The Mischief Makers

Swing, Monkey, Swing(en)

A scarce and seldom seen cartoon from 1937 with excellent hot jazz and containing caricatures of Cab Calloway, Ted Lewis and Bessie Smith.

Zombiefication(de)

The ultimate manual when it comes to the proper handling of the living dead. Recommended behavioural patterns in case of imminent Zombie epidemics are explained in comprehensible steps and vividly executed.

Farmer Al Falfa's Ape Girl(en)

The Farmer is abducted by a capering Jungle Goddess. As pre-Code as a Terrytoon ever got. Most animation is by Frank Moser; with him are Art Babbitt, Jerry Shields, Bill Tytla and others.

Danemon Ban: The Monster Exterminator(ja)

The boozy mercenary of the title, based on the actual historical figure of Naoyuki Ban (1567-1615), attempts to rid a haunted castle of spooks.

How Animated Cartoons Are Made(en)

Wallace Carlson walks viewers through the production of an animated short at Bray Studios.

My Friend Friedrich(en)

My Friend Friedrich opens on awkward, bespectacled Columbia student Nate having a heart to heart on the phone with his mother. Then, in a philosophy class, he almost succeeds in landing a date by lobbing an illustrated invitation at his love interest, Emma. All goes awry when a taller, more confident, bespectacled Columbia student cuts him off at the knees. So far, so very New York student film, but a conceit arrives to distinguish this story of Ivy League dating woes: the ghost of Friedrich Nietzsche appears before Nate to guide him towards self-actualization.

The Pawnshop(en)

A pawnbroker's assistant deals with his grumpy boss, his annoying co-worker and some eccentric customers as he flirts with the pawnbroker's daughter, until a perfidious crook with bad intentions arrives at the pawnshop.

The Count(en)

A tailor's apprentice burns Count Broko's clothes while ironing them and the tailor fires him. Later, the tailor discovers a note explaining that the count cannot attend a dance party, so he dresses as such to take his place; but the apprentice has also gone to the mansion where the party is celebrated and bumps into the tailor in disguise…

Bloomer Smokes Opium(it)

A series of trick film hallucinations and scary doubling effects result when Patachon smokes an opium cigarette.

La marchetta(it)

Caminandes: Gran Dillama(en)

A young llama named Koro discovers that the grass is always greener on the other side (of the fence).

Caminandes: Llama Drama(en)

Koro wants to get to the other side of the road.

Smith's Pony(en)

The Smith's visit San Francisco to attend a horse show only to have their precocious daughter cause some minor comical mishaps and their over-sized canine refusing to obey commands.

Interesting Ball(en)

A red ball bounces past a cafe and a couple folks’ houses and then goes to the beach.

Back to the Woods(en)

Harold and Snub are self-proclaimed big-game hunters who stop at a remote outpost. They hire two native guides to lead them into the woods, but the guides run in terror when they see a rather tame bear in the distance. Harold is annoyed that he cannot find any bears to hunt--unaware that two timid bears are closely following him. Meanwhile Snub encounters an equally tame wildcat who eats his picnic lunch. Snub sprints away. Back at the outpost, Harold twice rescues Jeanne--once from the clutches of an unwanted suitor and once from one of the bears. The grateful, gun-toting Jeanne tells Harold she wants him to be her "sweetie."

One Year Lease(en)

Phone messages from the cat-loving landlord living directly above you. Ah, New York.

The Champion(en)

Walking along with his bulldog, Charlie finds a "good luck" horseshoe just as he passes a training camp advertising for a boxing partner "who can take a beating." After watching others lose, Charlie puts the horseshoe in his glove and wins. The trainer prepares Charlie to fight the world champion. A gambler wants Charlie to throw the fight. He and the trainer's daughter fall in love.

The Stubborn Donkey(el)

When the old fisherman tries to convince his donkey to climb the steep winding road of their Greek island, he finds Mariza to be one suborn ass. But the old man knows that no one can resist Zorba's dance.

Busy Bodies(en)

In this short film, Laurel and Hardy wage battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at a sawmill.

From Hand to Mouth(en)

As a penniless man worries about how he will manage to eat, he is joined by a young waif and her dog, who are in the same predicament. Meanwhile, across town a dishonest lawyer is working with a gang of criminals, trying to swindle an innocent young heiress out of her inheritance. As the heiress is on her way home from the lawyer's office, she notices the young man and the waif in the midst of their latest problem with the authorities, and she rescues them. Later on, the young man will have an unexpected opportunity to repay her for her kindness.

The 400 Blows(fr)

For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.

Shrew's Nest(es)

Spain, 1950s. Montse's agoraphobia keeps her locked in a sinister apartment in Madrid and her only link to reality is the little sister she lost her youth raising. But one day, a reckless young neighbor, Carlos, falls down the stairwell and drags himself to their door. Someone has entered the shrew's nest... perhaps he'll never leave.

The Big Shave(en)

A young man walks into a meticulously clean and sterile bathroom and proceeds to shave away hair, then skin, in an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene.

A Story of Water(fr)

A young woman tries to go to Paris, but her garden and the whole village is flooded with water.

The Bride Wore Black(fr)

Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?

Miss Sadie Thompson(en)

Sadie Thompson winds up stranded on an island and while her boat is being quarantined, she manages to stir up the blood of every marine on the base.

Bixa Travesty(pt)

A portrait of transgender musician and artist Linn da Quebrada, who uses her body and performances as weapons to fight sexism, homophobia, and racism.

Love's Surprises(fr)

A man, his wife and their two sons are having a meal. One of the sons leaves the room pretending to be ill and collects a bunch of flowers form a cupboard and goes out. The other son takes a bunch of flowers from under his bed and he too leaves, followed by their father, also carrying flowers. The two sons and their father call on the same young women one after the other; as each arrives, the previous suitor is hidden in a piece of furniture: the father under a chair cover, one son in a cupboard and the other in a piano. A girlfriend of the young woman visits and the two play pranks on the hiding men by playing the piano and sitting on the chair cover. The three men emerge and the father chases his two sons outside until they remind him of his own folly; he gives his sons some money and urges them to keep silent.

Croatto: La huella de un emigrante(es)

Visual, emotional, musical, and historical pilgrimage of the places, moments, and circumstances that Tony Croatto traced during his life and artistic trajectory.

Autumn Sonata(sv)

After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.

Lucky(en)

Follows the journey of a 90-year-old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off-the-map desert town. He finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self-exploration.

The Wicker Man(en)

A sheriff investigating the disappearance of a young girl from a small island discovers there's a larger mystery to solve among the island's secretive, neo-pagan community.

Jersey Girl(en)

Ollie Trinke is a young, suave music publicist who seems to have it all, with a new wife and a baby on the way. But life deals him a bum hand when he's suddenly faced with single fatherhood, a defunct career and having to move in with his father. To bounce back, it takes a new love and the courage instilled in him by his daughter.

Battle Royale(ja)

In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.

Roma(es)

In 1970s Mexico City, two domestic workers help a mother of four while her husband is away for an extended period of time.

Little Miss Sunshine(en)

A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.

Joker(en)

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Knives Out(en)

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.

Ghostbusters(en)

After losing their academic posts at a prestigious university, a team of parapsychologists goes into business as proton-pack-toting "ghostbusters" who exterminate ghouls, hobgoblins and supernatural pests of all stripes. An ad campaign pays off when a knockout cellist hires the squad to purge her swanky digs of demons that appear to be living in her refrigerator.

Lost in Translation(en)

Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.