In one of those wonderful coincidences of history, lumière, the French word for “light,” was also the last name of brothers Auguste and Louis, whose brilliant invention, the cinematograph, helped to inaugurate the most beloved art form of the last 130 years. Institute Lumière director Thierry Frémaux uses Lumière, Le Cinema! to guide the viewer through over a hundred shorts—some famous, some forgotten, some never before seen—directed by Lumière and company. In the process, Frémaux illuminates how the brothers employed the camera as a creative instrument as they (and their operators) mastered framing, staging, and subject selection for quotidian and exotic microdocumentaries as well as the first ever fictional motion pictures. The result is not only a glorious re(telling) of the genesis of cinema but a profound meditation on the beautiful world captured—and the mysterious world imagined—by the Lumières.
A woman narrates the thoughts of a world traveler, meditations on time and memory expressed in words and images from places as far-flung as Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, and San Francisco.
Drawing from archives, through the collective force of invention and resistance, and evoking the creative power of Black people, the film summons sonic and visual memories to construct an insurgent remix.
A hen questions the meaning of her life on a farm.
Las Preguntas que Perdimos
A new type of cinema you can perceive with your butt hole.
A sort of non-narrative itinerary between Lyon, Vienne and Valence-Ville that goes exploring the relationships between the interactions and the light it exposes, a reflection of identity and beauty that the shadows goes preserving the perceptions of new space.
Vladimir Propp- Profumo di lupo
An experimental tribute to Jean-Luc Godard, his documentary works and his insights in our modern world.
In a remote area of northern Spain, the wind has a name: Tramuntana. Tramuntana takes what it wants—clothes, trees, boats, and the people of the landscape who live with the endless threat of being carried away by its force. This film is a lyrical portrait of this furious wind, woven from the stories passed down by local villagers.
A body lurchs through the university.
Two gay men in Japan discuss the end of their respective relationships.
Experimental Colombian short documentary on the treatment of livestock.
A film essay that intertwines the director's gaze with that of her late mother. Beyond exploring mourning and absence as exclusively painful experiences, the film pays tribute to her mother through memories embodied by places and objects that evidence the traces of her existence. The filmmaker asks herself: What does she owe her mother for who she is and how she films? To what extent does her film belong to her?
Life is what we don't want it to be.
Pêche Capitale
Sistine Chapel is an audio-visual collage of new footage and samples from Paik’s past videos, which featured many of his friends, collaborators, and public figures. It was Paik’s own way of summarizing his artistic career with video. The film installation consists of fast-paced and overlapping images that completely cover the gallery walls and ceiling—one of the most under-appreciated parts of architecture, according to Paik. With its electronic visuals and booming audio, interspersed with periods of silence, the immersive installation stands in stark contrast to the experience of its namesake.
Glittering illusions of vectorized providence struggle to guide the viewer toward a path of re-enchantment.
People leave (and return) from a church after Sunday Mass more than 120 years ago. The creaking of time and the darkness behind the ancient ritual of praying for our existence dance eternally, like a river of souls. Liz Taylor's visualy noisy reinterpretation of the film "Congregation Leaving St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Dublin" (1901) by the Edwardian filmmaking duo James Kenyon and Sagar Mitchell.
An experimental short film about what one can observe from a balcony overlooking Avenida de América, Madrid.