OVID's Collections
We try and make some sense for you of OVID's bountiful selection of films. And we keep thinking of new themes or subjects or combinations that go together, so check back!
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John Berger (three films)
3 items
Three very different documentaries feature British art critic and poet, John Berger (1926-2017). Working on an astonishing range of topics and art-forms, his groundbreaking insights on seeing shaped the public for decades.
Realized as a portrait in works and collaborations, JOHN BERGER OR THE AR...
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Signs & Signifiers: Archives, Culture, Lies & Television
41 items
While you probably haven’t thought about Ferdinand de Saussure or Roland Barthes since college, trust us, we over here at OVID make semiotics interesting! This collection of docs takes an ingenious approach to archival material, unpacking fascistic and right-wing ideologies that lurk behind propa...
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Painters (a collection)
30 items
What makes someone an artist? What drives them to express themselves through painting and the visual arts? This collection of films about painters explores these questions and the creativity behind making art. Whether it's Pablo Picasso, Niki de Saint Phalle or an unknown artist, we see the inspi...
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Spooky Season
37 items
OVID's eclectic Halloween collection has something for everyone, whether werewolves (Good Manners), serial killers (Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart), high school bullies and sinister doppelgangers (Alena), demons (Demons), cannibal sorcery (Dachra), or supernatural ghost stories (Bedevil) are yo...
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Detroit
10 items
From Detroit's days as the center of the automobile industry with a thriving Black middle class to today's post-industrial life, these films focus on the challenges facing residents. Whether fighting for equal pay, access to clean water, or a better life for their constituents, these films show h...
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Lebanon
13 items
Here are films centering Lebanon, including We Loved Each Other So Much, a documentary that explores the enduring admiration in Beirut for the legendary Lebanese singer Fairuz, particularly during the 15-year civil war. We're also highlighting Skies of Lebanon with Alba Rohrwacher and Wajdi Mouaw...
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The Allure of the Overflowing Record Shop
3 items
Record stores often play an outsized role in peoples' lives and shaping their taste in music. These documentaries show the influence specific record stores have had on artists, their surrounding communities and how they stir up memories of bygone times.
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Feline Friends
12 items
Famously the only animal to domesticate itself, these documentary and animated films explore feline companionship. From Chris Marker's beloved cat Guillaume-en-Egypte being serenaded by music, to feral cats and their community of carers in present day Chicago, these films each convey Marker's tri...
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The Big Apple
34 items
From the fight for gay rights to basement recording studios, to people making their home in dark subway tunnels and the energy of Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the '80s, these films transport the viewer to a different time in New York City's history. There might have been graffiti covering the subway...
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Women Working
30 items
“I was determined to do what I was going to do at any cost. I kept plugging away. Whatever I had to do, I did it.” —Madeline Anderson
From the first half-hour documentary directed by an African American, unionized, female director, I AM SOMEBODY, to precarious gig workers living hand-to-mouth ... -
Acting Actresses
9 items
With one exception all the films in this section feature great actresses PLAYING actresses. They explore the fraught realities of performance, where ambition, desire and artistry collide.
Featuring a remarkable performance from Tyne Daly, A Bread Factory centers on a local theater company caugh...
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Narrow Margin Selects
13 items
We invited the team at Narrow Margin to curate their own selection of films from OVID’s vast collection, and they found gems even we forgot we had!
Narrow Margin’s quarterly print and digital magazine was founded by a small international collective of cinephile critics exploring obscure corners... -
Japanese Mob Films
8 items
These visually stylish Yakuza classics by gangster film masters on the dealings of Japanese organized crime syndicates blend conventions of neo-noir thrillers with edge of your seat action hero films. The modern yakuza are depicted not as honorable heirs to the samurai code, but as ruthless (and ...
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Animal Kingdom
32 items
Animal Kingdom is a collection of films about animals and people's often complicated relationships with them. Ranging from beloved service dogs (BUDDY and TO BE OF SERVICE) to the lives of farm animals (BESTIAIRE and OUR DAILY BREAD), these films show many facets of how people and animals interac...
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From the Middle East & North Africa
66 items
A mix of narrative and documentary, this collection of films from the Middle East and North Africa runs the gamut from love stories like Empire M and A Tale of Love and Desire, to hard-hitting political documentaries with Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said.
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The Fifth Estate
28 items
This is a collection of films about the newspaper industry, intrepid reporters, photojournalists and the important work that they do. Ranging from a profile of photographer Gerda Taro, who lost her life covering the Spanish Civil War, to films dealing with the role of mass media and journalism in...
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Architecture & Design (collection)
43 items
From chairs mass-produced to hand-crafted, architects and architecture, buildings made of mud to high-rises, landscapes, cities and city planning, OVID offers a wide-ranging collection of over thirty films exploring our built environments, and how to live in them.
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Berlin
11 items
Travel to Berlin, Germany with this collection of both modern day and historical films. Experience today's club culture with THE NIGHTMARE or the fall of the Berlin Wall with Chris Marker's BERLINER BALLADE and Tilda Swinton in THE INVISIBLE FRAME. World War II is also represented with dramas lik...