Decease

At a morgue, forensic pathologists conduct autopsies of the corpses assigned. "S. Brakhage, entering, WITH HIS CAMERA, one of the forbidden, terrific locations of our culture, the autopsy room. It is a place wherein, inversely, life is cherished, for it exists to affirm that no one of us may die without our knowing exactly why. All of us, in the person of the coroner, must see that, for ourselves, with our own eyes. It is a room full of appalling particular intimacies, the last ditch of individuation. Here our vague nightmare of mortality acquires the names and faces of OTHERS. This last is a process that requires a WITNESS; and what 'idea' may finally have inserted itself into the sensible world we can still scarcely guess, for the CAMERA would seem the perfect Eidetic Witness, staring with perfect compassion where we can scarcely bear to glance." – Hollis Frampton

Songs for Drella is a concept album by Lou Reed and John Cale, both formerly of The Velvet Underground, and is dedicated to the memory of Andy Warhol, their mentor, who had died unexpectedly in 1987. Drella was a nickname for Warhol coined by Warhol Superstar Ondine, a contraction of Dracula and Cinderella, used by Warhol's crowd. The song cycle focuses on Warhol's interpersonal relations and experiences, with songs falling roughly into three categories: Warhol's first-person perspective (which makes up the vast majority of the album), third-person narratives chronicling events and affairs, and first-person commentaries on Warhol by Reed and Cale themselves. The songs on the album are, to some extent, in chronological order.

Sudario

Documentary about filmmaker Jean Grémillon.

The Futurist is a condensed experience of film viewing, a single 360 degree animated shot in an empty 1920’s cinema where the sound becomes a cacophony of past projections and the aural experience is closer to that of the projectionist than the audience.

OMA - Elk moment een nieuwe ontmoeting

This is a short, simple ballet performance. Colors are used here, but the print is quite badly damaged.

This is another short, simple dance number. It’s quite stunning and unusual though with a bat turning into a woman who proceeds to give us a skirt dance before disappearing into thin air. The dance is mesmerising with the skirt stunningly changing colour throughout the film.

Made in 1903, Eccentric Waltz showcases an exhibition by dancers Boldoni and Solinski, residents at the famous Eldorado cabaret in the Boulevard de Strasbourg in Paris. The lavish stencil colouring emphasises the woman's swirling skirt. (BFI)

Portrait of the streets from downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Drawing together footage, photographs and texts from archival sources as well as the artist’s personal collection of materials, Yto Barrada’s new film is as much a poetic enigma as it is a portrait of identity. Ether Reveries (Suite for Thérèse Rivière no.2) takes as its starting point the work and life of Thérèse Rivière (1901–1970), a French anthropologist whose remarkable working life was cut short following her confinement in psychiatric institutions.

A Texas house call veterinarian must guide his neighbor Cindy through one of the most difficult days of her life.

Incarcerated participants in a mental health experiment watch videos of sunset-soaked beaches, wildflowers and forests on loop, prompting them to reflect on isolation and wilderness. Equal parts meditation and provocation, Blue Room identifies the damage done by withholding access to the outdoors and how we are all prisoners when the essential human need for communion with nature is denied.

Christmas Eve in rapid camera.

A light explodes and becomes a snail.

Pelle vegetale. Un'intervista

A short film from Slovenia made by Karol Grossmann.

A short film from Slovenia made by Karol Grossmann.

A partially nude woman fixes and brushes her hair.

A woman wearing a light-colored leotard, gathered at the waist, and tights stands against a black background. Although she is filmed in a long shot, her feet are cut off in the frame. She opens with a flourish of her arms and faces the camera. First stretching up with her arms, Latina then bends in half at the waist, steps into a metal ring or hoop, and places her head in the ring as well.