2000s

“This fascinating film follows the physically grueling and mentally exhausting training regimen of several young wanna-be GAEA GIRLS, a group of Japanese women wrestlers. The idea of them may seem like a total oxymoron in a country where women are usually regarded as docile and subservient. However, in training and in the arena, the female wrestlers depicted in this film are just as violent as any member of the World Wrestling Federation, and the blood that’s drawn is very real indeed. One recruit, Takeuchi, endures ritual humiliation not seen on screen since the boot camp sequences of FULL METAL JACKET. In DIVORCE IRANIAN STYLE, Kim Longinotto cinematically explored the previously unexplored world of the Tehran divorce courts. Working with co-director Jano Williams, Longinotto has been given access to shoot an insider’s verité account of this closely guarded universe.” – Chicago Film FestivalRead More »

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During the 1990s, David Lee Hoffman searched throughout China for the finest teas. He’s a California importer who, as a youth, lived in Asia for years and took tea with the Dali Lama. Hoffman’s mission is to find and bring to the U.S. the best hand picked and hand processed tea. This search takes him directly to farms and engages him with Chinese scientists, business people, and government officials: Hoffman wants tea grown organically without a factory, high-yield mentality. By 2004, Hoffman has seen success: there are farmer’s collectives selling tea, ways to export “boutique tea” from China, and a growing Chinese appreciation for organic farming’s best friend, the earthworm.Read More »

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Phil (Timothy Spall) is an overweight taxi driver who gets up late in the day and works intermittently, barely communicating with his family except for a few grunts. His philosophy of life is expressed as “We’re all born alone. We die alone. There’s nothing we can do about it”. Mike Leigh has given us powerful portrayals of the underclass in his previous films Naked, Secrets and Lies, and Life is Sweet but none more powerful and moving than his latest, All or Nothing.Read More »

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For whatever reason, this low-budget shot-on-DV film seems to have never been released in any format and is very rare. This is a web rip and the best (and only) print of the film currently available. Inspired by the gay German cannibalism case involving Armin Meiwes (whose story inspired no less than three other films, including Martin Weisz’s Grimm Love (2006) and Marian Dora’s Cannibal (2006) and Ulli Lommel’s Diary of a Cannibal), von Praunheim’s film caused much controversy, mainly because it was partially funded by German tax money.Read More »

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The former owner of a craftsman’s business, Wolfgang Kunert, who has been unemployed for a long time, is waiting at the job agency. When it is his turn after four hours of waiting time, which Heidi Ganz, the agency responsible for him, cannot offer him any work and points out his misconduct in general, he loses his nerves. He pulls out a gun and takes Mrs. Ganz hostageRead More »

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
On the same day of this word created from the depth of despair, the Christ passed away on the cross, A.D.2015, Virus has been spreading in many cities worldwide. It is a suicidal disease. The virus is infected by pictures. People, once infected, certainly come down with the disease, which leads to death. They have no way of fighting against the disease filled with fear and despair. The media calls the disease the Lemming Syndrome.Read More »

In the ‘eighties, the clash between Thatcher and Scargill in England over the way of managing the country’s economy provoked a series of strict State measures aimed against the working classes, and more particularly against the miners whose trade union had grown into too powerful an opposition force. As had happened in the majority of mines, the Towell mine in Wales was then closed down. Deciding not to give in to bitterness and refusing to head for the dole queue, a group of miners planned to buy back the land and proposed that each employee reinvest his severance allowance and become a shareholder in the new company.Read More »

Synopsis:
Sotto la veste di fattorino quello che sarà il nuovo direttore del manicomio di Gorizia si rende conto delle condizioni in cui vivono i pazienti del manicomio.
Tra elettroshock, lobotomie, camicie di forza, percosse e clausura i malati mentali vivono in una raccapricciante situazione. Diventato direttore riesce a modificare il ruolo di operare dei medici e degli infermieri e migliorare le condizioni di vita dei pazienti. Sfrutterà l’ampio giardino dell’ospedale prima interdetto ai pazienti per passeggiate e pranzi all’aperto.Read More »

Tony Rayns, Time Out Film Guide wrote:
One-time Lino Brocka protégé O’Hara is not shy of traditional melodrama, still the lifeblood of most Filipino cinema, but Demons fits no established genre template. Part social history, part ghost horror story, part romance, part quasi-Marxist parable, it has no obvious antecedent except parts of Night of the Hunter. Set on Negros Island, the action spans nearly 20 years in the lives of Nena (De Leon), daughter of a fish-farmer, and Jose (Alano), the son of casual labourers. As they move through puberty and try to bridge the class gap, the island is riven by terrorist actions and military reprisals (echoing assassinations and political turmoil in faraway Manila), giving new meaning to the local mythology of jungle demons. O’Hara balances the narrative between drama and elegy, between occasionally shocking images and the poetry of Amado Hernandez and Florentino Collantes. Often wonderful.Read More »