Book Summary:
Tracing the work of Luis Bunuel, Jacques Prevert, Nelly Kaplan, Walerian Borowcyzk, Jan vankmajer, Raul Ruiz and Alejandro Jodorowsky, this book charts the history of surrealist filmmaking in both Europe and Hollywood from the 1920s to the present day. At once a critical introduction and a provocative re-evaluation, “Surrealism and Cinema” is essential reading for anyone interested in surrealist ideas and art and the history of film. Read More »
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran’s 1953 CIA-backed coup d’état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship. (IMDb)
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WOMEN WITHOUT MEN, an adaptation of Shahrnush Parsipur’s magic realist novel, is acclaimed Iranian artist, Shirin Neshat’s, first feature length film.
It is an incisive and sumptuously filmed reflection on the pivotal moment in history that directly led to the Islamic revolution and the Iran we know today.
The story chronicles the intertwining lives of four Iranian women during the summer of 1953; a cataclysmic moment in Iranian history when an American led, British backed coup d’état brought down the democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mossadegh, and reinstalled the Shah to power.
Over the course of several days four disparate women from Iranian society are brought together against the backdrop of political and social turmoil. Fakhri, a middle aged woman trapped in a loveless marriage must contend with her feelings for an old flame who has just returned from America and walked back into her life. Zarin, a young prostitute, tries to escape the devastating realization that she can no longer see the faces of men. Munis, a politically awakened young woman, must resist the seclusion imposed on her by her religiously traditional brother, while her friend Faezeh remains oblivious to the turmoil in the streets and longs only to marry Munis’ domineering brother.
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A small village located on the shores of the White Sea, 2008. In Northern Russia.
While winter has shrouded everything in the glacial night of the North, a few hours of light per day seep in on the eve of Easter in the village of Soumskiy Pozad, around a thousand kilometers to the north of Saint-Petersburg, in the province of Karelia. Connected to the rest of the country by a vague muddy road and a piece of railroad, the village experiences a suspended and mysterious time. The film is about the Russia of unending forests and potato fields. A few robust and intransigent people live peacefully, in no hurry by pressing needs. Two small girls have just been adopted by a family. The woman is sweet and soft-spoken, whereas the man is hot-tempered. It is Chekov’s Russia: still happy, yet torn apart, and cold.
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What you first need to understand before watching Jess Franco’s Paula-Paula is that it’s not a normal movie. There’s not script, there’s a beginning and ending, but something else in between. It’s actually what the title say it is, an audiovisual experience that could belong in an art gallery. I’ve seen stuff like this at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm, but this might be a little bit more sleazy…
It begins with the arrest of a young woman, Paula, who claims she’s been working at a sex club since she was five, first with her dad, and later together with another woman named Paula – and now she killed her. The police, played by a butch Lina Romay, is skeptical about it, and seem to almost let her go. No one cares about her, another crazy woman… There’s a cut to the interaction between Paula and Paula, in something that seem to be the first Paula’s apartment. They dance, there’s long psychedelic mirror-effects, slow-motion and an amazing jazz score by Friedrich Gulda (given to Franco by the children of Gulda, the composer himself is dead) and slowly it leads to the expected ending…Read More »
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A chronicle of the life of a middle-class French girl’s sexual adventures, her then fall into prostitution, and her ultimate redemption
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Val is an attractive, well educated and well off 28 year old. Whats more shes very sexually liberated and constantly on the hunt for new encounters to satisfy her endless sexual curiosity and desire. She sleeps with whoever she wants, whenever she wants to, ending up making sex into a lifestyle; a lifestyle that leads her to find both love and a career in prostitution. In both she experiences the extreme.Read More »
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Slavoj Zizek is that rarity, an internationally famous philosopher, and one who has built a career out of telling his audience things they probably don’t want to hear. Embracing a world view that blends Marxism with the teachings of Jacques Lacan, Zizek’s work obsesses on how capitalism affects the way we think and function in our society, and how this is reflected in everything from pop psychology to plumbing. Zizek’s writings have won him a sizable following in the United States, and he’s been described as an “academic rock star” in Europe, where his lectures frequently attract sell-out crowds.Read More »
No story.. just a promenade with Isabelle in a park… Read More »
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Udedh Bun (English title: Unravel) is award winning short Bhojpuri film released in 2008 directed by Siddharth Sinha. The 21-minute diploma film by Siddharth Sinha, an Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune graduate, was selected for world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, [1], where it won the Silver Bear for Best Short Film at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival, first ever such award in the history of Bhojpuri cinema [2][3]. Later it won the National Film Award for Best Short fiction Film.[4][5].Read More »
Synopsis: (Amazon.com)
The aim of this book is to examine the multifarious placements of the pop song in contemporary cinema through a series of short essays from a variety of perspectives-each looking at the use of ONE pop song in a particular movie. These writings offer the opportunity for in-depth discussion of a cinematic moment(s), rationalising function, condition, method, theory, and practice -by academics, authors & professionals from relevant disciplines. All approaches to deconstructing the relationship of pop song to film- psychological, political, semiotic, theological, post-modern and post-mortem etc., are invited, with an extraordinary collection of interpretations expected. Given that the pop song is no longer the exception but the norm within much mainstream cinema there are surprisingly few books analysing this relationship. There are major works by both Anahid Kassabian, who in ‘Hearing Film’ posits a new, genderised theory, comparing & contrasting song placement with bespoke composition, and Jeff Smith, ‘The Sounds Of Commerce’ dissecting some early song placements from detailed economic and stylistic positions. The earlier “Celluloid Jukebox” is a thematic account, written from a music journalist perspective compiling many films and songs simultaneously but without substantial focus on ‘audio-visual moments’ or theoretical-‘listening’.Read More »