• Leonardo Favio – Juan Moreira (1973)

    1971-1980ActionArgentinaDramaLeonardo Favio

    AllMovie wrote:
    In this amazing and complex Argentine historical drama, much of the true story of the 19th-century assassin Juan Moreira comes to the screen. At the time of its release, this Argentine film was the most popular locally made film ever to be shown there. Juan Moreira was a popular folk hero on a par with Billy the Kid in the U.S., and many stories and songs have been written about him over the years. In the movie, the innocent herdsman Moreira (Rodolfo Beban) is thrown into jail at the behest of an important cattle-baron. He emerges from jail a changed man. After killing the cattleman who had him sent to jail, he at first hides among a tribe of native peoples then moves into a brothel.Read More »

  • Wes Anderson – Hotel Chevalier (2007)

    2001-2010RomanceShort FilmUSAWes Anderson

    A short epilogue of one heartbreaking history of love and the prologue of the travel told in “The Darjeeling Limited”, starring Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman.
    Read More »

  • Chris Marker – L’ambassade AKA The Embassy (1973)

    1971-1980Chris MarkerFrancePolitics

    An unexpected response to Pinochet’s 1973 coup d’etat in Chile. A Super-8 film apparently found in an embassy -as it’s written in the original title-, where political activists had taken refuge after a military coup d’état. But the events -and their setting- are not what they first appear to be.Read More »

  • Monika Treut – Die Jungfrauenmaschine AKA Virgin Machine (1988)

    1981-1990CultDramaGermanyMonika TreutQueer Cinema(s)

    synopsis
    Dorothee, a would-be writer and journalist, leaves Germany for the Oz of San Francisco, searching for her long-lost mother and a cure for the malady of love. Installed in the Tenderloin, she peeps in on neighbors’ bizarre sex rituals as well as does sightseeing of the more traditional kind. But encounters with male impersonator Ramona, charming Hungarian bohemian Dominique, and Susie Sexpert, barker for an all-girl strip show, lead to exploratory adventures of self-discovery and fun. When Dorothy surfaces like a dazzled tourist on the wilder shores of the city’s lesbian community, she has discovered her true sexuality. . . . and left some illusions behind.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 »

  • Yimou Zhang – Hong gao liang AKA Red Sorghum [91min edit] (1988)

    1981-1990ArthouseChinaDramaFifth Generation Chinese CinemaYimou Zhang

    Quote:

    Celebrated Mainland filmmaker Zhang Yimou brings his inimitable touch to Red Sorghum, a sumptuous drama set during 1930s China, just prior to the Japanese occupation. Jiu’er (Gong Li) is a young bride arranged to marry the leprous owner of a sorghum winery. But the leper dies, and Jiu’er takes over the winery, along with her lover (Jiang Wen), a burly rogue with a natural, rough charisma. Their rural lives are filled with struggle and even joy, but the invasion of the Japanese brings tragedy and blood to their doorsteps. Told in glorious shades of red, Red Sorghum is quintessential Zhang Yimou, and uses setting, cinematography, and stunning imagery to create characters and mood that are both iconic and recognizable. Gong Li and Jiang Wen both turn in revelatory performances. As both an anti-war film and a portrait of pre-Communist Chinese life, Red Sorghum is a compelling, powerful achievement from a true master of cinema.Read More »

  • Nagisa Ôshima – Watashi-wa beretto AKA It’s Me Here, Bellett (1964)

    1961-1970AsianJapanNagisa OshimaShort Film

    Quote:
    Watashi-wa beretto is a promotional film for the automobile manufacturer Isuzu Jidosha directed by Nagisa Ôshima. Yasujirô Ozu assisted as executive creative consultant.Read More »

  • Jem Cohen – Buried in Light (1994)

    1991-2000ArthouseDocumentaryItalyJem Cohen

    “A meditation on history, memory, and change in Central and Eastern Europe, Buried in Light is a non-narrative journey, a cinematic collage. Cohen’s “search for images” began at a time of extraordinary flux, as the Berlin Wall was dismantled—opening borders yet ushering in a nascent wave of consumer capitalism. What he saw struck him as a profound paradox: the moment Eastern Europe was revealed was simultaneously the moment it was hidden by the blinding light of commercialism. Cohen’s images are neither the tourist’s roster of picturesque vistas and monuments, nor the mass media’s definitive catalog of dramatic moments. Instead, he focuses on details, ordinary objects, and forgotten places—filming daily life as seen on the street.”
    —Linda Dubler, Art at the Edge (Atlanta: High Museum of Art)Read 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 »

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