
Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith(2017)
In his essay film, Jerry Tartaglia, longtime archivist and restorer of the film estate of queer New York underground, experimental film, and performance legend Jack Smith, deals less with Smith’s life than with his work, analyzing Smith’s aesthetic idiosyncrasies in 21 thematic chapters. It's a film essay about the artist’s work, rather than a documentary about his life. An unmediated vision of Jack Smith, an invitation to join him in his lost paradise.
Movie: Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith
Top 10 Billed Cast
Himself (archive footage)
Herself (archive footage)
Himself (archive footage)
Himself (archive footage)
Himself (archive footage)
Himself (archive footage)
Herself (archive footage)
Herself (archive footage)
Himself (archive footage)
Recommendations Movies
6.5Heart of a Dog(en)
Lyrical and powerfully personal essay film that reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother, her beloved dog, and such diverse subjects as family memories, surveillance, and Buddhist teachings.
6.8Welcome to Chechnya(en)
This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.
6.5Downloaded(en)
A documentary that explores the downloading revolution; the kids that created it, the bands and the businesses that were affected by it, and its impact on the world at large.
6.9Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction(en)
An impressionistic portrait of the iconic actor Harry Dean Stanton comprised of intimate moments, film clips from some of his 250 films and his renditions of American folk songs.
7.9John Candy: I Like Me(en)
Those who knew iconic funnyman John Candy best share his story, in their own words, through never-before-seen archival footage, imagery, and interviews.
6.6Harmontown(en)
A comedic, brutally honest documentary following self-destructive TV writer Dan Harmon as he takes his live podcast on a national tour.
7.4I Am Heath Ledger(en)
The life and career of an actor, artist, and icon. His own journey through his own camera.
7.0Drew: The Man Behind the Poster(en)
A documentary on legendary movie-poster artist Drew Struzan.
6.1Naqoyqatsi(en)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
7.4More Brains! A Return to the Living Dead(en)
Retrospective documentary about the making of the horror cult classic "The Return of the Living Dead."
6.8Looking for Richard(en)
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
7.9A Decade Under the Influence(en)
A documentary examining the decade of the 1970s as a turning point in American cinema. Some of today's best filmmakers interview the influential directors of that time.
7.5The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story(en)
A documentary chronicling Queen and Lambert's incredible journey since they first shared the stage together on "American Idol" in 2009.
7.5The Last Repair Shop(en)
In a warehouse in the heart of Los Angeles, a dwindling handful of devoted craftspeople maintain more than 80,000 student musical instruments, the largest remaining workshop in America of its kind. Meet four unforgettable characters whose broken-and-repaired lives have been dedicated to bringing so much more than music to the schoolchildren of this city.
6.1Seduced and Abandoned(en)
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
7.5Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski(en)
Artists in LA discover the work of forgotten Polish sculptor Stanislav Szukalski, a mad genius whose true story unfolds chapter by astounding chapter.
7.0Iverson(en)
Iverson is the ultimate legacy of NBA legend Allen Iverson, who rose from a childhood of crushing poverty in Hampton, Virginia, to become an 11-time NBA All-Star and universally recognized icon of his sport. Off the court, his audacious rejection of conservative NBA convention and unapologetic embrace of hip hop culture sent shockwaves throughout the league and influenced an entire generation. Told largely in Iverson's own words, the film charts the career highs and lows of one of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.
7.5Listen to Me Marlon(en)
With exclusive access to his extraordinary unseen and unheard personal archive including hundreds of hours of audio recorded over the course of his life, this is the definitive Marlon Brando cinema documentary. Charting his exceptional career as an actor and his extraordinary life away from the stage and screen with Brando himself as your guide, the film will fully explore the complexities of the man by telling the story uniquely from Marlon's perspective, entirely in his own voice. No talking heads, no interviewees, just Brando on Brando and life.
6.0Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood(en)
A deliciously scandalous portrait of unsung Hollywood legend Scotty Bowers, whose bestselling memoir chronicled his decades spent as sexual procurer to the stars.
Similar Movies
0.0When Pride Becomes Prejudice(en)
A short documentary immersing you in the intimacy and harsh reality of young LGBTQ+ artists, working in Los Angeles in the midst of the glamorous neighborhood of West Hollywood.
5.5One Second in Montreal(en)
A silent succession of black-and-white photographs of the city of Montreal.
7.6Somniloquies(en)
Works with sound recordings of Dion McGregor, who became famous for talking in his sleep.
6.9The Five Obstructions(da)
In 1967, experimental filmmaker Jorgen Leth created a striking short film, The Perfect Human, starring a man and women sitting in a box while a narrator poses questions about their relationship and humanity. Years later, Danish director Lars von Trier made a deal with Leth to remake his film five times, each under a different set of circumstances and with von Trier's strictly prescribed rules. As Leth completes each challenge, von Trier creates increasingly further elaborate stipulations.
4.2Queer Japan(ja)
Trailblazing artists, activists, and everyday people from across the spectrum of gender and sexuality defy social norms and dare to live unconventional lives in this kaleidoscopic view of LGBTQ+ culture in contemporary Japan.
0.0OLO, the Boy from Tibet(ja)
A 6-year-old Tibetan boy leaves his family and flees to a refugee camp in northern India.
5.8Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero(en)
A remarkably intimate portrait of an artist on tour navigating identity, family, expectations, and acceptance, all while reflecting on his place within the legacy of Black, queer performers.
0.0Not Alone(ru)
Mothers and fathers of gay, lesbian, and trans children from Georgia, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine travel to Berlin to walk together in the Pride parade. Living under one roof, they prepare for the march — painting signs, cooking borscht, and reflecting on how their relationships with their queer children have evolved over the years.
5.0Group Portrait as a Still Life(ru)
Documentary on the interdependence of the world of the living and the dead, and 'the infernal influence on the thoughts and actions of living people.
6.4Decasia: The State of Decay(en)
A meditation on the human quest to transcend physicality, constructed from decaying archival footage and set to an original symphonic score.
6.4Atlantis(en)
A documentary portrait of Utopia, loosely framed by Plato’s invocation of the lost continent of Atlantis in 360 BC and its re-resurrection via a 1970s science fiction pulp novel.
9.0How I Learned to Love the Numbers(de)
A New York film and at the same time the study of a young man suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The Berlin filmmaker Oliver Sechting (37) and his co-director Max Taubert (23) travel to New York with the idea of documenting the art scene there. However, the project is quickly overshadowed by Oliver's OCD, and the two directors fall prey to a conflict that becomes the central theme of their film. Encounters with such artists as film directors Tom Tykwer (Cloud Atlas), Ira Sachs (Keep the Lights On), and Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation) or the transmedia artist Phoebe Legere seem more and more to resemble therapy sessions. At last, Andy Warhol-Superstar Ultra Violet succeeds in opening a new door for Oliver.
Photodiary(ja)
"The majority of my 8-mm works were made for the three-minute "Personal Focus" film special put on in Fukuoka. This film is an animation of photographs I had taken on a regular basis as a sort of diary, and was made to have a rough feel to it." - Takashi Ito
0.0Femmenell (City of Mermaids)(it)
A journey between the sacred and profane in which the Femminielli, an ancient non-binary Neapolitan figure, fight for their survival against the globalizing tides of modernity.
5.86-18-67(en)
Filmed during the production of the Columbia Pictures western "Mackenna’s Gold," this short work presents a non-narrative visual study of the Arizona desert. Rather than documenting the film set itself, "6-18-67" assembles landscape images, time-lapse photography, and ambient sound into an abstract record of place and duration.
7.8Man with a Movie Camera(ru)
A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.
4.2Men Boxing(xx)
Experimental film fragment made with the Edison-Dickson-Heise experimental horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film.
7.0Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution(en)
A documentary on Queercore, the cultural and social movement that began as an offshoot of punk and was distinguished by its discontent with society's disapproval of the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender communities.




