Yulian Kalisher ( 1935-2007) was a relative late-bloomer in the field of puppet animation. Coming from the field of puppet theatre, where he had worked in Tasjkent, Uzbekistan and in Moscow. He was hired by the Soviet TV organisation Ecran to direct puppet-plays for TV in 1971. In 1974 he was teamed up with Youri Trofimov and co-directed 3 episodes of The Wizard of Emerald City ( see DVD 17) In 1977 he realized his first solo-direction: a feature film puppet animation after a puppet play. From then on his work always stood out for its originality and inventiveness. “A New Year’s Adventure” on DVD 20 is a good example of his work between 1977 and 1982.
Russian animation uses the words Puppets and flat Puppets (in English called Cut-out) for stop-motion techniques, and cell animation for drawn animation. Read More »

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In World War II Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, a childless couple, Josef and Marie Cizek, can only watch while the Jewish family of their employers, the Wieners, are first removed from their own home to a spare room in their house by the Nazis, then removed to the far off facility of Thierenstadt. Years later, young David Wiener, the sole surviving member of that family has managed to escape and make it to the Cizeks. Although fully aware of the extreme danger of harbouring a Jew in the Third Reich, the Cizek’s can not permit themselves to leave David to certain death and agree to hide him. However, this decision leads to terrible danger of discovery by the Nazis and especially their friend and Nazi collaborator, Horst Prohazka, who is attracted to Marie. With desperate cleverness and luck, the Cizeks struggle to keep the secret, even when Horst begins to suspect. In doing so, they find themselves making unorthodox choices and learning about the true nature of the people around them.Read More »

A wealthy man frames his son’s girlfriend (Meiko Kaji) to keep them apart. She briefly goes to prison for a crime she didn’t commit before breaking out to reunite with the man she loves. Along the way she befriends a group of hippies who try to reunite her with her boyfriend.Read More »

The art film by Luciano Emmer: the camera explores the figurative worlds of Giotto, Bosch, Carpaccio, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Picasso. First edition on DVD of a valuable asset for art history and Italian cinema.
This two-DVD boxset presents, collected for the first time, a wide selection of art films made by Luciano Emmer (1918-2009). Emmer, screenwriter and director, is the author of films that told with delicacy and humor about Italy in the Fifties (Domenica d’agosto, Terza liceo) and one of the inventors of TV commercials; especially personal and meaningful is his work on art documentaries, awarded all over the world.Read More »

In this mind-bending drama, six lives are shared through a rare mathematical phenomenon that situates people at specific coordinates, allowing them to continue life in a new body. When this threshold is crossed, an unusual mutation occurs, and as one of these characters experiences a remarkable transformation, their bizarre out-of-body experience forms an entirely new network of experiences and memories. All the while that these “travelers” must endure their transitions, it is equally difficult for those around them to cope. Asking the question, “what if I could be someone else?” Enlightened Blood is an existential journey into the nature of life and thought that both mystifies and forces you to ponder the “what ifs.”Read More »

This film was made on the tropical islands in the Caribbean and is a tribute from Lasse Braun to the girls from Trinidad. Filled with the joy of life, colours and explosive sensuality, in the dreamlike surroundings on the Virgin beaches you will witness the girls in the most intensive moments of their lives.Read More »

Zero Hour (German: Stunde Null) is a 1977 West German drama film directed by Edgar Reitz, starring Kai Taschner and Anette Jünger. The narrative is set in the summer of 1945 in a small village outside Leipzig, where the Americans have just pulled back and been replaced by Soviet troops. The film follows the inhabitants as they adjust to the new situation, in particular Joschi, a teenage Hitler Youth member who is fascinated by the Americans.Read More »

Here is a nice little student film directed by Richard Stanley (Hardware, Dust Devil). A future love story set amidst the decline of society and the rise of devastating mech wars. Stanley’s prototype for Hardware. The story and setting are consistent with Hardware for the first half, then diverge a bit more into the future wars behind the torrid love affairs and relationships of the story. Explains how Max’s (Moses’) robotic hand came to be. No killer robots, but there is a cameo of a Robotech action figure!Read More »

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Brendan O’Malley arrives at the Mexican home of old flame Belle Breckenridge to find her married to a drunkard getting ready for a cattle drive to Texas. Hot on O’Malley’s heels is lawman Dana Stribling who has a personal reason for getting him back into his jurisdiction. Both men join Breckenridge and his wife on the drive. As they near Texas tensions mount, not least because Stribling is starting to court Belle and O’Malley is increasingly drawn by her daughter Missy.Read More »