Velvet Gods

Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know

Black holes stand at the limit of what we can know. To explore that edge of knowledge, the Event Horizon Telescope links observatories across the world to simulate an earth-sized instrument. With this tool the team pursues the first-ever picture of a black hole, resulting in an image seen by billions of people in April 2019. Meanwhile, Hawking and his team attack the black hole paradox at the heart of theoretical physics—Do predictive laws still function, even in these massive distortions of space and time? Weaving them together is a third strand, philosophical and exploratory using expressive animation. “Edge” is about practicing science at the highest level, a film where observation, theory, and philosophy combine to grasp these most mysterious objects.

Good Morning, Mr. Orwell

In his book "1984", George Orwell saw the television of the future as a control instrument in the hands of Big Brother. Right at the start of the much-anticipated Orwellian year, Paik and Co. were keen to demonstrate satellite TV's ability to serve positive ends-- Namely, the intercontinental exchange of culture, combining both highbrow and entertainment elements. A live broadcast shared between WNET TV in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, linked up with broadcasters in Germany and South Korea, reached a worldwide audience of over 10 or even 25 million (including the later repeat transmissions).

Is the German Public Aware of This?

Germany stands at a historic turning point: for the first time since 1945, in 2025 a migration policy resolution is passed in the Bundestag — with the support of far-right forces in parliament. A paradigm shift is underway: away from protecting refugees, toward isolation and deterrence.

The Downfall of an Island

A documentary that explores the complex shared history and current sociopolitical state between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Las Preguntas que Perdimos

Dentro, fora do Brasil

Sirens Call

In their feature-length debut, Gossing/Sieckmann dive into the merfolk subculture with performance artist and siren Una. Genre elements, fiction and documentary, self-care, political activism and self-chosen identities blend into one another.

The Price of a Vote

When we started filming six months ago, we had originally intended to make a film solely about vote-buying. We gathered information from 14 counties, conducted more than 60 interviews, and traveled 20,000 kilometers. According to our interviewees, the lives and votes of rural people are influenced not only by money, but also by drugs and threats. Mayors, insiders, law enforcement officials, and victims explain how this network operates and how it affects those whose votes matter most.

Theft of the Black Gods: The Superheroes

Visionary filmmaker Abassi Okoro (Uncloaked) returns with a mind-blowing look into ancient African and Orisha origins of many of the Marvel and DC comic book superheroes and exposes how European culture and religion for over a 12,000 year span has historically appropriated the black Gods of old.

Mehsampur

A desperate filmmaker drives a neurotic actress and an aging musician to a village of trauma.

When Alan Yentob Met Jenny Saville

As a part of a tribute night to broadcaster and television executive Alan Yentob, he interviews leading British artist Jenny Saville. One of the most successful figurative painters working today, she came to prominence as part of the YBA movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She has been reluctant to discuss her work for many years on television, until now. Alan Yentob was working with her on a film for Imagine and caught up with her in Vienna on the eve of two major 2025 exhibitions she is mounting. This was the last interview Alan Yentob conducted in a career spanning six decades at the BBC, bringing many of the world’s leading artists and creatives to the screen. Alan also persuaded Jenny to allow cameras into her painting studio for the first time in almost three decades.

The Fourth Dimension

This is an elegant meditation on time, travel, and ceremony in the form of a journey. In her first foray into digital video, Trinh T. Minh-ha deconstructs the role of ritual in mediating between the past and the present.

BRICS, the Worlds New Masterminds?

The BRICS countries now represent half of the world's population and 40% of GDP. Seen by some as an anti-Western coalition and by others as an economic counterweight, the BRICS are gaining momentum in their desire to impose a new world order. For now, they are maneuvering to "de-dollarize" the global economy and rally as many countries in the "global South" as possible to their model. Tomorrow, will they succeed in supplanting Western institutions and values with their parallel organizations, or will Europe manage to rebalance the playing field?

Sexwork & Me

21st century legal prostitution through the frank stories of Amsterdam red-light district sex workers at a time when tighter regulation threatens their livelihood.

Kekaiulu Hula Studio

Kekaiulu Hula Studio follows the Proclaimed Hula Halau of the same name, showcasing their twist on what the real reason for hula is and what life as a dancer in the halau is really like. Something previously unseen in the public eye.

The Garden

A park keeper is having telepathy with busts of distinguished individuals of Rasht city.

Garapa

A documentary on three families struggling to survive in Brazil.

Two American Families: 1991–2024

It’s a central premise of the American dream: If you’re willing to work hard, you’ll be able to make a living and build a better life for your children. But what if working hard isn’t enough to get ahead — or even to ensure your family’s basic financial stability? Two American Families: 1991-2024, a special, two-hour documentary filmed over more than 30 years, is a portrait of perseverance from FRONTLINE, Bill Moyers, and filmmakers Tom Casciato and Kathleen Hughes that raises unsettling questions about the changing nature of the American economy and the impact on people struggling to make a living. This is the saga of two families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — one Black, the Stanleys, and one white, the Neumanns — who have spent the past 34 years battling to keep from sliding into poverty, and who refuse to give up despite the economic challenges that their stories reveal.

Five Starcle Men: Live + Dead

Footage of Five Starcle Men live at Mondo Video and a memorial transmission show for Glen Hobbs at the Mondo Video Parking lot.

Evelyn Isn't Down There

A young woman becomes shipwrecked, leading to a mysterious chain of events.