Synopsis:
A grandmother dies and leaves behind hours of secret film and audio recordings as well as an envelope with the words “Must read after my death”, which reveal a dark history for her family to discover.Read More »
Experimental
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Morgan Dews – Must Read After My Death (2007)
2001-2010DocumentaryExperimentalMorgan DewsUSA -
Roland Lethem – Le sexe enragé aka The Red Cunt (1970)
1961-1970BelgiumEroticaExperimentalRoland LethemThe Films of May '68Quote:
This film was made in the 70’s, with Jean-Pierre Bouyxou. The superimpositions at the end are in some ways influenced by Etienne O’Leary’ stuff : Lethem didn’t saw the films, but Bouyxou was talking to him so much about these movies that if influenced him surely…This is part of the “belgian underground” with Patrick Hella, Noel Godin, etc…Read More »
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Fred Halsted – LA Plays Itself (1972)
1971-1980EroticaExperimentalFred HalstedQueer Cinema(s)USA
L.A. Plays Itself begins as a mock-pastorale, with a steamy woodland encounter between a long-haired blonde guy and a hunky brunette whose face, typical of the director, we can barely discern. This extended hardcore sequence of outdoor sex gives way to images of bulldozers tearing down parts of the city; noisy, car-choked streets; and opportunistic encounters that occur both onscreen and on the audio track, the latter in the form of a conversation between a hayseed from Texas who’s just arrived in town and a predator who pretends to warn him of the dangers of the “big city” as a kind of nervous foreplay ritual. Halsted’s sex is sweaty and desperate, set against images of cruelty and destruction both in the bedrooms, bathhouses, and casual sexspaces where it occurs and in the grim, trashy world looming just outside. The sardonic commentaries of the director, who’s also usually a participant even when only seen in shadow, add unexpected touches of humanity.L.A. Plays Itself is a film of private rituals publicly exposed
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Hans-Jürgen Syberberg – Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland AKA Hitler: A Film from Germany (1977)
1971-1980ExperimentalGermanyHans-Jürgen SyberbergPoliticsDirector Hans-Jurgen Syberberg examines the rise and fall of the Third Reich in this brooding seven-hour masterpiece, which incorporates puppetry, rear-screen projection, and a Wagnerian score into a singular epic vision. Syberberg, who grew up under Nazi tyranny, ruminates on good and evil and the rest of humanity’s complicity in the horrors of the holocaust.Read More »
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Kidlat Tahimik – Mababangong bangungot aka Perfumed Nightmare (1977)
1971-1980ArthouseExperimentalKidlat TahimikPhilippinesQuote:
Upon first glance, Perfumed Nightmare looks amateurish and raw. It is, too, I suppose, but this works to the film’s advantage. This is the semiautobiographical story of a young Filipino man (played by writer/director Kidlat Tahimik) who worships everything about America. He is especially caught up in the space program: he wants to visit Cape Canaveral, and he is the president and founder of his small (300 people) village’s Werner Von Braun fan club. This might just be the only fan club in the world that worships the Bavarian expatriate who is regarded as the father of rocketry. He and his club members have ice cream sales to fund their activities, which include sponsoring the Miss Philippenes pageant.Read More » -
Deborah Stratman – The Illinois Parables (2016)
2011-2020Deborah StratmanExperimentalUSAAn experimental documentary comprised of regional vignettes about faith, force, technology and exodus. Eleven parables relay histories of settlement, removal, technological breakthrough, violence, messianism and resistance, all occurring somewhere in the state of Illinois. But the state is a structural ruse, and its histories are allegories that ask what belief might teach us about nationhood. In our desire to understand the inscrutable, whom do we end up blaming or endorsing?Read More »
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Ben Hopkins – The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz (2000)
1991-2000Ben HopkinsDramaExperimentalUnited KingdomQuote:
A sadly neglected gem of British Cinema, this stunningly inventive film takes in German Expressionism, the pop promo, the docudrama and film noir. And that’s just for starters. The story of a mysterious man who creates chaos and anarchy in his wake, this has buckets of sly humour and a pleasingly dark edge. With brilliant performances from Thomas Fisher and Ian McNeice, this is an astounding reminder that UK cinema is much more than gangsters and girls in corsets.Read More » -
Azadeh Navai – Friday Mosque (2014)
2011-2020Azadeh NavaiExperimentalShort FilmUSAA silent meditation on the Islamic prayer ritual through motion (water is the core, but light is the cause) in FRIDAY MOSQUE. Shot on high-contrast black and white 16mm film, Navai hand processed the negative and painstakingly contact- printed the strips of celluloid. The resulting image quivers and pulses. Enlarged film grain nearly obliterates the already abstracted image. There exists both a tension and serenity in the flickering frame. Every element is preparing for and anticipating the faithful soul that is summoned to the everyday practice. The silent tune of the calling, Azan, has overtaken.Read More »
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Richard Pinhas & Oren Ambarchi – Tikkun (Rune 389, Cuneiform Records 2014) (2014)
2011-2020ExperimentalPerformanceRichard Pinhas and Oren AmbarchiUSARichard Pinhas, the founder of 70s progressive legends Heldon, is one of the most uncompromising artists on the international rock scene, having remained constantly innovative and true to his personal artistic vision for 40 years and some 35 full length releases.
Oren Ambarchi is a guitarist, drummer and sound-artist who has performed and/or recorded with a huge array of artists, including Fennesz, John Zorn, Jim O’Rourke, Otomo Yoshihide, Evan Parker, Merzbow and others. Since 2004, he has worked with the avant-metal band Sunn O))), contributing to many of their releases and side- projects.Read More »








