

The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes
Genres
Overview
At a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned. "S. Brakhage, entering, WITH HIS CAMERA, one of the forbidden, terrific locations of our culture, the autopsy room. It is a place wherein, inversely, life is cherished, for it exists to affirm that no one of us may die without our knowing exactly why. All of us, in the person of the coroner, must see that, for ourselves, with our own eyes. It is a room full of appalling particular intimacies, the last ditch of individuation. Here our vague nightmare of mortality acquires the names and faces of OTHERS. This last is a process that requires a WITNESS; and what 'idea' may finally have inserted itself into the sensible world we can still scarcely guess, for the CAMERA would seem the perfect Eidetic Witness, staring with perfect compassion where we can scarcely bear to glance." – Hollis Frampton
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
32 min
Release Date
1972-02-19
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
58
Vote Average
6.3
5.2
Todo Todo Teros
Basically an artist is also a terrorist, the protagonist thinks in an unguarded moment. And if he is a terrorist after all, then he might just as well be one. Not an instant product, but an experimental feature in which diary material is brought together to form an intriguing puzzle.
2006-08-18 | en
6.5
Refrains Happen Like Revolutions in a Song
Sarah is a debt collector who lives among the inhabitants of the village of Guimbal on the island of Panay. She wants to find the young man who appeared to her in a dream and goes to the island of Negros. Here, as she interacts with the inhabitants, Sarah continues her search, gathering memories of life and war, dreams, myths, legends, songs and stories that she takes part in and at times revolve around her. She is the daughter of an ancient mermaid, a revolutionary, a primordial element, a virgin who was kidnapped and hidden away from the sunlight. “The film is a retelling of fragments of the American occupation. Dialogue, shot in the Hiligaynon language, is not translated but used as a tonal guide and a tool for narration. Using unscripted scenes shot where the main character was asked to merely interact with the villagers, I discard dialogue and draw meaning from peoples’ faces, voices, and actions, weaving an entirely different story through the use of subtitles and inter-titles.”
2010-07-12 | tl
5.3
Just Hold Still
In his New York City landscape, Cohen finds inspiration in disturbance. Looking to life for rhythm and to architecture for state of mind, he locates simple mysteries. Just Hold Still is comprised of an interconnected series of short works and collaborations that explore the gray area between documentary, narrative, and experimental genres.
1989-03-21 | en
7.5
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.
1927-09-23 | de
0.0
Das Bewegungssystem des Menschen
Short film about the human body
1979-01-01 | de
0.0
Auf den Spuren der wilden Otter
Short film about otters
1986-01-01 | de
5.0
Del mero corazón
A lyrical journey through the heart of Chicano culture as reflected in the love songs of the Tex-Mex Norteña music tradition. Performers include, Little Joe & La Familia, Leo Garza, Chavela Ortiz, Andres Berlanga, Ricardo Mejia, Conjunto Tamaulipas, Chavela y Brown Express and more.
1979-01-01 | en
8.0
Rytmus
An experimental film from Jirí Lehovec, mixing the sound process with animated rhythms.
1942-11-06 | cs
0.0
Une certaine histoire du cinéma expérimental français
2019-02-07 | fr
5.0
Salvador Dalí at Work
Filmmaker Jonas Mekas follows the surrealist artist around the streets of New York documenting staged public art events.
2006-11-11 | en
7.3
Let Us Persevere in What We Have Resolved Before We Forget
On the island of Tanna, a part of Vanuatu, an archipelago in Melanesia, strange rites are enacted and time passes slowly while the inhabitants await the return of the mysterious John.
2013-07-04 | en
7.0
The Bomb
Filmmakers use archival footage and animation to explore the culture surrounding nuclear weapons, the fascination they inspire and the perverse appeal they still exert.
2017-06-10 | en
0.0
Catboy
A short documentary where director Dave Jackson digs into his catboy past and life after Cat Sick Blues.
2021-02-24 | en
0.0
99 days
Two instants separated by 99 days conflict with each other.
2022-09-18 | xx
6.7
The Gratinated Brains of Pupilija Ferkeverk
Plotless and wordless, beautifully edited shots of young (often naked or semi-naked) people in various positions, illustrating different emotions, actions and situations, underlined by rock music.
1970-01-01 | sh
0.0
Torino 20venti - Storie da un altro mondo
Shots of Turin, deserted because of the pandemic, interweave with images of the movies that have been shot in the city ever since the dawn of cinematography.
2020-11-24 | it
7.0
Land Without Bread
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.
1933-12-01 | es
4.7
Railway Station
Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec (Station, 1980) portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.
1980-01-01 | pl
6.4
Primary
Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.
1960-11-08 | en
5.8
The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry
An in-depth look at Dirty Harry (1971), featuring interviews with such film artists as Michael Madsen, 'Hal Holbrook', John Milius, 'Shane Black' and John Badham.
2008-07-23 | en