The daring experimenter Dr. John C. Lilly dedicated his life to radical self-investigation and unlocking the mysteries of consciousness and communication. “My body is my laboratory” was the motto, and his research on the language of dolphins and whales – as well as psychedelics and sensory deprivation – assured his own cult status in 20th-century pop culture as the basis for Ken Russel’s Altered States and Mike Nichols’s The Day of the Dolphin. Directors Michael Almareyda and Courtney Stephens, along with narrator Chloë Sevigny, explore the life of a determined scientist and his experiments into the psychonautical unknown.
A silent city symphony, projected from gorgeous black and white 16mm film. Materia vibrante lets the resonating frequencies of the urban environment create the inaudible hum that keeps the engines of society running, absent of the inhabitants running around like little ants toiling away.
A quick view of three remarkable organic gardens: Le Tomple, Le jardin du Mas d’Abri in the department of Gard and Le jardin des Sambucs in the department of Hérault. The film goes over their general layout along pathways amongst the vegetation, ponds and people or animals that happen to be there at the time.
A long-form 'artist moving image' documentary film that sits in a fictitious conceit that begins in a distant future, inspired by Russell Hoban’s cult novel ‘Riddley Walker’. A medley of documentary, fantasy, song and dance: shot on a tapestry of celluloid film stocks and developed by hand.
"Meat Joy is an erotic rite — excessive, indulgent, a celebration of flesh as material: raw fish, chicken, sausages, wet paint, transparent plastic, ropes, brushes, paper scrap. Its propulsion is towards the ecstatic — shifting and turning among tenderness, wildness, precision, abandon; qualities that could at any moment be sensual, comic, joyous, repellent. Physical equivalences are enacted as a psychic imagistic stream, in which the layered elements mesh and gain intensity by the energy complement of the audience. The original performances became notorious and introduced a vision of the 'sacred erotic.' This video was converted from original film footage of three 1964 performances of Meat Joy at its first staged performance at the Festival de la Libre Expression, Paris, Dennison Hall, London, and Judson Church, New York City."
In this documentary, wealthy entrepreneur Bryan Johnson puts his body and fortune on the line to defy aging and extend his life beyond all known limits.
Two filmmakers juxtapose field recordings and documented moving images as an attempt to reconcile with their place in their desensitized semi-urban hometown in India.
A staged birthday celebration and a visit to the director’s father’s home. From the interplay of memory and imagination, the film explores how family archives shape fictions of the past.
In a mockumentary style reality show, we follow X-Coast aka Bojan Cizmic going over the world and marketing his X-Coast Deejay Academy. On his travels he meets various known alumni from the techno scene. But when trouble starts, return to homeland is the best solution.
In Bali, artist Daan Roosegaarde and local Balinese spent three years breeding a Firefly Garden where light returns at night. This love story of people and nature flickers with courtship, longing, and reunion.
Jonas Mekas recites poems of his, both in English and Lithuanian. Exclusive Mekas interview by the poet Sparrow. The legendary poet-film critic and film diarist waxes philosophical in rare extended setting exhibiting his transcendental poetic humor. Jonas attacks the crass world of TV advertising and sell-out commercial filmmakers. Contributes zen anecdotes and filmmaking advice. Choice clips include Mekas' Film Diaries with deceivingly formalist amateur "home movie" style, but in small bursts of expression in a quick collage. Footage from Jonas' homeland as well as clips of famed pop figures John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Tiny Tim.
Two friends await in the airport for a third friend to arrive. As the passangers come by, pictures not taken accompany a conversation between the two friends.
An audiovisual essay constructed from Super 8 footage filmed during camera tests for the short film ‘La Trampa’. Through gestures, light, and silences, it reflects on what the image reveals and what it leaves unsaid.
A sock puppet explores a family history told from the perspective of a mother and father.
What are they? What do they seek? When all the lights go out, they will wander. And you will never see them.
Laurie, a terminally ill cancer patient and loving mother of four, is granted the right to legally use magic mushrooms to treat her end of life anxiety. She then embarks on a remarkable journey of personal transformation and healing while exploring lesser known possible cures for cancer, like cannabis oil.
In the rural desert of Bolivia, where the most important presence is the wind moving between papa flowers and animals, the people who harvest the land, those who built the ancient artifacts and sacred objects and the musicians who play moseñada – songs linked to the first products of the harvest – on the streets of the city have one point in common: labor. With a successful inclusion of stories of enchanted lakes, legends that pass from mouth to mouth – or from orality to audiovisual, in this case – and give a fantastic aura to those lands, Luciana Decker Orozco not only manages to capture life without oscillations . field, but resorts to the incessant movement of images and sound accompaniment to define a sensory and transcendental experience for the viewer.
The Tiger God project originated during the artist’s residency at Cien Art Village in Hualien in 2021, inspired by a Sikawasay (Amis priest) who said a concrete tiger carried a soul. The work explores encounters between Han folk beliefs and Amis spiritual traditions, reflecting on suppressed indigenous histories in eastern Taiwan under colonial and religious forces. Nighttime fireworks symbolize external impacts on the land, linking concrete animals, mining, and colonial imagination. The ritual opera returns the footage to the land and gods, weaving ritual, research, and reflection into a narrative about silent objects and memory.
Experimental short-film made by brazilian students about the trópicalia and cinema novo movement. The narrative revolves around the song Géleia Geral from the album Tropicália ou Panis Et Circensis and also around the political, artistical and social time from that period.
In an attempt to represent reality, the boundary between life and art blurs between fragmentary images of someone and the praxis of an essay film.