Sudan's Forgotten Films

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

June 1896 •French

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Thoughts on the Purpose of Friendship

January 2020 •English

Thoughts on the Purpose of Friendship follows two friends and their effortless friendship. The subtle interplay and hidden expressions between them remind us, in our increasingly transaction-based society, of the true and simple foundations required to build a friendship.

Icemeltland Park

July 2020 •English

An amusement park designed for families, couples, groups of friends and everyone who wishes to visit. You don’t know where to go on holiday? Or you’re not sure how to spend your honeymoon? Come to Icemeltland Park, you won’t regret it!

JFK Remembered: 50 Years Later

November 2013 •English

A look back at the 1000 days of the John F. Kennedy presidency.

The Return of the Living Dead: The Decade of Darkness

July 2007 •English

A look at the horror movies of the 1980's.

Neil Young and Crazy Horse: The Complex Sessions

March 1995 •English

This half-hour documentary by acclaimed director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") captures singer-songwriter Neil Young and his hard-rocking backing band Crazy Horse "live" in the studio playing a set of four songs. These sessions took place at the Complex Recording Studios in Los Angeles on October 3, 1994, just one day after Young's critically-lauded Bridge School Benefit concert. Earlier that year, Young and his band had recorded the studio album "Sleeps with Angels" at the Complex studios and came back to film a series of music videos. Jonathan Demme was there to document the recording session, which began at 6:30 pm on a Monday evening and concluded at 4:30 am the next day. "The Complex Sessions" is the result of these sessions. Set List: 1. My Heart (3:08), 2. Prime of Life (4:44), 3. Change Your Mind (14:56), 4. Piece of Crap (3:08).

I Don't Want to Sleep with You I Just Want to Make You Hard

April 2016 •Japanese

Kyabakura is a type of hostess club in Japan, inspired by French cabaret. There exists an ambiguous relationship between the clients, the men, and the hostesses, that should never materialize into a sexual relationship...There are strict rules, which of course, are designed to be broken.

Arekara - The Life After

February 2013 •Japanese

In February 2012, I went to Ishinomaki, a town North of Tokyo that was half destroyed by the tsunami of March 11th, 2011, to meet the disaster victims who now live in temporary housing. I spent several days in the North, under the snow, listening to these people talk candidly about what they had lived through, telling their own stories without the media as an intermediary. Their testimonies were terrifying, harsh and sad, but at the same time touching, sincere and human. From the pictures and interviews that I collected, I decided to make a film, not to reflect how awful the events were, but to communicate the singular and even surreal nature of each person’s experience. My intention wasn’t so much to focus on this particular event in Japan, but rather to make these stories more universal as a way of paying tribute to all the victims of natural disasters throughout the world.

All Winners, All Losers

June 2018 •Persian

Shokri is in prison because of a debt, he wasn't able to repay. One day during his day pass out of the prison he found a black purse full of money and he tried to find the owner, in order to return the money back. Shot in 2015.

Two American Audiences: La Chinoise - A Film in the Making

January 1968 •English

Jean-Luc Godard visits NYU in order to discuss his latest feature "La chinoise" with graduate students on filmmaking and politics.

The True Story of the Ballerina in Red

September 2010 •Portuguese

Fictional Documentary. A dancer in one of the paintings by Edgar Degas one day stepped out of the canvas, conquers the world and disappears during the carnival in Rio; mix of the academic universe, avant-gard art and the underworld sex scene. The movie was shot in Paris, NY and RJ.

The Resurrection

July 2020 •Korean

The 4%: Film's Gender Problem

March 2016 •English

Explores the hot-button issues around the striking gender gap in Hollywood. Both women and men in the entertainment industry share first-person insights, questions, and anecdotes about the place of women in Hollywood.

Notes on the Circus

May 1967 •English

The short film is a montage of sped up clips of The Ringling Brothers Circus in action set to a musical track. The film is separated into four segments, each segment which focuses on different acts within the circus. The later segments often incorporate clips from earlier segments, mostly as background to the featured acts. The speed of the clips match the tempo of the soundtrack music.

O Grande Amor de um Lobo

July 2018 •Portuguese

In the quest for true love, a young man makes reality his own film.

Half Sour

April 2014 •English

A group of young skateboarders find direction in their lives when they move to New York and start a pickle business.

Man Yuk: A Portrait of Maggie Cheung

January 1997 •

Experimental short made by Olivier Assayas for Fondation of Contemporary Art and starring Maggie Cheung.

Six by Sondheim

December 2013 •English

This intimate documentary explores the life and career of the stage legend Stephen Sondheim through six of his best-known songs.

Expiration

July 1976 •

Short experimental film.

The De Facto Martyr Suite

August 2020 •French

Ibn Kenyatta has been in prison since 1974. In 2019, he reflects on his refusal to appear before the New York State Board of Parole. The words resonate from his cell with images of the Great Migration. The invocation of a life before walls. The images' epistolary narrative takes us from Alabama, his birthplace, to the New York subway where he was arrested and beaten. Before arriving to Haiti's spiritual world, his words pass through cotton fields and factories. We encounter Bobby Seale in prison, a youth who embodies his African heritage during the Vietnam War, while his fathers are murdered in the United States.