A personal, poetic essay film exploring eye contact, social anxiety, and the nature of connection between self and other.
A personal, poetic essay film exploring eye contact, social anxiety, and the nature of connection between self and other.
2020-12-15
10
San Francisco filmmaker Konrad Steiner took 12 years to complete a montage cycle set to the late Leslie Scalapino’s most celebrated poem, way—a sprawling book-length odyssey of shardlike urban impressions, fraught with obliquely felt social and sexual tensions. Six stylistically distinctive films for each section of way, using sources ranging from Kodachrome footage of sun-kissed S.F. street scenes to internet clips of the Iraq war to a fragmented Fred Astaire dance number.
Roughly chronological, from 3/96 to 11/96, with a coda in spring of 1997: inside compounds of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist sect led by Shoko Asahara. (Members confessed to a murderous sarin attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995.) We see what they eat, where they sleep, and how they respond to media scrutiny, on-going trials, the shrinking of their fortunes, and the criticism of society. Central focus is placed on Hiroshi Araki, a young man who finds himself elevated to chief spokesman for Aum after its leaders are arrested. Araki faces extreme hostility from the Japanese public, who find it hard to believe that most followers of the cult had no idea of the attacks and even harder to understand why these followers remain devoted to the religion, if not the violence.
Soccer is an alien world for Walter Vismara, an unfamiliar terrain he's always avoided. But when his job hangs in the balance, he's thrust into the role of goalkeeper by his soccer-obsessed boss. Forced into a relentless routine of practice sessions and taunts, Walter finds himself trapped in a nightmare. His troubles escalate when he discovers his beloved in the arms of his archenemy, adding a personal dimension to his challenges. Determined to prove his worth, Walter devises a plan: to play the fool outwardly while secretly honing his skills. As he navigates this comedic yet challenging journey on the soccer field, will Walter emerge victorious and finally earn the respect he deserves?
Armored truck security guard James Brody is working with his son Casey transporting millions of dollars between banks when a team of thieves led by Rook orchestrate a takeover of their truck to seize the riches. Following a violent car chase, Rook soon has the armored truck surrounded and James and Casey find themselves cornered onto a decrepit bridge.
Morbius Jr, now an OId Man, is nearing the end of life, when he finds the last hope for all Morbkind. However, as he fights to protect the future of Morbheads, he finds himself facing off against an unlikely of enemy... HIMSELF.
Erstwhile Special Forces operative Doc Alexander is asked to broker a truce with the Mexican drug cartel in secrecy. When Oklahoma Governor Richard Jeffs celebrates the execution of a high-ranking cartel member on TV, his Chief of Staff and Doc inform him about the peace he just ended. But it’s too late, as Cuco, the cartel’s hatchet man, has set his vengeful sights on Doc’s daughter Dixie.
Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother, embarks upon the creation of a film that becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her project take on a life of their own.
In the lawless West, The Cowboys, a notorious brotherhood of killers and thieves, reigned over the land with brutal fists and fast guns. Fate had finally caught up with them and now the merciless gang has but a single surviving member. When a deputized gunslinger takes up the call to hunt down the last Cowboy, the chase is on and the bullets fly, and only one of these hardened men can survive.
Decades ago, the USSR developed unkillable sharks and launched them to the moon. Today, a team of American astronauts will endure the fight of their lives.
Billionaire sportsman Buddy King unwinds by hunting human captives on his remote mountain estate. But his latest victim, Ava Bravo, is no easy target.
When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.
María José and Alfredo are about to celebrate their 20th anniversary and their children give them a trip to the hotel where they celebrated their honeymoon, but a spell will make them repeat the same day.
In a world where no one speaks, a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness.
A Naval officer, reprimanded after Pearl Harbor, is later promoted to Rear Admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.
To defend their kingdom against a sudden invasion, a mighty general returns to the battlefield alongside a war orphan, now grown up, who dreams of glory.
Toni, a grumpy in his fifties, avoids children at all costs. His life changes when he suddenly has to take care of his sister's five adopted children, each from a different country. Toni will have to deal with new parenthood and cultural differences.
Tension mounts between a quadraplegic man and his wife as she prepares a bath for him.
A man lurks the night alleys, killing people at random, he feels nothing, no emotion, and no pain; when he meets a graceful widow he must confront what it means to be human.
A bleed on the brain and concussion inspire a crash victim to confront the heartbreak, trauma and confusion of losing connection with the only person they ever really knew.
A young man sits at a local restaurant with his friend: but he isn't paying attention to her as she speaks. This film visualizes his chaotic state of mind and how he uses mindfulness practice to tune back into the conversation. Mindfulness is being able to sit with and observe your thoughts. Being mindful improves focus and mental health. FLES is SELF spelt backwards.
After a terrible air disaster, survivor Max Klein emerges a changed person. Unable to connect to his former life or to wife Laura, he feels godlike and invulnerable. When psychologist Bill Perlman is unable to help Max, he has Max meet another survivor, Carla Rodrigo, who is wracked with grief and guilt since her baby died in the crash which she and Max survived.
Brenda, Laura, Ruben and Willem meet each other at an uneasy therapy session. The unconventional therapist (Pamela Tevis) tells them they only have 48 minutes left to live. Looking back at their lives, they start making choices they never dared before. ** This movie was made as part of the 48 Days Film Project: all writing, shooting and editing happened within 48days.
Leo (Alex Ross), loses the love of his life Charlie (Elena Salzberg), in a tragic accident. On her birthday the following year, he goes on a journey to honor her. He reflects on the short but wonderful time they had together by placing her favorite flower (roses) at places where they shared memories together.
Richard Feynman was a scientific genius with - in his words - a "limited intelligence". This dichotomy is just one of the characteristics that made him a fascinating subject. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out exposes us to many more of these intriguing attributes by featuring an extensive conversation with the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner. During the course of the interview, which was conducted in 1981, Feynman uses the undeniable power of the personal to convey otherwise challenging scientific theories. His colorful and lucid stories make abstract concepts tangible, and his warm presence is sure to inspire interest and awe from even the most reluctant student of science. His insights are profound, but his delivery is anything but dry and ostentatious.
We came from dust and we'll eventually return to it. Just like stars, at one final moment we'll meet our imminent collapse, then why turn against it when we can easily accept it as an old friend? The world is a chaotic and random event, the part we play in it is to live. Supernova is a short film made by a queer and brazilian independent filmmaker, that challenges the viewer into a collected and nostalgic journey of self-discovery, friendship, religion, mental health, family support, while challenging the lenghts of photography and graphic design. Avaliable on YouTube.
Three struggling couples embark on a transformative journey at a couples retreat, aiming to mend the cracks in their relationships.
An anxious protagonist awaits the arrival of his date, to which he spirals into a looping cycle of self doubt and panic as he relives the first date over and over.
Crownsville Hospital: From Lunacy to Legacy is a feature-length documentary film highlighting the history of the Crownsville State Mental Hospital in Crownsville, MD.
A teenager tests his limits by attending a costume party, where his anxiety manifests itself in the form of a looming shadow.
When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s "all in her head." Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story—and four other families' stories—fighting a disease medicine forgot.
A girl who's living abroad, alone for the first time, misses her cat.
Aging King George III of England is exhibiting signs of madness, a problem little understood in 1788. As the monarch alternates between bouts of confusion and near-violent outbursts of temper, his hapless doctors attempt the ineffectual cures of the day. Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger attempt to prevent the king's political enemies, led by the Prince of Wales, from usurping the throne.
A coming-of-age story about two former childhood friends attempting to make amends following a fight. As their conversation progresses, one of them has to mature in order to reconcile with her friend as well as herself.
16-year-old Aaron is an obsessive applicant to the Australian Army. He is rejected due to his Mental incapability's and relieves his anger through any means necessary.
Emotional Landscapes explores memory though narrative elements of fiction and essay components. Without protagonist, a narrator guides us through recollections, desires and family bonds, highlighting the chaotic nature of memory and life itself.
An unhinged office worker who planned to go on a shooting spree at his workplace struggles with his newfound status as a hero after he ends up stopping a shooting spree instead.
This documentary aims to register this unknown side of James Joyce: His Greek Notebooks. Trieste. Bloomsday, 2013. Dance in slow motion, accompanied by text. By deconstructing the body, we turn it into a memory: of the body, of life, of texts. The biographical references to Joyce and Mando Aravantinou, combined with the diagonal slicing of the image, cancel the realism of the landscape, including that of the Narrator’s space/study. As a culmination, Joyce’s letter “A request for a loan in Greek” functions as a timely denunciation. Various routes through cities, such as Trieste, London, New York, and Athens; languages such as Greek and English. In addition to the primal myth of Ulysses, there is another issue: Greek is “the language of the subject of Ulysses”