Professor Marrot obtains the secret documents containing evidence of the illegal weapon transactions between the French government, in the face of its high official Leroi, and two African countries. Before making the public statement, Marrot finds himself under surveillance. In the critical circumstances his Italian friend and partner Angela takes action and the game continues.Read More »
The successful entertainment artist Ralf Keul must develop his land on the Baltic Sea or else ultimately give it up. Inexperienced yet courageous, he hurls himself into the undertaking, which spares him no unpleasantness. He battles over the transportation and procurement of materials, constantly on the verge of a nervous breakdown, while his craftsmen offer little additional assistance. About halfway through the project he runs out of money and ends up selling his coin collection. Finally, after countless stresses, job-related irritations, and overlapping marital crises, the house is built. His wife and daughter are thrilled, and enthusiastic visitors show up in droves. – DEFA Film LibraryRead More »
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This stunning visual masterpiece is an exuberant testament to the resolve of women of the ’60s and ’70s sexual revolution and feminist movement in Italy. Acclaimed director Alina Marazzi takes viewers on gorgeous storytelling journey through archival footage, advertisements, and colorful images juxtaposed with the true-life struggles and first person narrations of three diverse Italian women: Anita, who is struggling with an oppressive father and the strict rules of her Catholic faith; Teresa, who must resort to a heartbreaking illicit abortion; and Valentina, a militant feminist caught between love and her commitment to the movement.Read More »
From his rise to power in 1922 to the coming of WWII in 1939, Benito Mussolini ‘s dictatorial career is documented, with entire unedited speeches from newsreels of the time.
“A beautiful film. But also dangerous.” –Pier Paolo PasoliniRead More »
Enrico Mattei had been a powerful and charismatic public figure in Italy in the immediate postwar era. Appointed to wind up the Italian Petroleum Agency, he had instead expanded it and used the new company, ENI, to both explore new sources of energy for Italy and to create a personal power base within the Italian political scene. Machiavellian and idealistic at the same time, Mattei openly used the company’s funds to bribe politicians of all persuasions to support its ventures. An energetic and astute entrepreneur, Mattei resented the big American companies’ control over oil prices and so initiated direct discussions with Russia and with a number of Arab countries in order to procure cheaper oil for Italy and, in the process, a better deal for the producing countries.Read More »
“Had The Death of Stalin been made in the 1950s, it might have been called Carry on Comrade—and yet it suggests the venerable mantra, “think Yiddish, act” (or “dress” or “look”) “British.” The Death of Stalin is not as funny or as transgressive as The Producers but it has some of the same flavor. The spirit is less that of a Punch and Judy show than a Purimshpiel—particularly those Purim plays that, performed for and by Holocaust survivors in the immediate aftermath of WWII, conflated Haman with Hitler.Read More »
Italy 1973. Giuseppe Tritoni (Ugo Tognazzi) is an ultra-right-wing congressman that doesn’t agree anymore with his fascist party policy. He contacts many Italian Army officers and built a net of relationship in order to organize a Coup d’Etat (Golpe). Something goes wrong and the Interior Minister (Home Secretary) Mr. Li Masi (Lino Pugliesi) got the all information about the attempted Golpe. So the Minister organizes a counter-Golpe.Read More »
Kongpaeng leaves his poverty-stricken agricultural village for Bangkok. Lost in the big city, he flits between menial jobs. Meanwhile his wife barely survives on the money he sends home. Change is afoot however; the villagers begin to organize themselves against the corrupted officials who are keeping them in the poverty trap. Meanwhile Koenpaeng in the big city can also feel the wind of change.Read More »
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The Chilean Patricio Guzmán, in 1968 filmed “Notes on torture and other ways of dialogue” as a second-year practice in the EOC (Escuela Oficial de Cinematografía).
It is a denouncing piece that plays with the forms of advertising to denounce the repressive brutality of the Latin American governments but also the inaction of a certain part of the left.Read More »