New Addition to the RAFF Schedule.

This documentary by photographer Grant Hamilton explores the lifespan of Polaroid photography. Beginning as a eulogy to Polaroid instant film and cameras, the documentary shows Polaroid enthusiasts and former employees of the Polaroid corporation sharing their personal and often emotional connections to the renowned company’s beloved products. Although it was announced in 2008 that the company would cease production of all instant film, affecting Polaroid aficionados around the world, a small team of determined people has tried to keep it alive.

Grant Hamilton studied industrial design at the University of Illinois, and he was drawn to filmmaking through his passion for instant photography. As a photographer, his work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe. TIME ZERO: The Last Year of Polaroid Film is Hamilton’s first feature-length film.

Courtesy MTS Productions LLC

This beautiful exploration of art and life is the first documentary by New York–based artist Mickalene Thomas—a portrait of Thomas’ mother (and muse), Sandra Bush. The subject of several paintings and photographs by the artist, Sandra Bush shares her memories, desires and history, including the lead-up to her involvement in her daughter’s artwork.

Mickalene Thomas holds an MFA in painting from Yale University. Her work is exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, and can be found in several significant collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Courtesy Di San Luca Films

A glimpse into the life and work of internationally acclaimed artist Mickalene Thomas, this short film is one in a series of seven that celebrate creative individuals and their early inspirations in New York City. Thomas explains her affinity for her work’s signature “’70s aesthetic” and how the women in her life have influenced her artwork.

Chiara Clemente made her first feature documentary in 2009, entitled Our City Dreams. Some of her recent endeavours include directing for Saatchi & Saatchi, T Magazine (the New York Times) and an online documentary series called MADE HERE: Performing Artists on Work and Life in New York City.

© TATE

TateShotsis an ongoing series of short films about art and artists related to Tate’s collections, exhibitions and events. This selection includes “Yayoi Kusama’s Obliteration Room,” about an interactive project originally conceived for children involving the transformation of a room through thousands of coloured stickers; “Michael Craig-Martin: Educating Damien Hirst,” which looks at artist and educator Michael Craig-Martin as he reflects on the work of one of his most famous students; “Alex Katz,” which involves a visit to the New York–based painter’s studio; and “William Klein: Stories and Chance,” in which the photographer discusses his revolutionary New York street photography from the 1950s.

Tate Media is a team of people who produce weekly TateShots, exhibition films and other films for Tate’s channel. In collaboration with freelancers and in-house staff, Tate Media creates high-quality arts content for online, broadcast and interactive programs.

© TATE

“The Gallery of Lost Art” is an online exhibition of essays, photos and film footage that looks at artworks that either no longer exist, or are ephemeral in nature. Either destroyed, stolen, discarded or temporary, several significant artworks from the last century can no longer be seen. This selection of six short films from the exhibition tells the stories behind such artworks—by Joseph Beuys, Daniel Buren, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, Eva Hesse, Diego Rivera and Jean Tinguely.

Susan Doyon works as a producer for the Tate galleries in the UK, making films for online distribution. She has produced and directed documentaries for several UK broadcasters and interviewed various internationally acclaimed artists, most recently Christo, Tacita Dean, Gabriel Orozco and Antony Gormley.

This film presents the fascinating life and work of the late Mark Lombardi, an artist who translated information surrounding complex contemporary power structures into intricate, map-like drawings. Lombardi created works from an enormous archive of collected information that revealed disturbing facts about various economic and political affairs, conspiracies and crimes. His work entitled BCCI-ICIC & FAB, 1972-91 was examined by the FBI at the Whitney Museum in New York following the attacks of 9/11, as it relayed information about the US banking system’s connection to global terror networks.

Mareike Wegener was born in Borken, Germany, and attended the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Wegener has been working as a freelance writer, director and editor of documentaries since 2008.

Tea is a poetic documentation of Mexican artist Mario Garcia Torres’ journey to the legendary One Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan—run by Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti in the 1970s. During Torres’ journey, he examines the relationship between himself and Boetti, seeing their roles switching between guest and host as he arrives at the hotel long after Boetti has left. Notions of time and location become blurred as Torres ponders the distance between Mexico and Afghanistan, and the idea of returning to a place while also visiting it for the first time.

Mario Garcia Torres is an artist based in Mexico City. His work has been shown internationally, including at Tate Modern in London, Jeu de Paume in Paris and Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico. His most recent group exhibitions were the 52nd Venice Biennale and Documenta 13.

In tandem with his project “Broken Manual,” for which he created a manual about how to disappear in America, internationally acclaimed photographer Alec Soth goes in search of a fantasy refuge, travelling across America with his large-format camera to discover the lives of men who have retreated from mainstream society. Soth fantasizes about the idea of escape as he encounters the realities of several recluses living in various places, including cabins, caves and the desert . His challenge then becomes turning his experiences into photographs, many of them of the men themselves. Begun during the last months of George W. Bush’s presidency, Soth’s project has a haunting air, suggesting the decline of the American empire.

Laure Flammarion is a 27-year-old director from France. Her first documentary, In the Corner (2008), is a portrait of the Canadian musician and entertainer Gonzales. Flammarion is currently working on several new film projects and international artistic collaborations.

Arnaud Uyttenhove was born in Belgium and studied cinema in France. After his studies, he worked as an art director for various production companies. Somewhere to Disappear is Uyttenhove’s first film.

Project for a Masquerade (Hiroshima) (still) 2010 Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York

Emerging from Simon Starling’s ongoing interest in British sculptor Henry Moore, this film proposes a performance combining the 16th-century Japanese Noh play Eboshi-ori, about a noble boy named Ushiwaka who tries to move on from his past by disguising himself, with the Cold War saga surrounding Moore’s 1965 sculpture Nuclear Energy. As the details of the play unfold, an Osakan mask maker crafts a mask to represent each new cast member taking on a role from the original story.

Simon Starling is an English artist living in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was the recipient of the prestigious Turner Prize in 2005. Starling’s work is widely exhibited, and can be found in many permanent collections worldwide. He is a professor of fine art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany.

Black Drop (still) 2012 Courtesy the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York

Black Drop explores the connection between the history of cinema and various scientific observations of the transit of Venus over the last few centuries. Played out from the perspective of an editor in a 35-mm editing suite, the film presents a complex collage of information about various figures and instruments related to past observations, interspersed with celluloid-film footage of the June 2012 transit of Venus (captured by Starling and a small film crew at sites of previous observations).

Simon Starling is an English artist living in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was the recipient of the prestigious Turner Prize in 2005. Starling’s work is widely exhibited, and can be found in many permanent collections worldwide. He is a professor of fine art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany.