In the Moroccan desert night dilutes forms and silence slides through sand. Dawn starts then to draw silhouettes of dunes while motionless figures punctuate landscape. From night´s abstraction, light returns its dimension to space and their volume to bodies. Stillness concentrates gaze and duration densify it. The adhan -muslim call to pray- sounds and immobility, that was condensing, begins to irradiate. And now the bodies are those which dissolves into the desert.
Behind the scenes documentary on the making of the film.
Louis, an eight-and-a-half years old autistic kid, arrives in his new school and is about to introduce himself.
A young woman’s connection with the life force of nature. Using her taxidermy talents to “return” the animals to their natural habitat. But the true search for answers begins when she finds a roll of undeveloped film in each of the animals that she treats.
On a farm in 1933, a piglet is sold to a family in Copenhagen. Piggy is a pig with greater appetite than brain and does not know that the good food he gets will turn him to the main dish of Christmas Eve. When the freedom fighter Monty appears, he explains it to Piggy. Together they plan their great escape.
Finn has stains on his body. One day, he meets a group of cool kids with different stains on their bodies. One day, he understands that these stains aren’t just pretty.
A display of flower bouquets, rotating to show the Kinemacolour process.
A young boy who likes to play the flute dreams that he has lost his water buffalo.
Tehran Is the Capital of Iran (1966-79) documents life in a deprived district in the south of Tehran. The images of destitution in Tehran's poor areas is accompanied by a variety of spoken accounts: the official viewpoint on the district's living conditions, what the inhabitants have to say, and occasional extracts read out of school manuals. The key element in Shirdel's film is the counterpoint effect he creates with image and sound. His impressively powerful portrayal of social unease helps reinforce the impact of his astonishing documentary images and social themes.
Presents the history of the domestic cat, tracing the animal as a house pet and as a symbol of mystery and worship from ancient Egypt to the present day. Offers hints on the care and treatment of cats in homes of today.
This short film served as an invitation to the World's Fair that was held in Montreal in 1967. It was largely considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century with over 50 million visitors. The film presents impressions of the event and of Montreal at its liveliest and most exciting moment in history.
Deepness of the Fry is an absurd existential crisis disguised as a collage film. Living in a world where everything’s already been said, felt, and done before, can anyone truly be unique? And is thinking about this too much really a good idea?
Many cities or countries have a distinct malaise. They are places that could be Portugal, so sunk in a painful longing of the past, and where each tension of the present is only the tip of an iceberg that is explained in successive retreats that can go straight until origin of the species, at least. This feeling common to many latitudes is often presented as a diagnosis, a denial of a painful present as opposed to the desire to return to a glorious past.
An attempt to erect a virtual memorial for the victims of the Bosnian war, using archive material, videos and statements from survivors in a 3D animation.
An european artist writes about his experience in portraying life in Brazil during the colonial period. Aporteiro – concierge and security guard in one – watches the surveillance cameras in a residential building, while reflecting on his profession and the relationship with his employers. Between the exotic idyll of front yards and deterrent technology, his task is to establish security and normality. Brazil’s troubled past and complicated present come together in this highly charged film.
In November 2017, a devastating earthquake hit western Iran. It took only 13 seconds to lose everything. This is a fleeting observation of the days after the disaster.
Bill is on cloud nine. He has just become a big brother to the lovley Bolla. At first she seems like any other toddler, curious, jovial and sweet. But as the months turn into years and Bolla continues to live in a world of her own, it becomes clear that she is not quite like other children. Based on the book by Gunilla Bergström, creator and author of the Alfons Åberg (Alfie Atkins) books.
A short four-minute concept film unveiled in surprise at Studio SHAFT's 40th anniversary event in winter 2015, Madogatari. The first animated Puella Magi Madoka Magica work since Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, it features the return of the full Madoka Magica cast and staff.
On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).
Two men in adjoining duplexes, good friends, are enchanted by the song of a bird. One buys a small harmonica and learns to play it; he keeps his neighbor awake. The neighbor buys a larger harmonica, and an arms race ensues; the instruments get larger, until it's a piano vs. a pipe organ, and then they start bringing in larger groups of friends until an entire orchestra is playing the 1812 Overture. The houses collapse from all this, atop the dueling orchestras, and on their way up to heaven, the man puts his small harmonica up for sale.