Short-Documentary
List activity
34 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
47 titles
- DirectorJean PainlevéA short black and white film which documents an experimental canine surgery.
- DirectorA.-P. DufourJean PainlevéWe begin on planet Earth, with a demonstration of measuring distances using triangulation. Then, an imaginary voyage begins from earth to the moon, on to Mars, Saturn, the closest star (besides the sun), and beyond to the edge of our universe. The film depicts imagined landscapes, and it speculates on universes beyond ours. It ends with philosophical musings about the significance of Earth.
- DirectorGeneviève HamonJean PainlevéAn octopus slithers into a narrow crack near the shore; we see its eye up close; blowing water propels it through water. It feeds on a crab. In spring it's time to mate. A male grabs a female; he inserts his third arm in her respiratory cavity. We watch another pair: a larger female is the aggressor here. Mating is repeated over hours and days. With high magnification, we see many sperm; she releases strings of fertilized eggs that hang from the roof of a nest. She guards it for a month, fanning the strings to circulate water for oxygen and cleanliness. We watch the eggs up close develop at 1,400 times nature's rate. Then they're born and propel away.
- DirectorJean PainlevéA microscopic view of liquid crystals morphing into various shapes.
- DirectorA.-P. DufourJean PainlevéA black and white short from Jean Painlevé which explores the relationships of size and length in organisms.
- DirectorJean PainlevéExamines the sea horse, the only fish that swims upright. We watch it use its prehensile tail to wrap around plants and other sea horses. A frontal bulge houses organs including an air ballast. Three fins propel this fish. We see a female place her eggs in a male's pouch where they are fertilized and nurtured until birth in violent contractions. Inside the pouch are nurturing blood vessels. We then follow the growth of an embryo, greatly magnified: we examine its heart beating and its dorsal fin moving. Young sea horses attach themselves to each other. The film ends with images of many sea horses moving on the ocean floor, superimposed on a horse race.
- DirectorJean PainlevéPopular science descriptions of two marine crustaceans, both of whom camouflage themselves in found objects, moving, eating, interacting.
- DirectorStan BrakhageStarsStan BrakhageMyrrena SchwegmannJane WodeningStan Brakhage films the birth of his first child, Myrrena.
- DirectorJean PainlevéStarsMax SchreckA short look at the vampire bat sucking blood from a guinea pig.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsMichel BouquetReinhard HeydrichHeinrich HimmlerThe history of Nazi Germany's death camps of the Final Solution and the hellish world of dehumanization and death contained inside.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsMark W. ClarkJohn HustonDirector John Huston documents the Battle of San Pietro Infine in December 1943.
- DirectorD.A. PennebakerStarsBarbara BarrieCharles BraswellSusan BrowningStephen Sondheim's musical "Company" opened on Broadway in the Spring of 1970, and tradition dictates that the cast recording is done on the first Sunday after opening night. D.A. Pennebaker, the now-legendary documentarian, filmed the production of the original cast recording, the back and forth between Sondheim and the performers, and the dynamic of trying to record live performance. The film climaxes with Elaine Stritch's performance of "The Ladies Who Lunch". The show won 6 Tony Awards including "Best Musical" and ran for two years on Broadway.
- DirectorD.A. PennebakerSet to a classic Duke Ellington recording of "Daybreak Expresa" this is a five-minute short on the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated train line in Manhattan, New York City.
- DirectorLucille CarraStarsDonald RichieKeijo HasegawaAkira HamadaIn 1971, author and film scholar Donald Richie published a poetic travelogue about his explorations of the islands of Japan's Inland Sea, recording his search for traces of a traditional way of life as well as his own journey of self-discovery. Twenty years later, filmmaker Lucille Carra undertook a parallel trip inspired by Richie's by-then-classic book, capturing images of hushed beauty and meeting people who still carried on the fading customs that Richie had observed. Interspersed with surprising detours-a visit to a Frank Sinatra-loving monk, a leper colony, an ersatz temple of plywood and plaster-and woven together by Richie's narration as well as a score by celebrated composer Toru Takemitsu, The Inland Sea is an eye-opening voyage and a profound meditation on what it means to be a foreigner.
- DirectorChris HegedusD.A. PennebakerStarsJimi HendrixNoel ReddingMitch MitchellJimi Hendrix's landmark concert in Monterey County Fairgrounds in California in which he plays signature songs like "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady," and "Wild Thing."
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsJean VardaTom LuddyAgnès VardaWhile in San Francisco for the promotion of her last film in October 1967, Agnès Varda gets to know a relative she had never heard of before. This unknown uncle lives on a boat, is a painter, has adopted a hippie lifestyle and loves life.
- DirectorJean PainlevéUnderwater photography presents the octopus: breathing, swimming, eating, dying.
- DirectorGeneviève HamonJean PainlevéIn mud flats along the coast of Brittany we watch acera, small ball-shaped mollusks that are about two inches in diameter. They rest in mud; then, in water, they dance, their skirt-like hood spreading like a dervish's cassock. They spin and spin. The film adds musical accompaniment. We watch them mate and secrete eggs: acera are both male and female, and can form chains with other acera in which they simultaneously mate as a male and as a female. The eggs hatch, and the cycle begins again.
- DirectorJean PainlevéGeneviève HamonExamines the respiratory, reproductive, and metabolic systems of starfish.
- DirectorA.-P. DufourJean PainlevéA black and white short from Jean Painlevé which explores the concept of populations and their interdependence on one another for survival.
- DirectorGeneviève HamonJean PainlevéAt a marine biology station, a clump of algae reveals polyps, stomachs with limbs, limbs with buds, buds with poison cells. This animal reproduces by buds, which we watch close up in time-lapse images. In another kind of jellyfish, the buds grow inside then live outside for a few days until being on their own. Another produces eggs, sometimes self-fertilized. Some single eggs become buds with colonies. Another clump gathered at low tide consists of filaments of a colony - plumes with poison ends. In images taking 72 hours, we see filaments grow and produce a feeding organ from which a plume emerges. New jellyfish emerge from buds twice a day at set times to form a new colonies.
- DirectorA.-P. DufourJean PainlevéThe film begins with methodical descriptions of one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional space. It then looks at a two-dimensional world inhabited by flat mice. It imagines how a human, from the third dimension could interact with that world. It then suggests how beings from a fourth dimension might interact with us. Next the film posits time as a fourth dimension, with scenes to aid comprehension. An off-screen narrator, graphs, and clever photography provide explanations and illustrations. The film asks viewers to use their imaginations.
- DirectorGeneviève HamonJean PainlevéStarsCarola MeierroseA short overview on the life and importance of diatoms, shown through a microscope.
- DirectorJean PainlevéGeneviève HamonA complex creature. Regular underwater photography, magnified close-ups, and film through a microscope present sea urchins. We see their mouth and five teeth close and open. After injecting one with gelatin, the shell is removed and we see the muscle structure, digestive tube, and reproductive organs. Magnified stems reveal suction cups; stems lengthen and contract allowing the sea urchin to move. We see microscopic calcareous stems; at their ends are jaws with various uses. Cilia everywhere are in constant motion, stirring up water and debris. African music on the soundtrack suggests a shuffle dance.
- DirectorJean PainlevéAn educational film, a movie through a microscope, in two parts. Within minutes after the egg drops in the water, fertilization occurs and contractions start. Soon, in a fertilized egg, we see the germinal disc divide into two blastomeres. Divisions continue; contractions re-occur at the cap as it covers the egg. Title cards in French tell us what to watch for. Muscular movements and circulation appear; the heart beats. In part two, we see blood circulation begin as red cells develop on the surface of the yoke. They mass toward the heart. Arteries form, blood flows. The egg hatches and blood flows to new areas.
- DirectorJean PainlevéTitles in French and English help us know what we're seeing. In all waters, daphnia abound. They are crustaceans about 2 ml long, with one eye that turns in all directions. Antennae enable daphnia to move: in a close up magnified 150,000 times, we see the muscles of the antennae pulse. We see the eye, the nerve mass, blood globules, and the heart, beating several times per second. The intestine forms a long line. All are females; eggs develop above the intestine. New generations come rapidly. Inside each daphnia are tiny infusoria; we watch them clean the intestine of a dead daphnia. An enemy, the hydra, approaches. A daphnia dies, but many remain.
- DirectorJean PainlevéA close-up look at sand urchins and rock urchins. At the seashore, a man digs up a sand urchin. We look closely. He sets it back in the sand, and it burrows out of sight. Its intestines take nutrients out of sand. Using magnification 200,000 times normal size, we see a rock urchin's spines with suckers on the end; a drawing illustrates how they work. A sea urchin walks toward a rock. We see three-fingered jaws - pedicellaria at the end of flexible stems - take in algae and other bits. We also see cilia less than 0.001 ml in length; their motion constant, creating whirlpools. On the shore again, we watch the setting sun. Occasional titles in French tell us what to watch for.
- DirectorGeneviève HamonJean PainlevéAfter a comic introduction, we look closely at a shrimp. Eyes on stilts, color patterns, pinchered walking feet, a rostrum. We watch shrimp eat using a strong claw and a fine one; we watch digestion. After eating, shrimp clean themselves. The female lays eggs that cling to her feet. After three weeks, the eggs hatch explosively. Few larvae live to adulthood. We watch an adult shed its carapace with a final leap, leaving it vulnerable; other shrimp attack.
- DirectorPeter GlushanokStarsLillian BierstekerRobert CohanMiriam ColeDancer, Choreographer, and Teacher Martha Graham offers insight into her theories about dance while the members of her world famous troupe display a number of their dance techniques in performance.
- DirectorChantal AkermanStarsChantal AkermanIn a 360° circular panoramic shot the camera slowly pans an entire apartment (or house). When it first passes the bedroom there is nobody there but each time it shows the room again Chantal Akerman is sitting on the bed, motionless first, then busy doing something (peeling an orange, eating an orange, etc.). When she is last seen she yawns and lies down on her bed. The camera continues panning but after 10 minutes and 21 seconds the film comes to an end and she can't be seen asleep.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsJean BobetJacques AnquetilRaymond PoulidorChronicles the cyclists of the Tour de France and their daily trails along the race.
- DirectorJean PainlevéIn a freshwater pond, various aquatic creatures try to eat others in order to avoid being eaten themselves.
- DirectorJean PainlevéAn enthusiastic grandfather sits with children in a Parisian park talking about pigeons. First. their physical appearance - eye, wings and tail, and color - and their varieties. Then, he encourages the children to imitate their walk. He points out courtship and mating rituals, then provides an illustrated discussion of how they eat. This section is punctuated by a flock of pigeons fighting over a small, hard ball each wants to eat; the narrator's describes it as if it were a soccer match. He concludes with a discussion of pigeons taking off, landing, and flying; he uses slow motion and stop-time photography to show his audience.
- DirectorAgnès VardaStarsBill BrentHuey P. NewtonStokely CarmichaelA short film of interviews and protests at a rally to free Huey P. Newton.
- DirectorBoris KaufmanJean VigoWhat starts off as a conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town of Nice on the French Cote d'Azur, especially its wealthy inhabitants.
- DirectorStan BrakhageAt a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned.
- DirectorMarlon RiggsStarsBarbara T. ChristianGeorge FredericksonLarry C. LevineThis documentary traces the deep-rooted stereotypes which have fueled anti-black prejudice.
- DirectorForugh FarrokhzadStarsForugh FarrokhzadEbrahim GolestanHossein MansouriSet in a leper colony in the north of Iran, The House is Black juxtaposes "ugliness", of which there is much in the world as stated in the opening scenes, with religion and gratitude.
- DirectorSantiago ÁlvarezStarsLena HorneA documentary short about racism in the United States.
- DirectorEdgar AnsteyArthur EltonStarsMr. NorwoodMrs. HillMrs. GravesSlum conditions, slum clearance, bright new public housing.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellLogan RamseyThe Japanese attack on Midway in June 1942, filmed as it happened.
- DirectorHumphrey JenningsStewart McAllisterStarsLeonard BrockingtonJoseph MacleodBud FlanaganA depiction of life in wartime England during the Second World War. Director Humphrey Jennings visits many aspects of civilian life and of the turmoil and privation caused by the war, all without narration.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsAbel JacquinAlexandre O'NeillA surrealist film, a pseudo-documentary portrait of Las Hurdes, a remote region of Spain where civilisation has barely developed, showing how the local peasants try to survive without even the most basic utilities and skills.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsCatherine ScorseseCharles ScorseseMartin ScorseseMartin Scorsese interviews his mother and father about their life in New York City and the family history back in Sicily. These are two people who have lived together for a long time and know each other very well.
- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsBlanche BernisNina ChousvalowaPhilippe HériatThe life of a great city (Paris) from dawn until dusk, including the beautiful and the ragged, the rich and the poor, with little or no comment (intertitles) from the director, Cavalcanti (whose first film this was).
- DirectorJean RouchStarsJean RouchA documentary short depicting a Hauka ceremony where young workers are possessed by British colonial officers.
- DirectorJean-Daniel PolletA short film documenting the seas and shores of the Mediterranean Sea.