Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt

Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt 2015

7.40

The life and work of German political philosopher of Jewish descent Hannah Arendt (1906-75), who caused a stir when she coined a subversive concept, the banality of evil, in her 1963 book on the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann (1906-62), held in Israel in 1961, which she covered for the New Yorker magazine.

2015

Fire of Love

Fire of Love 2022

7.53

A doomed love triangle between intrepid French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, and their beloved volcanoes.

2022

The Flood

The Flood 2011

5.80

At the age of 13, Yoni is growing up. Fast. But not fast enough for this diminutive young man who is obsessed with getting bigger, taller and stronger. On the eve of his Bar Mitzvah, Yoni has no choice but to “become a man” when he’s faced with the unexpected return of his autistic brother who he has not seen for almost ten years.

2011

Adrianne & The Castle

Adrianne & The Castle 2024

1

Alan built a castle in rural Illinois with his late love Adrianne. Facing life alone, he revisits their fantasy through musical reenactments transporting him to the world they shared.

2024

Gift

Gift 2019

5.00

Creative essay doc inspired by Lewis Hyde's classic bestseller The Gift. Chronicling gift-based cultures around the world and challenging the logic of global capitalism, the film inspires the question: is life about getting or giving?

2019

7 Beats Per Minute

7 Beats Per Minute 2024

1

Freediving champion Jessea Lu nearly died during a world-record attempt. She revisits the site of her near-death in this documentary, facing past traumas and struggling back to life.

2024

The Bones

The Bones 2024

8.00

Following the journey of fossils from their discovery in remote corners of the earth to laboratories, museums, auction houses and collectors’ living rooms, the film weaves together interlocking stories of eccentric characters caught between the demands of commerce and the basic human drive to unlock the most profound mysteries of life. THE BONES takes us deep into the Gobi, Sahara, and North American badlands, and through laboratories, museums, high-end auction houses, and grungy hotel rooms at the Tucson gem show. Wrapped in elusive questions about the origins of life on earth, and its potential future demise, THE BONES unearths the deep passions at the heart of the dinosaur world.

2024

The Wanted 18

The Wanted 18 2014

6.30

Through stop-motion animation, drawings and interviews, directors Amer Shomali and Paul Cowan recreate an astonishing true story from the First Palestinian Intifada: the Israeli army’s pursuit of eighteen cows, whose independent milk production on a Palestinian collective farm was declared "a threat to the national security of the state of Israel."

2014

Blue Box

Blue Box 2021

8.30

The Jewish National Fund's Blue Boxes were a global fundraiser to purchase land in Israel. Weaving a co-founder's diary entries with his descendants' memories, Blue Box investigates the myths that constructed a national icon.

2021

Don't Worry, the Doors Will Open

Don't Worry, the Doors Will Open 2019

7.00

After André Levesque missionnaire, Oksana Karpovych is back at the RIDM with her first feature, which she filmed in her native country, Ukraine. To take the pulse of the country, the filmmaker adopts one of documentary cinema’s most prolific sub-genres: the train film. Filmed entirely in the old, run-down, overcrowded passenger trains used by ordinary Ukrainians, the film captures conversations, observes the landscape, and accompanies several protagonists on their journey; they open our eyes to popular preoccupations in a country that seems perpetually anchored in its highly visible Soviet legacy. A fine lesson in listening and humanity.

2019

Laila at the Bridge

Laila at the Bridge 2018

1

In a country offering almost no treatment services despite a crisis of addiction, Laila Haidari took the highly unusual decision to found her own pioneering addiction treatment center and a restaurant where all of the waiters are recovering heroin addicts. A deeply personal perspective on the global addiction epidemic, the film follows the labor of love of one woman fighting to keep her center alive in the face of physical threats, governmental opposition and the departure of the international community from Afghanistan.

2018