Cinematic Era: 1956 Vintage

A documentary depicting life in Targówek, a deprived and crime-affected district of postwar Warsaw, where reconstruction and cultural development projects have failed to materialize.

DJ Hal Jackson is the all-rhyming onstage host of this all-black musical.

The life and work of the pioneering scientists, told through the words of Marie Curie.

Man escapes from an Italian camp and returns to his island in occupied Dalmatia only to find himself victim of a plot denouncing him as an enemy agent.

Realist melodrama set in Zurich. In the old town district, people are concerned about Mäni, the child of a toilet attendant, who is growing up without a father. Postman Jucker appeals to the boy's conscience and protects him from unjustified accusations. After Mäni's mother dies, Jucker, who has become the child's guardian, takes Mäni into his home. Mrs. Jucker does not accept the boy and accuses Jucker of forgetting their own deceased child. Mrs. Jucker flees to her sister's house. Mäni also runs away.

Three models from Manchester enjoy a weekend in the Cheshire countryside.

Surrealistic images of Faust-Mephisto in his fantastic laboratory.

This 1957 Romanian short animation and Cannes Film Festival winner skilfully and with incredible artistic expression manages to condense the entire narrative of human evolutionary theory into a ten minute short film. Not only that, he eerily anticipates the communist triumph of the USSR launching the first man into space by a few years.

(auto-translation: LA CINÉMATHÈQUE FRANÇAISE ) Using a subjective camera, set to music by Bela Bartók and text by Arthur Rimbaud, François Reichenbach offers a highly singular vision of the American megalopolis. (MIFF:) These are no ordinary travel notes brought back from America by filmmakers; they are not enthusiastic records of skyscrapers and crowds. but disturbing aspects of a hallucinatory world of concrete and metal, glaring light and haunting shadow. The film is notable for its dramatic use of colour, and music from Bela Bartok's ballet "The Miraculous Mandarin". (a-t:) F.B. confides in his memoir 'Le monde a encore un visage' (1981): "When I went to New York for the first time, I'd brought along a Bell & Howell 16mm camera whose instructions I hadn't read. I didn't know how to use the film, and inadvertently loaded some rolls that had already been printed, which resulted in these strange superimposed images. A well-known process that I had reinvented by accident".

An didactic, catholic film made for a Congolese audience by Belgian missionary and filmmaker André Cornil.

A man's ship breaks and sinks in a storm, and he ends up on an unknown island. With his unique ideas, he changes the laws and way of life for the people on the island. After overcoming conspiracies, he's chosen as the island's advisor by the king. This film is an adaptation of a short story by Alexandre Dumas.

This Sportscope short shows youngsters (8 years old and up) training at the Junior Bengal Lancers riding school in Halifax. Later they demonstrate their skills at a celebration in Annapolis, Nova Scotia. Six-year-old Heather Cameron, who is too young to be a student, is named official mascot of the unit.

A hotel owner’s son, who is still quite young at heart, falls madly in love with the niece of a strange old man. He is actually supposed to take up an apprenticeship at a hotel in the distant Dolomites on behalf of his strict father. To keep his father from becoming suspicious, he sends his servant there instead...

The film shows the flag handover and swearing-in ceremony of the first unit of the National People's Army on the eve of May 1, 1956 and the parade of units of the People's Army on the morning of May 1.

1956 bollywood film

The first graduation work from Larisa Shepitko.

A documentary about the first Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR. The song “Moscow Nights” was written by the composer Vasily Solovyov-Sedoy to the lyrics by Mikhail Matusovsky especially for the event and later gained fame all across the country. In the movie it is performed by Vladimir Troshin, a Moscow Art Theatre actor.

HK horror film.

The story of Layla and Majnun.

A nasty Rome police chief circa 1800 forces the lover of a painter, suspected of harboring a political prisoner, to reveal the hiding place and to yield to his power and lust.

A cross-hatched fantasy about nocturnal furniture love.

How a weak priest, armed up with love, a hat, an umbrella and a breviary became the regiment's champ.

During the civil war, the counterintelligence agencies of the Chinese People's Liberation Army fought against Kuomintang spies and saboteurs. Battles are already taking place in the suburbs of the city. Zhang Go-zhong, head of Kuomintang intelligence, following orders from his command, leaves a large group of saboteurs in the city. He hands over the lists of this sabotage group to the remaining resident, the major merchant Cui Xizheng. The PLA enters the city and establishes people's power. But the hidden enemy immediately begins to act.

A girl joins the army instead of her brother, who has been injured in a car accident and cannot join the army in time. She is then disguised as a male conscript to save the brother from troubles.

In the rarely-seen THREE, one begat three became two and then one again.

Hang Tuah and his four sworn brothers, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Hang Lekiu, has pledged to protect the Sultan of Malacca. With their dedication, the five brothers rose quickly from the ranks, especially Hang Tuah whom has proven himself to be an able warrior and leader. When Hang Tuah managed to persuade Tun Teja to marry the Sultan of Malacca, the Sultan was overjoyed and rewarded Hang Tuah with full honours. The old guards felt threatened and envious, decided to frame him.

In the small town of Benderath, Jewish high school student Jakob is the victim of hostility because of his religion. He forms the student group "Trojans", which supports Jakob and does not tolerate the hate speech.

A Hindi family drama.

The nephews of an elderly millionaire want to eliminate him in order to inherit his fortune.

This short film celebrates the hard work, tenacity, and ingenuity of inventors. Highlighted are some seemingly small inventions that have become part of daily life.

François Jauréguy is a young Basque who would love to devote his life to God. But meeting Maïté and the example of the worker priests makes him doubt the wisdom of his choice. Marie-Jeanne, his mother, suffers from this situation. She knew a man, Jean Etchandy, who renounced the priesthood out of love for her. François supports him in his final moments, and celebrates his first mass before his mother's tender eyes.

A delightful trip back to an era in which railroad was king. The small community of Melville, Saskatchewan, is a railroad town. Long-time CBC host Fred Davis visits with various railway workers and learns about the operation of one of the vital service stations which keep the Canadian National Railway running smoothly.

The owners of the Loon Bay Lodge in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada usually plan fishing and rafting trips for their guests. In this short they take such a trip themselves down the St. Croix River, which forms the southern end of the international boundary between New Brunswick and the state of Maine.

Petra looks back on an eventful day: Together with other kids she went on a paperchase, solved a few small tasks and coordinated with her assigned partner. There were some adventures, but also a classroom situation set up in a meadow where one’s knowledge of the local flora was tested. In the end, they all boarded sailing boats and glided off into an atmospheric evening. A protocol in letters, accurately drawn up at the Potsdam Pioneer House, serves as the framework for one of the first completed films of the newly founded German Academy of Film Art in Babelsberg.

This documentary short shows two unnamed mountain climbers scaling Grossglockner, the tallest mountain in the Austrian Alps.

This RKO Sportscope series short features the annual Out Island Regatta held annually in the Bahamas.

The young man, played by Stan Brakhage, gets himself into a seriously comic mix-up by indulging in semi-sexual fantasies, and allowing the fantasies to take over. This is the best of my very early films and includes my first footage.

A parapolice force within Peronism is dedicated to reducing and extorting all kinds of opponents, among whom a few rise up to denounce what is happening. Although the film has propaganda purposes that deliberately ignore part of reality, it is based on documented cases, such as those of the student Ernesto Mario Bravo or the trade union leader Cipriano Reyes.

Matilda, a girl from a wealthy family, is in love with Mario de Larosa, a singer and heartthrob who is adored by women everywhere. She knows all his songs by heart and prays to heaven to give her the opportunity to meet her idol in person. Her dreams come true — Mario is scheduled to sign autographs at an appliance and record store, and Matilda and her cousin rush to this fateful meeting, which will fundamentally change the lives of the young woman and Mario himself...

A day and night in the life of three alcoholic derelicts: "and the meek shall inherit the earth - six feet of it".

During the war, having lost his family, Alyosha ends up in an orphanage. He devotes all his free time to music, with the full support of his caregiver, Maria Pavlovna. Noticing Alyosha’s exceptional talent, the touring conductor Dobrynin adopts him and brings him to Moscow. Dobrynin is very pleased: his own son and Alyosha now study at the same music school.

An East German documentary that uses archival footage to trace a direct line from Imperial Germany through the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich to the Federal Republic of West Germany in the 1950s. Intended as a critique of continuity in German politics, the film was banned in West Germany for many years.