William S. Burroughs: The Possessed(2015)

Lerchenlieder(de)

Documentary about the special friendship between the 72-year-old music machine collector Johann Bartisch and the 12-year-old farm boy Gerd from the village of Arnsgereuth. As a child, the Romanian Johann played "O sole mio" on the piano while his brother accompanied him on the violin. Even then, he was fascinated by the music machines that could be found at fairgrounds, in cinemas and on trains. As an adult, Johann began his passion for collecting in Bucharest, rescuing self-playing instruments from barns, cellars or even garbage dumps. With great attention to detail, Johann restores his found treasures in his 250-year-old schoolhouse in the village of Arnsgereuth.

Memories Revealed(es)

Over the course of 10 months, a camera travels to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Hanover, Germany to meet with Magalí, María Belén, Ivana and Carla, the founding members of the Archivo De La Memoria Trans Argentina, the first existing Trans Archive in the world. Taking the shape of a photo-novel, the documentary not only recounts the founding members lives as trans women under the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983), the AIDS epidemy, state repression and mass assassinations but also years of fighting for their rights, sorority and the exaltation of life and laughter in times of death. Filming each one of them is filming them embracing their new role as curators, archivists and historians while a collection of 7,000 photos goes through the filter of their memories.

J'aime(fr)

Esperança(fr)

Esperança, 15, has just arrived in France from Angola with her mother. At Amiens station, they don’t know where to sleep and look for someone who can help them.

Screen Test: Lou Reed (Coke)(en)

Andy directs Lou Reed drinking a Coke.

Screen Test: Edie Sedgwick(en)

Andy directs Edie for a screen test.

Mild Madness, Lasting Lunacy(fr)

This walk in the daily life of several psychiatric institutions, allows us to meet extraordinary people who let us enter their privacy.

Big Bill Blues(fr)

This is the only film about Big Bill Broonzy, you can see him playing the blues in a Brussels cellar.

Atopy(pt)

After being for eleven years in the city, José António Baptista returned to his home village to focus on literature.

Wave Form(en)

Psychedelic animated short capturing the spirit of surfing

The Flying Alberts (Brucey Lacey edit)(en)

The Alberts (Bruce Lacey, Tony Gray and his brother Dougie Gray) attempt to take off. There are two edits of this film, both with their own distinct ending.

Let's Dance(en)

Choreographer Dave Gould and his students demonstrate various tap dancing steps. Also featured are an adagio and Russian sword dancers.

Carnival in Québec(en)

This colorful archival record of Québec City's Winter Carnival shows that many popular events of today—pageants, parades, boat races, folk dancing, fireworks, and torchlight skiing—were also favorites many years ago.

Who's Out There?(en)

Orson Welles — with contributions from scientists George Wald, Carl Sagan, and others — examines the possibility and implications of extraterrestrial life. In examining our perceptions of alien 'martians' from his "War of the Worlds" broadcast, to then-modern explorations of Mars, this film from NASA provides a unique glimpse at life on earth, and elsewhere in the universe.

Seven Reeds, One Dress(it)

A short documentary on the production of rayon, filmed in the industrial town of Torviscosa in northeastern Italy. The film documents the transformation of raw materials into synthetic fabric, situating the manufacturing process within a town specifically constructed to serve the factory and its workforce.

A Is for Atom(en)

General Electric sponsors this explanation of atomic energy, detailing some of its uses besides the bomb. Using animation and an off-screen narrator, the film describes the atom, elements and isotopes, the discovery of transmutation, experiments in artificial transmutation, and the reasons for the power of nuclear fission. The film argues that now, besides war, the atomic age holds promise for energy, farming, medicine, and research. The promise of the atomic age will depend on human wisdom.

Jeff Koons(en)

Jeff Koons is a MOCA commissioned mini-documentary on the career of artist Jeff Koons, directed by Oscar Boyson.

Invisible River(es)

On a journey through the interior of the earth, we learn about the life and dreams of a swiss explorer who searches for caves and underground rivers in a sector marked by violence and armed conflict in Colombia. This underground labyrinth is a metaphor about a dark past, buried deep within the soul, where old war wounds heal with the infinite passage of time.

Piet Bekaert(nl)

Short documentary on Belgian artist Piet Bekaert.

Did Britain Murder Hanratty?(en)

A documentary covering the trials of James Hanratty, perceived to be wrongly accused at the time and one of the final eight people in the UK to be executed before capital punishment was effectively abolished.