How can important memories be conveyed to the next generation? In Japan, a country of forests and mountains, work methods that have long been at the heart of mountain life – like tree cutting, slash and burn agriculture, and roof thatching – are quietly disappearing in the course of modernisation. Recently, some Japanese high school students have gone up to the mountains to see the people who live there and possess these skills, asking them about their craft and about life itself… writing down what they hear, word for word, unchanged, just as it was spoken. This documentary takes a close look at the lives of four such masters of life in the mountains and the four high school students who learnt from them, capturing the moments when, by listening and recording, memories were transmitted from one to the other.
Kung Fu Girls
This is the story of a small school in the mountains, three girls who hail from faraway places and a tough journey of endless training. Far from their hometown, they live a life vastly different from that of other teens. Their goal is to become masters of Kung Fu.
Every day at dawn, they begin their daily routine to strengthen their bodies and minds. Every tear and every drop of sweat is part of their quest towards being experts at Kung Fu.
The romantic world of Kung Fu masters fighting for justice or survival is no more. Now, their arena is the national martial arts competition. Will they ever realize their dream and win a gold medal?
Killer Whale and Crocodile
Carvers from two of the world’s great carving traditions come together. A First Nations carver from Canada travels into the jungles of Papua New Guinea and a New Guinea carver travels to urban Canada. Together, they share each other’s cultures and learn about the myths and legends that inform their individual artistic styles. In the Spring of 2006 John Marston, a young Coast Salish carver from Vancouver Island who has already gained a strong reputation for his innovative approach to traditional Coast Salish styles, visited Teddy Balangu, a carver from the Sepik River of Papua New Guinea. Teddy returned to Canada where he was the artist in residence at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia for 5 months.
Kevin McGahern’s America
Kevin McGahern’s America features Kevin exploring various aspects of life in America – gun rights, web-cam girls (and boys) and new American ‘tribes’ and unusual social groups.
With the US presidential race in full swing, Kevin dives into trigger-happy America to meet the paranoid patriots who want smaller government and bigger guns.
Kevin then delves into the odd lives of internet sex workers who sell video intimacy from the comfort of their own homes and meets a 28-year-old humiliatrix who insults men online for a living.
Finally he travels around America meeting people who are redefining what it means to be family in surprising ways. In South Carolina, Kevin rides with an anti-fascist motorcycle club called The Bastards. Their motto: “Who needs a father when you’ve got a brother”.
Kelden
Fourteen year old Kelden Lhamo, has been selected into Bhutan’s first national women’s football team. This film is a poetic journey into the inner world of Kelden who breaks away with everything she grew up with, to live in a football academy far away from home. An intimate confession of a teenager growing up in a traditional country on the brink of modernisation.
The Jesus Guy
He looks like Jesus Christ. And preaches like St. Francis of Assisi. Some say he’s “a kook.” Others, “a blessing from God.” Barefoot, and clad in a white robe, he’s walked through 47 states [and 13 countries] on a 16-year mission that’s captured media attention from 20/20, Time and the Wall Street Journal. Yet who is this solitary figure who inspires faith – and attracts controversy?
Ink Therapy
Sometimes a tattoo doesn’t just change your body, it changes your life.
INK THERAPY follows tattoo artist Charlie Hyde and his motley crew at his Simi Valley tattoo shop in California as he helps clients, cover up their physical scars with tattoos, free of charge.
From burns and self harm injuries to medical scars and lifelong birthmarks, no blemish is too big or too emotional for Charlie and his team to transform. Charlie’s innovative work is the newest frontier in the world of tattoo cover ups. He’s going beyond the art of fixing bad tattoo …to erasing actual physical differences, by replacing them with wonderful works of art.
I Am Thalente
Thalente Biyela from Durban, South Africa, is about to turn 18 and needs to decide what to be when he ‘grows up’. Homeless since age nine and illiterate, skateboarding provides escape to Thalente, giving him a way to express himself and access a new family in the skating community. An internet video of Thalente reaches pro-skater Kenny Anderson who offers to take him under his wing if he makes it to America. Thalente puts his heart and soul to the test to rise above circumstance and shape his future.
Hatched
Hatched gives young entrepreneurs, the opportunity of a lifetime to pitch their unique inventions to seasoned executives including Freddy Cameron, Nicole Lapin, and Joe Kincaid, who know exactly what it takes to turn a good idea into a successful venture.