Kino Lorber (Firm)

In Hollywood's studio system, sets and equipment are used over and over again. Mark Rappaport shows not only opera boxes and stage rooms, which seem to be part of the permanent décor in MGM backstage musicals, but also curious connections such as a Spanish wall with orientalist ornamentation that appears in various films or the famous portrait painting by Gene Tierney in Laura, which surprisingly can be seen again in On the Riviera.

A powerful testament to one man's commitment to his family, and his endurance in working to provide them with a brighter future. Kasongo, a 28-year-old man living in Congo with his wife and daughters, dreams of purchasing a plot of land on which to build his family a home. He sees his opportunity to earn money by selling charcoal, culled from the ashes of a mighty hardwood tree that he has felled and baked in an earthen oven. Loading up the bags of...

¡LAS SANDINISTAS! reveals the untold stories of Nicaraguan women warriors and social revolutionaries who shattered barriers to lead combat and social reform during Nicaragua’s 1979 Sandinista Revolution, the ensuing US-backed Contra War, and documents their leadership in the continuing struggle for justice today. The film portrays a magical moment in world history when thousands of female rebel fighters transformed society’s definition of womanhood...

A STATE OF MIND follows two North Korean schoolgirls and their families in the lead up to the "Mass Games" — the biggest and most elaborate human performance on earth — and in the process reveals more of North Korea than ever before. Following on from the 2002 award-winning documentary The Game of Their Lives, VeryMuchSo productions was granted permission from the North Korean film authorities to make a second documentary: an observational...

During the early 1990s, San Francisco was the epicenter of body modification and gender nonconformity, with transgender pioneers like Patrick Califia and Tala Brandeis fighting for visibility, alongside the voice of a bold S/M community. From pushy bottoms to macho femmes, BLOODSISTERS immerses the viewer in the San Francisco leather dyke scene, shattering assumptions about gender and lesbian sexuality, while broadening the discussion about personal...

Drawing from hundreds of hours of footage, filmmaker Rudy Valdez shows the aftermath of his sister Cindy’s 15-year sentence for conspiracy charges related to crimes committed by her deceased ex-boyfriend—something known, in legal terms, as “the girlfriend problem.” Valdez’s method of coping with this tragedy is to film his sister’s family for her, both the everyday details and the milestones—moments Cindy herself can no longer share...

Movies about movies—they always seem to have scenes set in screening rooms. And we, the audiences, are invited in, to see how the film business works. The screening rooms seem to be sacrosanct chapels where one can worship but it’s also a place where the people behind the movie screens can let their hair down and reveal their most inner thoughts about each other. It’s a private place in a very public arena. It’s a microcosm of the world but...

Hilma af Klint was an abstract artist before the term existed, a visionary, trailblazing figure who, inspired by spiritualism, modern science, and the riches of the natural world around her, began in 1906 to reel out a series of huge, colorful, sensual, strange works without precedent in painting. The subject of a recent smash retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, af Klint was for years an all-but-forgotten figure in art historical discourse, before...

A young Egyptian filmmaker gains first-hand accounts of corruption and abuse within the security forces from Egyptian police officers. Narrated in English by the filmmaker, WHOSE COUNTRY? reveals not only why police injustice can be considered a leading cause of the 2011 Revolution but also how the perpetuation of injustice within the security force itself led to widespread dissatisfaction amongst the lower ranks. A fascinating look at how victimization...

BOATMAN is Gianfranco Rosi's account of a boattrip along the Ganges river, together with his helmsman Gopal. They pass tourists and Indians who are bathing, working or meditating. In a series of small portraits Rosi depicts life on and at the banks of India's sacred river.