FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM portrays the story of Soviet "Refuseniks" through the prism of Natan Sharansky's biography. In 1977, Sharansky, a famous human rights activist, was arrested on charges of spying for the USA, treason and anti-Soviet agitation. The film takes you back to a Soviet…
From Spikes to Spindles - Film This raw, gutsy portrait of New York's Chinatown captures the early days of an emerging consciousness in the community. We see a Chinatown rarely depicted, a vibrant community whose young and old join forces to protest police brutality and racial discrimination.…
The most complete look at the long-log industry. Men cut trees by hand and load them onto horse-drawn sleds to be hauled over snow to rivers. Skilled river drivers maneuver the logs downstream, risking their limbs and lives every day. Also, work in the steam-powered mill. Remarkably detailed scenes,…
Examines the mental health issues behind arson attacks A woman examines what drove her to the point of lighting a fire in a waste bin at her place of work. Convicted of arson, she was sent to Broadmoor. In this film she finds that an astonishing number of arson attacks are signals of distress. Although…
The journey, from the end of summer to deepest winter, from East Germany, across Poland and the Baltics, to Moscow is one Chantal Akerman wanted to make shortly after the collapse of the Soviet bloc "before it was too late." She captures sounds and images that "touched" her, following…
A documentary chronicling Simon Dominguez's historic swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands. No one has successfully swam from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands. The Farallon Islands is a cluster of islands 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco notoriously known…
Musical wandering through Moldavanka, the neighbourhood where the old Odessa maffia songs originate from. A Jewish musician Alec Kopyt, born in Odessa and currently living in Amsterdam is searching there for musicians to play in a restaurant. Vladimir, a warm-hearted pensioner is strolling along the…
It began with a close-knit loving family followed by the horrors of war, genocide, two years in forced labor camps, and three concentration camps, but the result was not only liberation but an ultimate victory over the enemy. Born in Paris, France (1926) Robert Clary is the youngest of 14 children;…
This story of 4 high-skilled immigrant families, a decade after they came to study in the US, places a human face to the employment-based Green Card backlog. The film also highlights the need for reforming America’s high-skilled immigration at a time of intense globalization and retirement of the…
A COLOURFUL, MULTI-FACETED EXPLORATION OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS This creative documentary explores the works of contemporary artists living in the Mhúscraí Gaeltacht of West County Cork, tracing the links between their work and the landscape that inspires them. ____________________________________________________________________________________ The…
For academic or institutional purchase, please click here: http://www.combatfilms.com/from-the-masses-to-the-masses.html From the Masses to the Masses: An Artist in Mao’s China is the story of Jin Zhilin, a Chinese artist whose life was altered dramatically by the currents that shaped Communist…
“From These Roots” (1974) explores the extraordinary artistic, cultural and political flowering that took place in Harlem during the “Roaring 20s.” This vivid portrait of the Harlem Renaissance is created entirely with period photographs. Narrated by the actor Brock Peters, with…
