The Mad Masters

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.)

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat(fr)

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.

Art Through Our Eyes(ms)

As an omnibus of short films, Art Through Our Eyes is inspired by the art collection found at the National Gallery Singapore. Each of the five directors – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Brillante Mendoza, Eric Khoo, Ho Yuhang and Joko Anwar – handpicked a masterpiece from the 19th and 20th century as inspiration for their short films.

Weaving Women(mk)

A group of Macedonian women are shown hard at work.

Jorden är platt(sv)

Hakob Hovnatanyan(hy)

Exploring the art of Armenian portraitist Hakob Hovnatanyan, Parajanov revives the culture of Tbilisi of the 19th century.

Fanalysis(en)

Actor/cult icon Bruce Campbell examines the world of fan conventions and what makes a fan into a fanatic.

Daybreak Express(en)

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

An Experiment in Leisure(nl)

An Experiment in Leisure explores the link between free time and creativity, between leisure and the kind of imaginative contemplation it facilitates.

At Your Fingertips: Cylinders(en)

Instructive short on using cylinders to construct all manner of fun objects.

Stain(xx)

A woman is stuck in a world full of stains, spots, and repetitive thoughts.

Believe It or Not #12(en)

Traveling to North Africa, Ripley offers views of The Meeting Place of the Dead in Morocco, a jail for nagging wives, a village with houses made of tin cans, and a sultan with many wives and children.

Volcano(en)

A moving record of a natural disaster, Volcano documents the effect of a sudden volcanic eruption on the tiny island of Haimaey, off the coast of Iceland. Blasts of flame, clouds of black smoke and showers of rock erupt from the screen in a poignant portrait of a stricken town.

Snow Job(en)

The roads are full of snow and the bus is late. The Principal is mad at the bus driver but he is also sick.

In Dog Years(en)

A portrait of 10 senior dogs and their owners who struggle with the thought of letting go.

Positively Naked(en)

No clothes. No apologies. This film marks artist Spencer Tunick's third 'Naked' documentary which feature photo shoots that create art from the naked bodies of men and women. In this shoot, 85 HIV-positive men and women gather in a downtown Manhattan bar where they bare it all for Tunick's camera, creating an unsentimental look at life with AIDS in America today.

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life(en)

The story of Alice Herz-Sommer, a German-speaking Jewish pianist from Prague who was, at her death, the world's oldest Holocaust survivor. She discusses the importance of music, laughter, and how to have an optimistic outlook on life.

Clouds(es)

An open invitation to look at the sky.

The Conclave and Election of Pope Pius XII(it)

A short documentary covering the conclave and election of Pope Pius XII.

Saltlake Van Sant(en)

Behind-the-scenes documentary of one morning on the set of "Gerry" directed by Gus Van Sant.

Antoine and Colette(fr)

Now aged 17, Antoine Doinel works in a factory which makes records. At a music concert, he meets a girl his own age, Colette, and falls in love with her. Later, Antoine goes to extraordinary lengths to please his new girlfriend and her parents, but Colette still only regards him as a casual friend. First segment of “Love at Twenty” (1962).

The Look of Silence(en)

An optician grapples with the Indonesian mass killings of 1965-1966, during which his older brother was exterminated.

BPM (Beats per Minute)(fr)

Paris, in the early 1990s: a group of young activists is desperately tied to finding the cure against an unknown lethal disease. They target the pharmaceutical labs that are retaining potential cures, and multiply direct actions, with the hope of saving their lives as well as the ones of future generations.

The Pearl(fr)

A silent, surreal short involving a man buying a pearl necklace. He meets a woman who also desires the necklace.

The Revenge of Lemonade Bill(pt)

Limeville, the city of lime, fears it's legacy might be destroyed when the heirs of the land show up to claim the town and replace the lime with oranges. But there's only place for one fruit in this town...

Mildred Pierce(en)

A hard-working mother inches towards disaster as she divorces her husband and starts a successful restaurant business to support her spoiled daughter.

A Brighter Summer Day(zh)

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

Rosetta(fr)

Young, impulsive Rosetta lives a hard and stressful life as she struggles to support herself and her alcoholic mother. Refusing all charity, she is desperate to maintain a dignified job.

L'Âge d'or(fr)

The film consists of a series of tightly interlinked vignettes, the most sustained of which details the story of a man and a woman who are passionately in love. Their attempts to consummate their passion are constantly thwarted, by their families, by the Church and bourgeois society in general.

La Jetée(fr)

A man confronts his past during an experiment that attempts to find a solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world caused by a world war.

Theorem(it)

A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.

Tom Horn(en)

A renowned former army scout is hired by ranchers to hunt down rustlers but finds himself on trial for the murder of a boy when he carries out his job too well. Tom Horn finds that the simple skills he knows are of no help in dealing with the ambitions of ranchers and corrupt officials as progress marches over him and the old west.

Mothra vs. Godzilla(ja)

Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla arises near Nagoya and the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.

Night of the Demon(en)

American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science.

Love Songs(fr)

Ismael and Julie, in the hope of sparking their stalled relationship, enter a playful yet emotionally laced threesome with Alice. When tragedy strikes, these young Parisians are forced to deal with the fragility of life and love. For Ismael, this means negotiating through the advances of Julie's sister and a young college student – one of which may offer him redemption.

Solaris(ru)

A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out repressed memories and obsessions.

For Love and Honor(tr)

Ali Osman is a former bully of city of Istanbul. But lately he gives up bully and starts to operate a synthetic pitch. He often meets his old friends, former bullies, too. One day Ali Osman receives a news which is related with his previous passionate life. Then the whole action stats as a chain of events.

My Name Is Joe(en)

Two thirtysomethings, unemployed former alcoholic Joe and community health worker Sarah, start a romantic relationship in one of the toughest Glasgow neighbourhoods.

Nocturama(fr)

Some young folks, tired of the society they're living in, plan a bomb attack over Paris before taking shelter for a night in a shopping center.

Distant(tr)

After his wife leaves him, a photographer has an existential crisis and tries to cope with his cousin's visit.