Documentary

  • Rüdiger Sünner – Schwarze Sonne aka Black Sun (1998)

    1991-2000DocumentaryGermanyPoliticsRüdiger Sünner

    Quote:
    A historical analysis of how groups such as the Nazi’s may use language, symbols, and religious connotation in order to come to power. It raises questions that deserve in depth analysis and consideration. Questions include: Where do legends expand our thinking and where do they bury it? When does spiritual pursuit suddenly turn into fanaticism and violence? Last, have we as a society learned from our past, and if so have forgotten the lessons of the 20th Century? Are we now embarking on a new level only to learn the same old lessons about humanity again? In addressing these questions we are taken into the back drop of the history of Germany beginning in the late 1800’s through the late 20th Century at the eve of the 21st. “A society that does not take archetypes, myths, and symbols seriously will possibly be jumped by them from behind.”Read More »

  • Pelin Esmer – Queen Lear (2019)

    2011-2020DocumentaryPelin EsmerTurkey

    Quote:
    Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ travelling on the dusty and risky roads to the remotest forgotten villages in the mountains of Turkey where even drinking water can hardly reach, turns delicately into ‘Queen Lear’ in the hands of a peasant-women theatre group.

    In the early 2000s, a handful of peasant women from the mountains of southern Turkey formed a theater group, which later became the subject of the documentary, The Play. The women acted out their own life stories in the village, and the play changed their lives. Now, they take to the road with an adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear, traveling the dusty, dangerous roads to the farthest-flung mountain villages where there isn’t even running water. On the road, their lives merge with the world of King Lear and become bound up with “the good and the bad”, “the young and the old”, “the rich and the poor”, “the honest and the dishonest” of the play.Read More »

  • Béla Tarr – Családi tüzfészek AKA Family Nest (1979)

    Drama1971-1980Béla TarrDocumentaryHungary

    PLOT: Béla Tarr’s first full length film is a bleak indictment of communist housing policy; A young couple and their daughter are forced to live with the husband’s family in a tiny flat in which tempers frequently flare. The close camera work and grainy documentary style capture the claustrophobia and indignity of life at close quarters with those you don’t like; the father-in-law is a malevolent Iago-esquire figure, forever whispering conspiracies to his son. The couple are desperate to leave, but, as their meetings with the government officials show, there is no prospect of escape for years to come; This is despite many usable flats standing empty, unused for bureaucratic reasons.. We learn more of the characters as the second half of the film effectively becomes a series of monologues, which further convey what a bleak place 1970’s Hungary was.Read More »

  • Harun Farocki – Der Auftritt AKA The Appearance (1996)

    Documentary1991-2000GermanyHarun Farocki

    Quote:
    The head of a Berlin advertising agency explains his proposed strategy to his potential client, a Danish optical company. The communication strategy that we ultimately came up with as a basis or any creative act or means of communication has three headings.

    The first is ‘relevant, not arrogant’; the second, ‘varied, not uniform’; and the third is, ‘creative, not pushy’. These are essentially translations, strategic translations of your basic requirements and your analysis of the market, as well.Read More »

  • Robert Guenette – Nostradamus: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (1981)

    1981-1990DocumentaryRobert GuenetteUSA

    The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is a 1981 documentary-style movie about the predictions of French astrologer and physician Michel de Notredame Nostradamus.

    The Man Who Saw Tomorrow is narrated (one might say “hosted”) by Orson Welles. The film depicts many of Nostradamus’ predictions for the modern world, as interpreted by the many linguistic scholars who have translated his works. In addition, some biographical information is provided about Nostradamus, including his work as a physician during the plagues which swept Europe in the 1500s.Read More »

  • Ulrich Seidl – Jesus, Du weisst AKA Jesus, you know (2003)

    2001-2010DocumentaryGermanyUlrich Seidl

    Quote:
    Six Catholics share their thoughts and problems with Jesus in different churches. The camera accompanies them.

    Great, uncompromising semi-documentary about six people who tell Jesus any given detail that is on their mind. They practice in such detailed manner that not seldomly you won’t manage to keep serious. For instance Elfriede who while cleaning the church’s floor and dusting the crucifixes starts her whining soliloquy about her Muslim husband’s behavior after sickness, his TV habits which appear to have taken influence on their relationship. Read More »

  • Hara Yoshihiro – Ishoku Manga-shi 33-nen no Kiseki ~ Garo no Jidai o Yomu (1997)

    1991-2000DocumentaryHara YoshihiroJapanTV

    Quote:
    Garo (ガロ) was a monthly manga anthology magazine in Japan, founded in 1964 by Katsuichi Nagai. It specialized in alternative and avant-garde manga.Read More »

  • Yoshishige Yoshida – Beaute de la Beaute AKA The Beauty of Beauty (1974 – 1977)

    Yoshishige Yoshida1971-1980DocumentaryJapan

    Quote:
    Until 1973 Kijû Yoshida had made sixteen feature films in thirteen years. Having just completed his trilogy on Japanese history “Eros + Massacre” (1969), “Heroic Purgatory” (1970) and “Coup d’Etat” (1971) in which he achieves the form of artistic independence he was striving for and creates his own radical visual and narrative style, the stress of fundraising, producing, writing and directing at the same time takes its toll on him. Yoshida breaks down and falls seriously ill. He has to undergo surgery, but recovers only slowly. In this situation Yoshida receives and accepts the offer of a Japanese TV channel to produce a documentary series on art entitled “The Beauty of Beauty”, which will be broadcasted every Saturday night on Channel 12 from 1974 to 1978. Yoshida left Japan in the fall of 1973 for Europe and works on this series for the next four years producing 94 episodes in total, a project of a truly monumental scale, which can only be compared to the television work of Rossellini after he abandoned cinema.Read More »

  • Thunska Pansittivorakul – Boriven nee yu pai tai karn kuk kun AKA This Area Is Under Quarantine (2009)

    2001-2010DocumentaryExperimentalQueer Cinema(s)ThailandThunska Pansittivorakul

    Quote:
    It doesn’t look spectacular at first. Two boys each talk separately about their experiences. In the end also on the sexual level. In the end they are also in the room together. In the end they don’t leave it at talking. Remember that homosexuality on film is banned in Thailand and so this film maker has been very daring.

    Europeans on sex holidays to Thailand and transvestites who work in tourist areas may give a different impression, but this country is far from liberal in regard to homosexuality. A candid film maker like Thunska Pansittivorakul is therefore sure to come into contact with censorship sooner or later. So anyone who wonders why the two kids in this film keep their pants on right up to the end now knows the answer.Read More »

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