Zhang Xianchi is a man thrown into the Cultural Revolution and its afterimage, plunged into the ideological deadlocks of the era and suffering its consequences beyond it. Born into a family that supports the nationalist Kuomintang, Zhang eventually became a leftist and joined the Communist Party. But his family’s background eventually catches up with him, and in a series of bureaucratic measures, he is labelled as a Rightist, leading to a slew of irrational yet life-affecting consequences. His story is told through an exhilarating hybrid of forms, blending documentary-styled interviews and spectral theatrical displays within an ever-mutating studio-space. Hypnagogic in its imagery and ironic in attitude, Mr. Zhang Believes is a tour-de-force treatise of a man caught within dogmatic political maneuverings, which it critiques indirectly with creative and stoic fervour.
Lucia arrives to Buenos Aires with a mission, take care of a Hungarian filmmaker invited to present his film at the Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival. Lucia meets Pablo, who introduces himself as the angel of prestigious film director Béla Tarr. Lucia and Pablo will join Laszlo Novak in a tragic adventure, moving heaven and earth to find his lost film.
Sumptuous filming of the journey of a shipwrecked Japanese expedition from the Pacific Ocean across Siberia to the court of Catherine the Great of Russia. A Russo-Japanese co-production of a unique event in history which was the hit of Cannes and other film festivals but did not receive wide distribution despite its huge scope, high production values, and very human story of culture clash.
Truck driver Teddy's late night stop at a gas station takes a dark turn when he meets the mysterious hooker Katerina, leading to unexpected consequences.
A short comedy spoof about Universal Monsters and their everyday unconventional work done at their very own talent agency for their movies.
The boss of the Hung Hing gang, Tian Sang, has died. Ho Nam and Hon Bun find Sangs younger brother, Yang to lead the gang. Meanwhile, Hon Bun receives news that his younger brother, a leader of the Tuen Mun gang has been assasinated. They travel to Hong Kong to settle the matter.
On the 20th anniversary of their edgy little 90's cable show Underground Entertainment, the authors, along with many SF, horror and B celebrities in cameos, remember how they pushed the envelope, shocked, entertained, but also introduced the audience to many movies, comics and conventions.
Are you ready for some card tricks? ABC fills the pesky non-Monday Night Football hour with the gregarious Penn Gilette and the silent Teller popping up at malls, schools, private homes and the beach with a dizzying array of sleight-of-hand tricks. For anyone who has ever been left wanting after seeing one of their tricks on David Letterman's show, this is an overflowing bounty. Duo's signature is a constant state of misdirection, flubbing one or more aspects of a trick --- even to the apparent point of death or mutilation --- to make the finale that much more spectacular. They even explain tricks: one with cards so anyone can do it at home and another with cups and balls that, rather than explicate, is an astonishing display of technique. Throughout, Penn combines carnival barking with political soapbox ranting --- subversive, sublime and wildly amusing --- and bolsters the weirdness factor of even the most ordinary trick.
Marcel Perez arrives at the holiday resort wearing a pith helmet and carrying enough luggage to hold supplies for a monthlong journey through hostile territory. It's a good idea for a comic who never met a flight of stairs he didn't fall down.
A family portrait session goes horribly wrong, as secrets and jealousy bubble to the surface under the photographer's watchful gaze.
Jun Hau Timi is a romantic tale of unexpected love in the heart of London. Samir, a dashing and fitness-conscious man from Nepal, is searching for the perfect partner. Shristi, a young and beautiful woman from India, is exploring life in the United Kingdom. One day, Samir decides to visit Tower Bridge in London. As he stands admiring the iconic landmark, he notices Shristi walking nearby. Captivated by her beauty, he approaches her and introduces himself. Shristi warmly responds, and the two strike up an instant connection. Eager to share the city's charm, Shristi takes Samir on a tour of London's landmarks, including London Bridge and other picturesque spots. Their friendship deepens as they spend more time together, and a spark of love begins to grow. The story conveys a simple yet profound message: love can happen anytime, anywhere, with someone who feels like destiny
For his past to be concealed, he must first face his darkest enemy - himself
At Pinkstone National Park, the Panther heckles a nature photographer (Big Nose Man) and ultimately gets what's coming to him.
Four couples stranded at a remote lakeside cabin on the eve of a reported alien invasion discover not everything is as it seems.
A bar fight leaves up-and-coming professional footballer Andy injured and out of the game. Needing money to support his pregnant wife and himself, he buys an ice cream van and gets to work. When a gang of Polish drug runners starts to irritate him, he joins a British gang involved in football hooliganism for protection.
Garden parties, music and dancing characterize the lives of a family of German aristocrats in the days leading to World War I.
Mickey Ryan falls from grace due to a series of downward spiraling events beyond his control. With his life turned upside down, Mickey tries valiantly to resolve his issues but hooks up with the wrong people who blind him with anger and hate.
Prometheus, on an Odyssean journey, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge in search of the characters of his imagination. After meeting the Muse, he proceeds to the "forest." There, under an apple tree, he communes with his selves, represented by celebrated personages from the New York "underground scene" who appear as modern correlatives to the figures of Greek mythology. The filmmaker, who narrates the situations with a translation of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, finds the personalities of his characters to have a timeless universality.
A musical audiovisual journey in four parts. A young man finds himself unexpectedly taking an audiovisual odyssey into a world of surreality, slowly recounting his memories, revealing the puzzle pieces that led him to where he is, and maybe how he can get out.
A couple, Vlad and Sophy, navigate their relationship as well as their own struggles with mental health in the context of a highly connected, politically uncertain modern world while on a trip to a remote Canadian island in this avant-garde feature film. PREFACE TO A HISTORY, created with a tiny crew of four people, represents an experiment in using minimalist tools to create an overwhelming aesthetic experience in service of a simple, but specifically contemporary, story about two people attempting to navigate a fraying relationship amid all the anxieties and external pressures of modern adulthood in a technologically-interconnected and politically unstable era.
The wife of an abusive criminal finds solace in the arms of a kind regular guest in her husband's restaurant.
The Alchemist assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.
Five lonesome cowboys get all hot and bothered at home on the range after confronting Ramona Alvarez and her nurse.
A creative documentary about becoming a parent... and how to reconceive yourself. Fiction director Josh Appignanesi turns the camera on himself and his wife as they undergo the ordeal of becoming parents in the era of man-children and assisted reproduction. Faced with fatherhood, Josh spirals comically into an envious career funk. But life-threatening complications emerge- the couple are tested to the brink, confronting shattering losses. It's a portrait of our generation going through a revolution in reproduction- forced to find new ways to think about ourselves as creative beings. We hear from Slavoj Žižek, John Berger, Darian Leader (20,000 Days) and Zadie Smith. Universal yet still taboo, it's a film for everyone who has children, wants them, or still feels like a child themselves.
Fact and fiction blur in this faux documentary about a lost woman, Lian, who is searching for her own identity. Lian is manipulated by Dennis, a video editor. He captures surveillance footage of her and manipulates it in an attempt to manipulate and then possess her real life.
A Documentary on the Making of 'Gore Vidal's Caligula'
A retrospective of the classic game show, What's My Line, in which a four-member celebrity panel attempted to identify a contestant's occupation through yes or no questions. In addition, each episode featured a celebrity mystery guest that the panelists tried to identify the guest while blindfolded. The show ran from 1950-1967 and prominently featured John Daly, Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, and Dorothy Kilgallen. This documentary looked back on the show 25 years after it premiered.
In this cyclical fever dream, a woman struggles to win over the crowd.
Weston Eastward, owner of a small delivery service, hires Garrett Britches to deliver packages to unusual clients, whom lead Garret to a dark secret.
Adachi's follow-up to Bowl using the figure of a woman suffering from an unusual sexual aliment has often been taken as a controversial allegory for the political stalemate of the Leftist student movement after their impressive wave of massive fiery protests failed to defeat the neo-imperialist Japan-US Security Treaty. The ritualistic solemnity of the charged sexual scenes contribute to the oneiric qualities of Closed Vagina which Adachi would later insist was an open work, not meant to deliver any kind of deliberate political message. - Harvard Film Archive
The film portraits the stage previous to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution, from the end of Porfirio Díaz´ government, the social volatility, the ephemeral government of Madero and the presence of the working class in the figures of Villa and Zapata, until the signing if the Constitution of 1917. All of this through moving images, filmed during those events mainly by the Alva brothers, filmmakers of that time. Those images let us perceive the contradictory and shuddered glance of the people of that period.
“For my film portrait of Sasha Grey, I wanted to focus on her expressive and psychological transformation into a cinematic actor, separate from the cues that have associated Sasha with her previous career as a performance artist working within the adult film world.” – Richard Phillips
History as immersion and dispersion in the fragments of the past, a visionary journey accompanied by the voice of Patty Pravo. Presented at the Taormina Festival '97.
"Assassination" - Adaptation of Hermann Hesse's novel "Demian". A young man's detachment from and revolt against the superficial ideals of the world of appearances and eventually awakens into a realization of self. Max Demian is his childhood friend and mentor.