“Stealing from the ultra-rich is not a sin,” says the infamous thief Vincenzo Pipino who stole gold, art and jewels worth millions and shared his profits with the poor.
Now retired, he confesses all.
Tag Archives: life
The Rise of Jordan Peterson
With incredible exclusive access, The Rise of Jordan Peterson after he took a public stance against trans human rights legislation in Canada in late 2016 rising to meteoric global fame for denouncing political correctness.
Jordan Peterson gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the firestorm sparked by provocative professor and best selling author Filmmaker Patricia Marcoccia follows psychology professor Jordan Peterson as he navigates his way through the biggest controversy of his career. With candid interviews and unparalleled access to Peterson, his family, and to transgender and social justice activists who opposed his views, the documentary provides a fascinating look at this internationally scrutinised dispute.
Sparking both outrage and support, Peterson’s criticisms of Canada’s policies to enforce legal rights for non-binary gender identification were met with protests and calls for his dismissal from his tenured university position, as well as an outpouring of social and financial support for his public commentary on the underlying dangers of cultures becoming too politically correct.
Peterson quickly became a rorschach test for society: he was denounced as transphobic and bigoted by some, and praised as a hero for civil liberties by others. His public lectures, which were critical of social trends to tow the politically correct line, quickly transformed him into a famous public intellectual, internationally best-selling author and an academic rock star who tours sold-out venues around the world.
This film takes an unprecedented look at Jordan Peterson and explores the tension between free speech and hate speech, exploring points-of-view of those on both sides of this heightened debate.
To rent or buy, visit Vimeo, iTunes, Amazon or Google Play.
Unpaved: Respite from the World
In the mist-shrouded mountains of Oregon, a tiny community lives quietly, seeking comfort in nature and one another while struggling with life’s challenges. This hauntingly beautiful farmland, hidden and isolated, is home to horses and dogs, ex-cons and ex-addicts, drummers, dreamers and Bigfoot hunters.
Steve is a kind-hearted landlord who allows his renters to be late with the rent – or not pay rent at all. Amber is the woman Steve can’t stop loving, even when she betrays him. Buzz isolates himself in a tent, nurturing dreams of an expedition with his mule. Ron spent a decade in prison and now dwells in a forest cabin with Gale, whose father is suddenly rushed to hospital. Tom Junior has conquered the meth-addiction that killed his brother and is now patiently cooking food for Tom Senior. The passionate drummer Sky is convinced that Bigfoot hides in the woodlands.
Mikael Lypinski approaches this nonconformist village with curiosity and a deeply felt humanism. Unpaved: Respite from the World weaves the stories and destinies into a moving insight into off-grid America, where people have turned their backs on society to live in sync with nature.
Artificial Immortality
If you were able to create an immortal version of yourself, would you? Until this decade, that question was the stuff of science fiction, but now experts in the fields of artificial intelligence and robotics suggest it will indeed be possible.
This cinematic documentary explores the latest technological advancements in AI, robotics and biotech, and poses the question: what is the essence of the human mind, and can this be replicated? Or even more unsettling, could we one day meet cloned versions of ourselves – clones which are better, smarter, and immortal?
This film explores these questions with visionaries including: Nick Bostrom, author of Superintelligence, Hiroshi Ishiguro, developer of his own uncannily realistic clone Geminoid; Douglas Rushkoff, author of Team Human; Ben Goertzel, founder of Singularity.net who coined the term Artificial General Intelligence; and Deepak Chopra, who is creating his own A.I. mind twin. These visionaries see humanity advancing toward a new age of post-biological life, a world of intelligence without bodies, immortal identity without the limitations of disease, death, and unfulfilled desire. As scientists on the forefront of technology show that a world where humans and machines merge isn’t so far away, we have to ask ourselves will AI be the best, or the last thing we ever do?
Opening film at Hot Docs 2021
¨A fascinating foray deep into the realms of artificial intelligence, machine learning and biotechnology.¨ National Post Chris Knight
¨The movie at once understands both the beauty and enormity of the possibilities.¨ Global News Chris Jancelewicz
Young & Afraid
In 2017 Petter (24) decides to end his life, but at the very last moment, is stopped by the police. His best friend and fellow film student Sverre is determined to help and suggests they make a film to keep Petter busy and focused on getting better. Equipped with a camera, they search the streets of Oslo to find out how other troubled souls deal with their lives.
With a naïve and spontaneous approach, they end up in dramatic and unpredictable situations. They meet Monica, whose past has led her to self-injurious behaviour. Oliver and Cornelia, both escaping their demons with alcohol and drugs, and Emma, who is transsexual, lesbian, and proud of who she is. They also meet Miriam, who becomes Petter’s girlfriend.
By getting to know their destructive patterns, Petter becomes aware of his own. By facing their problems, he sets off on a bumpy therapeutic journey, that eventually brings light into his darkness.
Young & Afraid is an authentic and raw documentary about choosing to live.
Magic Medicine
Can magic mushrooms cure depression?
Over two years we follow the first ever medical trial of psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms) being used to treat a group of volunteers suffering from clinical depression.
This remarkable film follows three volunteers and their families, and the ambitious staff running the trial, who are hoping this controversial treatment will have the power to transform millions of lives.
With deeply moving footage of the ‘trips’ the patients go on, as well as interviews providing scientific and political context, this intimate film is an absorbing portrait of the human cost of depression, and the inspirational people contributing to groundbreaking psychedelic research.
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“Monty Wates’s documentary shows the work of Dr Robin Carhart-Harris at Imperial College London: after years of bureaucratic wrangling, he got permission to conduct research into the possibility that psilosybin – the psychoactive ingredient of magic mushrooms – could be used to treat depression. Is society’s taboo disapproval needlessly holding back our understanding of this issue?
We see three long-time sufferers of depression, sensitively interviewed about their lives… They are given a low, introductory dose of shroom-essence at the first session, and at the second the amount is stepped up. The results are startling”
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Fatal Flaws: Legalising Assisted Death
Should we be giving doctors the right to end the lives of others by euthanasia or assisted suicide?
Fatal Flaws: Legalising Assisted Death is a thought-provoking journey through Europe and North America to find answers to this question.
Some 20 years after these laws were introduced, even some of the most loyal supporters of assisted dying are questioning where these laws are taking us.
The grandfather of euthanasia in the Netherlands, Dr. Boudewijn Chabot speaks of a ‘worrisome culture shift’ and that euthanasia is ‘getting out of hand’ – especially as it relates to patients with psychiatric issues.
The cost of ongoing treatment is putting pressure on an already fraught decision making process, and the many are questioning the motives of those tasked with making the decisions.
Meanwhile, the suicidal can simply ‘shop around’ until they find the decision they are looking for, or more worryingly – others can do the same for those they are tasked with caring for.
With powerful testimonies and expert opinion from both sides of the issue, Fatal Flaws: Legalising Assisted Death uncovers how these highly disputed laws affect society over time.
Dying to Live
Most people are in favour of donating -and receiving- organs, but very few people actually make the provisions necessary to donate leading to unimaginable suffering as those in need wait for years for an organ, with many dying before finding a donor as demand outstrips supply.
Deep beneath the complex world of organ and tissue transplants are the heart-wrenching stories of real people awaiting life-saving organs.
With heartfelt stories, Dying to Live takes us into the worlds of those awaiting and going through organ transplants, and with penetrating insight explores the policy failures that allow this to happen. Finally, Dying to Live offers solutions to a very easily solvable crisis.
A Stone in Our Heart
A Mother and Daughter – Lillian and Jette – are climbing up a mountain in Switzerland. A mountain that brings back a lot of memories.
They hike from cabin to cabin while they dig into a past which Lillian has spent many years trying to suppress: Jette was sexually abused by her stepfather throughout her childhood and youth. A part of the abuse took place in the same cabins that Jette and Lillian are now revisiting.
Jette has invited her mother to go on this trip because she needs to talk about what happened, and especially about Lillian’s role in it all. Jette loves her mother, but at the same time she can’t stand being close to her. Over the years Jette has begun to question whether her mother knew about the abuse or not. Naturally Jette feels a deep frustration. But she has a strong hope that if Lillian admits she knew about the abuse, Jette can find an opportunity to forgive her mother and reestablish a healthy relationship.
The mountain trip puts the two women’s relationship to the test. When Jette gets the conversation started, she doesn’t get the answer that she expected: Lillian denies that she saw or knew anything.
This is the starting point of a physically and emotionally life-changing journey, which forces the two women to face their own inner demons and to embrace the pain and the guilt, but also to have faith. The conversations intensify as the two women move up the mountain.
At one point it seems like this trip might be the last thing they will ever do together.
Timelines
Three girls die before their 21st birthdays. Kayleigh, 19, a victim in a fatal car accident; Amber, 16, bullied into taking her own life; and Jenna, 20, lost a fight with a rare disease. Soon after, their stories go viral and the world is given access to their lives and deaths.
Kayleigh wrote a bucket list that was shared the world over after her death, inspiring thousands of strangers to live her dreams. Amber seemed to have it all, her suicide sent shockwaves through her small town, questions are asked and a portrait of online bullying and torment emerge. Jenna is diagnosed with a disease so rare that doctors didn’t know how to treat it, turning to social media to find support and raise awareness, her campaign ‘Get Me to 21’ makes her a star, and saves lives but sadly not her own.
Timelines is a documentary about three young girls who lived and died on the internet, a story about grief in the digital age and how personas are shaped online. And for the families the question remains, how do you say goodbye, when death goes viral?
Timelines from Sideways Film on Vimeo.
Australia’s Poo Divers
Next time you’re having a shit day at work, spare a thought for Australia’s professional poo divers. They’re tasked with making sure the country’s sewerage processing plants are running well. They suit up and dive down into toxic ponds of excrement to clear obstructions and manage the huge machines that keep things regular.
In the nation’s poop they’ve found teeth, undies, and a lot of corn. The job is hard, they’re submerged in thick sludge, working in the pitch dark, with nothing to guide them other than their instincts. But what sounds like hell to us, they find strangely peaceful. And the smell? To them, it just “smells like money.”
Mr. Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End
We find Mr. Fish, who once had success creating compelling, outrageous editorial cartoons, as his profession is dying out.
Editors who previously backed his controversial work are disappearing as fast as the newspapers which once employed him. Can an outspoken artist raise a family and maintain his unique defiant voice?
This intimate documentary follows the artist as he struggles to stay true to his creativity in a world where biting satiric humour has an ever-diminishing commercial value. Mr Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End examines the compromises a radical artist makes (or refuses to make).
“A stubbornly amiable film about a compulsively provocative talent, “Mr. Fish” ponders the outer limits of editorial cartooning in an age where there’s arguably more fodder for such commentary than ever…
to further offset the queasiness that Mr. Fish’s images often generate, Bryant lends his well-crafted feature a bright, playful, even antic tenor, painting his subject as a lovable eccentric rather than a tortured artist.”
Variety
“The film hit my heart and brain with such velocity that it literally made me sit on the edge of my seat”
Ain’t It Cool News