Like Piccolo mondo antico, Malombra is a film set in a grandiose, but a bit crowded aristocratic house, which is itself squashed between the beautiful, but deadly see, and the stolid, un-romantic mountains. A claustrophobic space with no escapes, a space of directionless hauntings and self-induced psychosis. Also, of course, a space of late, musty fascism. The reality of the second world war and the twilight of the Mussollini era is never directly alluded to, but it seems to penetrate all walls, clothes, the flesh itself.Read More »

Synopsis:
Melé is a bar singer, her husband Chaka is out of work and the couple is on the verge of breaking up… In the courtyard of the house they share with other families, a trial court has been set up. African civil society spokesmen have taken proceedings against the World Bank and the IMF whom they blame for Africa’s woes… Amidst the pleas and the testimonies, life goes on in the courtyard. Chaka does not seem to be concerned by this novel Africa’s desire to fight for its rights…

— IMDb.Read More »

Quote:
As a young couple make out in a car, we hear the woman’s stream of consciousness thoughts. She worries about her reputation and whether he’ll try to “go all the way.”

A short created by Geri Ashur, Andrea Eagan, Marcia Salo Rizzi and Deborah Shaffer, and co-directed by Ashur and Peter Schlaifer, the film is a vibrant document of the early second wave women’s movement, and the concerns and thinking of young women at that time. This film is unique in the Newsreel collection, as it was filmed with actors, with a voice-over script created from a women’s group discussion.Read More »

جاده‌های کیارستمی

Abbas Kiarostami has recently been exhibiting his black-and-white landscape photographs at venues around the world, and Roads of Kiarostami is both a companion piece to these exhibits and an extension of them. Static shots of his photos alternate with footage of Kiarostami’s car winding through mountain roads, as the Iranian filmmaker muses in voice-over on the significance of the journey and on the path of his work and Persian literature as a whole.Read More »

This documentary examines the German cinema from 1933 when the Nazi’s came into power until 1945 when the Third Reich collapsed.
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Quote:
In this best-loved of Hitchcock’s British-made thrillers, a young woman on a train meets a charming old lady (Dame May Whitty), who promptly disappears. The other passengers deny ever having seen her, leading the young woman to suspect a conspiracy. When she begins investigating, she is drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure.

If one film challenges the idea that Hitchcock ‘found himself’ as a director only after he arrived in Hollywood, it is The Lady Vanishes. Released in 1938 by Gainsborough, it is arguably the most accomplished, and certainly the wittiest of Hitchcock’s British films, and is up there with the best of his American work.Read More »

A tiny man explains the origins of tobacco to a young woman.
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Synopsis:
Klaus Kinski plays the title role of an obsessed opera lover who wants to build an opera in the jungle. To accomplish this he first has to make a fortune in the rubber business, and his cunning plan involves hauling an enormous river boat across a small mountain with aid from the local indians.Read More »

James Joyce is widely regarded as one of the most important writers of the last century. His most famous novel, Ulysses, may be demanding of its readers, but it is also regarded as one of the most influential books ever written. In this documentary, James Joyce: A Shout in the Street, Anjelica Huston tells the story of his extraordinary life and work. Joyce’s story begins with his chaotic childhood in Dublin. What follows is a roller-coaster of ambition, rejection, fame, madness and, above all, sacrifice – both of himself and of those close to him.Read More »