The Ballad of Oppenheimer Park (2016)

Director
Juan Manuel Sepúlveda

Main cast
Harley Prosper; Janet Brown; Marcus Raweater; Rosa Matilpi; Dave Young

Genres
Documentary

Description
The Ballad of Oppenheimer Park is a film that celebrates the everyday life of a group of Indigenous people, exiles from Canadian reserves, who, over a fleeting summer, hang out in a contested park in Vancouver. Through direct participation in the filmmaking process, the day to day becomes a ceremonial space in the ongoing confrontation against law and order.


Similar movies

This historical and critical look at slasher films, which includes dozens of clips, begins with "Halloween," "Friday the 13th," and "Prom Night." The films' directors, writers, producers, and special effects creators comment on the films' making and success. During the Reagan years, the films get gorier, budgets get smaller, and their appeal wanes. Then, "Nightmare on Elm Street" revives the genre. Jump to the late 90s, when "Scream" brings humor and TV stars into the mix. Although some criticize the genre as misogynistic (Siskel and Ebert), most of the talking heads celebrate the films: as long as there are teenagers, there will be slasher films, says one.
In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.
"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.
Ballad of the Little Soldier is a 1984 documentary film about children soldiers in Nicaragua.
The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández is a 2007 American documentary film that investigates the murky killing of Esequiel Hernández Jr by US Marines. It is written and directed by Kieran Fitzgerald and narrated by Tommy Lee Jones.
Virunga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest national park, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a contested ground among insurgencies seeking to topple the government that see untold profits in the land. Among this ongoing power struggle, Virunga also happens to be the last natural habitat for the critically endangered mountain gorilla. The only thing standing in the way of the forces closing in around the gorillas: a handful of passionate park rangers and journalists fighting to secure the park’s borders and expose the corruption of its enemies. Filled with shocking footage, and anchored by the surprisingly deep and gentle characters of the gorillas themselves, Virunga is a galvanizing call to action around an ongoing political and environmental crisis in the Congo.
The Day After Trinity (a.k.a. The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb) is a 1980 documentary film directed and produced by Jon H. Else in association with KTEH public television in San Jose, California. The film tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967), the theoretical physicist who led the effort to build the first atomic bomb, tested in July 1945 at Trinity site in New Mexico. Featuring candid interviews with several Manhattan Project scientists, as well as newly declassified archival footage, The Day After Trinity was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature of 1980, and received a Peabody Award in 1981.
A family that survives the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.
In a place where killers are celebrated as heroes, these filmmakers challenge unrepentant death-squad leaders to dramatize their role in genocide. The result is a surreal, cinematic journey, not only into the memories and imaginations of mass murderers, but also into a frighteningly banal regime of corruption and impunity.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL is an exhilarating, provocative motion picture. The Rolling Stones rehearse their latest song, "Sympathy For the Devil," in a London studio. Beginning as a ballad, the track gradually acquires a pulsating groove, which gets Jagger into a rousing vocal display of soulful emotion that Godard is lucky enough to capture on film. Showing that rock and roll is more than just partying and goofing off, SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL is a brilliant portrait of the creative process at its most collaborative and arousing.
Werner Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer embark upon a global journey exploring some of the world's most mythical volcanoes in Indonesia, Ethiopia, Iceland and North Korea. Speaking with scientists and indigenous peoples alike, they seek to understand the complex and deeply rooted relationship between mankind and one of nature's greatest wonders.
The made-for-cable documentary film The Real Eve is predicated on the theory that the human race can be traced to a common ancestor. The mitochondrial DNA of one prehistoric woman, who lived in Africa, has according to this theory been passed down from generation to generation over a span of 150,000 years, supplying the "chemical energy" to all humankind.
The movie De Nieuwe Wildernis is set in the Oostvaardersplassen, a nature reserve of high standard in the Netherlands. The reserve has been developed in a location that 40 years ago was under sea level in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Nowadays, its the stage for a unique nature show: the nature determines the rhythm. EMS Films was the first with exclusive rights to shoot footage during all four seasons in the Oostvaardersplassen. The team of "De Nieuwe Wildernis" filmed in the Oostvaardersplassen over a period of two years. The result is a nature film never seen in The Netherlands before. It is a nature spectacle! The film features Konik horses, Red Deer, Foxes and Heck cattle, just to name a few, battling for new territories and survival.
Determined to find out the true effects of marijuana on the human body, stand-up comedian and former Stoner of the Year Doug Benson documents his experience avoiding pot for 30 days and then consuming massive amounts of the drug for 30 days. More than just an amusing story of one man's quest to get superhigh, this documentary also examines the hotly contested debate over medical marijuana use.
It’s simple math: we can burn less than 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Fossil fuel corporations now have 2,795 gigatons in their reserves, five times the safe amount. And they’re planning to burn it all — unless we rise up to stop them.
In 1971, to get breathing room from tax and management problems, the Stones go to France. Jimmy Miller parks a recording truck next to Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg's Blue Coast villa, and by June the band is in the basement a few days at a time. Upstairs, heroin, bourbon, and visitors are everywhere. The Stones, other musicians and crew, Pallenberg, and photographer Dominique Tarle, plus old clips and photos and contemporary footage, provide commentary on the album's haphazard construction. By September, the villa is empty; Richards and Jagger complete production in LA. "Exile on Main Street" is released to mediocre reviews that soon give way to lionization.
This is a documentary about an honest search for the truth about the Federal Reserve Bank and the legality of the Internal Revenue System. Through extensive interviews with recognised experts and authority, the director shows an astonishing revelation of how the Federal Government and the Bankers have fooled the American public by taking thier wages and putting it in the pockets of the super-rich.
From the acclaimed director of American Movie, the documentary follows former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter Michael Ruppert. He recounts his career as a radical thinker and spells out his apocalyptic vision of the future, spanning the crises in economics, energy, environment and more.
.From the shifting faultlines of Hollywood fantasies and the economic and racial tensions of Reagan's America, Fishbone rose and became one of the most original bands of the last 25 years. With a blistering combination of punk and funk they demolished the walls of genre and challenged the racial stereotypes and the political order of the music industry and of the nation. EVERYDAY SUNSHINE is about music, history, fear, courage and funking on the one.
This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.
Over the course of a year, film follows Vancouver Pride Society president Ken Coolen to various international Pride events, including Poland, Hungary, Russia, Sri Lanka and others where there is great opposition to pride parades. In North America, Pride is complicated by commercialization and a sense that the festivals are turning away from their political roots toward tourism, party promotion and entertainment. Christie documents the ways larger, more mainstream Pride events have supported the global Pride movement and how human rights components are being added to more established events. In the New York sequence, leaders organize an alternative Pride parade, the Drag March, set up to protest the corporatization of New York Pride. A parade in São Paulo, the world's largest Pride festival, itself includes a completely empty float, meant to symbolize all those lost to HIV and to anti-gay violence.
Alcan Highway is a filmed diary of a one dream on its way to fulfillment. The Documentary depicts the story of Hese making his dream come true; with the help of his friends he attempts to fix a truck, build a home on top of it, and drive it from Wasilla, Alaska to the Vancouver island. Hese is trying finally to get a home.
Examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.
Rocket Brothers is a 2003 documentary film directed by photographer Kasper Torsting. It explores the ambitions, anxieties and joys of a creative process in the Danish rock band Kashmir. Torsting followed the band over a period of four years starting just after the success of their album The Good Life. In the documentary we follow the daily lives of the band members and come to witness their struggle against the expectations from both themselves and other people. We see the difficulties in overcoming amongst others writer's block, witness the conflicts amongst the group members and discover the profound respect and love with which they treat each other - all in the process of making the album Zitilites. Besides seeing the band writing the Zitilities album, we also witness their failed break-through in America, and lead singer Kasper Eistrup's audition for Roger Waters Pink Floyd tour. Eistrup auditioned as the lead singer and guitarist.
Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner examines how mammoth corporations have taken over all aspects of the food chain in the United States, from the farms where our food is grown to the chain restaurants and supermarkets where it's sold. Narrated by author and activist Eric Schlosser, the film features interviews with average Americans about their dietary habits, commentary from food experts like Michael Pollan and unsettling footage shot inside large-scale animal processing plants.
Released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of this classic album, learn how Pink Floyd assembled "Dark Side of the Moon" with the aid of original engineer Alan Parsons. All four band members--Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright--are interviewed at length, giving valuable insights into the recording process. The themes of the album are discussed at length, and the band take you back to the original multi track tapes to illustrate how they pieced together the songs. With individual performances of certain tracks from Roger, David, and Richard included, this is an essential purchase for any Pink Floyd fans, and a fascinating artefact for rock historians everywhere.
Vancouver-based voice artist Ashleigh Ball has been the voice of numerous characters in classic cartoons such as Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Cinderella and more. When Ashleigh was hired to voice Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash for Hasbro's fourth series to use the My Little Pony name - My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - she had no idea she would become an Internet phenomenon and major celebrity to a worldwide fan-base of grownups. Bronies are united by their belief in the show's philosophy. This documentary gives an inside view of the Pony fan-world, and an intimate look at the courage it takes to just be yourself...even when that means liking a little girls' cartoon.
A pseudo-documentary about the processes involved in putting together and casting actors and actresses for a porn film. Although several actual porn stars are in the film, it is not a porn film itself.
Some Kind of Monster is a music documentary about Metallica's making of their album St. Anger and the difficulties they had to go through in the process. The directors shot over 1200 hours and followed the band around night and day for over a year to create this documentary.
All Together Now details the story behind the unique partnership between The Beatles & Cirque du Soleil that resulted in the creation & launch of "LOVE," the stage production still wowing audiences at The Mirage in Las Vegas, & the double Grammy®-winning album of the same name. Program contents include All Together Now documentary, Changing The Music: A behind-the-scenes look at the decision making process for the "LOVE" concept and music production, Music In The Theatre: A look at the process of creating the "LOVE" show's unique audio design, and Making 'LOVE:' A backstage pass to explore the design of "LOVE," including the art direction, costumes, props, screen imagery and the use of The Beatles' voices in the "LOVE" stage production and its soundtrack.
Indie Game: The Movie is a feature documentary about video games, their creators and the craft. The film follows the dramatic journeys of video game developers as they create and release their games to the world. The film tells the emotional story of friends Edmund McMillen & Tommy Refenes, as they craft their first Xbox game: "Super Meat Boy". It follows Phil Fish, the creator of the highly-anticipated game: "FEZ". After 4 years of working in near solitude, Phil reveals his opus to the public for the first time. And, the film tells the surprising story of one of the highest-rated video games of all time:"Braid". The film is about making video games, but at its core, it's about the creative process, and exposing yourself through your work. In short: Making fun and games is anything but fun and games.
An original documentary which follows three families in a small seaside town in Massachusetts as they prepare for their annual home made haunted houses. This story highlights their long journey from planning to opening day and cleanup until next year and the obstacles which face them during the process.
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.
Google 'The Process Church of the Final Judgement' and you'll discover a long list of conspiracy theories. Only now, former members reveal the truth about the misunderstood group once dubbed 'One of the most dangerous Satanic cults in America.'
n Scénario du film Passion, Godard constructs a lyrical study of the cinematic and creative process by deconstructing the story of his 1982 film Passion. “I didn’t want to write the script,” he states, “I wanted to see it.” Positioning himself in a video editing suite in front of a white film screen that evokes for him the “famous blank page of Mallarmé,” Godard uses video as a sketchbook with which to reconceive the film. The result is a philosophical, often humorous rumination on the desire and labor that inform the conceptual and image making process of the cinema. —eai.org
In this first-of-its-kind crossover comedy, director Ben Popik brings together five comedy writers, and surprises them with a challenge: to each write fifteen pages of a movie, having read only the previous five pages of the script. They agree with one stipulation: If they write the movie, he has to make it. It's a comedy, a love story, a psycho-sexual thriller, and a supernatural adventure all in one. Meanwhile, documentary footage of the writing process provides an inside look into the often-hilarious creative process, as well as the group dynamics that make collaboration between friends difficult.
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1993) is a documentary film about Aileen Wuornos, made by Nick Broomfield. It documents Broomfield's attempts to interview Wuornos, which involves a long process of mediation through her adopted mother Arlene Pralle and lawyer, Steve Glazer.
The documentary retraces the steps of Bruno Manser, a man from Switzerland who went to live with the indigenous tribe of the Penan in the Jungle of Borneo and endef up helping their struggle to defend their rainforest against greedy logging companies. The movie features original film, photo and voice recordings by Bruno Manser made in the 1980s, as well as new recordings showing how the life of the Penan has changed in just a few decades.
The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people, the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.
The Endless Summer, by Bruce Brown, is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all times. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and an endless summer.
Documentary by John Pilger looks at the awful truth behind white Australia's dysfunctional relationship with Indigenous Australians
Ella Havelka made history in 2013 by becoming the first Indigenous dancer at the 50-year-old Australian Ballet. In this engaging, MIFF Premiere Fund-supported world premiere, Ella – a descendant of the Wiradjuri people – charts her inspiring journey from growing up in modest circumstances as the only child of a single mother in rural Australia to gaining entry to National Ballet School, then spending formative years with the acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre before accepting the invitation of The Australian Ballet's artistic director David McAllister to join one of the world's foremost ballet companies.
María is an Amorúa girl; an indigenous group that traveled the savannas of Orinoquía as nomads. She lives with her grandmother Matilde, her sister diana and her cousins in Puerto Carreño, in the Colombia-Venezuela border. The amorúa are considered wild and are not literate. Matilde wants her granddaughters to learn to write and read to live better in this town of "rational whites" as they call us. The director follows María's life for 8 years from her childhood to her adolescence and invites her to travel the places her grandma did as a nomad.
Doris and Oscar, a couple who has spent 40 years living and working together, face their impending retirement. Both dedicated their lives to educational projects and architecture in rural indigenous communities in Mexico. Isabel and Enedino, two indigenous professionals in the Sierra of Puebla, take the baton from their mentors and teachers. A documentary that celebrates and explores the transformational process of teaching, learning and building.
A growing number of Evangelical Christians believe there is a revival underway in America that requires Christian youth to assume leadership roles in advocating the causes of their religious movement. Jesus Camp follows children at a Christian summer camp as they hone their "prophetic gifts" and are schooled in how to "take back America for Christ." The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.
This documentary on the effect the talent competition "Afghan Star" has on the incredibly diverse inhabitants of Afghanistan affords a glimpse into a country rarely seen. Contestants risk their lives to appear on the television show that is a raging success with the public and also monitored closely by the government.
A notorious mondo film depicting unbelievable and bizarre rituals, animal killing and cruelty, and people being killed and eaten, all by either animals or humans against each other or themselves.
500 Nations is a documentary which explores the history of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America, from pre-Colombian times, through the period of European contact and colonization, to the end of the 19th century and the subjugation of the Plains Indians of North America. 500 Nations relies on historical texts, eyewitnesses accounts, pictorial sources and computer graphic reconstructions to explore the magnificent civilizations which flourished prior to contact with Western civilization, and to tell the dramatic and tragic story of the Native American nations' desperate attempts to retain their way of life against overwhelming odds.
On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista National Liberation Army--made up of impoverished Mayan Indians from the state of Chiapas--took over five towns and 500 ranches in southern Mexico. The government deployed its troops, and at least 145 people died in the ensuing battle. Fighting for indigenous Mexicans to regain control over their lives and the land, the Zapatistas and their charismatic leader, guerilla poet Subcomandante Marcos, began sending their message to the world via the Internet. The result was what THE NEW YORK TIMES called "the world’s first postmodern revolution." Years into the uprising, filmmaker Nettie Wild traveled to the jungle canyons of southern Mexico to film the elusive and fragile life of the rebellion. Her camera effectively and movingly captures the personal stories behind a very public clash of traditional culture and globalization.
Go behind the scenes during One Directions sell out "Take Me Home" tour and experience life on the road.
Examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States.
AMERICAN MOVIE is the story of filmmaker Mark Borchardt, his mission, and his dream. Spanning over two years of intense struggle with his film, his family, financial decline, and spiritual crisis, AMERICAN MOVIE is a portrayal of ambition, obsession, excess, and one man's quest for the American Dream.
A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.
Since the invention of cinema, the standard format for recording moving images has been film. Over the past two decades, a new form of digital filmmaking has emerged, creating a groundbreaking evolution in the medium. Keanu Reeves explores the development of cinema and the impact of digital filmmaking via in-depth interviews with Hollywood masters, such as James Cameron, David Fincher, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, George Lucas, Steven Soderbergh, and many more.
Documentary about the National Film Registry, featuring clips of films that have been included in the registry, as well as interviews with members of the National Film Registry Board.
The Death of 'Superman Lives': What Happened? feature film documents the process of development of the ill fated "Superman Lives" movie, that was to be directed by Tim Burton and star Nicolas Cage as the man of steel himself, Superman. The project went through years of development before the plug was pulled, and this documentary interviews the major players: Kevin Smith, Tim Burton, Jon Peters, Dan Gilroy, Colleen Atwood, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and many many more.
This dryly funny mockumentary about the lost work of a pioneering New Zealand film genius is probably one of the best examples of the faux-documentary genre. In fact, it was so successful that when it originally aired on New Zealand television, hundreds of viewers bought the premise hook, line, and sinker. If you didn't know any better yourself, it's entirely possible you might be duped into believing the extremely tall tale of one Colin MacKenzie, an ambitious filmmaker who made the world's first talking movie (years before The Jazz Singer), invented color film, and created a huge biblical epic that would put Cecil B. DeMille and D.W. Griffith to shame. Filmmaker Peter Jackson (Heavenly Creatures) shrewdly inserts himself into the film via his documentation of the "discovery" of McKenzie's lost epic, which for years was preserved in a garden shed.
The Go-Go Boys tells the inside story of two Israeli-born cousins, the late Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who in pursuit of the “American dream” turned the Hollywood establishment upside down. Together they produced more than 300 films and founded the most powerful independent film company in the world, Cannon Films, which was responsible for Israeli and mainstream, Hollywood-blockbuster, action/exploitation hits during the duo’s 1980s hey day, starring the likes of Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Charles Bronson. Up close and personal, and with the complete cooperation of the film’s subjects, the film examines the complex relationship between two contradictory personalities, whose combined force fueled their successes and eventual split. A film about filmmaking and two dogged, exceptional characters with modest origins taking on the big boys.
The American comedian/actor delivers a story about the alternative Hip Hop scene. A small town Ohio man’s moves to Brooklyn, New York, to throw an unprecedented block party. Filmed with inspiration from the 1973 documentary Wattstax.
In this hilarious arcade showdown, a humble novice goes head-to-head against the reigning Donkey Kong champ in a confrontation that rocks the gaming world to its processors! For over 20 years, Billy Mitchell has owned the throne of the Donkey Kong world. No one could beat his top score until now. Newcomer Steve Wiebe claims to have beaten the unbeatable, but Mitchell isn't ready to relinquish his crown without a fight. Go behind the barrels as the two battle it out in a vicious war to earn the title of the true King of Kong.

© Valossa 2015–2024