Out of State is the unlikely story of native Hawaiians men discovering their native culture as prisoners in the desert of Arizona, 3,000 miles, and across the ocean, from their island home.
A quotation from Aristophanes, "The desire and pursuit of the whole is called love," precedes views of a man and a woman's bodies, often in extreme close up. Off-screen, a voice recites fragments of oracular literature and purple prose. We see an eye, an ear, a mouth, a tongue, bits of hair, a hand, the tips of fingers, toes. Occasionally, the frame includes a larger scape of a body: a chest, a back, a breast. Usually the camera is stationery; sometimes, it moves across a body, remaining in close up. They hold hands for one moment. The bodies are without clothes; no genitalia are visible.
Plató
An Austrian director followed five successful African music and dance artists with his camera and followed their lives for a year. The artists, from villages in Ghana, Gambia and Congo, were the subjects of Africa! Africa! touring across Europe, but they have unbreakable roots to their homeland and their families. Schmiderer lovingly portrays his heroes, who tell their stories about themselves, their art and what it means to them to be African with captivating honesty. The interviews are interwoven with dance scenes and colourful vignettes set to authentic music.
Nová zemědělská škola, nová mláděž – nová vesnice
After Awesome Tapes From Africa's Brian Shimkovitz found the energetic, ecstatic music of Ghanaian musician Ata Kak, the tunes became beloved around the world. It was all unbeknownst to the artist himself -- his music was even unknown to those living in his hometown in Ghana. Years of tireless searching ensued, and eventually the Los Angeles-based label owner found a lead. Ata Kak - Time Bomb follows the search that Shimkovitz undertook as well as the visit to Ghana that took place once he found him. It is a celebration of great tunes and how, when it hits the right audience at the right time, music can touch people in a way that you never imagined.
A whistle blower counts the steps. The steppers share glances. The whistle blower stops blowing the whistle and attempts to steal their glances. Steps are broken and transform. A new glance replaces the old.
Naše nohy
Documentary footage from various sources, set to music. Showing the whole of human life, from birth to death and beyond.
Dance educator LIN Ssu-tuan is the first professional nude model in Taiwan in the 1950s and the 1960s, the muse for painters and sculptors in the art world, and the face for photographers’ salons around the world; in the end, she reversed the dynamics of the subject vs. the object and went on to perform her first solo modern dance in 1975, turning herself from the state of passiveness to an active educator of the art of dance. LIN is over 80 years old, but she still fervently pursues her ideals and passions with her body; her path of life is indeed a book of female art history that communicates with the society in Taiwan.
"A.WAY" is a journey into lost memories of youth, purely constructed with archive material. A nostalgic reverie that transitions into a feeling of melancholy and unease. The beauty of life and the fear of death as a universal sentiment.
Follows the journey of two high school teams vying for the coveted UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship title.
After celebrated careers , legendary dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler became friends while performing together in the Broadway Show Follies (2001) . When the show closed, they decided to rent a private studio together where they have been choreographing and rehearsing original dances ever since. They are both 90 years old. KEEP DANCING seamlessly blends 9 decades of archival film and photographs with present day footage to tell a story through dance of the passing of time and the process of aging.
Slovenské ľudové tance
A portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice. Ratamata was made by future Tom Palazzolo collaborator Kreines when he was 16 years old, and was an award winner at the Young Chicago Filmmakers Festival.
A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques.
A year in the life of an underdog competitive high school mariachi band in the Texas borderlands.
Jérôme was sexually abused as a child by a priest. In a deeply personal film, he tries to search for clues in his memories and come to terms with the complicity of his former social environment.
The first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera and possibly the first woman to appear in a motion picture within the United States. In the film, Carmencita is recorded going through a routine she had been performing at Koster & Bial's in New York since February 1890.
Movie and stage icon Debbie Reynolds hosts the making of "Singin' in the Rain". The short documentary includes Donald O'Connor, who played the comical "Cosmo Brown", Stanley Donen, one half of the directors next to Gene Kelly, and Kathleen Freeman, who played Phoebe Dinsmore, Lina Lamont's (Jean Hagen) voice coach.