2011-06-17
8
7.3A woman must deal with the devastating effects of having a murderer for a brother.
6.0An archival investigation into the imperial image-making of the RAF ‘Z Unit’, which determined the destruction of human, animal and cultural life across Somaliland, as well as Africa and Asia.
7.8A documentary about the legendary and influential comedian, actor and writer, who went out from the BBC to conquer Hollywood, but sadly the system quickly withdrew its support when they couldn't contain his talents. This portrait is spiked with many comments from people who knew Feldman privately or had dealt with him professionally. His early death sadly rendered him all but forgotten by the public. The compilation consists of interviews, some film clips and photos as well as various audio clips from him.
7.4Valdis Nulle is a young and ambitious captain of fishing ship 'Dzintars'. He has his views on fishing methods but the sea makes its own rules. Kolkhoz authorities are forced to include dubious characters in his crew, for example, former captain Bauze and silent alcoholic Juhans. The young captain lacks experience in working with so many fishermen on board. Unexpectedly, pretty engineer Sabīne is ordered to test a new construction fishing net on Nulle's ship and 'production conflict' between her and the captain arises...
5.6F*** Off! shows no false respect towards the authorities in its impudent and candid reportage of the developing country/welfare state Finland. It is a cinematic parallel to Donner's New Book of Our Land (1967). The travelogue focuses especially on Finland's outsiders, low-paid workers and the unemployed. In desolate provinces, the inhabitants of a cold and barren country either humbly abide their fate, choose to move to Sweden or take refuge in excessive drinking. These images are accompanied by protest songs based on Donner's own prose and the lyrics of poet Jarkko Laine. Perkele is embodied in big business and the political elite.The jagged (anti)aesthetics of the film correspond to the underground movement and the radical politics of the time. The camera agilely penetrates everyday life. Though opposed to censorship, Fuck Off! itself transgresses the boundaries of privacy.
A man "experiences" current events as he reads about them in the newspaper.
6.0A US newsman and a British entomologist spy on germ-warfare research in a mythical country.
5.9Tension mounts between a quadraplegic man and his wife as she prepares a bath for him.
From the middle of an amateur boxing match to its dramatic technical knock-out, the camera follows the quick ballet of the boxers. The action is followed by a variety of spectators, some wild and vociferous, some suffering in silence form what they see; men and women, poor and rich... Then, one sees the amateurs next day, as they work in their true professions, mostly humble ones: street-sweepers, butchers... The end is the beginning: the training, and the warming up until another boxer goes up a spiral metal staircase to another match in another derelict boxing arena.
7.3An animated road-movie set across the vast and barren landscape of Australia's Nullarbor Plain.
5.7The story evolves around the Arian sect. During the III century AD they have seriously shaken the very foundations of Christian world. It is also known that in this region they had a stronghold between towns of Sirmium and Belgrade. "Labyrinth" is not only the story about our times, but a story of our roots.
8.0Balanced on the edge of what is visible, everything comes from nothingness and returns to nothingness. Strands of consciousness trying to convene with each other. Forms of personal significance in a time of crisis, set free into random motion through chance operations. Recurring details point towards a center.
5.8Yanki (Japanese delinquent) Hayato, is on his way with his senpai, (upperclassman) Yocchan to a so-called “resort” job with good pay, food, and housing. Hayato, not being able to commit to work, meets another Yanki who’s trying to work hard and form a family. Meanwhile, Yocchan ends up falling for the lunch lady at the “resort”... Will she be the one for him?
4.8Explores and examines the world of ventriloquism through clips, photos and interviews with many of the greatest vents from today and yesterday, illustrating that this perceived novelty act is truly an extraordinary art form.
6.3Alice owns a network of sex shops and workaholic who, in trying to reconcile the harsh routine of work and family life, suffers nervous breakdown, she is forced by her husband to go to spa. Precisely at this time, appears unique opportunity to expand its business in New York. Using fun gimmicks, risks his health, leaves spa party there with family to ride, but actually in order to facilitate their professional interests. In trying to reconcile the agendas, engage in hilarious situations and mistakes that culminate in the possible separation of the couple.
10.0Though Henry Kissinger is often giving short statements to the media, he refuses detailed interviews about his own life. Now he has agreed to answer questions about his person in an extensive documentary.
7.0A foreign woman in a burqa brings her young son to a Copenhagen police station to file a complaint against her abusive husband, but the translator assigned to her seems unwilling to convey the true meaning of her words. A tense, diamond-hard film about cultural isolation and bureaucratic ignorance.
8.1Setsuko, a 55-year-old single 'office lady' in Tokyo, is given a blonde wig and a new identity, 'Lucy,' by her young unconventional English instructor. 'Lucy' awakens desires Setsuko never knew she had. When the instructor suddenly disappears, Setsuko must come to terms with what remains--herself.
0.0BLESSED BLESSED OBLIVION weaves together a portrait of masculine performativity in East Jerusalem, as manifested in gyms, body shops and hair dressing parlors.
0.0The constant movement of the wheels, threads, sprockets, feet and hands suggests restlessness, and this is paralleled by the soundtrack. The unknown woman could be Gretchen from Faust, hopelessly in love or Ariadne who gave Theseus the thread to find his way out of labyrinth or perhaps she is one of the fates, weaving destiny… Enlarged from Super-8 to 35mm, the film is very grainy, in itself an homage to the medium of film which is also emphasized by the depiction of all kinds of turning machines, both in image and sound.
Faces pass by in quickly edited, split-screen recordings. A 'structuralist' film in which the film material itself plays an important role. Grain, scratches and flickering give the film texture. The music is by Steve Reich.
0.0In her second film, MY LIFE AS I LIVE IT (1993), Essie Coffey returns to her home in Dodge City where she and the A-Team are running in the shire elections. Inter-cutting between 1993 and 1978, the film presents the fascinating contrasts of a society in transition. Some of the kids we met in the earlier film now have families of their own and are involved in education, art and sports. Others are drifting, trying to cope with alcohol and depression. Most significantly, community programs offer the possibility of dignity and self-determination. In this film, Essie shows us the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) making a real difference. Although the CDEP has now come under attack from the Federal government, MY LIFE AS I LIVE IT portrays the CDEP as providing meaningful work and services to an impoverished remote community.
5.5Women from Turkey and Mecklenburg are working together side-by-side at a fish-processing factory in Lübeck. As they work, they share stories about their lives, including their sorrows, griefs, hopes, and dreams, while expressing their longing for home and feelings of being lost in a foreign place.
A portrait of five St. Petersburgians and their connection to The Hermitage.
Mordant, self-aware, freighted with sensitivity toward Chile’s problem, wary of caricature, disposed toward consciousness of human fallibility, it is a deft blend of fiction and documentary set in the tumultuous days leading up to the election of Salvador Allende in 1970.
7.3A rare behind the scenes look at the tragedies and bitter disappointments that plagued one of MGM's most popular leading ladies
5.8Feminism, Victoria Benedictsson, Leandro N. Alem, the Radical Party in Argentina, suicide, stunts, Edgar Allan Poe, the complicated relationship between low-budget films with a political aim and the film industry, Robert Louis Stevenson, fiction, facts, greed, gold treasures left by the Jesuits in Argentina, the 19th Century vs. the contemporary and the search for truth and wisdom are the background for this portrait of a clash between a Swedish artist and an Argentine film director.
0.0In my home town of Arlit, in the north of the Niger, Areva has been exploiting uranium since 1976. Today, much of this area, swept by sand winds, is contaminated. Radioactivity can not be seen and the population is not aware of the risks. This exploitation completely disorganized the life of the population. Part of the year, violent sand winds completely envelop the city. This wind of dust propagates radioactive substances. Everyone is looking for shelter. The city becomes calm, all activities are stopped. My father, a retired uranium mine worker, is at the heart of this film. He will dust off his memories, the 35 years of his passage to the mine. Thanks to my father, I go to meet other former workers who certainly have a say.
5.8A hip, misguided Southern California couple decide to make a difference in the lives of the homeless by giving them lollipops with a cheery slogan on the wrapper.
The Time We Killed portrays the inner life of a writer unable to leave her Brooklyn apartment on the brink of the US invasion of Iraq. Robyn Taylor tries to kick her growing agoraphobia by re-imagining her past and contemplating world events of the present. As Robyn begins to overcome the amnesia that afflicted her as an adolescent, she fears coming down with “the amnesia of the American people”.
0.0From Mona Lisa to Brigitte Bardot, artistic representation and perception of women is often shaped by traditional role models. In tongue-in-cheek fashion, director May Spils unmasks these dyed-in-the-wool structures and plays a young woman who can only fail in her attempt to paint a self-portrait.
5.9The wife of an alcoholic and mother of four (Toula Stathopoulou) is a factory worker in Corfu at the beginning of the 20th century. A fallen noble man who has fallen on hard times (Stratis Tsopanellis) wants to marry her eldest daughter (Anny Loulou) and take advantage of the family's meager earnings. He kidnaps the not-unwilling girl, and argues with her mother about the dowry. But the girl refuses to marry him when she wakes up to the fact that he is only looking out for his own interests. She then decides to start working in order to earn money to raise the child she is expecting. The film is an adaptation of the novel 'For Honor and Money' by Konstantinos Theotokis.
6.3Presents a day in the life of a few inhabitants of Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands: A father and his daughter are having breakfast when the fire-brigade drive by. A woman and her child are looking at the fire and meet a married couple. The couple say hello to a man who is going out with his boat... and so on.