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Zeitgeist Films
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Zeitgeist Films is an American independent film distributor based in New York City founded in 1988 by co-Presidents Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo. Films distributed by Zeitgeist are strongly auteur-driven by directors such as Christopher Nolan, Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan, Todd Haynes, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Abbas Kiarostami, Deepa Mehta, Jan Švankmajer and the Brothers Quay. The expansive Zeitgeist film library includes Trouble the Water, The Corporation, Jellyfish, Examined Life, Into Great Silence, Following and Taste of Cherry. In June 2008, the MoMA honored two decades of Zeitgeist successes with a month-long, twenty film retrospective entitled Zeitgeist: The Films of Our Time, exhibiting the distributor's twenty most critically acclaimed, intellectually stimulating titles.
Best films
(2012)
(2001)Filmography of Zeitgeist Films (63 films)
Distribution
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Let the Fire Burn (2013)
, 1h35Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Documentary films about law, Documentary films about historical events, Documentary films about politics, Documentary films about cities, Political films, Documentary films about law enforcement
The MOVE organization was originally established as a "back to nature" movement that practiced "green" methods. When their methods became more radical, featuring profane bullhorn speeches, unsanitary conditions, and questionable child raising, the group began to draw the attention of the Philadelphia community and the police alike. The conviction of nine members for the third degree murder of a policeman after a shoot-out in 1978 further cemented the group's belief that the police were corrupt and determined to bring the movement down.
, 2hOrigin USA
Genres Thriller, Documentary, Historical, Crime
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Documentary films about law
Actors Cate Blanchett, Sebastien Koch, Thomas Kretschmann, Diane Kruger, Connie Nielsen, Gustaf Skarsgård
Dans les années 1930, une série de meurtres inexpliqués endeuillent la population de pionniers européens qui s'est installée sur l'île Floreana, aux Galapagos
Koch (2013)
, 1h35Origin USA
Genres Documentary, Historical
Themes Documentary films about historical events, Documentaire sur une personnalité, Documentary films about politics, Documentary films about cities, Political films
Actors Ronald Reagan
First-time filmmaker and former Wall Street Journal reporter Neil Barsky’s 2012 documentary film Koch explores the origins, career, and legacy of Edward Irving “Ed” Koch, who served as Mayor of New York City for three consecutive terms from 1978 to 1989. With candid interviews and rare archival footage, the film offers a close look at a man known for being intensely private in spite of his dynamic public persona, and chronicles the tumultuous events which marked his time in office – a fiercely competitive 1977 election, the 1980 transit strike, the burgeoning AIDS epidemic, landmark housing renewal initiatives, and an irreparable municipal corruption scandal. Poignant and often humorous, Koch is a portrait not only of one of New York’s most iconic political figures, but of New York City itself at a time of radical upheaval and transformation.
, 1h12Genres Documentary, Musical
Actors Rick Rubin
Jeremy Frindel's 2012 film One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das documents the life and musical career of American kirtan singer Krishna Das. In 1970, while struggling with drug abuse and depression, Das left his native Long Island, New York for India, selling all his possessions and turning down the opportunity to record as lead vocalist with the band that would later become Blue Öyster Cult. While in India he formed a close relationship with the guru Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji), setting him on a new spiritual course and eventually leading to his emergence as Krishna Das – the world-renowned spiritual teacher, chant master, and Grammy-nominated musician. The film features interviews with Be Here Now author and spiritual guru Ram Das, Grammy-winning producer Rick Rubin (The Beastie Boys, Metallica, Jay-Z), New York Times bestselling author Sharon Salzberg, and two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Daniel Goleman, as well as a score by Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis and Devadas.
, 1h12Genres Documentary, Musical
Actors Rick Rubin
Jeremy Frindel's 2012 film One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das documents the life and musical career of American kirtan singer Krishna Das. In 1970, while struggling with drug abuse and depression, Das left his native Long Island, New York for India, selling all his possessions and turning down the opportunity to record as lead vocalist with the band that would later become Blue Öyster Cult. While in India he formed a close relationship with the guru Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji), setting him on a new spiritual course and eventually leading to his emergence as Krishna Das – the world-renowned spiritual teacher, chant master, and Grammy-nominated musician. The film features interviews with Be Here Now author and spiritual guru Ram Das, Grammy-winning producer Rick Rubin (The Beastie Boys, Metallica, Jay-Z), New York Times bestselling author Sharon Salzberg, and two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee Daniel Goleman, as well as a score by Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis and Devadas.
, 1h17Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Documentary films about the visual arts, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Russell Banks
An acclaimed photographer with the eye of a filmmaker, Gregory Crewdson has created some of the most gorgeously haunting pictures in the history of the medium. His meticulously composed, large-scale images are stunning narratives of small-town American life—moviescapes crystallized into a single frame.
Payback (2012)
, 1h26Directed by Jennifer Baichwal
Origin Canada
Genres Thriller, Documentary, Action
Themes La mondialisation, Documentaire sur l'altermondialisme
Le film traite du concept de la dette (pas uniquement financière) dans les différentes sociétés du monde.
, 2h16Directed by Sophie Fiennes
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about films, Medical-themed films, Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentary films about politics, Documentary films about health care, Films about psychiatry, Political films, Documentary films about films
Žižek appears transplanted into the scenes of various movies, exploring and exposing how they reinforce prevailing ideologies. As the ideologies undergirding cinematic fantasies are revealed, striking associations emerge: from nuns advising following your desires at The Sound of Music to the political dimensions of Jaws. Taxi Driver, Zabriskie Point, The Searchers, The Dark Knight, John Carpenter’s They Live (“one of the forgotten masterpieces of the Hollywood Left”), Titanic, Kinder Surprise eggs, verité news footage, the emptiness of Beethoven’s "Ode to Joy", and propaganda epics from Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia all inform Žižek’s psychoanalytic-cinematic argument.
Hannah Arendt (2012)
, 1h53Directed by Margarethe von Trotta
Origin German
Genres Drama, Biography
Themes Films about writers, Philosophie, Films about religion, Political films, Films about Jews and Judaism
Actors Barbara Sukowa, Janet McTeer, Nicholas Woodeson, Julia Jentsch, Axel Milberg, Megan Gay
As the film opens Eichmann has been captured in South America. It is revealed that he escaped there via the "rat line" and with forged papers. Arendt, now a professor in New York, volunteers to write about the trial for The New Yorker and is given the assignment. Observing the trial, she is impressed by how ordinary and mediocre Eichmann appears. She had expected someone scary, a monster, and he does not seem to be that. In a cafe conversation in which the Faust story is raised it is mentioned that Eichmann is not in any way a Mephisto (the devil). Returning to New York, Arendt has massive piles of transcripts to go through. Her husband has a brain aneurysm, almost dying, and causing her further delay. She continues to struggle with how Eichmann rationalized his behavior through platitudes about bureaucratic loyalty, and that he was just doing his job. When her material is finally published, it immediately creates enormous controversy, resulting in angry phone calls and a falling out from her old friend, Hans Jonas.
Uprising (2012)
, 1h25Origin USA
Genres Documentary
The documentary begins with coverage of the spontaneous marches against the 30 year oppressive military rule of president Hosni Mubarak. For the first time in history, organizers and activists turned to social media to voice their opinions and organize protests in Tahrir Square. Though initially a peaceful demonstration, the violence of the police charged with putting down the revolution inspired further violence on both sides as protesters continued to demand that Hosni Mubarak step down from the presidency. When the appointment of the former head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, Omar Suleiman, as Vice-President was not enough to end protests, Mubarak agreed to step down on February 11, 2011. It was decided that the military would rule for six months until elections could be held. While the film only covers the events leading up to and shortly following the end of the Mubarak regime, the revolution in Egypt continues to this day as new challenges are faced.
Bill Cunningham New York (2011)
, 1h24Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes La mode, Documentary films about the visual arts, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Carmen Dell'Orefice, Catherine Deneuve
"We all get dressed for Bill", says Vogue editor Anna Wintour. The Bill in question is New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham. For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high-society charity soirées for the Times 's Style section in his columns "On the Street" and "Evening Hours".
Elena (2011)
, 1h49Directed by Andreï Zviaguintsev
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors Nadezhda Markina, Elena Lyadova, Andreï Smirnov, Ivan Dobronravov, Dana Agisheva
The film depicts the social and cultural distance between the inhabitants of an exclusive apartment in downtown Moscow and a crumbling khrushchevka in Moscow's industrial suburb. Elena is a woman with a proletarian background who connects these disparate worlds. She met Vladimir, an elderly business tycoon, in a hospital when she was his nurse. Their alliance has been described by a critic as "a morganatic marriage nearly a century after the October Revolution".
Paul Goodman Changed My Life (2011)
, 1h29Origin USA
Genres Drama, Documentary, Historical
Themes Films about writers, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Bob Odenkirk
Paul Goodman Changed My Life is the first documentary feature about Paul Goodman, social activist, lay psychologist, public intellectual and author best known for Growing Up Absurd.
Let My People Go! (2011)
, 1h28Directed by Mikaël Buch
Origin France
Genres Comedy
Themes Films about religion, Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Films about Jews and Judaism, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film
Actors Nicolas Maury, Carmen Maura, Jean-François Stévenin, Amira Casar, Clément Sibony, Aurore Clément
Ruben is a French-Jewish gay mailman is living in fairytale Finland (where he got his MA in "Comparative Sauna Cultures") with his gorgeous Nordic boyfriend. Just before Passover, a series of mishaps and a lovers' quarrel exile the heartbroken Reuben back to Paris and his zany family—including Carmen Maura as his ditzy mom, and Truffaut regular Jean-François Stévenin as his lothario father. Scripted by director Mikael Buch and renowned arthouse auteur Christophe Honoré, Let My People Go! both celebrates and upends Jewish and gay stereotypes.
The Salt of Life (2011)
, 1h30Directed by Gianni Di Gregorio
Origin Italie
Genres Comedy
Actors Gianni Di Gregorio, Valeria De Franciscis, Aylin Prandi, Valeria Cavalli, Lilia Silvi
Gianni (Gianni Di Gregorio) is 60 and might as well be invisible (except when it's helpful). Smothered by his mother (Valeria de Franciscis), ignored by his wife (Elisabetta Piccolomini), and befriended (against his will) by his daughter's layabout boyfriend, he finds retirement to be not quite what he'd hoped for. He sets out to find himself a love life, to comic and charming effect.