The Conspirators

Killing Strangers

February 2013 •Spanish

A series of auditions is taking place in a museum-like living room. Various men improvise or deliver prepared lines, rehearse gestures and slogans, aim guns, and collapse as if mortally wounded. The theme of revolution is repeatedly invoked. In between, there are scenes of a desert landscape. Three men seeking to join the Mexican Revolution at the beginning of the last century have lost their way. Conflicts smolder among them, water is running low, and mutual mistrust is beginning to take hold. Placing the reenactment of a possible historical event alongside the preparations for it serves to underline the theatricality of every cinematic account of history. Moreover, on a kind of playful meta-meta-level, the scenes in which the actors feel their way through set pieces from a Beatles song or standard battle slogans allow the viewer to witness the simultaneous construction and deconstruction of a collective myth of revolution.

The Centaurs

January 1979 •Russian

The story takes place in an unnamed Latin Country.

Saint Joan the Maid

April 1929 •

This relatively straightforward dramatic biography was one of two films commissioned to honor Joan of Arc on the 500th anniversary of her death, but it was soon undeservedly relegated to obscurity in favor of Carl Dreyer's triumphant 'La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc'. The comparison is unfair: Dreyer was an artist, but director Marco de Gastyne certainly proved himself a distinguished craftsman, and his emphasis on the Maid of Orléans early life in Domrémy serves as a picturesque, matching bookend to Dreyer's impassioned courtroom drama.

Revolution in Russia

July 1905 •French

A dramatization of the uprising in Odessa, Russia in 1905: A ship's crew, tired of being mistreated, mutinies and takes over their ship. When they reach land, a sailor who died during the mutiny is made a martyr, inspiring an uprising in the city. Then the authorities decide to repress the revolt with a brutal show of force.

The Garden of Words

May 2013 •Japanese

Takao, who is training to become a shoemaker, skipped school and is sketching shoes in a Japanese-style garden. He meets a mysterious woman, Yukino, who is older than him. Then, without arranging the times, the two start to see each other again and again, but only on rainy days. They deepen their relationship and open up to each other. But the end of the rainy season soon approaches.

Spider's Web

September 1989 •German

Ulrich Mühe plays a German businessman who was born completely without scruples. This makes him an eminently suitable candidate for success in the chaotic years after World War I. The shameless man's story is contrasted with that of his polar opposite, a Jewish anarchist.

Arrivano i bersaglieri

October 1980 •Italian

In the year 1870 Rome, then governed by the Pope, was captured by the Italian General La Marmora's troops. After the armistice, the Italian soldier Alfonso killed a Pope's soldier, the son of Don Prospero. Then he sought refuge in the house of Don Prospero himself. There Costanza and Olimpia, respectively the wife and the daughter of Don Prospero, fall for him. Then Gustavo, who knew that Alfonso had killed Don Prospero's son arrived in the house... Some things are going to happen

Panorama

February 2013 •Spanish

In recent years it has become the handiest character of Mexican cinema: the Chilango fleeing the capital to the province in search of something. But this case is different because the trip is used as an excuse to illustrate, through documentary techniques, the deep contrasts of Mexican society. Tired of the city, Javier goes to visit his aunt, an eccentric woman with quite radical ideas, who lives isolated from the world in a ranch in Querétaro. Javier works as a laborer for an Argentinean foreman, with whom he shares a few passions. His life begins to change.

The Green Years

November 1963 •Portuguese

Nineteen-year-old Julio heads to Lisbon from the provinces and gets a job as a shoemaker for his uncle Raul. But when he meets Ilda, a confident young housemaid who becomes a regular shop visitor, his working-class values collide with the bourgeois trappings of modern life.

Aloma of the South Seas

August 1941 •English

A young South Seas native boy is sent to the U.S. for his education and returns to his island after his father dies to try to stop a revolution.

1917: One Year, Two Revolutions

October 2017 •French

In February 1917, Imperial Russia plunges into revolution. Nine months of unrest before a coup brought about an upheaval that changed the course of history and profoundly altered the future of civilisation.

Ganadevata

June 1978 •Bengali

Set in 1920's during the British Raj, the film is about the breakdown of socio-economic structures, impact of industrialization and non-cooperation movement in rural Bengal.

Lenin: The Train

April 1990 •English

March/April 1917. The first world war is already a couple year to pace. A sealed train with Russian emigrants keeps on driving from Zürich Germany and Sweden to Sint-Petersburg. The outlaws stand under the guidance of Vladimir J. Lenin. Two senior officers support the revolutionary bomb "to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Yet there are some unpleasant clashes between Socialists and enthusiastic workers who are worried about the war. During train travel there comes an end to Lenin's affair with the gracious Inessa, and his wife Nadja is prepared take back him. The triumphant entrance in St. Petersburg will exceed all expectations....

Los años del miedo

October 1987 •Spanish

The political leader Alberto Carnevali, secretly returns to his country to plot against the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez. The Intense subversive struggle brings the torture of many of his comrades.

Half Nelson

August 2006 •English

Despite his dedication to the junior-high students who fill his classroom, idealistic teacher Dan Dunne leads a secret life of addiction that the majority of his students will never know. But things change when a troubled student Drey makes a startling discovery of his secret life, causing a tenuous bond between the two that could either end disastrously or provide a catalyst of hope.

Children of the Revolution

December 1996 •English

A man (Richard Roxburgh) the Australian government blames for 1990s political woes blames his mother (Judy Davis), a communist Stalin seduced in 1951.

Assassin’s Creed Unity: Rob Zombie’s French Revolution

July 2014 •English

Assassin’s Creed Unity teams up with famed musician and Master of Horror Rob Zombie to depict the chaotic and brutal events behind the French Revolution. Illustrated by The Walking Dead co-creator, Tony Moore, this animated short brings to life the gory details, bloody battles, and terrifying events of the revolution. Set during the events of Assassin's Creed: Unity, the film depicts the events of the Reign of Terror and the execution of Maximilien de Robespierre during the French Revolution.

Eight Miles High

February 2007 •German

Achim Bornhak's movie focuses on the restless life of Uschi Obermaier, the icon of the 1968 movement in Germany and groupie. At the age of 16, Uschi is bored by her job in a photo lab, but soon becomes the "it girl" of Munich's club scene. When she gets to know Rainer Langhans, they move to Berlin and live in "Kommune 1", the first politically-motivated commune in Germany. While the other occupants claim she isn't political enough, Uschi just wants to have fun, works as fashion model and leads international music stars in temptation.

The Outlaw Michael Howe

December 2013 •English

1814. Van Diemen’s Land, the notorious British penal colony, has dissolved into chaos. Outlaws roaming the wilderness have pushed the colonial government to breaking point. Driven by a deep sense of loyalty and an unquenchable hatred towards those he once served, English convict Michael Howe and a young aboriginal girl turn a desperate band of convicts, deserters and bushmen into a fearsome guerrilla army and lead them in open rebellion against the brutal, corrupt establishment. As the British hunt the outlaws, Howe remains an elusive prize. In desperation, the Governor makes the capture of Howe’s pregnant girl his priority. 

An epic story of love and betrayal, The Outlaw Michael Howe chronicles the astonishing true story of the man who pushed Australia to the brink of civil war.

Lenin in Paris

November 1981 •Russian