Book Hunters

Sep 22, 2017

0h 52m

★ 8.0

Fight for the knowledge of the world

Overview

When chaos reigns, while barbaric and fanatical rulers, both ecclesiastical and secular, systematically burn entire libraries, book hunters, secret heroes of history, travel the world saving and copying texts, threatened by the madness of censors, with the noble purpose of preventing the ultimate loss of human knowledge.

Genres

Documentary

History

Production Companies

Kinescope Film

nordmedia

ARTE

Radio Bremen

Book Hunters Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Self - Narrator (voice)

Robert Levin

Self - Dominican Monk

Najeeb Michaeel

Self - Benedictine Monk

Columba Stewart

Self - Archaeologist

Chiara Raimondo

Self - Literature Scholar

Stephen Greenblatt

Self - Greek Culture Scholar

Letizia Mandate

Self - Optical Engineer

Vito Mocella

Self - Librarian

Mustafa Jahie

Self - Librarian

Andrea Dautović

Self - Archaeologist

Enver Imamovíc

Self - Greek Orthodox Patriarch

Patriarch John X of Antioch

Self - Librarian

Elisabetta Lugato

Lithuania, 1941, during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of texts on Jewish culture, stolen by the Germans, are gathered in Vilnius to be classified, either to be stored or to be destroyed. A group of Jewish scholars and writers, commissioned by the invaders to carry out the sorting operations, but reluctant to collaborate and determined to save their legacy, hide many books in the ghetto where they are confined. This is the epic story of the Paper Brigade.

6.0

The Fantastic

Oct 15, 2021

In Maija Blåfield’s documentary, eight former North Koreans talk about what it was like to watch illegal films in a closed society. In addition to the 'waste videos', South Korean films were also smuggled into the country via China.

7.4

Waves

Aug 1, 2024

At the end of the 1960s, when the air is filled with rock-and-roll and student rebellions are changing the world, the older of two brothers joins a prestigious newsroom of the public radio broadcaster. Not long after, he finds himself in the middle of a dangerous conflict between journalists and the secret service.

6.8

The Emma Bovary Trial

Sep 15, 2021

On January 31, 1857, the French writer Gustave Flaubert (1821-80) took his place in the dock for contempt of public morality and religion. The accused, the real one, is, through him, Emma Bovary, heroine with a thousand faces and a thousand desires, guilty without doubt of an unforgivable desire to live.

0.0

The Painter's Voice

May 29, 2007

Paintings conservators at the Getty Center reveal details of their craft as they restore two large paintings by French master Jean-Baptiste Oudry.

6.5

Susana y el sexo

Oct 6, 2021

The story of iconic Spanish artist Susana Estrada's struggle against censorship and sexual repression during the turbulent years following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

10.0

Love Stories of the Pale Night

Jun 15, 1966

A man living between dream and reality, making the woman he fell in love with as a statue and falling in love with her and then killing her in his dreams.

6.7

His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th

Apr 20, 2010

A retrospective documentary about the groundbreaking horror series, Friday the 13th, featuring interviews with cast and crew from the twelve films spanning 3 decades.

0.0

News Without A Newsroom

Apr 11, 2025

As local newsrooms vanish, "News Without a Newsroom" explores journalism's uncertain future in the digital age. Through powerful stories and expert insights, the film examines the collapse of traditional media, the rise of misinformation, and the fight to preserve truth, trust and accountability in an era of disruption.

0.0

Exergo

May 4, 2024

Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.

8.0

Sauver Notre-Dame

Apr 14, 2020

In the aftermath of the fire that struck Notre-Dame de Paris in 2019, the cathedral is in danger of collapsing. A race against time begins for a hundred men and women who will face danger, the unknown, and toxic lead dust for a year to save this world heritage site. Architects, stonemasons, carpenters, crane operators, scaffolders, rope access technicians, archaeologists: this unique project brings together rare skills. With rare enthusiasm and cohesion, they will achieve numerous technical and human feats. This film recounts the spectacular and moving adventure of these builders fighting to save Notre Dame.

7.2

Censored without Censorship

Mar 2, 2007

Through the conversation with Yugoslav film authors and excerpts from their films, this documentary film tells a story of a film phenomenon and censorship, and its focus is, in fact, a painful epoch of Yugoslav film called “a Black Wave”, which was the most important and artistically strongest period of Yugoslav film industry, created in the sixties and buried in the early seventies by means of ideological and political decisions. The film tells a great “thriller” story of the ideological madness which characterised the totalitarian psychology having left multiple consequences felt up to our very days. It stresses similarities between totalitarian regimes defending their taboos on the example of the persecution of the most important Yugoslav film authors. Those film authors have, however, made world careers and inspired many later authors. The film is the beginning of a debt pay-off to the most significant Yugoslav film authors.

6.8

Exorcismo: The Transgressive Legacy of Clasificada “S”

Oct 3, 2024

Spain, 1975. Franco's death opens the door to the possibility of uncensored cinema. After two years of relaxed censorship, it is abolished in 1977, and the “S” rating is created to protect viewers from films that may “offend their sensibilities.”

0.0

Diagram for Delinquents

Jun 15, 2014

In 1950, America was in a state of panic. Juvenile delinquency was destroying the very fabric of society. Ninety percent of all children were reading comic books. In 1954, psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham wrote a scathing indictment of comics called Seduction of the Innocent. Its central premise: Comic books were the leading contributing factor to juvenile delinquency. That same year, Dr. Wertham testified at special hearings on comic books at the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in the United States. Comics were on trial. Diagram for Delinquents captures the zeitgeist of late 1940s and early 1950s America and investigates how the funny books found themselves on the fire. Using expert and comic book insider interviews, never seen before historical photographs and films, and animation, DIAGRAM goes further than any previous comic book documentary to explore and understand the controversial figure at the center of this American tale: Fredric Wertham.

6.9

Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Shocking Truth

Sep 21, 2000

A documentary primarily focusing on the filming and release of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

0.0

[CENSORED]

Jun 11, 2018

An essay film by filmmaker and archivist Sari Braithwaite, [Censored] offers an overview of film censorship in Australia, told through an ever-changing collage of images compiled from the footage that was cut from films released domestically between 1958 and 1971.

7.5

Theaters of War

Feb 14, 2022

If you’ve seen Top Gun or Transformers, you may have wondered: Does all of that military machinery on screen come with strings attached? Does the military actually get a crack at the script? With the release of a vast new trove of internal government documents, the answers have come into sharp focus: the US military has exercised editorial control over thousands of films and television programs. As these activities gain new public scrutiny, new questions arise: How have they managed to fly under the radar for so long? And where do we go from here?

8.0

Les Métamorphoses du Grand Palais

Jul 7, 2024

No overview available.

6.5

Forbidden Films

Mar 6, 2014

Between 1933 and 1945 roughly 1200 films were made in Germany, of which 300 were banned by the Allied forces. Today, around 40 films, called "Vorbehaltsfilme", are locked away from the public with an uncertain future. Should they be re-released, destroyed, or continue to be neglected? Verbotene Filme takes a closer look at some of these forbidden films.

7.1

The Cleaners

May 17, 2018

A deep dive into the hidden industry of digital cleaning, which rids the Internet of unwanted violence, porn and political content.