Walking

Talent Show - Jennifer Dorothy Lee

December 2023 •English

An insightful, personal, and heartfelt spotlight on Professor Jennifer Dorothy Lee of the School the of Art Institute of Chicago.

Manhatta

January 1921 •English

Morning reveals New York harbor, the wharves, the Brooklyn Bridge. A ferry boat docks, disgorging its huddled mass. People move briskly along Wall St. or stroll more languorously through a cemetery. Ranks of skyscrapers extrude columns of smoke and steam. In plain view. Or framed, as through a balustrade. A crane promotes the city's upward progress, as an ironworker balances on a high beam. A locomotive in a railway yard prepares to depart, while an arriving ocean liner jostles with attentive tugboats. Fading sunlight is reflected in the waters of the harbor. The imagery is interspersed with quotations from Walt Whitman, who is left unnamed.

Film Is. 1-6

October 1998 •German

Film ist. 1-6 is an avant-garde collage from Gustav Deutsch, using found footage from various scientific films to explore the properties, impact and nature of film.

Respice finem

August 1968 •Czech

"A refined film essay about the loneliness, wisdom and humility of old women. The film, most valued by Jan Špáta, was awarded the Grand Prize at the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen, the Trilobit Award and Special Mention at the IFF in Karlovy Vary."

Swimming, Dancing

September 2023 •English

Swimming, Dancing examines audiovisual representations of the Yangtze (1934–present), from silent film to video art to the contemporary vlog. Inspired by the city symphonies of the 1920s, Swimming, Dancing pieces together a “river symphony”, evoking the images, sounds and contradictions that make up the river’s turbulent history.

Ardent One

January 2022 •English

An experimental film that reflects on the past, encourages audiences to live in the present and look into the future with optimism.

Bastards' Road

January 2020 •English

Walking 5,800 miles around the United States, Veteran Jonathan Hancock uses the solitude of the road and the company of his fellow Marine brothers and the families of their fallen to successfully manage his wounds from war.

Essay on color and its absence

October 2022 •Portuguese

An experiment and a dialogue about recording, the act of filming and the colors available to whoever points the camera somewhere.

81.92

January 2018 •English

"A l likeness is a gift... it avoids... or confuses time if your prefer." said John Berger. Following this premise, 81.92 is a structuralist inquiry into the notion of presence and absence as it reveals archival radio broadcasts from former Montreal radio host Mike Wolkow. The former (the audible) is left invisible while the later (the visible) seeks to find the missing elements that trace the passage of this vocal presence. Past and present interplay in this piece that shifts between epochs, thus mimicking a radio signal that is being tuned in.

Watching the Pain of Others

April 2019 •French

In this deeply personal video diary, a young researcher tries to make sense of her fascination for the film "The Pain of Others" by Penny Lane. A deep dive into the discomforting world of YouTube and online conspiracies, that challenges traditional notions of what documentary cinema is, or should be.

Rain

December 1929 •Dutch

A lyrical portrait of Amsterdam and its changing appearance during a rain-shower.

Sarasota Half in Dream

April 2017 •English

An experimental documentary about dead turtles, crab swarms, decaying tennis courts, and microscopic histories. The filmmakers shot their explorations into the abandoned golf courses, factories, and resorts of Sarasota, Florida and spoke to local youths who are using them for new and strange purposes. What would the Surrealists and Situationists think of a suburban, subtropical tourist town? What goes on in a storage unit in the dead of night? What is the afterlife of a decommissioned train car? What ghosts haunt a ruined hotel? What is the life cycle of a city? When will waters wash it all away?

Get Out of the Car

September 2010 •English

A city symphony film in 16mm composed from advertising signs, building facades, fragments of music and conversation, and unmarked sites of vanished cultural landmarks in Los Angeles.

Pradera

March 2023 •Spanish

Vampir Cuadecuc

May 1972 •English

An atmospheric essay, which is an alternative version of Count Dracula, a film directed by Jess Franco in 1970; a ghostly narration between fiction and reality.

FFG: un retrato

January 1976 •Spanish

An experimental portrait of Fernando Fernán Gómez, one of the most renowned Spanish artists of all time.

Dream

January 1988 •Ukrainian

Meditative and quiet movie about transphormations of Dnipro river in Ukraine, that touches theme of collective versus individual rights, filmed in the dusk of USSR.

Heartbreakers Beach Party

October 2024 •English

In 2024, the long-thought lost 16mm reels of Tom Petty in Cameron Crowe’s first film, “Heartbreakers Beach Party”, were finally found. The classic ‘80s documentary captures Tom Petty and the band in 1982-1983 as they finish, promote, and tour around the “Long After Dark” album (their final with legendary producer Jimmy Iovine). After its initial airing on MTV in 1983, the film was deemed too experimental and abruptly pulled from the air. In the more than 40 years since, it has become folklore to fans, musicians and within the entertainment industry — even credited with inspiring scenes in Spinal Tap.

The Zoo

January 1961 •Dutch

A perfect, fast and hilarious montage. Using images from Artis (Amsterdam Zoo), Bert Haanstra shows that a couple of similarities can be discovered between human and animal. Particularly the manner in which human and ape are confronted with each other, is significant. The images speak for themselves, human voices or commentary is absent. The ironic music of Pim Jacobs does add an extra dimension to the whole. With regards to human and animal Haanstra limits himself for the time being to this short film, recorded with a hidden camera. Later on, in several big films, he would return to this subject.

Histoire(s) du Cinéma 1a: All the (Hi)stories

November 1989 •French

A very personal look at the history of cinema directed, written and edited by Jean-Luc Godard in his Swiss residence in Rolle for ten years (1988-98); a monumental collage, constructed from film fragments, texts and quotations, photos and paintings, music and sound, and diverse readings; a critical, beautiful and melancholic vision of cinematographic art.