For this year's Movies Issue, The New York Times Magazine commissioned lines from an eclectic and talented group of screenwriters — writers responsible for some of the best scripts of 2013. We asked them each to write a single line for us — not a scene, a script or a scenario, but simply an intriguing, amusing or captivating line of dialogue. Then we gave these lines to one of the great movie artists of our time: the cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, a two-time Oscar winner. Kaminski used these lines as inspiration to create 11 original (very) short films. Each short evokes a style or genre of the cinematic past and stars an actor who gave an especially memorable performance in 2013.
The story begins with the finding of a wonderful peach which comes floating down a small stream and is brought to shore by a little Japanese woman, who takes it to her home. It there transpires that she and her husband are still mourning the loss of a baby, and the wonderful peach when it is cut brings healing to their sorrow, for as the father's hands separate the two parts of the luscious fruit, between them miraculously appears the figure of a tiny baby.
Mystical creatures from all around the universe travel great distances to stay at Oscar's Hotel. Oliver attempts to team up with some of the hotel's finest to track down a dangerous intruder.
Jon, a clerk working in a convenience store on a desolate highway, is visited by strange creatures that rob his store. While going after the creatures, Jon is drawn deeper and deeper in their universe.
A variation of the famous Oscar Wilde tale in which Dorian Gray's soul is manifested in a painting instead of his own body.
A silent version of the Sinbad story, with a cast solely made up of children.
Made by the Edison Manufacturing Company and directed by Edwin S. Porter, the film starred Gladys Hulette as Alice. Being a silent film, naturally all of Lewis Carroll's nonsensical prose could not be used, and, being only a one-reel picture, most of Carroll's memorable characters in his original 1865 novel similarly could not be included. What was used in the film was faithful in spirit to Carroll, and in design to the original John Tenniel illustrations. Variety complimented the picture by comparing it favorably to the "foreign" film fantasies then flooding American cinemas.
A magic aeroplane takes two children to the Moon, where they encounter prehistoric monsters and witness a battle between them. As far as is known this was the first film to combine realistic stop-motion dinosaurs and live-action actors in the same shot. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.
Pixel Veil presents “The Alchemist’s Letter,” a richly inventive and visually stunning dark fairly tale. When Veridian, an estranged young man, receives his late alchemist father Nicolas’ inheritance (voice of Academy Award® nominated John Hurt), he is exposed to the ill-fated reality that his father built a tumultuous gold making machine powered by his own memories. The film takes us on an enchanted journey through the vessels of the machine where we explore the contents of the alchemist’s most precious memories, all in an attempt to give his son one last life lesson and save his relationship with his daughter (voice of Eloise Webb) from following down the same fateful path.
Lopaka, a poor Hawaiian fisherman, falls in love with Kokua, a young girl of royal blood. Her father refuses to let him marry her, though, unless Lopaka can bring him two feather cloaks from a rare bird. While searching the mountains for the bird, Lopaka encounters a dying priest of Pele who sells him a wishing bottle in which Kono, the god of the volcanos, is confined.
A Jinn's magic helps a poor architect win a professor's daughter. This film is considered lost.
Kerry Harlan (La Rocque) is unable to work because he was injured in a battle with a shark, so his youthful wife Amy (Reynolds) becomes a fashion model. While she is away from home, Bertha, the wife of his surgeon, is trying to force her attentions on Kerry and is accidentally killed in an attempt to evade her husband. After the scandal Amy is courted by Tony Channing, but she returns to her husband and finds him near death from gas fumes. Because they both attempted to make suicide, their spirits are rejected by "the other side," and learning the truth from Bertha's spirit they fight their way back to life. This film is presumed lost.
The goddess Minerva is jealous of the young Arachne who is more clever it in weaving. Out of spite, Arachne Minerva rushed into hell, then transforms into a spider that will forever spinning its web.
A film about puppets, the creative process, and how conflict can end in resolution.
A groom's best friend comes to his aid on his wedding day with unexpected consequences.
Sometimes giving a dude a simple push on a swing isn't so simple after all.
Grab the old dog, hit the park and get some gnarly hang time, bro. Sick pups!
A loving family gather around the Christmas tree to open presents, but things may not be all rosey from a different perspective.
A pair of friends sit on a bench and discuss their hopes and dreams when things take an unexpected turn.
A woman meets another identical to her...