• Gianfranco Rosi – Fuocoammare (2016)

    2011-2020DocumentaryGianfranco RosiItaly

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Even if they were bringing the bodies of dead migrants ashore a few minutes from where you live, you’d still brew up coffee and cook dinner with the radio on. Your kids would still do their homework and get to school in the morning. Life would go on – not necessarily oblivious to the crisis unfolding on your doorstep, but existing at some remove from it. That’s the troubling situation revealed in documentarian Gianfranco Rosi’s portrait of the current migrant crisis as visited upon the tiny island of Lampedusa, a little corner of Italy whose proximity to north Africa has made it the first European port of call for some 400,000 migrants in the past 20 years.Read More »

  • Ingmar Bergman – Det regnar på vår kärlek AKA It Rains on Our Love (1946)

    1941-1950DramaIngmar BergmanSweden

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    It Rains on Our Love / Det regnar på vår kärlek (1946) was Bergman’s fourth film and it paints a very romantic picture of poverty and love on the run. Two young lovebirds from the wrong side of the tracks find peace of a kind in an idyllic, rural squatters’ community. It’s like a polished hybrid of a Frank Borzage film and the more sentimental elements of Italian neo-realism. The paternalistic narrative voice of the film is actually incarnated in one of the characters, a kindly lawyer.Read More »

  • James Quinn – Flesh of the Void (2017)

    2011-2020AustriaExperimentalHorrorJames Quinn

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    Flesh of the Void is a terribly disturbing experimental horror film about what it could feel like if death truly were the most horrible thing one could ever experience. It is intended as a trip through the deepest fears of human beings, exploring its subject in a highly grotesque, violent and extreme manner.Read More »

  • Various – Avant-Garde 3: Experimental Cinema 1922-1954 (2009)

    ArthouseExperimentalShort FilmUSAVarious

    CAVALCANTI MAAS PETERSON BROUGHTON BUTE KESSLER WHITNEY KIRSANOFF MURPHY MARC’O WATSON HUFF

    From THE Collection of THE GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE AND FROM THE RAYMOND ROHAUER COLLECTION

    From the little theaters of the 1920s to the ad hoc film societies of the ’50s, avant-garde cinema knew no established form and held no predictable position. The boundaries of its history are still hotly debated, but its rough sensibilities informed and permeated the city symphonies of Alberto Cavalcanti, the visual music of Mary Ellen Bute and John Whitney, the classroom films of Sidney Peterson, the confessional film poems of Willard Maas and John E. Schmitz, the Lettrist cinema of Marc’O, and even marginal exploitation films and home movies. Drawn from the rich collections of Raymond Rohauer and the George Eastman House, Kino’s third volume of experimental films continues to illuminate the degree to which cinema’s evolution has been influenced by those filmmakers who occupy its periphery.Read More »

  • Richard Compton – Welcome Home, Soldier Boys (1971)

    1971-1980ActionDramaRichard ComptonUSA

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Plot Synopsis
    Discharged from a tour of duty in VietNam, a group of soldiers drives across the
    US to take in the nation they fought for. The country, however, doesn’t want to
    see them, and after being hustled by an attractive hitchhiker, their car breaks
    down in a small town that treats them like dirt. Their revenge makes Rambo’s
    look like a gentile tea party with a stunningly violent climax that you need to
    see to believe.Read More »

  • Dusan Makavejev – Nevinost bez zastite aka Innocence Unprotected (1968)

    1961-1970ArthouseDusan MakavejevYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    Innocence Unprotected was originally filmed in 1941 under the title Nevinoz bez Zastite; it was meant to be the first all-talking feature ever made in Serbia. Yugoslav gymnast Dragolijub Aleksic wrote, produced, directed and starred in this simple tale of a young man who rescues his lady love from her wicked stepmother. The film was never released, falling victim to the Nazi censors; later on, the film was condemned as pro-Nazi (huh?) Flash-forward to 1968: documentary filmmaker Dusan Makavejev unearthed this forgotten film, expanded upon it with newsreel footage of Dragolijub Aleksic performing his athletic feats and filmed interviews with the surviving cast members, and came up with Innocence Unprotected. The result is less a dramatic film than a montage-like celebration of Yugoslavian customs, folklore, and humor. Makavejev referred to Innocence Unprotected as a “montage of attractions”; viewers will no doubt find those attractions most attractive.Read More »

  • Jennifer Peedom – Sherpa (2015)

    2011-2020AustraliaDocumentaryJennifer Peedom

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    Synopsis:
    A fight on Everest? It seemed incredible. But in 2013 news channels around the world reported an ugly brawl at 21,000ft as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. In 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had reached the summit in a spirit of co-operation and brave optimism. Now climbers and Sherpas were trading insults – even blows. What had happened to the happy, smiling Sherpas and their dedication in getting foreigners to the top of the mountain they hold so sacred? Determined to explore what was going on, the filmmakers set out to make a film of the 2014 Everest climbing season, from the Sherpas’ point of view. Instead, they captured a tragedy that would change Everest forever. At 6.45am on 18th April, 2014, a 14,000 ton block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route through the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas. It was the worst tragedy in the history of Everest. The disaster provoked a drastic reappraisal about the role of the Sherpas in the Everest industry. SHERPA, tells the story of how, in the face of fierce opposition, the Sherpas united in grief and anger to reclaim the mountain they call Chomolungma. Read More »

  • Alain Resnais – Aimer, boire et chanter AKA Life of Riley (2014)

    2011-2020Alain ResnaisArthouseComedyFrance

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Quote:
    In the midst of rehearsals for a new play, amateur dramatics proponents Colin and Kathryn receive the shattering news that their friend George is fatally ill and only has a few months to live. Life begins to come apart at the seams – not just for Kathryn, who was once George’s partner, but also for her friends Tamara and Monica. The full force of the emotional turmoil they experienced in their youth and their long-buried dreams are rekindled. Much to the chagrin of their respectable, middle-class husbands, the women begin to argue about which of them should be allowed to accompany George on a final journey …
    Read More »

  • Vasilis Georgiadis – To homa vaftike kokkino aka Blood on the Land (1966)

    1961-1970DramaEuro WesternsGreeceVasilis GeorgiadisWestern

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    from the back cover:
    In 1907, in the parts of Greece that are liberated, not all Greeks feel free and the biggest ranges of the Thessalian valley are owned by a few big landowners. The farmers who are forced to work like slaves find in Marinos, a well educated young man, their ideal
    representative. Odysseus, son of one of the big landowners, supports Marinos and conflicts with his father and brother, a conflict with a tragic end.Read More »

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