Despite the title the film has nothing to do with conspiracy stuff but refers to the “Chicago Eight” who were eight protestors and were charged with conspiracy, inciting to riot, and other charges related to violent protests that took place in Chicago, IL, at the time of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.Read More »
Politics
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Jeremy Kagan – Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 (1987)
1981-1990DocumentaryJeremy KaganPoliticsUSA -
Guy Debord – La société du spectacle AKA Society of the Spectacle [English Version] (1974)
1971-1980DocumentaryFranceGuy DebordPoliticsThe Films of May '68Guy Debord’s landmark cinematic analysis of consumer society is based on his influential sociological book “La société du spectacle” (1967). Debord was a leading member of the avant-garde art movement ‘Situationist International’. This cinematic essay uses their method of ‘détournement’ to decontextualize and rearrange preexisting audiovisual materials and texts to critizise them and create new meaning. The result is a subversive collage of ideological (moving) images from socialist and capitalist societies that are presented here as artefacts of a global media ‘spectacle’: Social relations between people are mediated by artificial images and false representations that transform humans into mere passive consumers and ‘spectators’ of their alienated existence. Guy Debord’s motivation was to create a radical social critique and a disruptive, anti-illusionist cinema as an antidote and revolutionary tool against the dominant cultural and sociopolitical forces of his time.Read More »
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Helena Lumbreras – Espana 68 (El hoy es malo pero el manana es mio) AKA Spain 68 (1968)
1961-1970Amos Vogel: Film as a Subversive ArtDocumentaryHelena LumbrerasItalyPoliticsEspaña 68 (El hoy es malo pero el mañana es mío) aka Spain 68
A documentary about the 1968 student demonstrations and university occupations in Spain.Spagna ’68, entirely financed by Pier Paolo Pasolini;
the first film in history to be made under and in opposition to a totalitarian regime.Read More » -
Rithy Panh – Un barrage contre le Pacifique AKA The Sea Wall (2008)
Drama2001-2010FrancePoliticsRithy PanhA troubled mother’s spirit crumbles when her adult children strike out for independence. Feeling abandoned she contemplates taking drastic action.Read More »
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Frank Cassenti – La chanson de Roland [Composite] (1978)
1971-1980EpicFranceFrank CassentiPoliticsIMDb storyline: Roland des Roncesvalles is a legendary knight from the age of chivalry in France. In the 11th-century epic La Chanson de Roland, he is depicted as a key figure in halting the advance of the Arabs into France. In this story, the 10th-century legend is staged by a group of 12th-century pilgrims using the 11th-century poem. Their acting is interrupted by a violent peasant uprising, which kills many of the pilgrims. However, one of the survivors, is converted to the peasant cause and later speaks out in favor of more just treatment for the downtrodden. (Written by Ulf Kjell Gür)Read More »
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John Pilger – The Coming War on China (2016)
2011-2020DocumentaryHiroshima at 75John PilgerPoliticsUSAQuote:
When the United States, the world’s biggest military power, decided that China, the second largest economic power, was a threat to its imperial dominance, two-thirds of US naval forces were transferred to Asia and the Pacific. This was the ‘pivot to Asia’, announced by President Barack Obama in 2011. China, which in the space of a generation had risen from the chaos of Mao Zedong’s ‘Cultural Revolution’ to an economic prosperity that has seen more than 500 million people lifted out of poverty, was suddenly the United States’s new enemy.Read More » -
Alexander Kluge – Nachrichten aus der ideologischen Antike. Marx – Eisenstein – Das Kapital (2008)
2001-2010Alexander KlugeGermanyPhilosophyPhilosophy on ScreenPolitics»Der Entschluß steht fest, das KAPITAL nach dem Szenarium von Karl Marx zu verfilmen«, notierte Sergej Eisenstein am 12. Oktober 1927. Eisenstein, der mit Panzerkreuzer Potemkin (1926) die Filmsprache revolutionierte, wollte Marx’ Buch »kinofizieren«. Die Herausforderung, die von einem solchen Werk ausgeht, so glaubte Eisenstein, würde die Filmkunst von Grund auf umrücken. Ihm schwebte die Anwendung völlig neuer, von James Joyce’ Ulysses abgeleiteter Formen vor: »faits divers«, »emotionale Konvolute« und Reihen »dialektischer Bilder«.Read More »
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Valerio Zurlini – Seduto alla sua destra AKA Black Jesus (1968)
1961-1970DramaItalyPoliticsValerio ZurliniSynopsis:
A Congo rebel leader is captured and imprisoned with two white felons in this 81-minute feature containing religious symbolism and condemnation of colonial exploitation. Maurice Lalubi is thrown in jail with a soldier and an Italian thief. The trio endures torture at the hands of their captors, while a newly formed military regime decides the fate of the insurgent. The entire horror of the confrontation is seen through his eyes throughout Lalubi’s interrogation and torture. His imminent demise could turn him into a martyr and spell trouble for the new government dictator in this sometimes violent film.Read More » -
Jason Barker – Marx Reloaded (English Version) [+ Extras] (2011)
2001-2010Alexandra WeltzGermanyJason BarkerPhilosophyPhilosophy on ScreenPoliticsA cultural documentary that uses some of the central ideas of 19th century German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx to try to make sense of the global financial crisis of 2008-09. This crisis prompted the U.S. government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from financial meltdown. But can the largest financial losses in history really be put down to the natural risks and uncertainties of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why the crisis happened and what its implications are for the future of our society, our economy, for our whole way of life?Read More »