The Making of a Man

Young and extremely talented dancer Yulya Olshanskaya from a small mining town draws a “happy ticket”: she is noticed by a former ballet dancer Pototsky and he promises her a future of great ballerina, worthy of the main stage of the country. However, in order to become a diamond, anyone, even the most outstanding brilliant, needs to be cut, and the way to the legendary stage of The Bolshoi Theatre for Yulya lies through the walls of the ballet school, where the more capricious teacher Galina Mikhailovna Beletskaya takes custody of the rebellious provincial. Turning into a prima will require incredible self-denial, and Yulya herself will have to make sure that the big ballet is not only the whiteness of the packs, the gold of the boxes and the slip of silk ribbons. But no obstacles will stop the one who has the big dream.

A semi-documentary experimental 1930 German silent film created by amateurs with a small budget. With authentic scenes of the metropolis city of Berlin, it's the first film from the later famous screenwriters/directors Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann.

Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep.

A London actress collapses on stage and is sent by her doctor to stay in the country with a farmer and his wife. But when she starts an affair with the farmer, the idyllic life at "Crooning Water" is threatened with tragedy.

A young woman who lives with her uncle begins to dream about a monster that lurks in the shadows of the night.

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

Claus Peymann's production of Schiller's play about oppression, rebellion and human rights is less a flaming political appeal than a subtle exploration of human behavior in a social conflict.

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

Charlotte Baker is drugged and taken to a brothel by Paul, her fiance, who in reality is a pimp. To find her, Charlotte's family contacts the celebrated detective Bob Macauley.

Anna Moore, a poor orphaned country girl, and her little brother, Tommy, live with hypocritical Squire Simpson, who conspires with his son to acquire the inheritance due the girl.

The dashing but arrogant Prince Michael Fedor Lubimoff has to flee Tsarist Russia after falling into disgrace and settles in Monte Carlo, where he resumes his life of debauchery while World War I ravages the fields of Europe… (Partially lost film; reels 3 and 9 of a total of 11 are missing.)

Against the backdrop of New York City of the early 1850s, a young woman -- naively seeking to win the love she reads about in the romance novels she devours -- finds one prospect in an earnest denizen of the Bowery, and another in an elegant young aristocrat. Focusing on the bygone era's fashions, the novelty of the bicycle-built-for-two, and an inventor's quest for the horseless carriage, the film gently stirs the audiences' nostalgia for simpler times.

An usherette in a theatre, where a distinguished and popular actor performs, gets her big break when the leading actress has an accident. The director decides to take advantage of the heretofore unexploited talent of the girl and asks her to replace the leading actress. This unexpected opportunity transforms her from a humble usherette into a shining star. Later on, she wins the heart of the leading actor with whom she was secretly in love. However, her sudden rise to theatrical-musical stardom creates complications in their love affair, as her companion sinks into disappointment and drowns himself in drink, abandoning his career. Nevertheless, the usherette/leading actress doesn't give up; She looks for him, finds him and supports him, psychologically and morally, until he makes a comeback to the stage and their love nest.

Madrid, Spain. A mutilated man, a war veteran, walks, leaning on a crutch, through the stadium of the Ciudad Universitaria, a place that still preserves in walls and buildings the terrifying traces of one of the bloodiest battles of the Spanish Civil War.

A lesbian couple experiences microaggressions at a workshop upstate. Claire and her fiancée Monica embark from the boisterous streets of New York City to the Berkshires, where Claire has been invited to stage her latest work at a rural theater company. While Claire's actors question her ability to write heterosexual dialogue, Monica encounters her own source of micro-aggression in the form of Mutty, the groundskeeper.

Frank Prentiss, a multi-millionaire who hates and distrusts women, convinces his adopted son, Jack, that they are detrimental to a man's success. The overworked Frank is forced to rest at the country home of his friend, Mr. Gray, where he meets and falls in love with the host's daughter, Kate. She refuses his proposal at first, but later accepts because her father, who has two younger children, is experiencing financial difficulties. Following the wedding, Kate is subjected to Frank's verbal abuse and seeks solace with Jack. Their friendship enrages Frank, who tortures them with his accusations. During a dinner party, Frank accuses Jack and Kate of being lovers in front of the male guests. Jack is restrained from accosting his father, but Frank suffers a fatal heart attack. Later, Jack and Kate fall in love and are married.

A comedy musical stage version of the Phantom of the Opera, filmed live on-stage during a performance in Florida.

A Spanish soldier falls under the spell of a fiery gypsy girl named Carmen. His obsession with her leads to his ruin.

Just as Galeen and Wegener's Der Golem (1915) can be seen as a testament to early German film artistry, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) symbolizes both the birth of the Australian film industry and the emergence of an Australian cinema identity. Even more significantly, it heralds the emergence of the feature film format. However, only fragments of the original production of more than one hour are known to exist, preserved at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra; Efforts at reconstruction have made the film available to modern audiences.

Photoplay and Direction by Charles Busch