1162 – Abendland (2011)

timespace coordinates: Europe at night (2008 – 2010)

Abendland is a 2011 observational documentary film by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The documentary, which has only scenes at night, explores European obsession with technology and security. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called Abendland a “visually precise and politically amorphous” portrait of an imagined community: “The overall impression is a vision of Europe as a mosaic, as an artful amalgam of perfectly framed, seemingly disconnected moments during a long shared night, give or take a time zone change or two.” (wiki)

ABENDLAND Trailer

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imdb   /   review

870 – Botany: A Blooming History (Documentary | TV Mini-Series 2014)

BBC Botany A Blooming History – A Confusion of Names

BBC Botany A Blooming History – Photosynthesis

BBC Botany: A Blooming History – Hidden World

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0825 – The Forgotten Space (2010)

timespace coordinates: 2000’s Netherlands / United States / Belgium / China / Spain

The Forgotten Space (Allan Sekula & Noël Burch, 2010) follows container cargo aboard ships, barges, trains and trucks, listening to workers, engineers, planners, politicians, and those marginalized by the global transport system. We visit displaced farmers and villagers in Holland and Belgium, underpaid truck drivers in Los Angeles, seafarers aboard mega-ships shuttling between Asia and Europe, and factory workers in China, whose low wages are the fragile key to the whole puzzle. And in Bilbao, we discover the most sophisticated expression of the belief that the maritime economy, and the sea itself, is somehow obsolete.

A range of materials is used: descriptive documentary, interviews, archive stills and footage, clips from old movies. The result is an essayistic, visual documentary about one of the most important processes that affects us today. The Forgotten Space is based on Sekula’s Fish Story, seeking to understand and describe the contemporary maritime world in relation to the complex symbolic legacy of the sea.

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The sea is forgotten until disaster strikes. But perhaps the biggest seagoing disaster is the global supply chain, which – maybe in a more fundamental way than financial speculation – leads the world economy to the abyss. (http://www.theforgottenspace.net/)

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665 – The Botany of Desire (2009 documentary )

The Botany of Desire is a two-hour program broadcast by PBS based on The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World is a 2001 nonfiction book by journalist Michael Pollan. Pollan presents case studies that mirror four types of human desires that are reflected in the way that we selectively grow, breed, and genetically engineer our plants. The tulip, beauty; marijuana, intoxication; the apple, sweetness; and the potato, control.

The stories range from the true story of Johnny Appleseed to Pollan’s first-hand research with sophisticated marijuana hybrids in Amsterdam to the paradigm-shifting possibilities of genetically engineered potatoes. Pollan also discusses the limitations of monoculture agriculture: specifically, the adoption in Ireland of a single breed of potato (the Lumper) made the Irish vulnerable to a fungus to which it had no resistance, resulting in the Irish Potato Famine. The Peruvians from whom the Irish had gotten the potato grew hundreds of varieties, so their exposure to any given pest was slight.

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Michael Pollan on twitter 

0639 – Alatriste (2006)

spacetime coordinates: 17th century Spain / the Netherlands ( Eighty Years’ War)

Alatriste is a 2006 Spanish epic historical fiction war film directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, based on the main character of a series of novels written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, The Adventures of Captain Alatriste (Las aventuras del Capitán Alatriste).

The film, which stars Viggo Mortensen, is the second most expensive Spanish language film ever made in Spain (about €24 million – US$30 million); only preceded by Agora. It portrays Spain of the 17th century using both fictional and real characters. (wiki)

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0633 – Michiel de Ruyter / Admiral (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 1650s – 1670s  Dutch Empire – British Empire

Michiel de Ruyter (Dutch pronunciation: [miˈxil də ˈrœy̯tər]) is a 2015 epic Dutch film about the 17th-century admiral Michiel de Ruyter directed by Roel Reiné. Paintings from the 17th century served as an inspiration for the design. In the beginning of the movie, when Klaartje the family maid pours milk, it is almost an exact replica of the famous painting ‘The Milkmaid’ by Johannes Vermeer.

Prior to its release, several protest groups had accused the film of glorifying the colonial history of the Netherlands. References to colonialism in the film are however almost absent. The film makes a minor reference to the Dutch East India Company, which contributed highly to the welfare in the 17th century in the low countries, and to the trading vessels which were protected by the navy under Michiel de Ruyter. The film’s main subjects — apart from Michiel de Ruyter himself — are the internal politics of the country, including the brutal murder of Johan de Witt and the complicated relationship with England, up to the engagement of the Dutch prince of Orange with Mary II. (wiki)

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539 – The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch (2016 documentary)

The Curious World of Hieronymus Bosch directed by David Bickerstaff features the exhibition ‘Jheronimus Bosch – Visions of Genius’ at Het Noordbrabants Museum in the southern Netherlands, which brought the majority of Bosch’s paintings and drawings together for the first time to his home town of Den Bosch.

https://exhibitiononscreen.com/films/bosch/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6336002/