1981-1990

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Traveling by train from one end of the country to the other, the DEFA documentary team interviewed East German women of different ages and backgrounds. In this masterpiece, they reveal their personal and professional frustrations, hopes and aspirations–and, in doing so, paint a portrait of a changing society. This ground-breaking documentary caused a sensation when it was first shown in the East German city of Leipzig in 1988. Exactly one year later, when the Berlin Wall fell, it was on tour in the USA, sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Later the DEFA Film Library would be housed at the same institution.Read More »

This film is based on a novel by Boris Vasiliev and takes place in a small Russian provincial town in 1940, one year before Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The every day life of class 9B is a larger than life portrait of Stalininism and of unconditional loyalty to party dogma.

At a birthday party a girl, one of the students, recites poetry by a “bourgeois” author. The information leaks out and her liberal father is arrested as a dissident. The daughter is faced by the class teacher and asked to publicly renounce her father which leads to a tragedy. This causes both inner and outer conflicts, the colleagues start to rebel and to question their loyalty, be it to the class teacher or the soviet ideology itself.Read More »

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When the Fog is Swept Away, The Houses and Craftsmen of Old (Eastern Black Sea Region) is documenting rapidly vanishing old houses and craftsmen for the new generations.Read More »

Filmed here for a special episode of The South Bank Show, DV8 Physical Theatre’s production of Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men was inspired by the grisly world of the notorious 80’s serial killer Dennis Nilsen. He was responsible for 16 murders in London. The majority of his victims lived on the edge of society and were visitors at his home.

“I was left with an endless search through the soul-destroying pub scene and its resulting one-night stands …passing faces and bodies, the unfulfilled tokens of an empty life. A house is not a home and sex is not a relationship. We would only lend each other our bodies in a vain search for inner peace.” ~ Dennis Nilsen.Read More »

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This French drama explores the desolation felt by a young girl whose divorced concert pianist mother and businessman father are too self-absorbed to give her any attention. Louise (Sophie Rochut) stoically attempts to carry on, despite the disregard of those around her. Her stoicism is shattered by a few moments of incidental friendliness from a journalist. She runs away to find him, despite not even knowing his name or address. She returns home, unsuccessful, and throws herself in the river. This suicide attempt momentarily brings mother and daughter together, but we are left with little hope that things will really be better in the long run. Writer/director Michele Rosier tells this sad story with a minimum of melodramatics, which makes it even more effective.Read More »

The story unfolds as young Rosaleen lies dreaming in her bed. A violent nightmare transports her back in time to a world of primeval forests and werewolves. In this netherworld she learns that her only sister has been killed by a wolf. Her Granny weaves vivid tales of folklore and fantasy with warnings of fantastic beasts that lurk within men and foretelling the fate of all young girls who stray from the path…Read More »

Five years after glasnost, morals in the Soviet Union have become a little lax. The traditional image of the woman as a strong labour force has “cracked” at the same time as the political structure of the country. Three young Soviet women encounter a French filmmaker who is planning the first erotic film since the October Revolution.Read More »

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The film is a Homeric journey through the history of cinema. Its theme is based on the mythological Odysseus of Homer, the Ulysses of James Joyce, and the synthetic figure, Telemach/Phil, from the 24-hour-long piece «The Warp,» by Neil Oram. Werner Nekes combines these three figures, and he shows their stories within the history of «lighterature,» writing with light = film. His central theme, however, is visual language in of itself: Odysseus/Bloom is transformed into Uli the Photographer, Penelope/Molly into his model, and Telemach/Stephen into Phil, who begins his «Telemachia». The connecting of their three lives occurs during the course of a single day, in September of 1980, in Germany’s industrial Ruhrgebiet region, preceding the elections in the Federal Republic.Read More »

The villagers in a beautiful remote area of Japan are divided into the woodsmen, who worship the mountain goddess, and the fishermen, who worship the goddess of the sea. These traditions are threatened by a planned marine park. Tatsuo is a macho lumberjack who hunts boars and monkeys with the young Ryota. Tatsuo is married with two children, has four elder sisters, and is under pressure to sell the family land to the developers. When the fish pens are deliberately contaminated by oil, the fishermen suspect Tatsuo. Kimiko, an old girlfriend of Tatsuo, returns to the village to find money to pay off her debts. During the annual fire festival, Tatsuo becomes angry when the old traditions are not preserved.Read More »