Timeshift charts the evolution of the British postage stamp and examines how these sticky little labels became a national obsession. Like many of us, writer and presenter Andrew Martin collected stamps when he was young, and now he returns to that lost world to unpeel the history of iconic stamps like the Penny Black and the Blue Mauritius, study famous collectors like King George V and the enigmatic Count Phillip de Ferrary, and to meet present-day philatelists at a stamp club.
In 1995, the young Taiwanese woman writer Qiu Miaojin committed suicide in Paris’s Montmartre district, leaving behind the autobiographical novel LAST WORDS IN MONTMARTRE. Two decades later, the novel was published in English by the prestigious New York Review Books, bringing Qiu renown in Western literary circles and quickly prompting translations into other European languages. Qiu is considered the first openly lesbian novelist in the history of Chinese literature; her debut novel, NOTES OF A CROCODILE, became a “Bible” for the Taiwanese lesbian community and an underground classic in Taiwan and Hong Kong, with an official edition finally published in 2012. DEATH IN MONTMARTRE travels through Taiwan, Paris, and New York to trace the life of this literary star who enjoyed fame only after her death, interviewing literary masters from Taiwan, France, and the U.S. while discussing LGBTQ culture and lesbian literature from a perspective of equality.
In an abandoned theater, French actress Marina Vlady recites from Borges' "The Immortal"... Japanese research scientist Shin Kubota sings praises to the "immortal jellyfish"... Milan Duomo workers subject the cathedral's exquisite statues to perpetual regeneration... Swiss musician/inventors Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer persistently refine their percussion instrument, the Hang... Native American community leaders Leola One Feather and Moses Brings Plenty preserve the centuries-old spiritual resistance of their tribe...
Filmmakers Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti pay tribute to humankind's aspirations for immortality by showing us a portrait of our efforts to overcome our own limits. They share their discoveries in a visual symphony to the power and harmony of nature's elements: water, earth, air and fire. From Milan to Wounded Knee, USA, from Bern to Shirahama, Japan, the traces of the filmmakers' travels spiral into a symbol of perfection and infinity: Spira Mirabilis.
Catapulted by the success of his first major solo project, Off the Wall, Michael Jackson went from child star to King of Pop. This film explores the seminal album, with rare archival footage and interviews from those who were there and those whose lives its success and legacy impacted. World Premiere
A visionary, innovator, and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word cool: a foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon Miles Davis.