Through the Eyes of Spurgeon

Gary Gulman: The Great Depresh

In his first HBO comedy special, Gary Gulman offers candid reflections on his struggles with depression through stand-up and short documentary interludes. While speaking to issues of mental health, Gulman also offers his observations on a number of topics, including his admiration for Millennial attitudes toward bullying, the intersection of masculinity and sports, and how his mother's voice is always in his head.

The Arbor

The lives of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and Lorraine, one of her daughters, and the community of Bradford, in the 30 years since the 18-year-old Andrea penned a play about growing up in the community titled "The Arbor".

The Ronda Rousey Story: Through My Father's Eyes

This documentary chronicles former Olympian and UFC champion Ronda Rousey's ascent to iconic status in the world of mixed martial arts.

L'oreille décollée

Bergmans början: Ilska. Kärlek. Magknip.

Documentary relating Ingmar Bergman's life, from his high school graduation up until he became an established filmmaker in the latter half of the 40's.

Portrait: Werner Herzog

An autobiographical short film by Werner Herzog made in 1986. Herzog tells stories about his life and career. The film contains excerpts and commentary on several Herzog films, including Signs of Life, Heart of Glass, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, Fitzcarraldo, and the Les Blank documentary Burden of Dreams. Notable is footage of a conversation between Herzog and his mentor Lotte Eisner, a photographer. In another section, he talks with mountaineer Reinhold Messner, in which they discuss a potential film project in the Himalayas to star Klaus Kinski.

Liam

Just after Isidore moves to France to study filmmaking, his best friend dies back in the US. Through documentary, performance, and animation, a ghostly portrait emerges, prompting Isidore to question his relationships with his parents and his boyfriend in Paris.

Un film (autoportrait)

The shooting diary of a film shot in France and in the United States. Using photos of Paris and of New York City, excerpts of his former films, statements by friends of his and shooting sequences of the film itself, tormented filmmaker Marcel Hanoun has made a heterogeneous and unclassifiable film about the difficulty of filming.

The Man Whose Mind Exploded

In this "beautifully intimate and utterly unique piece of cinema", Toby Amies crosses the line between filmmaker and carer, trying to cope with the strange and hilarious world view of the fragile eccentric, Drako Zarharzar. A love story. Drako Oho Zaraharzar can remember modeling for Salvador Dali and hanging out with The Stones. But he can’t remember yesterday. Following a severe head injury, Drako Zaraharzar suffers from terrible memory loss, he can access memories from before his accident, but can’t imprint new ones. As he puts it, “the recording machine in my head doesn’t work”. Consequently, and as an antidote to depression he chose to live “completely in the now” according to the bizarre mottoes delivered to him whilst in a coma.

Self Portrait

The documentary is a portrait of an artist and a portrait of a deadly disease. Lene Marie Fossen was a gifted photographer who suffered from severe anorexia. Self Portrait is a film about the power of art and survival, but it also raises important questions about what treatment one who suffers from severe anorexia needs.

I Refuse to Kill: He Went to War with War

At the risk of a 5-year prison term, Francesco Da Vinci struggles with his Virginia draft board to be recognized as a sincere conscientious objector to the Vietnam war.

South

What kind of power is accessible through the discovery of a voice? Morgan Quaintance interlinks two anti-racist and anti-authoritarian liberation movements in South London and Chicago’s South Side with his own biography to explore what happens when speech is ignored, and the voice fades.

Le Corps Humain

This film is an in-camera portrait of my niece, Mia Larose (who was six months old at the time) captured during a winter family reunion in Lac Saint-Charles, Québec. Shot on a single roll of super 8mm film and hand-processed.

Bob's Funeral

Searching for the root of generational trauma, the director takes a camera into his estranged grandfather’s funeral.

The Other Daughter

unravels the hidden struggles between mothers and daughters across generations.

Ghosts: Long Way Home

After a spell cast by Grandma Faraway, the oldest son of a small family encounters the ghost of his late Grandma Maria still living in her old house, and they chat as they used to.

Their Houses

Filmmaker Cam Archer examines and explores his ordinary, suburban neighborhood in search of hidden truths, new narratives and a better understanding of his fading, creative self. Combining heavily degraded video with personal photographs and real life neighbors, Archer re-imagines the concept of 'home video'. In an attempt to distance himself from his subjects, actress Jena Malone narrates the piece as Archer in the first person.

Hidden Memory

We follow the filmmaker's struggle to reconstruct a period of her life when she lost her memory.

Living in the World

An auto-documentary about a disenfranchised Everyman and his struggle to re-integrate himself into society. He fails and turns to crime.

Rosita

They say that when they give you a name, they also assign you a destiny. The director of this documentary inherited hers from an aunt who died very young and whom she did not know. Through an 8mm film from 1962 and interviews with those who knew her, she will try to reveal her secrets and recognize herself a little more.