#Familiar #Touch #Lost #Figures

Land Without Bread(es)

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Beyond the Straight and Narrow(en)

How did the rise of LGBTQ visibility, political progress, and digital technologies in the 2000s come together to offer the abundance of complex queer and transgender representations we see today? Media scholar Katherine Sender shows how LGBTQ visibility and political progress have combined with new digital media technologies and television platforms to produce an increasingly complex range of queer and transgender representations.

Halloween Safety(en)

This 11-minute, color film is designed to acquaint primary through intermediate students with Halloween safety. The film presents a little girl who has an unsafe costume. In a flashback, the changes that can be made to make her Halloween safer are detailed. These include reflective tape, removing pointed objects, a clearer field of vision, and others. Suggestions also include waiting to sample treats until they have been checked, observing reasonable hours, traveling with groups, observing pedestrian rules, trick-or-treating at familiar homes only, checking treats for inbedded objects, and safe tricks. (archive.org)

Cinema Exercises(it)

A workshop film made with a group of students of the Pietro Zorutti School in Palmanova, Esercizi di Cinema is an experimental adaptation of Raymond Queneau's book Exercises in Style.

The Gay Rock & Roll Years(en)

A history of the anglo-saxon gay and lesbian movement scored to the liberating popular tunes of the last 25 years. Moving from the initial struggle for gay law reform, to the revolutionary politics spurned by Stonewall to the homophobic policies initiated under Thatcher and the New Right, this film is a celebration of the achievements and struggles of gay and lesbian activists. Funny, inspiring and bound to get your feet tapping “The Gay Rock and Roll Years” is a great introduction to queer history. Songs featured include Doris Day singing “Secret Love”, The Kinks doing “Lola”, Sylvester singing “You Make Me feel (Mighty Real) and Culture Club asking “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?”. From rockabilly to soul to glam to disco to punk to house: we’re gay, we’re proud, we don’t ever stop the dance.

Thir13en Ghosts Revealed(en)

Behind the scenes of 'Thir13en Ghosts' (2001)

Space Junk 3D(en)

50 years after launching our dreams into space, we’re left with a troubling legacy: a growing ring of orbiting debris that threatens the safety of earth’s orbits. SPACE JUNK is a visually explosive journey of discovery that weighs the solutions aimed at restoring our planet’s orbits. Experience mind-boggling collisions, both natural and man-made. Soar for the stunning depths of Meteor Crater to an unprecedented view of our increasingly crowded orbits – 22,000 miles above earth. Join us as foremost expert Don Kessler, the “Father of Space Junk,” guides us through the challenges we face in protecting them, forging a new age of space discovery.

A Day in Barbagia(it)

Against the background of flocks of sheep at pasture, mules walking down unpaved roads, tractors in the fields, and isolated figures in a deserted village, a caption explains that Barbagia is a vast region in Sardinia; Orgosolo, Oliena and Mamoiada are villages of shepherds and the men spend most of the year far away, with their flocks. This is why the houses and the children are entrusted to the women, who cut the wood, work the fields and prepare bread, shepherds’ bread.

La Punta(th)

A short film made for "Venezia 70 - Future Reloaded."

Here I Am...Here You Are(ar)

Eccomi ... Eccoti unfolds as a virtual road trip navigating between Italy and Lebanon. Conditioned to live in a long-distance relationship with his partner because of strict European visa regulations, the director patches together the shared moments in an attempt to create a possible day-to-day reality for their couple. With a lyrical, ambient soundscape set atop a dreamy, atmospheric visual style that oscillates between still photography and moving images, the film explores what it means to be gay in contemporary Beirut and existential discomfort that blocks one from reaching a sense of complete-ness. Does such in-completeness have to do, in particular, with being gay? Or is it related to a grander malaise endemic to the human condition?

Embodiment of Darkness(en)

A dark formless body moves . Formlessness of an entity is because a constant change in form is perceived as formless

I Can't(en)

A roll of film is not a successful conduit for grief. For Robert Todd.

Sergei Parajanov, The Exile(el)

Sergei Paradjanov, the great Soviet filmmaker of Armenian origin who was born and grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia, studied film in Moscow and worked for many years in Ukraine, talks on camera to Fotos Lamprinos about his life, his films, and events in the USSR under Gorbachev’s Perestroika, a few short months before he died and while the state of his health was already deteriorating. The film includes rare footage of the massacre of Georgian civilians by the Soviet Army in April 1989 and unpublished material from the Ukrainian prison in which Paradjanov served his sentence.

Attica in Motion(en)

A four minute audio-visual journey of Athens Greece that has been time/hyper lapsed.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

Likely in June 1897, a group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Sea Trip(es)

Das Wachsen des Römischen Reiches(de)

The rise of the Roman Empire towards world power is reconstructed with the help of cartographies and re-enactments. It also shows where traces of ancient Rome can still be found today.

Zwiesprache(de)

A mother wants to tell her daughter her opinion via video, but because she is untrained in using the new technology, she returns to the familiar letter form.

Manuel(de)

Manuel is only 11 years old, but he already works on a sugar cane plantation located in northeastern Brazil. His father and older brother are also employed here. Manuel works on a huge roller that is used to press out the sugar cane. His friends transport the squeezed sugar cane away, dry the remains on the farm or help transport the cut cane to the mill. The film shows Manuel's daily work and describes the different steps of sugar production on the plantation. Manuel hopes that his younger siblings will soon be able to help, because although Manuel contributes to the family income, it is often not enough to feed the family of nine.

The Letter League(en)

A shirt film that tells the story of queer artist Heather Spooner and the adult pen pal program she created during the 2020 pandemic, featuring the poignant and humorous stories of connection and humanity that came from it.