Simindis kundzuli. George Ovashvili

Every year the Enguri River drops to reveal small fertile islands. Because the river marks the natural border that separates Georgia from Abkhazia, these islands are unclaimed territory. Peasants come every year to live on them during the growing season, attempting to harvest enough corn to survive the winter. Two problems face them; the fact that the two nations have been in some form of conflict since the 90's and the rising waters of the Enguri.

Clearly influenced by the likes of Dreyer and Bela Tarr, Director George Ovashvili's slow-burning, minimalist thriller takes place entirely on and around one of these tiny islands. We follow an old man, referred to only as Grandpa, and his grand-daughter as they methodically bring supplies to the island and construct a small shack. They will have to live on this island in order to tend to and protect their little patch of corn.

The river creates and the river destroys. The island is a microcosm of man against nature, of the political instability of the region and of life itself. The amount Corn Island is able to achieve with so little is commendable.

16 wins & 3 nominations.

Boom Varietal: The Rise of Argentine Malbec. Sky Pinnick

The buzz among wine connoisseurs and novices alike, is one word - Malbec. Originally from France, Malbec found its perfect home, its perfect terroir in the dry Argentine climate. Its booming popularity has swept through the US and the world, reviving a varietal that has been nearly lost. Documenting how an inexpensive blend originally only intended for local demand rising to become an international star, Boom Varietal interviews winemakers spearheading the rise of Malbec, wine connoisseurs, as well as foreign investors hoping to profit from the boom. Boom Varietal will inspire not only your palate, but a love for Argentina's rich culture.

Gold Kahnua Award, Honolulu Film Festival
Silver Ace Award, Las Vegas Film Festival
Bronze Palm Award, Mexico International Film Festival

Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Johanna Demetrakas

Crazy Wisdom is the long-awaited feature documentary to explore the life, teachings, and "crazy wisdom" of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a pivotal figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Called a geni­us, rascal, and social visionary; 'one of the greatest spiritual teachers of the 20th century,' and 'the bad boy of Buddhism,' Trungpa defied categorization. Raised and trained in the rigorous Tibetan monastic tradition, Trungpa came to the West and shattered our preconceived notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave - he openly smoked, drank, and had intimate relations with students - yet his teachings are recognized as authentic, vast, and influential. Twenty years after his death, with unprecedented access and exclusive archival material, Crazy Wisdom looks at the man and the myths about him, and attempts to set the record straight

Gilles Deleuze from A to Z by Pierre-Andre Boutang

Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII, Vincennes/Saint Denis. He published 25 books, including five in collaboration with Félix Guattari. Although Gilles Deleuze never wanted a film to be made about him, he agreed to Claire Parnet's proposal to film a series of conversations in which each letter of the alphabet would evoke a word: From A (as in Animal) to Z (as in Zigzag). These DVDs, elegantly transtlated and subtitled in English, make these conversations available for English-speaking audiences? for the first time.In dialogue with Parnet (a journalist and former student of Deleuze), the philosopher exhibited the modest and thrilling transparency that his seminal works (such as Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus) reveal. The sessions were taped when Deleuze was already terminally ill; he and Parnet agreed that the film would not be shown publicly until after his death. The awareness of mortality floats through the dialogues, making them not just intellectually stimulating but also emotionally engaging. Because Parnet knew Deleuze so well, she was able to draw him out--as no one else had--to what might be the 1001st plateau: a place of brilliance, rigor, and charm.In "A as in Animal," for example, Deleuze vents his hatred of pets: "A bark," he declares, "really seems to me the stupidest cry." Instead, he praises the tick: "... in a nature teeming with life, [the tick] extracts three things": light, smell, and touch. This, he claims, in a sense is philosophy. "And that is your life's dream?" Parnet wryly asks. "That's what constitutes a world," he replies. For Deleuze, doing philosophy meant not just creating concepts but living a life in philosophy. Gilles Deleuze from A to Z presents the mind of a great philosopher at work. Semiotext(e) ASIN: 1584351012

Engineering an Empire: Collector's Edition DVD Set

The Parthenon. Chichén Itzá. The Pyramids. Their scale, complexity, and sheer beauty stand as permanent reminders of the indomitable strength and ingenuity of the human spirit.
ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE: THE COLLECTOR S EDITION circles the globe to re-examine history s most magnificent civilizations by surveying the architectural and engineering triumphs they left behind. Beginning more than five-thousand years ago with the mind-boggling construction feats of the ancient Egyptians, the 14 documentaries--including two feature-length specials--in this collection revive the spectacular glory of the past, from the great temples of Greece to the majestic and mysterious Tenochtitlan. Cutting-edge CGI graphics and stunning location footage reanimate the ancient streets of such cities as Carthage and Rome, while expert interview trace the rise of each empire and the technological achievements that paved the way for their gravity-defying masterpieces.
Hosted by Peter Weller, ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE: THE COLLECTOR S EDITION unites each riveting moment of this critically-acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning series to reveal the innovation and infrastructure behind the world s most dazzling empires.
Engineering an Empire: Britain - Blood and Steel,
Engineering an Empire: Carthage,
Engineering an Empire: China,
Engineering an Empire: Da Vinci's World,
Engineering an Empire: Egypt,
Engineering an Empire: Greece,
Engineering an Empire: Greece - Age of Alexander,
Engineering an Empire: Napoleon - Steel Monster,
Engineering an Empire: Rome,
Engineering an Empire: Russia,
Engineering an Empire: The Aztecs,
Engineering an Empire: The Byzantines,
Engineering an Empire: The Maya - Death Empire,
Engineering an Empire: The Persians

SKU ID #70058

Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture

BBC: Шедевры мировой архитектуры (4 DVD)

Историк и ученый Дэн Крикшэнк предлагает зрителям совершить увлекательный и познавательный вояж по самым знаменитым памятникам архитектуры, которые оказали огромное влияние на историю человечества, восхитили нас и изменили наше восприятие мира. Сопоставляя между собой совершенно разные по стилю со-оружения, вы увидите, сколь искусно они были сделаны, как связаны между собой и поразитесь, насколько сильно в них отразились стремления и убеждения людей.

Дэн Крикшанк — остроумный и обаятельный дедушка с BBC — путешествует по самым необычным зданиям, которые когда-либо создали люди. Он строит юрты вместе с эскимосами на Северном полюсе и складывает хижины в тропиках из пальмовых листьев, залезает на вершину небоскрёба и оказывается на заброшенных развалинах храмов Центральной Америки. Архитектура для него способ прикоснуться к другим эпохам и понять совсем других людей: в фильме почти не рассказывается о зданиях, изменивших историю архитектуры, зато подробно объясняется, что обязательно должно стоять в кухне настоящего брахмана. - Lookatme

Page One-Inside the New York Times

Director: Andrew Rossi

In the tradition of great fly-on-the-wall documentaries, the film deftly gains unprecedented access to the New York Times newsroom and the inner workings of the Media Desk. With the Internet surpassing print as our main news source and newspapers all over the country going bankrupt, Page One chronicles the transformation of the media industry at its time of greatest turmoil. Writers like Brian Stelter, Tim Arango and the salty but brilliant David Carr track print journalism’s metamorphosis even as their own paper struggles to stay vital and solvent, while their editors and publishers grapple with up-to-the-minute issues like controversial new sources and the implications of an online pay-wall. Meanwhile, rigorous journalism is thriving—Page One gives us an up-close look at the vibrant cross-cubicle debates and collaborations, tenacious jockeying for on-record quotes, and skillful page-one pitching that brings the most venerable newspaper in America to fruition each and every day.
"Pick of the Week" -Time Out NY
"A VITAL, INDISPENSABLE HELL-RAISER. Potent and provocative." -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"Slick, fun, and surprisingly sexy." -John Lopez, Vanity Fair
"Essential viewing for news junkies" -Stephen Garrett, Esquire
"EXCELLENT. It's a movie with heroes, villains (sort of), humor, anxiety, anger, hope and conflict, that just happens to be true. It also happens to be a film anyone who cares about the future should see." -Mark Rabinowitz, CNN

BBC: Сила искусства. (8 DVD)

Часть 1. Караваджо. Рембрандт / BBC: Сила искусства. Часть 2. Пикассо. Бернини / BBC: Сила искусства. Часть 3. Давид. Тернер / BBC: Сила искусства. Часть 4. Ван Гог. Ротко

"Этот цикл фильмов совсем не похож на утомительную прогулку по музеям мира. Вместо этого предлагаем Вам нечто необычное и захватывающее, похожее на прыжок с парашютом в вулкан творческого воображения восьми гениев живописи: Караваджо, Рембрандта, Пикассо, Ван Гога, Тернера, Ротко, Давида, Бернини. Только так можно представить, почувствовать и оценить, как же создавались величайшие шедевры живописи на Земле". Симон Шама

Британский историк искусства Саймон Шама придумал «The Power of Art» как цикл из 8 документальных передач, посвящённых одному шедевру каждого из художников: Караваджо, Бернини, Рембрандту, Давиду, Тёрнеру, Ван Гогу, Пикассо и Ротко. Но за каждой историей шедевра в его фильмах стоит фигура автора, его современников, тогдашней моды и образа жизни. Таким образом история одной картины превращается в убедительный детальный слепок названной эпохи: от Позднего Ренессанса до середины 20 века. Один из самых дорогих документальных фильмов об искусстве содержит огромное количество исторических врезок, архивных материалов и монологи пристрастного и увлечённого Шамы. - Lookatme

Shtikat Haarchion (A Film Unfinished). Directed by Yael Hersonski

A film about an unfinished film which portrays the people behind and before the camera in the Warsaw Ghetto, exposing the extent of the cinematic manipulation forever changing the way we look at historic images.

Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film-the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, showing the manipulations of camera crews in these "everyday" scenes. Well-heeled Jews attending elegant dinners and theatricals (while callously stepping over the dead bodies of compatriots) now appeared as unwilling, but complicit, actors, alternately fearful and in denial of their looming fate. - Sundance Film Festival

"Moving, mysterious and intellectually provocative!" — New York Times (Critic's Pick)

“A profound and vital documentary.” — Entertainment Weekly

Hot Docs Film Festival - Best International Feature
Sundance Film Festival - World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award, Grand Jury Prize Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, Nominated
Satellite Awards, Nominated

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking's Universe is an epic new kind of cosmology series, a Planet Earth of the heavens. Over eight, spell-binding hours, an animated Stephen In Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking, the world's most famous living scientist explores the greatest mysteries of the cosmos. In three landmark instalments
he reveals the wonders of the universe as never seen before. Definitive, provocative, surprising, and beautiful, Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking is a
fascinating look through the mind's eye of one of the finest brains on the planet.

3 Episodes/ 45 min each - 1- Aliens: "Are We Alone?" An eye-popping journey from the moons of Jupiter to a galaxy perhaps not so far, far away in search of alien life. We'll see what aliens might look like, question what it means to be alive, and calculate the odds of making 'contact'. 2- Time Travel: "Is Time Travel Possible?" Hawking explores the world's favorite scientific 'what if?' warping the very fabric of time and space as he goes. From killing your grandfather to riding a black hole, see how time travel may actually come true. 3- The Story of Everything: The world's most famous living scientist presents the wonders of the universe, revealing the splendor and majesty of the cosmos as never seen before. See how the universe began, how it creates stars, black holes and life -- and how everything will end.

The Army of Crime (L'Armée du crime)

The poet Missak Manouchian leads a mixed bag of youngsters and immigrants in a clandestine battle against the Nazi occupation. Twenty-two men and one woman fighting for an ideal and for freedom. News of their daring attacks, including the assassination of an SS general, eventually reaches Berlin

The closest person to a protagonist in the gripping historical mosaic “Army of Crime” is the eminent Armenian poet Missak Manouchian (Simon Abkarian). A militant Communist and hero of the French Resistance, executed by the Nazis in 1944, he is the noblest figure in a sprawling, semifictional movie that has enough characters to fill an entire neighborhood. - New York Times (Critic's Pick)

Étoiles d'Or Award
2009 Cannes Film Festival out of competition program

Peter & the Wolf directed by Suzie Templeton

An animated retelling set to Prokofiev's suite. Peter is a slight lad, solitary, locked out of the woods by his protective grandfather, his only friend a duck. In town, he's bullied. When a wolf menaces the duck - as well as grandfather's fat cat and an ill-flying bird that Peter has befriended - Peter bravely tries to tree the wolf. Grandfather, the townspeople, and the hunters who have antagonized Peter figure in the dénouement.

Academy Awards, USA (Oscar) Best Short Film, Animated
Annecy International Animated Film Festival Grand Prix
British Animation Awards
Krok International Animated Films Festival Special Prize
BAFTA Film Award Nominated

The King's Speech directed by Tom Hooper

After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush).

After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond. With the support of Logue, his family, his government and Winston Churchill (Timothy Spall), the King will overcome his stammer and deliver a radio-address that inspires his people and unites them in battle.
Based on the true story of King George VI, THE KING'S SPEECH follows the Royal Monarch's quest to find his voice.

21 wins & 80 nominations
Nominated for 12 Oscars.
BAFTA Film Award
British Independent Film Award
Independent Publisher Book Award Gold Medal
ForeWord Magazine 2009 Book of the Year Award

Inside Job. Directed by Charles Ferguson

Inside Job provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.

Academy Awards, Oscar. Nominated
Gotham Awards, Best Documentary. Nominated
Satellite Awards Best Motion Picture, Documentary. Nominated

Countdown to Zero. Directed by Lucy Walker

Countdown to Zero traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possessing nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, leaving the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. The film makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament; an issue more topical than ever with the Obama administration working to revive this goal in the present day.

With a rigorous eye, Blindsight's Lucy Walker examines the arms race from the inception of the atomic bomb to the present. She builds her three-part structure around a speech from President Kennedy, in which he warns of "accident, miscalculation, and madness" in regard to nuclear power. If Kennedy serves as the film's conscience, physicist Robert Oppenheimer serves as its heart--the man who oversaw the Manhattan Project only to regret the death and destruction it would engender (footage of the pale-eyed Oppenheimer is almost as eerie as his prophetic words). Even Oppenheimer, though, couldn't have predicted the ready availability of highly enriched uranium in the years after the Cold War, one of Walker's more hilling revelations. Aside from the deadly explosions in Oklahoma City, Madrid, and other urban centers, Walker looks at a number of near misses. Her speakers include
top minds from the fields of academia, government, and journalism, from Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev to Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf (former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson serves as de facto narrator). As Kennedy concluded, "The weapons of war must be abolished before they abolish us," and Walker ends on a note of guarded optimism,
speaking with F. W. de Klerk, who dismantled South Africa's nuclear infrastructure during his administration. Most of Walker's other subjects, regardless of their political affiliation, agree that it's the right thing to do.

Satellite Awards Best Motion Picture, Documentary. Nominated

The Nature of Existence. Directed by Roger Nygard

Roger Nygard has taken his open-minded attitude and aptitude for locating incredible/insane people, and applied it to answering the big question: Why do we exist? By locating beliefs in their geographical origins the link between culture and faith is exposed, and the beauty of the landscape and architecture is just as compelling as the views expressed in them. --Fiona Scoble, Festival Daily, Cambridge Film Festival, England

“The film is really mostly about the foibles of religion, but gently so. It benefits from director Roger Nygard’s (“Trekkies”) light comic touch and heartfelt “desire to communicate truth,” as one subject says is often lacking in discussions of religious beliefs.” Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times

“The film treads ground covered in films like Diane Keaton’s ‘Heaven’ and James Toback’s ‘Big Bang’ … [The Nature of Existence] is quicker, funnier and less pretentious.” Mike Hale, The New York Times

“The Nature of Existence, is not so much an inquiry into the nature of religion and the eternal, but a tossed salad of all the world’s ideas about religion.” Peter Simek, D Magazine