Experimental

  • Jørgen Leth – Det Perfekte menneske AKA The Perfect Human (1967)

    1961-1970DenmarkExperimentalJørgen LethShort Film

    An elegant and humorous film-in the guise of a serious anthropological treatise-spotlights “The Perfect Human,” a model of the modern Dane created by our wishful thinking. Read More »

  • Zhangke Jia – Xiaoshan huijia AKA Xiao Shan Going Home (1995)

    1991-2000ChinaDramaExperimentalZhangke Jia

    Xiao Shan, a temporary worker at the Hongyuan Restaurant, has just been fired by his boss Zhao Guoqing. Deciding to leave Beijing and returns to his home in Anyang, he goes to see a series of people from his hometown who have also been living in Beijing -construction workers, train ticket scalpers, university students, attendant, prostitutes- but no one wants to go back with him. Dispirited and confused, he searches out one after another of his old friends who are still in Beijing. Finally he leaves his wild long hair, the symbol of his life in the city, at a roadside barber stand as his offering to Beijing. Seoul Independent Film FestivalRead More »

  • Yervant Gianikian & Angela Ricci Lucchi – Oh! Uomo (2004)

    2001-2010Angela Ricci LucchiExperimentalItalyWarYervant Gianikian

    Quote:
    Both the Trento History Museum and the Italian History Museum of War of Rovereto came into being immediately after the First World War and have since then combined their exhibition programme with active research into twentieth century history. It is not surprising, then, to find both these museums working together, with the
    support of several local authorities, to produce a documentary.
    The war cycle by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi finds very vivid echo in the local reality where the Great War still stirs very vibrant memories in the local population and where the physical signs of the conflict are still to be seen in the local territory.Read More »

  • Pipilotti Rist – Pepperminta (2009)

    2001-2010ExperimentalPerformancePipilotti RistSwitzerland

    Pepperminta is an anarchist of the imagination. She lives in a futuristic rainbow villa and according to her own rules. Colors are the young woman’s best friends and strawberries are her pets. She knows the most amazing remedies to free people of their fears. Pepperminta’s wish is for everyone to see the world in her favorite colors. Werwen , a young plump and shy man yet whose sex appeal Pepperminta finds highly attractive, and the beautiful Edna, who talks to tulips, join her on her passionate mission. These three musketeers of a different kind set out to fight for a more humane world. Wherever the gang appears, everything is turned upside down and people’s lives are transformed in the most miraculous and wondrous of ways.Read More »

  • Albert Birney & Jon Moses – The Beast Pageant (2010)

    2001-2010Albert Birney and Jon MosesCultExperimentalUSA

    IMDB:
    Abraham lives deep in the heart of an industrial wasteland. His only companion is a giant machine. Inside the machine is a man and a woman who take care of Abraham’s every need. Abraham drifts through daily life until a tiny singing cowboy bursts from his stomach and leads him into the wild. Written by AnonymousRead More »

  • Michael Snow – La Région Centrale (1971)

    1971-1980Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtCanadaExperimentalMichael Snow

    Quote:
    «La Région Centrale» was made during five days of shooting on a deserted mountain top in North Quebec. During the shooting, the vertical and horizontal alignment as well as the tracking speed were all determined by the camera’s settings. Anchored to a tripod, the camera turned a complete 360 degrees, craned itself skyward, and circled in all directions. Because of the unconventional camera movement, the result was more than merely a film that documented the film location’s landscape. Surpassing that, this became a film expressing as its themes the cosmic relationships of space and time. Cataloged here were the raw images of a mountain existence, plunged (at that time) in its distance from civilization, embedded in cosmic cycles of light and darkness, warmth and cold.Read More »

  • Derek Jarman – A Journey to Avebury (1971)

    1951-1960Derek JarmanExperimentalQueer Cinema(s)Short FilmUnited Kingdom

    Journey to Avebury beautifully reflects Derek Jarman’s fascination with ancient history, paganism, and Celtic traditions.

    An IMDB review:
    Derek Jarman is often said to be a painter rather than a movie director. Indeed, with his films he makes pictures that seem to be more important than the plot (which is usually unclear or missing at all). But those pieces of art he creates using camera are beautiful and astounding.Read More »

  • Joshua Bonnetta & J.P. Sniadecki – El mar la mar (2017)

    2011-2020DocumentaryExperimentalJ.P. SniadeckiJoshua BonnettaUSA

    Official website says:
    An immersive and enthralling journey through the Sonoran Desert on the U.S.-Mexico border, El mar la mar weaves together harrowing oral histories from the area with hand-processed 16mm images of flora, fauna and items left behind by travelers. Subjects speak of intense, mythic experiences in the desert: A man tells of a fifteen-foot-tall monster said to haunt the region, while a border patrolman spins a similarly bizarre tale of man versus beast. A sonically rich soundtrack adds to the eerie atmosphere as the call of birds and other nocturnal noises invisibly populate the austere landscape.
    Emerging from the ethos of Harvard’s Sensory Ethnography Lab, J.P. Sniadecki’s attentive documentary approach mixes perfectly with Joshua Bonnetta’s meditations on the materiality of film. Together, they’ve created an experience of the border region like nothing you’ve seen, heard or felt before.Read More »

  • Evan Johnson & Galen Johnson & Guy Maddin – The Green Fog (2017)

    2011-2020DocumentaryEvan JohnsonExperimentalGalen JohnsonGuy Maddin

    Director Guy Maddin’s interpretation of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo, pieced together using footage from old films and television shows shot in and around the San Francisco area.Read More »

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