A game of Telephone shows how the media can manipulate and shape our perception of current affairs and personal politics - simply through their choice of words.
Social & External
The people behind it
An essay style film in the vein of Orson Welles' "F For Fake" and Jon Jost's "Speaking Directly". From 2011 to 2013, filmmaker Kristian Day randomly documented the art and actions of the award winning metal sculptor, James Bearden. Refusing to make another artist documentary, Day insisted on illustrating Bearden's creative process through surreal and id oriented story telling.
Francesca Svampa’s dreamlike portrait of Barcelona, shot in double exposure on reversible 8mm film, is interwoven with Svampa’s intimate, reminiscent telling of her personal micro-memories, as a woman, filmmaker, and immigrant.
An excerpt about the troubled, passionate and intriguing relationship of an actor with his own life.
X-ray images were invented in 1895, the same year in which the Lumière brothers presented their respective invention in what today is considered to be the first cinema screening. Thus, both cinema and radiography fall within the scopic regime inaugurated by modernity. The use of X-rays on two sculptures from the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum generates images that reveal certain elements of them that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes. These images, despite being generally created for technical or scientific purposes, seem to produce a certain form of 'photogénie': they lend the radiographed objects a new appearance that lies somewhere between the material and the ethereal, endowing them with a vaporous and spectral quality. It is not by chance that physics and phantasmagoria share the term 'spectrum' in their vocabulary.
An unnamed passer-by is forced to trace a circular route inside an abandoned tram station, facing loss and time. The broken walls act as a channel, transmitting fragmentary, blurred and analogical memories.
A young woman, who has inherited her grandparents' huge house, a fascinating place full of amazing objects, feels overwhelmed by the weight of memories and her new responsibilities. Fortunately, the former inhabitants of the house soon come to her aid. (An account of the life and work of Fernando Fernán Gómez [1921-2007] and his wife Emma Cohen [1946-2016], two singular artists and fundamental figures of contemporary Spanish culture.)
Outtakes, commentary from Zefier's third film: Jo; or The Act of Riding a Bike.
In the not-so-distant future, Earth, choked by plastic, sends a secret expedition to an uninhabited planet to test an extreme method: having animals digest waste. The scientists land on DR0M3-D4R10, a dry and mysterious land, and begin the experiment. But the animals fall ill, the project fails, and the expedition is abandoned to its fate. In a desperate attempt to survive, they begin hunting the planet's only sentient creature, upsetting a sacred balance. The planet's revenge is not long in coming. Only one option remains: to leave a memory, a mark. A distant voice, native to the planet, tells their story.
"Alexander is merging himself with Icaro. Between the Earth and the Sun, a persistent connection that pushes him back and forward in time, and slowly fades inside the sun, as his only reason of living. This and other short films will be part of this merging between Icaro and me, between the past and the future, between our star and Earth".
A very personal look at the history of cinema directed, written and edited by Jean-Luc Godard in his Swiss residence in Rolle for ten years (1988-98); a monumental collage, constructed from film fragments, texts and quotations, photos and paintings, music and sound, and diverse readings; a critical, beautiful and melancholic vision of cinematographic art.
Unfolding in a series of eight vignettes, Sound Spring explores the history ofYellow Springs, Ohio over hundreds of years, as narrated by its residents incomical scenes: one interviewee rollerblades and reads the village's water meters, another stands on his head in a breakdancing freeze. The villagers describe American history-their ancestors' settlements after slavery, a friendship with Coretta Scott King, and Ohio's Trail of Tears- among other more personal details of village life. The wording of their recollections is imperfect, unsure-in fact they are all re-stagings of their previous audio interviews. Through performing their own previously recorded media, villagers uncover layers of time and storytelling.
A Street Named Liberty is a symbolic, experimental narrative that uses miniatures to reveal the disappearance of justice and the normalization of violence and oppression in an imaginary country.
A stop motion/collaged based independent short film plays with the recontextualisation of memories and how time distorts them.
Shot instinctively during the evacuation of a family home due to urban renewal, Intervals transforms fragments of domestic rituals and archival images into an intimate essay on memory, loss, and belonging, exploring the gaps between moments, between remembering and disappearance.
Moments in the life of a young Japanese filmmaker in Bosnia, charged with acoustic and visual poetry. Buoyant and essayistic entries in a process of self- and world-reassurance.
Love and admiration in 16mm. The fusion a beauty that exists throughout three generations; my three Venus.
A former leader in the Black Lion Party for International Solidarity shares his story of found family, loss, and transcendence. Shot over the course of two months, this short documentary provides a glimpse into the dynamics of modern American revolutionary movements. Jeremias' film captures a very brief, but important period of transition for the Black Panther Party in the 2020s.
An isolated filmmaker struggles to connect with others in the absence of cameras. When he becomes creatively stuck, the world around him begins to dissolve.
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
An experimental documentary that explores Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S. and the role this has played in the war in Afghanistan.
A group of British children aged 7 from widely ranging backgrounds are interviewed about a range of subjects. The filmmakers plan to re-interview them at 7 year intervals to track how their lives and attitudes change as they age.
In an intimate and joyful story of love in the face of loss, celebrated poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley find strength—and unexpected hilarity—in what might be their final year together.
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED combines acting legend Alec Baldwin with director James Toback as they lead us on a troublesome and often hilarious journey of raising financing for their next feature film. Moving from director to financier to star actor, the two players provide us with a unique look behind the curtain at the world's biggest and most glamourous film festival, shining a light on the bitter-sweet relationship filmmakers have with Cannes and the film business. Featuring insights from directors Martin Scorsese, 'Bernando Bertolucci' and Roman Polanski; actors Ryan Gosling and Jessica Chastain and a host of film distribution luminaries.
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Performance artist Marina Abramovic prepares for a major retrospective of her work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Director Michael Apted revisits the same group of British-born adults after a 7 year wait. The subjects are interviewed as to the changes that have occurred in their lives during the last seven years.
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
Alexander McQueen's rags-to-riches story is a modern-day fairy tale, laced with the gothic. Mirroring the savage beauty, boldness and vivacity of his design, this documentary is an intimate revelation of McQueen's own world, both tortured and inspired, which celebrates a radical and mesmerizing genius of profound influence.
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Amber Heard and Nicole Kidman discuss their characters Mera and Atlanna.
Explores the meaning of fame and influence in the digital age through an innovative social experiment. Following three Los Angeles-based people with relatively small followings, the film explores the attempts made to turn them into famous influencers by purchasing fake followers and bots to “engage” with their social media accounts.
Brilliant, long in-the-works story of the life and art of the world's greatest comedian and the cinema's first genius, Charlie Chaplin. Produced, written and directed by renowned film critic Richard Schickel.
A purely observational non-fiction film that takes viewers into the ethically murky world of end-of-life decision making in a public hospital.
A look at the origins, history and conspiracies behind the "Majestic 12", a clandestine group of military and corporate figureheads charged with reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology.
A compilation of over 30 years of private home movie footage shot by Lithuanian-American avant-garde director Jonas Mekas, assembled by Mekas "purely by chance", without concern for chronological order.
