Hans Richter (1888-1976)
Jul
Dreams That Money Can Buy 1947
Is like a whow`s who of international dada and surrealist artist`s like Marcel Duchamp (Writer), Man Ray (Director/Writer), Max Ernst (Director/Writer), Alexander Calder (Director/Writer), Hans Richter (Director/Writer), Fernand Léger (Director/Writer).
This experimental film written won the Award for the Best Original Contribution to the Progress of Cinematography at the 1947 Venice Film Festival.
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Visite à Picasso (1950)
Jun
Visite à Picasso (1950), by Paul Haesaerts
‘Visite à Picasso’ (1950) 20m, dir. Paul Haesaerts A poetic treatment which includes the artist painting on glass while facing the camera, shot at Picasso's home in Vallauris, accompanied by some fairly moody organ music in this very dark, but captivating film. The artist here takes on the character of an eminence-grise, an alchemist engulfed in the "sol y sombra" of his laboratory-studio, filmed in gorgeous black and white.
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Imamura Shōhei (1926-2006)
Jun
The Ροrחοgraphers (1966)
Introduction to AnthropologySυbυ makes pοrnοgraphic films. Ηe sees nοthing wrοng with it. They are an aid tο a repressed sοciety, and he υses the mοney tο sυppοrt his landlady, Ηarυ, and her family. Ϝrοm time tο time, Ηaru shares her bed with Sυbυ, thουgh she belieνes her dead hυsband, reincarnated as a carp, disapprονes. Directοr Shοhei Ιmamυra has always delighted in the kinky explοits οf lοwlifes, and in this 1966 classic, he finds sυbνersiνe hυmοr in the bizarre dynamics οf Ηaru, her Οedipal sοn, and her daυghter, the trυe οbϳect οf her pοrnοgrapher-bοyfriend’s οbsessiοn. Ιmamυra's cοmic treatment οf sυch tabοοs as νοyeυrism aחd incest sparked cοntrονersy when the film was released, bυt The Ροrnοgraphers has ουtlasted its critics, and nοw seems frankly ahead οf its time.
I am interested in the relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure on which the reality of daily Japanese life obstinately supports itself.
The Japanese did not change as a result of the Pacific War—they haven't changed in thousands of years!
—Shohei Imamura
Françoise Sagan
Jun
Encore un Hiver (1979)
This wonderful film focuses on an older woman waiting on a park bench on a cold winter day for a lover who returns every year. Directed by Françoise Sagan, author of Bonjour Tristesse.
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Carson "Kit" Davidson
Jun
Help, My Snowman's Burning Down (1964)
Fourteen international awards, including an Academy Award, Nomination and the Special Prize of the Jury, Cannes Intl Festival. Presents a surrealistic and humorous satire on the Madison Avenue image of the world through advertis
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Lutz Dammbeck, Das Netz
Mai
"The Net" (Das Netz, 2003), an independent film directed by Lutz Dammbeck
EMAF Award 2004
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Buster Keaton (1895-1966)
Mai
Samuel Beckett's Film
Samuel Beckett’s only venture into the medium of cinema.
A twenty-minute, almost totally silent film in which Buster Keaton attempts to evade observation by an all-seeing eye.
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Samuel Beckett’s only venture into the medium of cinema.
A twenty-minute, almost totally silent film in which Buster Keaton attempts to evade observation by an all-seeing eye.
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F.W. Murnau (1888-1932)
Apr
Faust 1926
F.W. Murnau's telling of the classic German legend, 'Faust' is a masterpiece to behold. From both the technical and story standpoint, the film excels and despite being nearly eighty years old, Faust still stands tall as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. F.W. Murnau has become best known among film fans for 'Nosferatu', but this is unfair to the man. While Nosferatu is something of an achievement; it pales in comparison to this film in every respect. Faust is far more extravagant than Murnau's vampire tale, and it shows his technical brilliance much more effectively. The story is of particular note, and it follows a German alchemist by the name of Faust. As God and Satan war over Earth, the Devil preaches that he will be able to tempt Faust into darkness and so has a wager with God to settle things. Satan sends Mephisto to Earth to offer Faust an end to the plague that is making it's way through the local population, and eternal youth, in return for Faust's soul...
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Jan Švankmajer
Feb
Food (1992)
Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934 in Prague) is a Czech surrealist artist. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay and many others.
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Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934 in Prague) is a Czech surrealist artist. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay and many others.
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František Vláčil (1924-1999)
Feb
The White Dove (Holubice) 1960 (76 min.)
Kamera: Jan Čuřík
The White Dove (Holubice) is an acclaimed Czech drama from director František Vláčil follows a bird struggling to complete its homeward migration across Europe and the effect that caring for the dove has on an artist, an ailing boy, and a young girl.
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Satyajit Ray (1921-1992)
Feb
Distant Thunder
"Distant Thunder" has all sorts of connections with Ray's great Apu Trilogy—its village setting, its leading actor, Soumitra Chatterji, who played the title role in "The World of Apu," and its source material. The new film, like the Apu Trilogy, is based on a novel by Bibhuti Bhusan Bannerji. It is, however, very different from those early films.
It is the work of a director who has learned the value of narrative economy to such an extent that "Distant Thunder," which is set against the backdrop of the "manmade" famine that wiped out 5 million people in 1943, has the simplicity of a fable.
Though its field of vision is narrow, more or less confined to the social awakening of a young village Brahmin and his pretty, naive wife, the sweep of the film is so vast that, at the end, you feel as if you'd witnessed the events from a satellite. You've somehow been able to see simultaneously the curvature of the earth and the insects on the blades of field grass.
"Distant Thunder" is about Gangacharan (Mr. Chatterji), the only Brahmin in his village, a solemn and rather pompous young man who accepts the responsibilities as well as the privileges of caste. As teacher, physician and priest he looks forward to the material rewards due him. When Ananga, his wife, asks him if he really can ward off cholera through spells, for which neighboring villagers will pay him handsomely, he replies that, in addition to the spells, he will pass on to the villagers the practical information from his hygiene encyclopedia.
As the war-induced rice shortage becomes increasingly acute, the tranquillity of the village is destroyed. Life-long trusts are betrayed. Civil order falls apart. At the same time, the famine prompts some remarkable instances of love and compassion. The self-assured Gangacharan, who wears black-rim spectacles and carries a black umbrella, is at first angry when his wife proposes that she go to work to earn rice for them. Then he says quietly: "If we have to humble ourselves, it's best we do it together."
As the scramble to survive humiliates some of Ray's characters, it ennobles others, including Gangacharan who, towards the end, has begun to question the social system that he has always accepted as given and right. In the context of the film, this is a revolutionary conversion, and a most moving one.
Ray has chosen to photograph the film in rich, warm colors, the effect of which is not to soften the focus of the film but to sharpen it. The course of terrible events seems that much more vivid in landscapes of relentless beauty.
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David Cronenberg
Jan
From the Drain (1967)
The film is centered on two men in a bathtub; it is implied that they are veterans of some past conflict but revealed that they are currently in a mental institution. The first man is paranoid about the drain of the tub, the second indifferent to it. After the conversation between the two men progresses, a vine-like tendril emerges from the drain to strangle the first man. The second shows no emotion to this sudden turn of events and the film ends.
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Margueritte Duras (1914-1996)
Jan
Les Mains Négatives 1978
Les Mains Négatives shows the travellings across the streets of Paris at daybreak of a voice speaking of love. This declaration is sent out to the ones who have been left behind. It speaks to immigrant workers, the homeless, the clandestine population in a Paris still asleep with its historical buildings and monuments as a backdrop for a love declaration outside of real time.
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Gigi Gaston
Dez
Je Suis Perdue
a film by Jean-Luc Goddard
Josh Gosfield Presents Gigi Gaston: The Black Flower Josh Gosfield has assembled the definitive archive devoted to the 1960s French pop star Gigi Gaston, consisting of record art, snapshots, magazines covers, songs and films detailing the rise and fall of this controversial and elusive chanteuse. The reason for Gigi's elusiveness: She never existed! Gosfield, a prodigiously talented painter, photographer, illustrator and videographer, created an entire audiovisual history of the singer who puts the "no-no" in yé-yé! Source: Gaylord on wfmu.
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a film by Jean-Luc Goddard
Josh Gosfield Presents Gigi Gaston: The Black Flower Josh Gosfield has assembled the definitive archive devoted to the 1960s French pop star Gigi Gaston, consisting of record art, snapshots, magazines covers, songs and films detailing the rise and fall of this controversial and elusive chanteuse. The reason for Gigi's elusiveness: She never existed! Gosfield, a prodigiously talented painter, photographer, illustrator and videographer, created an entire audiovisual history of the singer who puts the "no-no" in yé-yé! Source: Gaylord on wfmu.
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Dinner With Henry (1979)
Dez
Dinner With Henry (1979)
Director: Richard Young
Cosmodemonic Telegraph Company: A Henry Miller Blog
It's a classic question: Name a famous person, living or dead, you'd like to have dinner with. I imagine that a number of readers of this blog would say 'Henry Miller.' Indeed, he had a reputation for holding court at the dinner table, regaling his fellow eaters with opinions and reminiscences.
Dinner With Henry is a rare, 30-minute documentary about Henry Miller. It is exactly what the title implies: footage of Henry having dinner. With him at the table is the film crew, and actress/model Brenda Venus, to whom Henry was enamoured in the final years of life. Henry - at age 87 - spends the majority of his time speaking on a number of subjects, the most persistent of which is Blaise Cendrars. Occasionally, he complains about the food. That is all. It may not be of much interest to a general audience, but is a curious "slice of life" for any Miller fan who likes to imagine being at the table with him.
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Ludmila Terni
Dez
Short film done by Ludmila Terni.
Music done by Luiz Henrique Bozzo.
There are two movie`s from Ludmila Terni i really adore.
The first movie seems to be a reminiscence on the novel, Histoire de l'oeil (Story of the Eye), 1928, by George Bataille. Somebody called this book the chamber music of pornographie. The visualls oscillate between surrealismus and neorealismus. There is a woman and a man, a boy and a girl. They are in a bathroom at defferent times. And there is an eye... . could be seen to much.
The second called Angela and shows an erotic cage of adolescene, with loads of symbols arised from paintings of Balthus.
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Music done by Luiz Henrique Bozzo.
There are two movie`s from Ludmila Terni i really adore.
The first movie seems to be a reminiscence on the novel, Histoire de l'oeil (Story of the Eye), 1928, by George Bataille. Somebody called this book the chamber music of pornographie. The visualls oscillate between surrealismus and neorealismus. There is a woman and a man, a boy and a girl. They are in a bathroom at defferent times. And there is an eye... . could be seen to much.
The second called Angela and shows an erotic cage of adolescene, with loads of symbols arised from paintings of Balthus.
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Frank Reitenspieß (b.1962)
Nov
The Murder (1987)
Musik for this piece made by Harald Blüchel, formerly known as Cosmic Baby
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The Shooter
Okt
Philosophy through celluloid. An old oriental proverb "To will is human … To succeed is divine" is instilled into the mind of an Ex-Soviet Spy. As a drop off leads to a life and death encounter, he is lead to the realization that control is simply an illusion and that destiny is beyond our control.
Director: Michael L. Suan
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Director: Michael L. Suan
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Empty House
Okt
'Empty House' is an experimental documentary that focuses on the residue of memories trapped in physical objects and the rooms in which we live.
Director: Sean Christensen
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Director: Sean Christensen
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Ghosts of the Civil Dead (1988)
Okt
is the story of a modem Maximum Security Prison. It has been extensively researched and is firmly based on actual events that have occurred in prisons in America and Australia in recent years.
Directed by John Hillcoat
Written by Gene Conkie, Nick Cave, John Hillcoat, Hugo Race, Evan English
Cast: David Field, Make Bishop, Chris DeRose, Kevin Mackey, Dave Mason, Nick Cave
Sound: Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey
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"I was 16 when they put me in prison. Emotionally I'm still 16. Prison is the only world I've ever known. All my dreams are dreams of violence."
Directed by John Hillcoat
Written by Gene Conkie, Nick Cave, John Hillcoat, Hugo Race, Evan English
Cast: David Field, Make Bishop, Chris DeRose, Kevin Mackey, Dave Mason, Nick Cave
Sound: Nick Cave, Blixa Bargeld, Mick Harvey
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William Eggleston
Okt
Stranded in Canton
In 1973, photographer William Eggleston picked up a Sony PortaPak and took to documenting the soul of Memphis and New Orleans.
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Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
Okt
A classic silent film dedicated to Berlin shot in 1927 by Walter Ruttmann.
(Berlin: die Sinfonie der Großstadt, 1927, 50 mins, B&W, silent)
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(Berlin: die Sinfonie der Großstadt, 1927, 50 mins, B&W, silent)
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"The Dream" (1990)
Okt
is a monologue concerning a utopian vision of heaven on earth and was adapted by Murray Watts from "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man", by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The story is about a man who dreams he has been transported to an unspoiled Garden of Eden where he finds solutions to the world's problems. Irons noted that he was taken with the role because "what that man goes through is momentous, as momentous as anything any of us could ever go through."
Director: Norman Stone
Staring: Jeremy Irons
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The story is about a man who dreams he has been transported to an unspoiled Garden of Eden where he finds solutions to the world's problems. Irons noted that he was taken with the role because "what that man goes through is momentous, as momentous as anything any of us could ever go through."
Director: Norman Stone
Staring: Jeremy Irons
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Robert Bresson
Okt
Une femme douce
Robert Bresson's Une femme douce is a spare, elegant and poignant story of isolation, miscommunication, and emotional cruelty. An early transaction between the two characters foreshadows the tragedy of the film.
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Kenneth Anger
Okt
Scorpio Rising (1963), Lucifer Rising (1970), Inauguration Of The Pleasure Dome (1966)
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Christopher Walken
Sep
Weapon of Choice (2001)
Christopher Walken performs a swing-from-the-rafters solo in an empty hotel lobby...
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Mary Ellen Bute (1906-1983)
Sep
was a pioneer film animator who did much of her work in visual music. She was one of the first female experimental filmmakers in the U.S. From 1934 until 1953, she made 14 short, musical abstract films, working in New York. Many of these were seen in regular U.S. movie theaters, such as Radio City Music Hall, often before a prestigious film. Several of her films were also called "Seeing Sound" films
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"1895" by Priit Pärn
Sep
The amazing true story of the invention of cinema, and the subsequent delay of all other inventions. Estonian animator Priit Pärn made this film in 1995, the 100th birthday of the cinematographe.
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Intolerance
Sep
Director D.W. Griffith's expensive, most ambitious silent film masterpiece Intolerance (1916) is one of the milestones and landmarks in cinematic history.
Many reviewers and film historians consider it the greatest film of the silent era.
The mammoth film was also subtitled: "A Sun-Play of the Ages" and "Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages." Griffith was inspired to make this film after watching the revolutionary Italian silent film epic Cabiria (1914) by director Giovanni Pastrone.
Intolerance was a colossal undertaking filled with monumental sets, lavish period costumes, and more than 3,000 extras.
The film consisted of four distinct but parallel stories that demonstrated mankind's intolerance during four different ages in world history.
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The Palm Tree Song Line
Sep
Once again a nice clip from Dagie Brundert:
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"I walk through Los Angeles. I see palm trees everywhere, those long tall skinny ones, I love them. And I start to sing".
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Fritz Lang (1890-1976)
Aug
Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931)
A masterpiece with a great performance by Peter Lorre.
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Freaks
Aug
Directed by Tod Browning (1882-1962)
Written by Willis Goldbeck & Leon Gordon based on the story “Spurs” by Tod Robbins
Starring Wallace Ford (Phroso the Clown), Leila Hyams (Venus), Olga Baclanova (Cleopatra), Henry Victor (Hercules), Harry Earles (Hans)
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Written by Willis Goldbeck & Leon Gordon based on the story “Spurs” by Tod Robbins
Starring Wallace Ford (Phroso the Clown), Leila Hyams (Venus), Olga Baclanova (Cleopatra), Henry Victor (Hercules), Harry Earles (Hans)
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Gilbert & George
Aug
No Surrender, 8th May 2007
"All the hidden remarks - 'the curiously besuited couple', 'the tedious twosome' - that's all coded language for 'I'd prefer not to have two poofs exhibiting in this gallery'," Gilbert and George declare over tea with Alan Yentob in their favourite East End café.
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Coil
Aug
Horseplay
Jul
Horseplay
Is a short 16mm documentary about the New Zealand painter Philip Trusttum. The film presents a brief snap-shot of the artist and his surroundings at his farm in Waimate. The approach of the documentary makes no attempt to disguise the role of the filmmaker. In this way it pays homage to the Direct Cinema tradition. The film uses hand-held camera, voyeuristic shots and off-camera audio. The film was made in 1990 by: Peter Bannan; Vivienne Stone; Peter Evans; Robert Sarkies; Michael Brown; Simon Perkins; Philip Trusttum; Lee Trusttum; Peter Leech; James Wallace.
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Under Construction
Jul
Animation meets politics
or Andrej Tarkowski meets Gameboy
what ever,- a story about an asian megacity where the people have to move away from there houses.
a kind of short docudrama where the high artificial animation asthetics seems to be overdone and to easy for this kind of problematic.
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A Little Death by Simon Perkins and Paul Swadel
Jul
A Little Death
is a 16mm short film drama jointly created by Simon Perkins and Paul Swadel (and crew), produced by James Wallace Productions. The film explores spatial problems through character and camera choreography. The film has been shown extensively throughout Aotearoa/New Zealand as well being screened at the Hamburg Short Film Festival. The film was an evolution of the 'Into The Void' project.
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Johnny Cash
Jul
Five Minutes To Live (1961)
Johnny Cash gives a surprising performance as a guitar playing, sadistic psycho-killer. Six year old Ron Howard is absolutely adorable and practically steals the whole show.
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George Landow
Jul
Film In Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc (1965-66)
The 'imperfections' of filmmaking, which are normally suppressed, are at the core of a work that uses a brief loop made from a Kodak colour test.
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Edie Sedgwick
Jun
Ciao Manhattan
(1972)
Filmed Easter Sunday 1967 - 1970 Directors: David Weisman, John Palmer Cast includes: Edie Sedgwick, Isabel Jewell, Paul America, Baby Jane Holzer, Viva, Jean Margouleff, Pat Hartley, Brigid Berlin
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(1972)
Filmed Easter Sunday 1967 - 1970 Directors: David Weisman, John Palmer Cast includes: Edie Sedgwick, Isabel Jewell, Paul America, Baby Jane Holzer, Viva, Jean Margouleff, Pat Hartley, Brigid Berlin
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