Patricio Guzmán's Top 10

A documentary about the lives of inmates at the notorious prison in Valparaiso, Chile, in the year before it closed down. Meditative black-and-white scenes reveal a hidden, secret, timeless world.…

Arvo Pärt rose to fame with his signature minimalist composition style tintinnabuli. In 24 short chapters, this film outlines the inner musical world of one of the most performed living composers. …

A visual voyage through India, with the camera exploring different aspects of life to find the invisible essence of our material world. This is the last in a five-part series about the elements of Indian cosmology.…

An enchanting mini-portrait of Antoinette, an 86½-year-old magician. With no more than a napkin, tissue paper or plastic flowers, the elegant Parisienne conjures up a hopeful universe. Part of a series on French women with unusual professions.…

A short post-apocalyptic film considered by many to be the masterpiece of film essayist Chris Marker. A series of still, black-and-white images tell the story of a time traveler who has been sent from the post-World War III future to save the present.…

Witness reports from Moroccan men who spent 18 years in Tazmamart, a hellish secret prison, speak of the appalling conditions of their inhumane detention, but also of tender humanity and the strength of their resistance.…

A compilation of clips from silent documentaries and propaganda films shot by Dutch cameramen in Indonesia between 1912 and 1932. The film contrasts the lives of colonial rulers with the hopeless situation of the native population.…

Growing up in the 1980s in Cuba, filmmaker Camila Guzmán Urzúa and her classmates grew up in the sugar-coated world of Fidel Castro’s revolution. Now, they look back on a childhood paradise that came to an abrupt end.…

Watch for a small fee (not available in the USA): Director Georgi Lazarevski films his grandfather on a trip through Morocco, a journey that this elderly man could only dare to dream of for many years. The change of surroundings gives rise to melancholy thoughts and surprising discoveries. …

A creative documentary consisting of 8mm films shot by a Finnish couple, both of them architects, between 1938 and 1949. The war with Soviet Russia tore the family apart and left the city they were building in ruins. …