These Amazing Shadows

Jan 22, 2011

1h 28m

★ 7.4

The Movies that Make America

Overview

Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

Gravitas Docufilms

These Amazing Shadows Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self

Jeff Adachi

Self

James H. Billington

Self

Robin Blaetz

Self

Brooks Boliek

Self

Charles Burnett

Self

Jay Carr

Self

Martin Cohen

Self

Arlene Damron

Self

Julie Dash

Self

Peter Coyote

Self

Christopher Nolan

Self

Zooey Deschanel

Kirby Dick's provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films, revealing the organization's underhanded efforts to control culture. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment and exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence.

0.0

Thirty-Three

Jul 1, 2024

Film 33 is the most advanced film class in a community college where the entire class teams up to make a short film. In 2023 Spring, the 23rd short film is being made. This epic documentary details the highs and lows of the production of this short film, and all the dramatic events that occurred.

8.0

The Unknown Peter Sellers

Apr 25, 2000

Documentary about the life and career of a comic genius, Peter Sellers.

7.8

Happy Birthday Mr Bean

Jan 10, 2021

A celebratory documentary looking back at the 30 years since comedy legend Mr Bean landed on our screens. This documentary explores the magic behind this unlikely hero.

0.0

The Weaving of a Dream: Johnnie To's Vision and Craft

May 1, 2016

From the ambitious young filmmaker behind Boundless, The Weaving of a Dream is a short documentary that details the making of Johnnie To's film Three.

7.5

Boundless

Nov 2, 2013

As Hong Kong's foremost filmmaker, Johnnie To himself becomes the protagonist of this painstaking documentary exploring him and his Boundless world of film. A film student from Beijing and avid Johnnie To fan, Ferris Lin boldly approached To with a proposal to document the master director for his graduation thesis. To agreed immediately and Lin's camera closely followed him for over two years, capturing the man behind the movies and the myths. The result is Boundless, a candid profile of one of Hong Kong's greatest directors and a heartfelt love letter to Hong Kong cinema.

7.0

Un film (autoportrait)

May 23, 1984

The shooting diary of a film shot in France and in the United States. Using photos of Paris and of New York City, excerpts of his former films, statements by friends of his and shooting sequences of the film itself, tormented filmmaker Marcel Hanoun has made a heterogeneous and unclassifiable film about the difficulty of filming.

0.0

They Bite!: The Making of Critters

Nov 27, 2018

Documentary about the original 1986 film Critters. Features interviews with actors Dee Wallace, Don Opper, Terrence Mann, and Lin Shaye; producer Barry Opper; writer Brian Muir; critter designers and voice actors; and many more.

6.6

Das Boot Revisited: An Underwater Success Story

Jan 10, 2021

In 1981, a film about the misadventures of a German U-boat crew in 1941 becomes a worldwide hit almost four decades after the end of the World War II. Millions of viewers worldwide make Das Boot the most internationally successful German film of all time. But due to disputes over the script, accidents on the set, and voices accusing the makers of glorifying the war, the project was many times on the verge of being cancelled.

0.0

Miyazaki, Spirit of Nature

May 9, 2025

A documentary that focuses on Hayao Miyazaki’s deep connection to nature and the environmental themes expressed through his films.

0.0

Remembering Ragtime

Nov 16, 2004

Memories from the making of the classic Milos Forman film "Ragtime".

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0.0

Alex to the Max: The Making of Max Keeble's Big Move

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This documentary treats movie fans to a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Max Keeble's Big Move, about a young boy who uses his imminent move to another town as his big chance for revenge on everyone who's tormented him, only to have his plan backfire. Included are interviews with the cast and crew who talk about the experience of making the film, as well as all of the effort that went into it.

6.6

The Dinosaur

Mar 10, 2021

Acclaimed Finnish director Rauni Mollberg made several scandalous yet widely appreciated films. Former co-worker Veikko Aaltonen’s eye-opening documentary The Dinosaur looks at the relentless, often disturbing directing techniques behind Mollberg’s art and success.

6.9

The Five Obstructions

Nov 7, 2003

Lars von Trier challenges his mentor, filmmaker Jørgen Leth, to remake Leth’s 1967 short film The Perfect Human five times, each with a different set of bizarre and challenging rules.

6.5

In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema

Sep 15, 2007

This documentary captures the sounds and images of a nearly forgotten era in film history when African American filmmakers and studios created “race movies” exclusively for black audiences. The best of these films attempted to counter the demeaning stereotypes of black Americans prevalent in the popular culture of the day. About 500 films were produced, yet only about 100 still exist. Filmmaking pioneers like Oscar Micheaux, the Noble brothers, and Spencer Williams, Jr. left a lasting influence on black filmmakers, and inspired generations of audiences who finally saw their own lives reflected on the silver screen.

5.8

Room 999

Oct 5, 2023

In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes, director Lubna Playoust asks Wim Wenders himself and a new generation of filmmakers (James Gray, Rebecca Zlotowski, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Nadav Lapid, Asghar Farhadi, Alice Rohrwacher and more) the same question: “is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?”

5.7

John Ford Goes to War

Jan 1, 2002

When World War II broke out, John Ford, in his forties, commissioned in the Naval Reserve, was put in charge of the Field Photographic Unit by Bill Donavan, director of the soon-to-be-OSS. During the war, Field Photo made at least 87 documentaries, many with Ford's signature attention to heroism and loss, and many from the point of view of the fighting soldier and sailor. Talking heads discuss Ford's life and personality, the ways that the war gave him fulfillment, and the ways that his war films embodied the same values and conflicts that his Hollywood films did. Among the films profiled are "Battle of Midway," "Torpedo Squadron," "Sexual Hygiene," and "December 7."

6.1

Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet at Work on a Film Based on Franz Kafka’s Amerika

Nov 13, 1983

This film is at once a self-portrait and an homage to Jean-Marie Straub, Farocki's role model and former teacher at the Film Academy.

7.0

Andrey Zvyagintsev. The Director

Dec 8, 2017

Portrait of director Andrey Zvyagintsev against the background of the filming of his film "Loveless".

8.7

Rochefort, Marielle, Noiret: Les copains d'abord

Dec 25, 2020

Jean Rochefort, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Philippe Noiret - This is the story of a bunch of friends. Comedian buddies. Actors who dreamed of the Conservatory and the National Theater of Paris. The theater was their ideal, cinema will be their paradise. Their friend Jean-Paul Belmondo, the relaxed Parisian, who failed the entrance exam, will make sparks fly. Rochefort, Marielle and Noiret, the three provincials, will climb the steps of recognition one by one. From the little cabarets on the Left Bank to the TV shows of the Buttes-Chaumont pioneers. From the second roles to the first and from the B movies to the classics.