• Agnès Varda – Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma AKA A Hundred and One Nights of Simon Cinema (1995)

    1991-2000Agnès VardaComedyFrance

    Criterion wrote:
    A celebration of cinema’s centennial, One Hundred and One Nights finds Agnès Varda at her most playful. It is also perhaps her unlikeliest project: a star-studded comic fantasy with an extravagant sense of style and an adoring but slightly off-kilter perspective on the magic of filmmaking. French New Wave icon Michel Simon is a mysterious aging impresario named Simon Cinéma who has hired a young film student, Camille (Julie Gayet), to simply sit with him at his mansion and talk about movies. Skeptical yet increasingly enchanted, Camille bears witness to cinema itself coming to life, allowing Varda to wittily integrate a mind-boggling parade of appearances by screen legends (Catherine Deneuve, Marcello Mastroianni, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Anouk Aimée, Robert De Niro, and many others), and attest to the vigorous health of the movies at the close of the twentieth century.Read More »

  • Agnès Varda – Les créatures AKA The Creatures (1966)

    1961-1970Agnès VardaArthouseFantasyFrance

    Criterion wrote:
    One of Agnès Varda least-seen films is also one of her most fascinating: an eccentrically imaginative science-fiction fantasia that touches on human nature, free will, and the creative process. Working with major stars for the first time on a feature film, Varda casts Michel Piccoli as a writer and Catherine Deneuve as his silent wife, a couple who relocate to the island of Noirmoutier (a longtime second home for Varda and her husband, Jacques Demy) where strange goings-on hint at a sinister force controlling the minds and actions of the residents. Slipping between “reality” and fiction, genre spectacle and avant-garde experimentation, Les créatures is a beguiling, endlessly inventive exploration of the mysterious alchemy that transforms life into art.Read More »

  • Alejandro Jodorowsky – The Holy Mountain (1973)

    1971-1980Alejandro JodorowskyArthouseCultMexico

    Quote:
    A Christlike figure wanders through bizarre, grotesque scenarios filled with religious and sacrilegious imagery. He meets a mystical guide who introduces him to seven wealthy and powerful individuals, each representing a planet in the solar system. These seven, along with the protagonist, the guide and the guide’s assistant, divest themselves of their worldly goods and form a group of nine who will seek out the Holy Mountain, in order to displace the gods who live there and become immortal.Read More »

  • Kenneth Anger – Lucifer Rising [+commentary] (1972)

    1971-1980CultKenneth AngerQueer Cinema(s)Short FilmUSA

    Quote:
    “A film about the love generation – the birthday party of the Aquarian Age showing actual ceremonies to make Lucifer rise. Lucifer is the Light god, not the devil – the Rebel Angel behind what’s happening in the world today. His message is that the key of joy is disobedience. Isis (Nature) wakes. Osiris (Death) answers. Lilith (Destroyer) climbs to the place of Sacrifice. The Magus activates the circle and Lucifer – Bringer of Light – breaks through.”

    – Kenneth AngerRead More »

  • Michel Deville – Martin Soldat AKA Soldier Martin (1966)

    1961-1970ComedyFranceMichel Deville

    Quotes :
    An actor disguises himself as a soldier during the Second World War, but is mistaken for a soldier and becomes involved in the events of WWII.

    Un comédien de troisième zone se déguise en officier Allemand pour les besoins de sa troupe de théâtre. Il est fait prisonnier par les soldats Américains le jour du Débarquement…Read More »

  • Nikos Grammatikos – Apontes (1996)

    1991-2000DramaGreeceNikos Grammatikos

    Synopsis:
    The Summer of 1987. Six friends from Salamina meet in one of the island’s cafes. Then, and over the following seven years, they experience maturation as a gradual drawing-away from the paradise of their adolescent unconcern, and the emotional bonds between them slowly wither. They realize that they are no longer the center of the world and that they have been absorbed by a social system that is deadly serious. Year-in-year-out, their meetings take place less and less frequently. Every time they return to the island, they carry with them traces of different personal experiences that all the more bear the marks of modern social reality. They experience this change as a kind of decay and corruption. At the same time, their once-solid friendship inevitably fades away.Read More »

  • Nariman Aliev – Evge (2019)

    2011-2020DramaNariman AlievUkraine

    A father and a son from Crimean Tatar family transport the body of deceased older son and brother from Kyiv to bury him in Crimea.

    10 wins & 23 nominations.Read More »

  • Sharon Lockhart – Podwórka AKA Backyards (2009)

    2001-2010ArchitectureDocumentaryPolandSharon LockhartShort Film

    Sharon Lockhart’s new film, Pódworka, takes as its subject matter the courtyards of Lodz, Poland, and the children that inhabit them. A ubiquitous architectural element of the city, Lodz’ courtyards are the playgrounds of the children that live in the surrounding apartment buildings. Separated from the streets, they provide a sanctuary from the traffic and commotion of the city. Yet far from the overdetermined playgrounds of America, the courtyards are still very much urban environments. In six different courtyards throughout the city of Lodz, we see parking lots, storage units, and metal armatures become jungle gyms, sandboxes, and soccer fields in the children’s world. A series of fleeting interludes within city life, Pódworka is both a study of a specific place and an evocation of the resourcefulness of childhood. (lockhartstudio.com)Read More »

  • Duki Dror – Incessant Visions (2011)

    2011-2020ArchitectureDocumentaryDuki DrorIsrael

    Quote:
    This award-winning homage, illuminates the life of German Jewish Expressionist architect Erich Mendelsohn. His story unfolds through the letter exchange, the correspondence of two artists brought to life by director, Duki Dror. Mendelsohn’s career followed the trajectory of many German Jews fleeing Nazism; he worked in England, Israel and in the USA. His earlier work, the Einstein Tower, is one of the important exemplars of modern architecture. Dror deftly juxtaposes the architect’s designs with contemporary images, weaving in reflections from architects who use these unique buildings today – a testament to the integrity and timelessness of his visionary design.Read More »

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