Éloge du chiac

Land Without Bread

December 1933 •Spanish

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. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Cosmetic Criminals

January 2024 •English

A short mockumentary detailing the rise of intergenerational cosmetic theft through the eyes of an affected family.

Small trades in Paris

January 1932 •French

Grinders, rag-men, China menders, mattress carders are among those small trades of yesteryear that have disappeared from our sight and fallen into oblivion. But way back in 1931 they were far from extinct and still populated and livened up the streets from dawn till dusk. The tenderness of Pierre Chenal look at them is only accentuated by the nostalgia experienced by today's viewer.

i ran from it and was still in it

January 2021 •English

I ran from it and was still in it poetically interweaves personal family memories with original and found footage to offer a more complex portrait of familial loss and separation. Kae wades through deep emotions surrounding the death of his father and the sudden relocation of his children, repurposing intimate family scenes from his personal archive by pairing them with online media from a variety of sources to explore how the autobiographical model can potentially extend beyond the personal.

Cashed Out Casino

August 2017 •English

Watch the drama unfold when the city of Las Vegas blows up the town's impromptu movie set.

Little Belgium

January 1942 •English

A profile of the more than 2,000 Belgian refugees in the fishing port of Brixham.

Mr. Gardenia Jones

May 1942 •English

Documentary short film depicting the work of the United Service Organizations (USO) in providing recreational and morale-boosting services for American troops.

The World According to Koreeda Hirokazu

February 2013 •English

The cinema of Koreeda Hirokazu is defined by moments of everyday life. Whatever potential there is for heightened drama – the suicide of a husband, a cult massacre, abandoned children – it is diffused by the familiar rhythms of everydayness. This attention to the everyday must be understood within the context of death, which plays a significant role in all of Koreeda’s films. It is death that deepens our sense of life and makes even the most mundane moment seem profound.

Growing Girls

November 1949 •English

After several farmyard analogies featuring chicks and calves, the well-spoken narrator and director of the film, Winifred Holmes, considers the subject of girls and how they reach adulthood and readiness for the 'important job of motherhood.

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

March 1895 •French

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

Peel

August 2020 •

In a hidden place, the daily routine of a retirement home unfolds as time seems to stand still. The penciled residents come to life on paper. Some are active, others rest or follow a fixed schedule that repeats each day: medication, meals, games… Around them, machines are flashing, caregivers are busy and crucifixes remind them of the death that lies in wait. Time fades away and a forest stretches out nearby.

Digital Funeral: Beta Version

August 2020 •Thai

One of my dreams is to organize my own funeral.

The Song of the Years to Come

April 2024 •Spanish

On the island of La Gomera, children imagine stories while they examine archeological remains. An ethno-fictional journey in which past and present coalesce, creating resonances between the volcanic landscape and Silbo, the whistled language of the island.

Open Water

December 2023 •English

Nikki is no professional athlete. Still, she swims the English channel to raise money for a good cause.

Threshold

January 1972 •English

Le Grice no longer simply uses the printer as a reflexive mechanism, but utilises the possibilities of colour-shift and permutation of imagery as the film progresses from simplicity to complexity… With the film’s culmination in representational, photographic imagery, one would anticipate a culminating “richness” of image; yet the insistent evidence of splice bars and the loop and repetition of the short piece of found footage and the conflicting superimposition of filtered loops all reiterate the work which is necessary to decipher that cinematic image. - Deke Dusinberre

The Conclave and Election of Pope Pius XII

December 1939 •Italian

A short documentary covering the conclave and election of Pope Pius XII.

The Pleasure in Pain

December 2022 •English

A short film that follows key figures of the London kink scene on an exploration into BDSM and the notorious fetish event Klub Verboten. The film touches upon themes of psychology, trauma, LGBTQ+ rights and black representation.

Goodbye Che Bei

Invalid date •English

Locked In

August 2018 •English

As a young girl Victoria Arlen truly had the world ahead of her. But at the age of 11, she began to suffer from an illness that baffled her doctors and kept Victoria locked in her own body.

The Other Side

Invalid date •English

When 18 children – nine from Palestine and nine from Israel – come together to form a kids soccer team, they come face-to-face with the other side for the first time in their lives. United by the common goals of teamwork and dedication to a shared purpose, they confront generations of fear head on. Is peace through sports really possible, or is it hopelessly naive to think that a handful of 12-year-old soccer players can begin to change their world?