Movies Similar to Distant Close

Who Loves the Sun(2024)

Delves into the world of makeshift oil refineries and the stark realities of life in war-torn northern Syria,. Mahmood is a prominent figure in these operations, navigating complex working conditions and local dynamics.

Sans Soleil(1983)

A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.

Yirrkala: Conversations with Dundiwuy Wanambi(1995)

Yirrkala is an Aboriginal township on the Gove Peninsula in Northeast Arnhem Land. It was established as a Methodist mission in 1935 and over the years Yolngu from many different clans moved there. Conversations With Dundiwuy Wanambi is a personal film which reveals something of the struggles and thoughts of one elder in the face of enormous change. In the early years Dundiwuy was a heavy drinker. In a disturbing interview in a pub, Dundiwuy explains his reasons for drinking. Then, through a dream, Dundiwuy realizes he must begin to protect his family and clan. He establishes his Marrakulu clan homeland center at Gurka'wuy, south of Yirrkala. He will hold a great ceremony there. Years later Dundiwuy returns to Yirrkala. His clan is small and he did not receive the necessary support from his sons. But Dundiwuy endures, continues his struggle, and we learn in the post-script of how he has become a successful and sought-after artist.

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror(2021)

An exploration of the cinematic history of the folk horror, from its beginnings in the UK in the late sixties; through its proliferation on British television in the seventies and its many manifestations, culturally specific, in other countries; to its resurgence in the last decade.

People of the Seal, Part 1: Eskimo Summer(1971)

The first of two coproductions by the British Broadcasting Corporation and the National Film Board of Canada, People of the Seal, Part 1: Eskimo Summer is compiled from some of the most vivid footage ever filmed of the life of the Netsilik Inuit in the Kugaaruk region (formerly Pelly Bay) of the Canadian Arctic. The original films of the Netsilik series attempted to recreate the traditional lifestyle of Netsilingmiut living there. They show the incredible resourcefulness of the Netsilik (People of the Seal) who have adapted to one of the world's harshest environments. Part 1: Eskimo Summer shows how Inuit families prepare for winter by hunting seal, birds and caribou and by fishing for Arctic Char during the extended hours of daylight.

The Last Nomad(2024)

Greek Sarakatsani community members, a former group of nomadic animal breeders, share personal experiences and discuss the concept of identity in today's world. A tribute to collective memory through an experiential journey that sets out from the past, progresses into the present, and contemplates the future.

Caught(2021)

In this innovative blend of documentary and fiction, Rosa and Paloma, two trans Latina sex workers in Queens, New York, fight transphobic violence, persecution from the police, and defend their cases of trafficking in an increasingly anti-migration political environment in the U.S.

Zombiemania(2008)

The evolution of the zombie from its roots in Haitian voodoo to its coveted role as the world's most popular monster: from being a clumsy corpse to becoming a cannibal killer and the main agent of every infectious pandemic, the zombie has come a long way in seventy years. A look at the rising tide of zombie culture examining why something so dead has so much life in viewers' nightmares and at the box office.

In the Frozen Tomb of Mongolia(2014)

Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti(1993)

This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her years in Haiti (1947-1951); she never edited the footage, so this “finished” version was made by Teiji Ito and Cherel Ito after Deren’s death.

Haunted Jamaica(2014)

Why are there so many ghosts on the island of Jamaica? Why is the island so notoriously haunted by tales of voodoo and dark mystical lore? "Haunted Jamaica" seeks to answer these questions ...

Bamboo Theatre(2019)

This film is a portrait of unique cultural space for Spirits, Gods and People. While permanent theatres are commonly built in most cosmopolitan modern cities, Hong Kong preserves a unique theatrical architecture, a Chinese tradition that has lasted more than a century - Bamboo Theatre.

Stone, fish, river: Itamatatiua(2010)

A film that explores the space of intimacy shared by three people who live under the same roof. Ariana, an eight-year-old foster girl from the city of Sao Luis, Iban, an anthropologist of European origin who intends to make a documentary film, and Doña Eloisa, a native woman from Itamatatiua who works in ceramics. The members of this kind of family in transit find in common a feeling that binds them intimately: the feeling of loss. Ariana, Doña Eloisa and Iban have lived the experience of separation from their mothers. Human fragility will become the truth of their relationship, even more so after Sheyla's death.

Witchcraft '70(1970)

Witness devilish rituals from around the globe. Satanism! Voodoo! Majicks Black and White! Shocking Truths, etc.!

Call Me Miss Cleo(2022)

Follow the rise, fall, and reinvention of controversial and revered '90s television psychic Miss Cleo. Featuring interviews with celebrities and those closest to the self-proclaimed voodoo priestess, this documentary explores the many layers behind a complicated and charismatic figure.

Melodies of the mountains(2006)

Film about the singing and dancing culture of the Ingush people

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin(2018)

The extraordinary life story of science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) who, in spite of remaining for many years on the sidelines of the mainstream literature, managed to be recognized as one of the most remarkable US writers of all time, due to the relevance of her work and her commitment to the human condition.

Sweet Osmanthus Flowering Late(2024)

"Sweet Osmanthus Flowering Late" is a feature-length ethnographic film that envisions social rejuvenation and collective convalescence in the aftermath of the pandemic. Filmed in Wuhan, the film follows the everyday lives of three middle-class households. It postulates the existence of a mass dreaming phenomenon that facilitated fatigued Chinese inhabitants to rejuvenate themselves following the secluded episode of lived experience and to coexist with the enduring imprints of "the event" on their social lives.

Stone and bag(2024)

The film delves into the work processes of an archaeological team from the Aranzadi Science Society at the San Adrián Tunnel site. Interspersing this observation with archival materials, the film explores the relationships between archaeology and museography, as well as the different ways in which these two practices produce the displacement of objects.

Phantasia(2024)

X-ray images were invented in 1895, the same year in which the Lumière brothers presented their respective invention in what today is considered to be the first cinema screening. Thus, both cinema and radiography fall within the scopic regime inaugurated by modernity. The use of X-rays on two sculptures from the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum generates images that reveal certain elements of them that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. These images, despite being generally created for technical or scientific purposes, seem to produce a certain form of 'photogénie': they lend the radiographed objects a new appearance that lies somewhere between the material and the ethereal, endowing them with a vaporous and spectral quality. It is not by chance that physics and phantasmagoria share the term 'spectrum' in their vocabulary.