• Lukas Moodysson – Container (2006)

    Drama2001-2010ExperimentalLukas MoodyssonSweden

    Poetic, experimental and different, a black and white silent movie with sound where as an obese man carries a slim Asian woman across trash dumps and through dilapidated buildings, off-screen voices deliver a jumble of thoughts and personalities. A blend of identity, spirituality, consumerism and pop culture sounds like crazy talk one minute and sanity the next. The reference of Chernobyl Massacre came repeatedly in the movie. The movie reminds us that it was the then USSR, the country on the lead of Communism i.e. it is not of the people by the people for the people; instead it was a country of social equality; equality, not equity, where the disaster took place !Read More »

  • Gualtiero Jacopetti & Franco Prosperi – Africa addio AKA Farewell Africa (1966)

    1961-1970DocumentaryExploitationFranco ProsperiGualtiero JacopettiItaly

    “What the camera sees it films pitilessly, without sympathy, without taking sides,” it begins. “This film only says farewell to the old Africa and gives the world a picture of its agony.” As colonialism collapsed in 1960s Africa, Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi rushed to the Dark Continent to record the horrifying battle for control that followed. Here was a world now ruled by rebels and refugees, plunderers and poachers, mercenaries and murderers, a land suddenly aflame with brutality, racism and unspeakable slaughter. At the risk of their own lives, the filmmakers’ cameras captured it all. The result is a daring and disturbing work that ranks among the greatest achievements in documentary cinema, an experience that remains as shocking – and shockingly relevant – as it was 40 years ago. This is AFRICA BLOOD AND GUTS!Read More »

  • Louise Narboni – Chanson triste AKA Sad Song (2019)

    2011-2020DocumentaryDramaFranceLouise Narboni

    Quote:
    By Louise Narboni

    Elodie is a Parisian Baroque singer, and Ahmad is an Afghan refugee; Chanson Triste tells the story of their impossible love. Through a unique mix of documentary and fiction, music and poetry, re-enactment and reality, the viewer learns how Elodie became Ahmad’s tutor and how he, in turn, became her muse.

    But they both have painful pasts. Elodie is haunted by her ex-boyfriend’s suicide, while Ahmad deals with the reality of being a refugee from Afghanistan, and a Muslim in Europe. Chanson Triste is a story of songs and introspection, hope and disappointment, but mostly, it’s a story of love.Read More »

  • Sacha Guitry & Fernand Rivers – Pasteur (1935)

    1931-1940DramaFernand RiversFranceSacha Guitry

    Synopsis :
    Some episodes in Pasteur’s life: the selflessness of the researcher when war is declared, Pastor rejected by members of the Academy of Medicine, Pasteur treats a child with rabies, Pasteur as a patient receives his doctor who asks him to stop his research, Pasteur celebrated at the Sorbonne by luminaries from around the world …Read More »

  • Robert Aldrich – Apache (1954)

    1951-1960Robert AldrichUSAWestern

    Quote:
    Apache was based on Paul I. Wellman’s novel Broncho Apache, which in turn was inspired by a true story. Burt Lancaster plays Massai, a lieutenant of the great Apache warrior Geronimo (here depicted as an old man, played by Monte Blue). Though his tribe has signed surrender terms with the conquering whites, Massai refuses to do so. He escapes from a prison train and conducts a one-man war against the white intruders-and against some of his own people. Along the way, he claims Nalinle (Jean Peters), whom he previously regarded as a traitor to his cause, as his wife. John McIntire plays famed Indian scout Al Sieber, who-in this film, if not in real life-is sympathetic to the Indians’ plight and Massai’s single-purposed cause. The real-life counterpart to Massai was killed by Sieber’s minions after agreeing to call off the hostilies; United Artists objected to this, forcing producer/star Burt Lancaster to shoot an unconvincingly happy ending.Read More »

  • Miklós Jancsó – Indiántörténet AKA An Indian Story (1962)

    Documentary1961-1970HungaryMiklós Jancsó

    Still photographs and narration give an overview of the history of the American Indian.

    The Indian Story is the kind of newsreel short subjects that Jancso made early in his career, and while it doesn’t bear any of his hallmarks as a director, it’s still interesting —an examination of the way that Native Americans were displaced by white settlers in North America, from a critical outsider’s perspective.Read More »

  • Russ Meyer – Supervixens (1975)

    1971-1980ActionExploitationRuss MeyerUSA

    Clint Ramsey has to leave his job working at Martin Bormann’s gas station and flee after his wife is murdered by psycho cop Harry Sledge, who tries to pin the murder on Clint. Crossing America, Clint gets sexually harassed on all sides by various voluptuous nymphomaniacs, and it all ends in a literally explosive climax.Read More »

  • José Bénazéraf – Le Port aux Putes (1984)

    1981-1990ComedyEroticaFranceJosé Bénazéraf

    Three French prostitutes, finding the harbor docks too chilly for their scanty outfits, recess to a nearby arcade. One of them (Michelle Villers) manages to attract the attention of a male there (John Oury), and the two head off to the French equivalent of a Japanese ‘love hotel’. The other two hookers (Laura May & Marianne Aubert) catch the eye of Gabriel Pontello while playing foosball. He leaves his pinball machine to instruct them on playing tips. Marianne is plucked from the scene by a male (Richard Lemieuvre) who just won some money playing horseshoes. Off they go to the same hotel but the only room available for them is the same room which is occupied by the first couple. They have finished and are dressing, but it is still a dilemma when the hotel clerk opens the door for Richard and Marianne.Read More »

  • Inés Toharia Terán – Film, the Living Record of our Memory (2021)

    2021-2030DocumentaryInés Toharia TeránSpain

    Why are we still able to watch moving images captured over 125 years ago?

    As we move ever further into the digital age, our audiovisual heritage seems to be taken increasingly for granted. However, much of our filmed history and cinema has already been lost forever.

    Film archivists, curators, technicians and filmmakers from around the world explain what film preservation is and why it is needed. Our narrators are custodians of film whose work behind the scenes safeguards the survival of motion pictures. It is a task they undertake based on their closely held belief in the artistic and cultural value of the moving image, in tune with a shared mantra that a film might one day transform someone’s life. This documentary pays homage to them all and sheds some light on their critical undertaking.Read More »

Back to top button