Documentary
“There’s a bus stop I want to photograph.” This may sound like a parody of an esoteric festival film, but Canadian Christopher Herwig’s photography project is entirely in earnest, and likely you will be won over by his passion for this unusual subject within the first five minutes. Soviet architecture of the 1960s and 70s was by and large utilitarian, regimented, and mass-produced. Yet the bus stops Herwig discovers on his journeys criss-crossing the vast former Soviet Bloc are something else entirely: whimsical, eccentric, flamboyantly artistic, audacious, colourful. They speak of individualism and locality, concepts anathema to the Communist doctrine. Herwig wants to know how this came to pass and tracks down some of the original unsung designers, but above all he wants to capture these exceptional roadside way stations on film before they disappear.
MOVIE COMMENTS
SIMILAR MOVIES
The Soviet Union: A New Look
Decasia: The State of Decay
Man with a Movie Camera
Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind
Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali
Elliott Erwitt - Silence Sounds Good
Big Time
One Big Home
Riverboom
Paris, the Mystery of the Disappeared Palace
Chernobyl 30 Years On: Nuclear Heritage
Reporters
In the Theatre of the Gogs
Architecture of Infinity
In Memory of Sergo Ordzhonikidze
Standard Operating Procedure
Krivoarbatsky 12
Frida Kahlo & Tina Modotti
The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
Gaudi, Catalunya
SIMILAR MOVIES
The Soviet Union: A New Look
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1978
This film discusses conditions in the Soviet Union, including party activity and influence, the shortage of consumer goods, the roles of children and women, the status of religion, and the purpose of Soviet realist art.Decasia: The State of Decay
IMDB 6.5 | Jan , 2002
A meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality, constructed from decaying archival footage and set to an original symphonic score.Man with a Movie Camera
IMDB 7.8 | May , 1929
A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind
IMDB 0 | Apr , 2019
What motivates people to organize communal living themselves? What ideals are behind it, how do they finance themselves, and how does life in a community work? Based on six self-managed residential buildings in Austria from the past 40 years, the documentary film "Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind" (The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of) sets out to find answers. Filmmakers Lotte Schreiber and Michael Rieper tell these six stories by staying very close to the protagonists.Soft Self-Portrait of Salvador Dali
IMDB 5 | Dec , 1969
A documentary about surrealist artist Salvador Dali, narrated by Orson Welles.Elliott Erwitt - Silence Sounds Good
IMDB 7 | Jul , 2019
Elliott Erwitt has spent his entire adult life taking photographs, of presidents, popes and movie stars, as well as regular people and their pets. His work is iconic in world culture while his life is largely unknown.Big Time
IMDB 5.5 | Oct , 2017
Big Time gets up close with Danish architectural prodigy Bjarke Ingels over a period of six years while he is struggling to complete his largest projects yet, the Manhattan skyscraper W57 and Two World Trade Center.One Big Home
IMDB 0 | Jul , 2017
On the tiny island of Martha's Vineyard, where presidents and celebrities vacation, trophy homes threaten to destroy the islands unique character. Twelve years in the making, One Big Home follows one carpenters journey to understand the trend toward giant houses. When he feels complicit in wrecking the place he calls home, he takes off his tool belt and picks up a camera.Riverboom
IMDB 8.4 | Sep , 2024
In the year following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, young journalist Claude Baechtold finds himself in the war zone of Afghanistan. Not entirely voluntarily, the avowed anti-militarist is dragged by two fearless reporters on a round trip through the entire country.Paris, the Mystery of the Disappeared Palace
IMDB 7.3 | Sep , 2023
In the heart of Paris, an entire palace has disappeared. It was the very first residence of the kings of France. Long before Versailles, long before the Louvre, the Palais de la Cité stood on the most prestigious island in Paris, the historic cradle of France, facing Notre-Dame. So majestic in the Middle Ages, this palace has become a ghost of history. Over the centuries, this architectural masterpiece has almost completely disappeared. A trio of experts will resurrect it in 3D. Using science and unprecedented excavations, they will track down the pieces of the puzzle to reconstruct it at its peak in the 14th century, and bring back to life those who inhabited it. From the Romans to the Vikings, from Saint Louis to the cursed kings, all have left clues of this 'Versailles of the Middle Ages'.Chernobyl 30 Years On: Nuclear Heritage
IMDB 7.6 | May , 2015
Thirty years after the Chernobyl disaster, which occurred on the night of April 26, 1986, its causes and consequences are examined. In addition, a report on efforts to strengthen the structures covering the core of the nuclear plant in order to better protect the population and the environment is offered.Reporters
IMDB 7.1 | Jun , 1981
The co-founder of the Gamma press agency, Raymond Depardon, created this documentary of press photographers in Paris and their subjects by following the photographers around for one month, in October, 1980. In-between long hours waiting for a celebrity to emerge from a restaurant or a hotel, boredom immediately switches to fast action as the cameras click and roll when the person appears. The reaction to the gaggle of photographers is as varied as the people they often literally chase all around town. While some of the celebrities, such as Jacques Chirac who was mayor of Paris at the time, are perceived as comical caricatures, others are shown simply going about ordinary pursuits - including Catherine Deneuve, Gene Kelly, and Jean-Luc Godard.In the Theatre of the Gogs
IMDB 0 | Jun , 2021
A contemplation of art and adventure in the southern wilds of New Zealand by both a landscape photographer and an adventure filmmaker. This film is the unexpected result of their two unique perspectives.Architecture of Infinity
IMDB 6 | Jan , 2019
How can structures, which take up defined, rigid portions of space, make us feel transcendence? How can chapels turn into places of introspection? How can walls grant boundless freedom? Driven by intense childhood impressions, director Christoph Schaub visits extraordinary churches, both ancient and futuristic, and discovers works of art that take him up to the skies and all the way down to the bottom of the ocean. With the help of architects Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, and Álvaro Siza Vieira, artists James Turrell and Cristina Iglesias, and drummer Sergé “Jojo” Mayer, he tries to make sense of the world and decipher our spiritual experiences using the seemingly abstract concepts of light, time, rhythm, sound, and shape. The superb cinematography turns this contemplative search into a multi-sensory experience.In Memory of Sergo Ordzhonikidze
IMDB 5.4 | Dec , 1937
The film is about the life and work of Grigory Ordzhonikidze Konstantinoviche, an important personality in both the Communist Party and the Soviet state. The film includes speeches by his bereaved friends who attended his funeral. In 1937, after the unexpected death of Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Vertov received an urgent order from the government to produce a film about the life of Ordzhonikidze. He was ordered to work together with Yakov Bliohom and the director of the film "Battleship Potemkin" distributed by Goskino (Soviet State Committee for Cinematography).Standard Operating Procedure
IMDB 6.8 | Feb , 2008
Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.Krivoarbatsky 12
IMDB 0 | May , 1988
A brief overview of the work of the great Russian architect Konstantin Melnikov, with a focus on the famous Melnikov House in Moscow’s Krivoarbatsky Lane and the problems faced by modern architects, echoing Melnikov’s troubles in the era of Stalinist architecture.Frida Kahlo & Tina Modotti
IMDB 6.3 | Jan , 1983
An unconventional portrait of painter Frida Kahlo and photographer Tina Modotti. Simple in style but complex in its analysis, it explores the divergent themes and styles of two contemporary and radical women artists working in the upheaval of the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution.The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
IMDB 7.3 | Jan , 2004
Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge...Gaudi, Catalunya
IMDB 0 | Jan , 1959
In 1959 Hiroshi Teshigahara shot the following 16 mm footage of he and his father’s first trip to Barcelona and the outlying Catalonian countryside, including a visit to the home of Salvador Dali in Port Lligat. The footage was recorded without sound.