroes. (from the January, 1998 Catalog Supplement)
- Marx for Beginners - Hilarious 7 minute animated introduction to Karl Marx's worldview.
- Mobutu - The definitive history and visual record of the rise and fall of Joseph Désiré Mobutu, ruler of Zaire (the Congo) for over 30 years.
- Moshe Dayan - An detailed personal and political portrait of the controversial Israeli general turned statesman, a one-time national hero and eventual political exile.
- Mother - The story of a Hungarian woman who fled with her six-year old son after the uprising in 1956 while her husband, accused of being a leading "counter-revolutionary," is executed by the new Communist government.
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N
- Nanjing - Till today the history of the 1937 "Rape of Nanking" is a point of contention between China and Japan. How is it seen in each country, and can a shared memory ever be constructed?
- Napoleon, David - Featuring the paintings of Jacques-Louis David, including "Napoleon's Coronation." Examines how art and propaganda were intertwined throughout Napoleon's career.
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O
- Once Removed - A young woman's trip to China to meet her relatives for the first time. Combining historical footage with life stories, an intriguing investigation into a family history inextricably linked with China’s tumultuous past.
- Once Upon A Time...Rome, Open City - An exploration of the making of Rome, Open City, its significance in cinema history and reflections on the great director, Roberto Rossellini, by his family, colleagues and film critics.
- One Island, Two Irelands - Tells the history of Ireland north and south - using only original archival materials.
- Optimum - The legacies of three 19th century visionaries - Jeremy Bentham, Charles Babbage, and Francis Galton - who helped shaped modern (post) industrial society.
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P
- The Palestinian People Do Have Rights - This introduction to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict covers the history of the region in an effective and clearly understandable manner, shorn of polemic and prejudice.
- The Patriot Game - The history of the long and bitter battle for Northern Ireland.
- The Pinochet Case - The story of the landmark legal case against General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, before and after his arrest in London in 1998. The new film by Patricio Guzmán.
- Prisoners of Conscience - Early film by India's leading documentary filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan, now on video for the first time. Human rights, political prisoners & the State of Emergency in India from 1975 to 1977.
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R
- Red Hat - Where Are You Going? - An examination of the socio-political role of the Mossi chiefs in the West African nation of Burkina Faso.
- Red Persimmons - A visually elegant paean to the cultivation and harvesting of the sweet red fruit, and the disappearance of a traditional way of life in rural Japan.
- Remembrance of Things to Come - Reminiscent of Resnais, Ivens, even Kubrick, but in its deployment of still photographs (as in La Jetée), its theme of history and memory, its subject-skipping montage and rapid shuttle of wit and philosophy it's pure Marker.
- Ringl and Pit - The lives and times of emigré photographers Grete Stern (b. 1904) and Ellen Auerbach (1906-2004) - from their early days together as the "ringl + pit" studio in Weimar Germany to their current activities spanning three continents.
- Round Eyes in the Middle Kingdom - Filmmaker Ronald Levaco, born in China of Russian Jewish parents returns to the country of his birth after 45 years to discover what happened to Israel Epstein, his father's best friend who decided to stay.
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S
- S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine - 17,000 Cambodians were interrogated, tortured, and then executed at the S21 prison. Now, three of the only six survivors and their jailers return to excavate the past.
- Salvador Allende - Patricio Guzmán (The Battle of Chile) tells Allende's story, from his youth in Valparaiso and his early career, to his presidency of Chile and death during the coup of September 11, 1973.
- Samora Machel, Son Of Africa - Before his death in a mysterious plane crash, Mozambican President Samora Machel gave the filmmaker and exclusive interview that forms the basis for the look at one of Africa's most important freedom fighters and revolutionaries.
- Scars of Memory - An oral history of the 1932 massacre of 10,000 El Salvadorans, a trauma that has resonated through six decades of military rule, until the 1992 peace accords ended a brutal, 12-year civil war.
- Shadows in the Sun - Japanese veterans of WWII and the descendants of their fallen comrades revisit Papua New Guinea to confront their personal losses and Japan's legacy in the "Forgotten War."
- Shi'ism - Across Iran, Lebanon and Iraq a cross-section of major contemporary Shiite figures discuss and debate the history, theology and values of this minority branch of Islam.
- Slaves of the Sword Series - This 3-part series investigates the lives, strengths, and limitations of 3 Israeli general/politicians, and asks: why does Israel, a democracy, continue to choose military men to lead?
- Sociology is a Martial Art - A new documentary about the world famous, highly influential sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, whose 40 books and countless articles represent a brilliant renovation and application of social science.
- A Song for Argyris - The moving story of Argyris who survived a Nazi massacre in his village in Greece and who has dedicated his life to ensuring that such wartime atrocities never happen again. (new January, 2008)
- A Song for Ireland - Traces the history of Ireland through her music, and Ireland's music through her history.
- Sotsgorod: Cities For Utopia - Uncovers the secret history of Western architects who moved to the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s, to design the huge new industrial cities being built across Siberia and the steppes.
- The Sugar Curtain - An intimate portrait by Camila Guzmán Urzúa about growing up in Cuba during the "golden years" of the Cuban Revolution.
- Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square - An artist's personal exploration of China's recent history from the Cultural Revolution through the 1980s, told through a rich collage of original artwork, archival and family photographs, and animation.
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T
- Tango of Slaves - A Holocaust survivor's journey to Warsaw becomes the springboard for a meditative essay about history, memory, and their preservation in imagery.
- Thank God and the Revolution - Long a major social force in Nicaragua, the Catholic church spoke out against the injustices of the Somoza regime. It is now helping people realize their full potential since the Sandinista revolution.
- They Chose China - Academy Award-nominated documentarian Shuibo Wang tells the controversial story of American POWs who after the Korean War refused repatriation, and stayed in China.
- Through the Consul's Eye - Films shot by a French Consul in turn-of-the-century China. With a camera lent by the Lumiere brothers, he documented the historic events and everyday life he saw around him.
- Time Immemorial - Presents the case of the Nisga tribe in their long fight for aboriginal rights in British Columbia.
- Time of the Locust - Critically examines American involvement in Vietnam through a compilation of American, Japanese and Vietnamese combat footage.
- The Trials of Henry Kissinger - Focusing on his role in events in Vietnam, Indonesia and Chile, this film examines charges that the former Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner is also a war criminal.
- Try to Remember - A mother returns to her home village Yantang, in China, with her son, to show him where she grew up, and to talk for the first time about the days of the Cultural Revolution.
- Tupamaros - 62-year-old Pepe Mujica, a founding member of Uruguay's Tupamaros organization and member of parliament, reflects on the groups development over the last 30 years from urban guerillas to legal political force.
- The Two Lives of Eva - The complicated, traumatic story of a young woman, the filmmaker's mother, a well-off, Polish Lutheran before WWII, who afterwards married a Jewish Warsaw ghetto survivor.
- The Two Rivers - Poet Rashaka Ratshitanga guides viewers through South Africa's history before and during the apartheid era.
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W
- Wandering Souls - Thirty years after the end of the war against the United States, two Vietnamese veterans continue to search for the remains of their dead comrades.
- We Loved Each Other So Much - The Lebanese singer Hoda Nouhad Haddad, better known as Fairuz, is a legend in the Arab world. The stories of diverse Beirut inhabitants and of their love for her provide a moving commentary on Lebanon's tumultuous history.
- White Gold - Early production of sugar in the Americas, particularly Brazil.
- The World Stopped Watching - What happens to a country when the media spotlight is turned off? 15 years after the Sandinista/Contra war in Nicaragua often led our nightly news, journalists who covered that war return to find out.
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Y
- Yitzhak Rabin - Examines late Israeli general, statesman, and pioneer for peace in the Middle East, who was assassinated in 1995 while implementing the doomed Oslo peace accords.
- You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train - The life and times of Howard Zinn, the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic "A People's History of the United States."
- Yugoslavia: Origins of a War - Provides a detailed background to the ethnic conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, using only archive and unpublished material.
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Z
- Zygosis - A radical and humorous electronic homage to John Heartfield, anti-Nazi German satirist who pioneered the photomontage.
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