Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
Some of the earliest documentary films were travelogues that offered experiences of places that viewers might never get to visit for themselves. In Outerborough, the US filmmaker and artist Bill Morrison repurposes and reimagines an early example of the genre – Across the Brooklyn Bridge (1899) – to give ‘modern audiences [a] similarly rarefied view we can no longer experience’. As Morrison notes in describing his work: ‘Not only has the cityscape changed over the past century, but also, no train crosses the bridge anymore, and no vehicle can travel over on its median as that trolley did. The unique central perspective lends itself to abstraction and time travel: the journey from one side of the East River to the other becoming a unit of both time and space…’ Commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York for its 2005 reopening, the short film features a restored version and the original film, side by side. Juxtaposing the two frames and adding a frenetic, original score that yields an even greater sense of momentum, Morrison transforms the footage into something kinetic and enigmatic – an experiment in movement as a way of experiencing history.
Director: Bill Morrison
Composer: Todd Reynolds
video
Wellbeing
Born in China, Zee seeks a gender-affirming life in the American Midwest
11 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
8 minutes
video
Music
The peculiar beauty of a song caught between composition and improvisation
3 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes
video
Politics and government
How it looked to Afghan women to see the Taliban return to power
33 minutes
video
Love and friendship
Love looks a bit different for a chain-smoking couple in a small apartment
11 minutes
video
Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes
video
The ancient world
The six priestesses who kept the flame of ancient Rome alight at risk of death
5 minutes
video
Engineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes