Science Friction(1959)

Musangwe: Fight Club(en)

The first rule is that there are no rules. For the bare-knuckle combatants competing in Musangwe fights, anything goes - you can even put a curse on him. The sport, which dates back centuries, has become a South African institution. Any male from the age of nine to ninety can compete. We follow a group of fighters as they slug it out in the ring. Who will be this year's champion?

Fight Club: Members Only(hi)

Four friends head off to Bombay and get involved in the mother and father of all gang wars.

Le Plaisir(fr)

Three stories about the pleasure. The first one is about a man hiding his age behind a mask to keep going to balls and fancying women - pleasure and youth. Then comes the long tale of Mme Tellier taking her girls (whores) to the country for attending her niece's communion - pleasure and purity. And lastly, Jean the painter falling in love with his model - pleasure and death.

Alice(en)

Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for a handsome sax player, Joe. Stricken with a backache, she consults herbalist Dr. Yang, who realizes that her problems are not related to her back, but in her mind and heart. Dr. Yang's magical herbs give Alice wondrous powers, taking her out of her well-established rut.

Twin Peaks(en)

An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks. (This standalone version of the series pilot was produced for the European VHS market and has an alternate, closed ending.)

An American in Paris(en)

Jerry Mulligan is an exuberant American expatriate in Paris trying to make a reputation as a painter. His friend Adam is a struggling concert pianist who's a long time associate of a famous French singer, Henri Baurel. A lonely society woman, Milo Roberts, takes Jerry under her wing and supports him, but is interested in more than his art.

Equinox Flower(ja)

Wataru Hirayama's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares that she is in love with a coworker and is adamant to live life her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.

Love at First Fight(fr)

Arnaud, facing an uncertain future and a dearth of choices in a small French coastal town, meets and falls for the apocalyptic-minded Madeleine, who joins an army boot camp to learn military and survival skills to prepare for the upcoming environmental collapse. Intrigued and excited by Madeleine’s wild ideas, Arnaud signs up for the boot camp himself. They soon realize that the boot camp is harder than they’d imagined, but the experience nonetheless cements them together as the couple continues to explore their young love.

Slacker(en)

Austin, Texas, is an Eden for the young and unambitious, from the enthusiastically eccentric to the dangerously apathetic. Here, the nobly lazy can eschew responsibility in favor of nursing their esoteric obsessions. The locals include a backseat philosopher who passionately expounds on his dream theories to a seemingly comatose cabbie, a young woman who tries to hawk Madonna's Pap test to anyone who will listen and a kindly old anarchist looking for recruits.

Girls Fight Club(en)

The best women's wrestling competition of all time...and if you think it's fake you're in for a big surprise See LEGENDARY Mixed Martial Arts fighters coach their teams to victory in the cage! aka Chuck Lidell's Girl's Fight Club

Buena Vista Social Club(en)

In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.

Saboteur(en)

Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.

The Gendarme Takes Off(fr)

The whole clique of Cruchot's police station is retired. Now he lives with his rich wife in her castle - and is bored almost to death. He fights with the butler, because he isn't even allowed to do the simple works. But when one of the clique suffers from amnesia after an accident, all of the others reunite and kidnap him, to take him on a tour to their old working places and through their memories. In their old uniforms they turn St. Tropez upside down.

At Five in the Afternoon(fa)

Nogreh is a young Afghani woman living with her father and her sister-in-law, Leylomah, whose husband, Akhtar, is missing. Beyond the issue of Akhtar, Leylomah is most concerned with how to feed her baby. She cannot provide milk for her baby as her own hunger is preventing her from lactating. Nogreh, however, aspires toward a life in a western styled democracy. Although the Taliban are no longer in power in Afghanistan, traditional forces are still active in the country. Nogreh often displays signs of rebellion, such as wearing a pair of white pumps instead of the traditional slipper beneath her burqa. But mostly, Nogreh wants to be educated. Without her father's knowledge, Nogreh is attending a secular girls school. Ultimately, she wants to become President of Afghanistan. With the help of a Pakistani refugee who likes her as a woman, Nogreh tries to understand exactly what forces led to current world leaders being elected, those forces which she wants to emulate.

Iris(en)

IRIS pairs legendary 87-year-old documentarian Albert Maysles with Iris Apfel, the quick-witted, flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old style maven who has had an outsized presence on the New York fashion scene for decades. More than a fashion film, the documentary is a story about creativity and how, even in Iris’ dotage, a soaring free spirit continues to inspire. IRIS portrays a singular woman whose enthusiasm for fashion, art and people are life’s sustenance and reminds us that dressing, and indeed life, is nothing but an experiment.

Paranormal Activity 2(en)

Just as Daniel and Kristi welcome a newborn baby into their home, a demonic presence begins terrorizing them, tearing apart their perfect world and turning it into an inescapable nightmare.

Die Hard: With a Vengeance(en)

New York detective John McClane is back and kicking bad-guy butt in the third installment of this action-packed series, which finds him teaming with civilian Zeus Carver to prevent the loss of innocent lives. McClane thought he'd seen it all, until a genius named Simon engages McClane, his new "partner" -- and his beloved city -- in a deadly game that demands their concentration.

Koyaanisqatsi(en)

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

The Pilgrim(en)

The Tramp is an escaped convict who is mistaken as a pastor in a small town church.

The World of Apu(bn)

Apu, now a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer, is invited to join an old college friend on a trip up-country to a village wedding.

Dragons: Dawn of the Dragon Racers(en)

A hunt for a lost sheep turns into a competition between Hiccup and friends as they compete to become the first Dragon Racing champion of Berk.

High Voltage(en)

High Voltage is constructed from footage James Whitney contributed to Belson for use in one of his Vortex concerts.

Shift(en)

An attempt to visualize higher dimensions and unearthliness, taking into account these concepts' heightened awareness, when attempting to process or predict the end of the world.

Fine Feathers(en)

Two duelling birds get the urge to change their plumage. A blue jay wants to be decked out in the green of cedar, and a loon dons the burnished red of oak leaves, but neither bird foresees the consequences of vanity.

The Gang of Lidingö(sv)

The Gang of Lidingö is a story about the art of taking what you want. The same day the 70's became the 80's we left our tiny flat in the city. We did a turnaround. Bought a big house at Lidingö and were suddenly far away from our beloved demonstrations against capitalism's exploitation of the poor.

Johanne(en)

Inspired by Joan of Arc, Johanne follows a day in a life of the eponymous heroine. While set in medieval fantasy town, it explores the very current and urgent theme of preserving one’s humanity while struggling against inhumane environment, from modern feminist perspective.

Exploring the Reef(en)

Jean-Michael Cousteau's documentary about the Great Barrier Reef keeps getting interrupted by characters from Disney's Finding Nemo.

Le Baiser de la lune(fr)

A Daughter’s Memory(id)

Indonesia, 1965: hundreds and even thousands of people are arrested without warrant. Some did come back, the others lost without trace. Svet, one of the survivors of the Indonesian dark history recounts the memory she had of her father, whom she believes to be responsible for the 1965 tragedy.

The Barewolf(fr)

The werewolves that live in this secluded place are particularly savage: when not attacking anything that moves, they spend their time arguing and fighting. Driven by instinct, one young werewolf chases pink flamingos through the wild, straying far from home. Before he knows it, he’s in a place he knows nothing about: the world of humans.

Les Cowboys n'ont pas peur de mourir(fr)

Cowboys aren't afraid to die. Their death, always spectacular, is the grand finale of a tragic destiny. But when a cowboy messes up his exit, when he seems to hesitate awkwardly between life and death, the Western turns to the absurd.

Neon Lights(it)

In 2053, amidst a devastating pandemic, an old gravedigger from Elementar Corporation insists on burying his wife with just a shovel, rejecting the corporation's new burial technology, the "Cube Of Miracles." Conflict arises when a young gravedigger armed with the "Cube of Miracles" challenges the old gravedigger's traditional methods at the cemetery. The film explores the clash between tradition and innovation, delving into broader themes of man versus machine in a society grappling with AI and automation.

The Stolen Portrait(xx)

A sarcastic horror parody of comic book series from the 1930s.

Blue Curry(fr)

The greatest life lessons are learned through the simplest of experiences. When your kitchen turns into your biggest classroom... and Mom just serves you a plate of wisdom.

Donks(en)

An exploration of ocean plastic, avatars and adaptive bottom feeders. The musical!

Democracy Is ...(en)

The film is a controversy on democracy. Is our society really democratic? Can everyone be part of it? Or is the act of being part in democracy dependent to the access on technology, progression or any resources of information, as philosophers like Paul Virilio or Jean Baudrillard already claimed?

Information Violence(en)

Forest Murmurs(en)

An animated exploration of Epping Forest's sinister past sparks off a journey into the dark side of the artist's mind.

The Hoarder(en)

A greedy little blue jay carries away whatever his beak can grasp. Berries, birds' eggs (nests and all), and even the sun in the sky go into his secret cache.

Minuet(en)

An essay in colour harmonics and visual overtones. Conceived and produced as part of the Images Film Festival's Minute Movies.