Wagner
Marthe Schwerlein
Chorus
Orchestra
A very free adaptation of Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus', Goethe's 'Faust' and various other treatments of the old legend of the man who sold his soul to the devil. A nondescript man is lured by a strange map into a sinister puppet theatre, where he finds himself immersed in an indescribably weird version of the play, blending live actors, clay animation and giant puppets.
Disillusioned with life, the aged philosopher Faust calls upon Satan to help him. The devil Méphistophélès appears and strikes a bargain with the philosopher: he will give him youth and the love of the beautiful Marguerite, if Faust hands over his soul. Faust agrees, and Méphistophélès arranges matters so that Marguerite loses interest in her suitor Siébel and becomes infatuated with Faust. Faust initially seems to love Marguerite in return, but soon abandons her. Her brother Valentin returns from the war and is furious to find his sister pregnant. Will Faust repent his destructive actions, and can his soul, and Marguerite's, be saved?
‘La course à l’abîme’ is a depiction of the final ride into hell from ‘La Damnation de Faust’ (1846) by Hector Berlioz.
When a dedicated college professor is denied tenure, he turns to black magic in a moment of desperation but finds himself trapped in a private hell of his own making.
After straight-arrow district attorney Joseph Foster says in frustration that he would sell his soul to bring down a local mob boss, a smooth-talking stranger named Nick Beal shows up with enough evidence to seal a conviction. When that success leads Foster to run for governor, Beal's unearthly hold on him turns the previously honest man corrupt, much to the displeasure of his wife and his steadfast minister.
“Faust Part 2” reveals the modern Faust in a romantic interlude, an idyll (from the Greek idein, "to see"); also, a journey of the id. A sense of story is inferred through the complex interweaving of human gesture, expression, and bodily movement within vibrantly shifting colours and rhythmic development, creating multiple levels of metaphorical meaning. A collaborative work with paintings by Emily Ripley and soundtrack by Joel Haertling.
Vincent Salinger, an edgy uninspired poet, fumes at being spurned by his publisher. Suspecting his work and life mean nothing, Vincent seeks new inspiration. An unexpected visit from quasi-demonic friend of poetry introduces Vincent to a clever East-European escort girl who thinks up a literary hoax for success but at the risk of Vincent losing his integrity and identity. Things become more complicated when a rival muse falls in love with Vincent and Vincent's hoax suddenly materializes to haunt him.
Faust, an old, bright but desperate man, struggles with the sense of his life. After trying all kinds of sciences he enters into a contract with the devil, Mephistopheles, to feel life, joy and desire again. Mephistopheles promises him to get full satisfaction by enjoying and celebrating all the worldly pleasures: outstanding parties, being young again, the love of a woman. To fulfill the pact, Faust offers him his soul after his death. Their journey begins and leaves many people in total despair...
REAL Zombies, Vampires, Witches and Demons - NOTHING is off limits in La La Land. Thousands of Hollywood hopefuls lineup around the block to be selected to strike a deal with Satan himself in order to achieve the unattainable stardom they so desperately seek. The turnout yields not only dedicated actors and musicians who can't get a break, but a legion of seemingly successful people willing to sign in blood not to attain immortality or world peace - but for material things like money, houses, cars and diamonds or even lesser things like a gun you never have to re-load. Ultimately, Kai Blackwood, an aspiring rock star is chosen and embarks on a nefarious path of real-life occult practices following the instructions laid out in the ancient book 'Le Grande Grimoire' and proceeds to LITERALLY sell his soul to the Devil.
John Faustus, frontier doctor, sells his soul for power, riches, and free health-care! But will he be able to control himself before he changes the space-time continuum?
A troubled mortician embarks on an odyssey for truth about life and death.
Cubby the Bear sneaks into the Roxy Opera House on it's opening night and ends up condicting an epic, animal-enacted version of Faust.
A film story based on the old Prague legends. It tells about a poor student lured by wealth, which he prefers to knowledge. In the end, he sells his soul to the evil powers. The Devil takes him to hell and since then there is a blackened hole on the ceiling of a Prague house.
Starring Reuter Christiansen herself and shot in the lush landscape of Møn, the Danish island where she has lived since 1970, THE EXECUTIONER uses a fragmented narrative to tell “a story of woman’s degradation and exaltation,” as its subtitle indicates. A landmark of Danish feminist art, the film was also Reuter Christiansen’s first major collaboration with Henning, who composed the film’s lyrical, subtly experimental music.
A married couple carry out various sexual fetishes.
Live recording at Parma Verdi Festival 6 October, 2008. Massimo Zanetti conducting Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio di Parma. Stage director Stefano Vizioli.
An idle part-time college lecturer is annoyed by the yapping sound of a nearby dog. He decides to take drastic action.
A young French journalist repeatedly meets iconic surrealist artist Salvador Dalí for a documentary project that never came to be.
On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna nearly run over a young hitchhiker. Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences.
This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.
Paul, a young idealist trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, takes a job interviewing people for a marketing research firm. He moves in with aspiring pop singer Madeleine. Paul, however, is disillusioned by the growing commercialism in society, while Madeleine just wants to be successful. The story is told in a series of 15 unrelated vignettes.
After completing jail time for beating up a man who tried to seduce his mentally-handicapped teenage daughter, The Butcher wants to start life anew. He institutionalizes his daughter and moves to the Lille suburbs with his mistress, who promises him a new butcher shop. Learning that she lied, The Butcher returns to Paris to find his daughter.
When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.
After losing a finger in a work accident, an Italian worker becomes increasingly involved in political and revolutionary groups.
Roman and Hanka have a loving marriage, but his impotence has led to her having an affair. The unbearable situation drives Roman to extreme measures both physically and mentally, testing their love and his own will to live.
An actress’s perception of reality becomes increasingly distorted as she finds herself falling for her co-star in a remake of an unfinished Polish production that was supposedly cursed.
Iris is a shy and dowdy young woman stuck in a dead-end job at a match factory, who dreams of finding love at the local dancehall. Finding herself pregnant after a one-night stand and abandoned by the father, Iris finally decides the time has come to get even and she begins to plot her revenge.
A man and his son take an allegorical stroll through life with a talking bird that spouts social and political philosophy.
Carol Hammond, daughter of a politician, has vivid nightmares involving sex orgies and LSD. In a dream, she murders a neighbor she envies and wakes up to a real investigation into her neighbor's murder.
In an industrializing Italian town, a married woman, rendered mentally unstable after a traffic accident, drifts into an affair with a friend of her husband.
A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
A scruffy garbage boy becomes the pupil of famed gunfighter Talby, and the stage for confrontation is set when the gunman overruns the boy's town through violence and corruption.
In Italy, small-town newlyweds Wanda and Ivan Cavalli embark on their honeymoon in the big city of Rome. Ivan dutifully wants to keep appointments with family and church, but Wanda is only interested in meeting her favorite photo-strip star known as "The White Sheik". While Wanda impetuously sneaks away to locate the object of her affections, disconsolate Ivan tries his hardest to keep up appearances with the couple's relatives.
Comedian Dave Chappelle does what he does best in this outrageous and hilarious standup performance, which allows him to push the envelope far beyond what he does on his TV show. Taped in San Francisco at the famed Fillmore, Chappelle lets loose on such topics as black celebrities, what it's like to have raunchy fans of his TV show approach him while he's trying to enjoy Disneyland with his kids, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant... and crackheads, of course. It's comedy Chappelle-style and, for what it's worth, no one is safe from his barbs. But you already knew that!