Non-verbal documentary
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- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsEdward AsnerPat BenatarJerry BrownA collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsChristie BrinkleyDavid BrinkleyPatrick DisantoAn exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioStarsBelladonnaMarlon BrandoElton JohnA visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
- DirectorGlenn Silber
- DirectorRon FrickeCarefully picked scenes of nature and civilization are viewed at high speed using time-lapse cinematography in an effort to demonstrate the history of various regions.
- DirectorRon FrickeHigh speed film and time-lapse photography combined to create breathtaking images of the night sky and Halley's Comet in this astronomical short subject.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsPatrick DisantoA collection of expertly photographed scenes of human life and religion.
- DirectorRon FrickeStarsBalinese Tari Legong DancersNi Made Megahadi PratiwiPuti Sri Candra DewiFilmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
- DirectorCharles SheelerPaul StrandThis groundbreaking silent documentary captures the beauty and majesty of the New York City in its streets, skyscrapers, bridges, rail yards and harbors.
- DirectorRobert J. FlahertyStarsAllakariallakAlice NevalingaCunayouIn this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
- DirectorMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackStarsMerian C. CooperErnest B. SchoedsackMarguerite HarrisonThe struggles of a hardscrabble Iranian nomadic tribe as they journey through bleak country to reach the grasslands that will save their livestock.
- DirectorHenri ChometteA black and white short film which documents a trip through Paris by train.
- 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).
- DirectorWalter RuttmannStarsPaul von HindenburgThis movie shows us one day in Berlin, the rhythm of that time, starting at the earliest morning and ends in the deepest night.
- DirectorDziga VertovStarsMikhail KaufmanElizaveta SvilovaA man travels around a city with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling invention.
- DirectorAlexander HammidA young man sets out for an aimless stroll by tram from the center to the outskirts of Prague.
- DirectorLuc BessonAtmospheric soundtrack follows this compilation of nature footage that focuses on the ocean and various life forms that live, mate and die in it.
- DirectorGodfrey ReggioImage and music are intertwined in this third collaboration between director Godfrey Reggio and composer Philip Glass. The film was produced to celebrate the World Wildlife Fund's Biological Diversity Campaign. The film combines images of nature with pulsing rhythms in a Microcosmos (1997) meets Koyaanisqatsi (1983) spectacle.
- DirectorGogol LobmayrFascinating Nature is a nonverbal landscape documentary film of images from around the world.
- DirectorClaude NuridsanyMarie PérennouStarsKristin Scott ThomasJacques PerrinA documentary on insect life in meadows and ponds.
- DirectorJacques PerrinJacques CluzaudMichel DebatsStarsJacques PerrinPhilippe LabroDocumentary on the migratory patterns of birds, shot over the course of three years on all seven continents.
- DirectorClaude NuridsanyMarie PérennouStarsSotigui KouyatéA storyteller relates the creation of the world. A tall tale like all yarns. But this tall tale is a true tale - it is our very own story. The birth of the universe, the formation of the Earth, the appearance of life, the emergence from the waters, the colonisation of earthly paradise...a tremendous, event-filled saga unfolds before our very eyes. This "flamboyant" Genesis, both modern and timeless, is "enacted" by the direct descendants of those who were part of it - the animals.
- DirectorPatrice LeconteDirector Patrice Leconte weaves an impressionistic, sensorial tapestry of existence in and around early 21st-century Cambodia. Journeying through the country's farmlands, factories, streets and rural villages, camera-in-hand, Leconte glimpses the people and the elements of the landscape that make Cambodia so culturally specific, and gently contrasts modes of life found there.
- DirectorJennifer BaichwalStarsEdward BurtynskyPhotographer Edward Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing.
- DirectorHarold MonfilsA musical, visual journey. Recorded and filmed on location, it resurrects ancient and forgotten folk music from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Maldives, India and Myanmar. The experience is brought to life for a contemporary audience through a minimalist orchestration of modern electronic waves and flows, thereby preserving the integrity of the music. The musicians come primarily from the coastal communities, towns and villages practically wiped of the world map by the Tsunami of December 26, 2004. It's beauty lies in it's purity and simplicity, a non-judgmental point of view. For the international team who came together, Laya Project is a personal and collective tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.
- DirectorMartin H. SchmittIn this nonverbal documentary film the industrial footage as well as the musical style of sitar master Al Gromer Khan create the film's base for an immersion into the highway spheres.
- DirectorRichard SideyA non-verbal visual journey to the polar regions of our planet portrayed through a triptych montage of photography and video. Landscapes at the World's Ends is a multi-dimensional canvas of imagery recorded above the Arctic Circle and below the Antarctic Convergence, viewed through the lens of whom is realistically an alien in this environment, the polar tourist. Filmed during several artist residencies on-board three expedition vessels, New Zealand nature photographer and filmmaker Richard Sidey documents light and time in an effort to share his experiences and the beauty that exists over the frozen seas. Set to an ambient score by Norwegian Arctic based musician, Boreal Taiga, this experimental documentary transports us to the islands of South Georgia, the Antarctic Peninsula, Greenland and Svalbard.
- DirectorPetur Kristjan GudmundssonIceland's first non-narrative full-feature film's focus is set on presenting Iceland in a way it has never been presented before, using various elements of high-end cinematography.
- DirectorFernand LégerDudley MurphyStarsKiki of MontparnasseFernand LégerDudley MurphyA pulsing, kaleidoscope of images set to an energetic soundtrack. A young women swings in a garden; a woman's face smiles. The rest is spinning cylinders, pistons, gears and turbines, kitchen objects in concentric circles or rows - pots, pan lids, and funnels, cars passing overhead, a spinning carnival ride. Over and over, a heavy-set woman climbs stairs carrying a large bag on her shoulder. An Art Deco cartoon figure appears, dancing. This is a world in motion, dominated by mechanical and repetitive images, with a few moments of solitude in a garden.
- DirectorRené ClairStarsJean BörlinInge FrïssFrancis PicabiaAn absolute dada movie. Somebody gets killed, his coffin gets out of control and after a chase it stops. The person gets out of it and let everybody who followed the coffin dissapear.
- DirectorMan RayStarsKiki of MontparnasseJacques RigautA long series of unrelated images, revolving, often distorted: lights, flowers, nails. A lightboard appears from time to time carrying the news of the day. Then, an eye. A woman in a car drives along country roads. Farm animals. She descends from the car, again and again. Images: dancing legs, seashore, swimming fish, geometric shapes, cut glass. A man removes his starched collar. It rotates. A girl has garishly painted eyes. No, she's only fooling. Those were her eyelids.
- DirectorGermaine DulacStarsLilian ConstantiniAn avant-garde dance short, integrating slow motion, and cutting between the movements of a ballerina, close-ups of machinery and images of nature.
- DirectorRobert FloreySlavko VorkapichStarsJules RaucourtVoya GeorgeRobert FloreyA wannabe movie star experiences the surreal horrors of dehumanization at the bottom of Hollywood's social ladder as his hopes for success vanish and his identity is reduced to a number.
- DirectorRalph SteinerA study on water, the reflections and motions of the liquid that accentuates its ethereality and metallic beauty.
- DirectorJohn HoffmanSlavko VorkapichA recently unearthed experimental documentary of the crashing sea set to Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave." An example of the filmmakers' "new cinema" theory which held that film should be more like music than literature. This film is based solely on its arrangement of images.
- DirectorMaya DerenStarsJohn CageMaya DerenAlexander HammidSilently, a woman wakes on a beach as the tides go in reverse. Her dreamscape unfolds as she tries to locate a chess piece traveling from the beach to a party to a country road and then back.
- DirectorJean MitryAn engine moves from the roundhouse to a track where it couples with several passenger cars. At 2:10 in the afternoon, it starts a trip out of the station through the countryside to its destination. The film consists of a montage of shots, some close up, of the engine and its gears and wheels. With the accompanying ambient sounds and an orchestral score, the emphasis is on the engine's power and speed. Parallel lines of multiple tracks, telephone wires, and trees confirm a careful composition.
- DirectorJordan BelsonAn experimental short film by Jordan Belson which combines various colors and shapes.
- DirectorEd EmshwillerStarsBecky ArnoldMac EmshwillerIntroducing some innovative film techniques, Emshwiller won a Special Award at the Brussels Experimental Film Festival for this expression of internal anguish. He described the film as "The confrontation of a man and his torment. Juxtaposed against his external composure are images of a woman and lights in distortion, with tension heightened by the sounds of power saws and a heartbeat."
- DirectorGeoffrey JonesDocumental account of trains, railway workers, passengers and landscapes in the winter of 1963 in the UK (The Big Freeze).
- DirectorArthur LipsettSnippets from discarded footage, and with footage shot on the streets of Montreal and New York City, combined to a collage with the underlying argument as to whether man is a complex machine or a creature with a soul.
- DirectorPat O'Neill
- DirectorBruce BaillieA visual documentary inspired by Erik Satie, showcasing the sights and sounds of the industrialized Castro Street in Richmond, California.
- DirectorPaul GoldingGeorge LucasIt is an abstract film with no story and no actors, that graphically depicts the reflections of moving light streaks and light flashes from traffic at night.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsJ. Lee ThompsonJoseph MacDonaldGregory PeckA behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of the film MacKenna's Gold (1969).
- DirectorGeoffrey JonesA collage of trains running on London railway lines set to music.