• Gô Shibata – Gi aiueosu: Tazan no ishi o motte onore no tama o migakubeshi AKA Gui aiuoe:S A stone from another mountain to polish your own stone (2016)

    2011-2020DocumentaryExperimentalGô ShibataJapan

    Quote:
    Using their sound and film equipment like musical instruments, the members of the band GUI AIUEO:S create an audiovisual work of art. On their journey, they search for UFOs, meet odd hermits, and are introduced to the sustainable toilet. Go SHIBATA, winner of the 2011 NIPPON VISIONS AWARD, presents an eccentric performance-roadmovie-documentary. Hop on board and step on the gas!Read More »

  • Keiichi Hara – Hajimari no michi AKA Dawn of a Filmmaker: The Keisuke Kinoshita Story (2013)

    Drama2011-2020AsianJapanKeiichi Hara

    Based on the life of movie director Keisuke Kinoshita.

    As a young man, Keisuke Kinoshita (Ryo Kase) carried his mother on a handcart across a mountain. He grew up as a hotblooded young man and was monitored by the military. He then joined Shochiku movie company, to eventually become a movie director.Read More »

  • Vernon Zimmerman – Fade to Black (1980)

    1971-1980CultHorrorUSAVernon Zimmerman

    Quote:
    Shy, lonely Eric Binford delivers film cassettes and film-related supplies in Los Angeles for a living. But he really exists only to watch movies and immense himself in fantasies about cinematic characters and stars. Frequently bullied and betrayed, Eric comforts himself by pretending to be one of the many tough heroes and villains who have captivated him from the silver screen. However, his sanity takes a turn for the worse and he launches grotesque murders all patterned after characters and incidents from his beloved movies. He becomes known as the Celluloid Killer, one of the most horrifying murderers the city has ever known.Read More »

  • George A. Romero – Martin [+commentary] (1977)

    1971-1980CultGeorge A. RomeroHorrorUSA

    Synopsis:
    George Romero does for vampires what he has already done to zombies – an intense and realistic treatment that follows the exploits of Martin, who claims to be 84 years old, and who certainly drinks human blood. The boy arrives in Pittsburgh to stay with his cousin, who promises to save Martin’s soul and destroy him once he is finished, but Martin’s loneliness finds other means of release.Read More »

  • John Gianvito – Her Socialist Smile (2020)

    2011-2020DocumentaryJohn GianvitoUSA

    Gianvito’s portrait of Keller can be seen as a continuation and expansion of his PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE WHISPERING WIND, which recalled certain protagonists of the progressive movement in the US, inspired by historian Howard Zinn.

    Helen Keller became both blind and deaf as a child. The film follows some of her most important public appearances and comments, starting with her speech “Out of the Dark” (1913). Gianvito’s narrative visual style has an almost elemental quality, when he crossfades voiceovers and silent written text passages by Keller with ever shifting close-ups of the structure of snowy boughs, ice or timber. It’s another highly idiosyncratic work of poetry, didactics, and agitprop at the service of a bottom-up view of history, at once an appreciation and analysis of Keller’s theses on capitalism. It’s no spoiler to say that they are just as valid 100 years on. (Gunnar Landsgesell)Read More »

  • Xiaogang Gu – Chun Jiang Shui Nuan AKA Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2019)

    2011-2020ChinaDramaXiaogang Gu

    At her 70th birthday celebration, the aged mother of the Gu family suffers from a stroke, which precipitates her decline into dementia. Who will take care of her? The four brothers face crucial changes in their relationships to one another, as they deal with their own family problems.Read More »

  • Joshua Logan – Fanny (1961)

    1961-1970DramaJoshua LoganRomanceUSA

    Quote:
    Leslie Caron gets top billing and the lion share of screen time in “Fanny” but Maurice Chevalier steals the show from the first frame. Making its DVD debut, this 1961 film is based on the Tony-Award musical of the same name. Despite getting its start way back in 1954, the story is surprisingly risqué and contemporary, dealing with issues such as illegitimate children, premarital sex, cleavage and adultery. Because of Chevalier and the cast, those issues are presented in a jovial, comedic way until the third act, when the humor and levity the production is built on is jettisoned in favor of mediocre melodrama.Read More »

  • Tomislav Mrsic – Pula povjerljivo AKA Pula Confidential (2003)

    2001-2010CroatiaDocumentaryTomislav MrsicYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    Excellent documentary about the history of Yugoslavian Film Festival in Pula and ex-Yu cinema in general. Produced by HTV Croatian Television.

    The festival was originally started in 1954 and within a few years it became the centerpiece event of the Yugoslav film industry, with first national awards being presented in 1957. This lasted until 1991, when the festival was canceled due to the breakup of Yugoslavia.Read More »

  • Peter Stein – Sommergäste (1976)

    Drama1971-1980ArthouseGermanyPeter Stein

    Peter Stein’s production of Gorki´s SOMMERGÄSTE at the Schaubühne in December 1974 became one of the greatest theatre successes in Germany and beyond. “That’s how theatre should always be. That’s how actors should always play,” wrote Le Monde, while in England the Daily Telegraph only had a simple title: “Director of genius”. In 1975 Stein filmed the play in a new adaptation by Botho Strauß.Read More »

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