Get curated editors’ picks, peeks behind the scenes, film recommendations and more.
Lift is a documentary with an unusually simple premise: what happens when a filmmaker sets up a camera in an average London tower block lift? The results are engrossing: as the project progresses, residents begin to confide in the filmmaker in remarkably personal and often amusing ways. With humour and candour, this film by the UK director Marc Isaacs touches on questions of trust, the way the camera can transform a situation, and the usually hidden lives of everyday people.
Director: Marc Isaacs
Producer: Belinda Giles
video
Family life
A mother and child bond in an unusual prison visitation space in this poignant portrait
11 minutes
video
Economics
A tour of New York’s gaudiest neighbourhood with the Marxist geographer David Harvey
13 minutes
video
Personality
A ‘little thief’ turned career criminal recounts a life on the wrong side of the law
5 minutes
video
Social psychology
What happened when a crypto scam swept over a sleepy town in the Caucasus
18 minutes
video
Human rights and justice
Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home
10 minutes
video
Consciousness and altered states
‘I want me back’ – after a head injury, Nick struggles with his altered reality
7 minutes
video
Love and friendship
Never marry a man you love too much, and other views on romance in Sierra Leone
5 minutes
video
Virtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes
video
History of technology
Curious singles and tech sceptics – what ‘computer dating’ looked like in 1966
6 minutes