Cinematic Era: 1971 Vintage

In this interview given soon after the completion of Forman's first American film, Taking Off, we are treated to a candid, humorous and lively portrait of one of Czechoslovakia's most reputed filmmakers. Forman, a roguish, entertaining character, explains his reasons for using non-professional actors, tells anecdotes about his talent discoveries and provides interesting insights into the artistry of performers. The interview is interspersed with filmclips from Taking Off, Loves of a Blonde and The Fireman's Ball.

Film by Michael J. Murphy. Considered lost.

Foma Zamykalkin reads a book with scary stories at night, but an imp constantly disturbs him. The angry main character decides to get even with the annoying disturber of his peace. But, trying to catch the imp, Foma Zamykalkin constantly disregards the rules of handling electrical appliances, exposing himself to danger. The animation won the Silver Medal at the International Security Film Festival in Czechoslovakia (1972).

Catch 44, co-produced by Nam June Paik, fuses Cage's compositional precepts with the immediacy and real time of video. Cage is seen performing and preparing for the program "WGBX: A Telecast for Composers and Technicians," presented by the Boston public television station WGBX-TV (Channel 44). Subverting audience expectations and underlining Cage's belief that improvisation is a critical element of composition, here the act of scoring music becomes the performance. For Cage, whose work embraces paradox, the ambient noise of the broadcast studio and the alternation of sound and silence determine the nature and direction of the performance from moment to moment. Through his use of repetition, absurdity, found sound and silence, Cage compels the audience to rethink traditional assumptions of musical theory and composition.

Many times the decisions on economy matters made by the highest parliamentary bodies are not very thoughtful. But the opening ceremonies of new built industrial structures are always carefully prepared, not as carefully as the funeral ceremonies of the same companies.

Documentation of a dance performance by Trisha Brown filmed by Elaine Summers

New Year's Eve party with Sigmar Polke at the Kohlhöfers' in Düsseldorf.

The boy swims on the lake every night to see the girl he loves. Akhtamar refers to the second largest of four islands on Lake Van, the historic birthplace of all Armenians. According to a tale, an Armenian princess named Tamara lived on the island and was in love with a commoner. This boy would swim from the shore to the island each night, guided by a light she lit for him. Her father learned of the boy's visits. One night, as she waited for her lover to arrive, her father smashed her light, leaving the boy in the middle of the lake without a guide to indicate which direction to swim. He drowned and his body washed ashore and, as the legend concludes, it appeared as if the words "Akh, Tamara" (Oh, Tamara) were frozen on his lips.

A film by Leo de Berardinis and Perla Peragallo.

The amorous adventures of Karim, a young Senegalese, divided between the duties of traditional society and the temptations of the West

In a modern Africa, where the music of James Brown is starting to arrive, young people are coming into conflict with the older generations. A musical comedy that tells the story of a girl who wants to become a singer. Her father would rather see her embark on a safer career. But the girl leaves school and, with her mother's help, succeeds in convincing him to send her to the country to study traditional music. Thanks to her stay in the villages in the company of a sociologist friend, the young girl discovers the deep African roots of Afro-American music. When she goes back to the city, she begins to write songs combining Afro-American soul and traditional music

A documentary about mixed-race Afrogermans.

In "Run", Avraham filmed filmed himself running from point to point, and then edited the film layer by layer. The result is a chromatic intruiguing film.

One summer, in a run-down mansion, friends of Lenny Lipton come to take in the sun, the woods, swimming and some drugs. A wedding is held in the fields. People talk and are happy. Dogs and children play. Nancy, a vegetarian, becomes alarmed when two fish are seen flapping helplessly in the kitchen sink. She rushes them back to the stream where they were caught-but cannot revive them . Lenny Lipton films it all - amidst controversy over whether his filming is getting people uptight and altering the "reality" of what is happening. Fortunately, he continues his journal and gives us a warm record of people enjoying themselves, the land, and the company of others . FAR OUT, STAR ROUTE is one of those rare films which shows that the beauty of life can be felt and shared through the full experience of that which is simplest and most human.

A film of free-hand line animation, where the movement as much as the designs reflects the artist's thoughts on the life of humans and their universe. What evolves is a stream of ideas about the elemental situation of humankind, poised midway between the primary dust and the measureless universe yet unplumbed.

A program on Israeli television about the tradition of matchmaking and wedding rituals and customs.

Alcatraz - Island of Hate

"The shape of change, the shape of memory has walked many miles in the mind to recreate a landscape, a manner of subterranean speech which may never reach its destination to the surface but roolls in the bloodstream swollen with speech invisible to the ear but palpable to the feelings that travel inside the network of the body/brain. The vision and the visitation occur simultaneously."–S.D.H.

The short movie "Peach Tree"

A Silvestre Byrón experimental short film.

A film about multi-media artist Kjartan Slettemark’s Nixon Visions, the collective title of his famous pictorial version of president Nixon, made 1971-74. It has its beginning in, among other things, Slettemark’s slogan ‘Opposition Must Pay Off’. The new, coffee-loving Nixon is marketed in a satirical balancing act between humor and seriousness. Slettemark’s advertising campaign is ‘a study of Nixon’s mental health’ in which ‘the face is the mirror of the soul’. (Filmform)

Florida Keys, FL, 1971.

In the 1960s after Albania's break with the Soviet Union, the country became an unlikely satellite of communist China (Newsweek referred to the alliance as ‘Mediterranean Maoists’). Enver Hoxha called the bond between the two countries the ‘coming together of the 702 million’, China being the 700 million, Albania representing the two. In exchange for its chrome exports and introducing the 1971 resolution that got China into the United Nations, Albania received sustaining economic and military support. This short documentary focuses on the Chinese table tennis team’s friendship visit, which soon began to sour after US president Richard Nixon visited Beijing.

"...Part of Descendencia was originally shot in 16mm film by the husband of my grandmother. This was in 1928. It was my family’s footage. It was not “found” because it was already there in my family. My grandmother is in it, my mother, me, and my children are in the film, and I believe that one of my grandchildren is in it, also." -NH

Animated short film

An educational short made by the New Zealand National Film Unit for the National Mountain Safety Council to promote awareness of bush safety.

Documentary about German writer Heinrich Heine (1797-1856).

This work consists of a fixed shot capturing the natural phenomenon of light flowing in from beyond the horizon, which Nakai encountered at a beach when shooting Alchemy. The sound consists of ambient noise from the surrounding environment.

Chester Grimes, made in 1971 by Herb Di Gioia and his partner, the late David Hancock, has not been available for public viewing in years. It tells the story of a 70-year-old logger who still worked in northern Vermont at that advanced age with his team of horses. Di Gioia, who lives in Sutton, Vt. and is well known in the world of film documentary and ethnography, pioneered “observational cinema” by focusing on exploring the lives of ordinary people.

An eclectic film, in which suspense and cynicism sometimes meet the grotesque, "Back and forth" reminds, in many ways, the future masterpiece, "Cruise" (1981), directed by Mircea Daneliuc. Placed on the water's edge, where several characters sit with their bellies in the sun and when they talk about what they want and what they don't want, when they keep quiet, "Back and forth" is the graduation film of one of the legendary filmmakers of national cinema.

Dialogue by David Cohen. Used to be called AUDITIONS FOR DIALOGUE.

Focuses on the actions of FBI agent provocateur Thomas Tongyai—aka Tommy the Traveler—who infiltrated branches of the SDS movement at Hobart College and other colleges in upstate New York in 1969–70.

An animated film exploring modern urban life.

'Boezem's face appears on the screen, stares at the viewer, and begins to breathe on the picture tube. After some time passes, the image begins to blur through the moisture deposited and the artist disappears from sight for several moments. While the vapour clears Boezem keeps his gaze directed on the camera, motionless, until his face is again clearly visible.

A twist on the hippie movement’s spirited outdoor gatherings, Los Angeles’ first “Gay-In”s took place in Griffith Park in the early 1970s. This short is a rare document of both the visions of revelry and bypassing voices of dissent as gays and lesbians first began to publicly celebrate their identities.

A Playground for Baboosh...

A man is waiting for his wife whose dressing up to go to a ball.

A short documentary of the various personnel roles, and types of aircraft used, within the RAF.

A showcase of performances in a Međimurje village Orahovica in which various local performers sing then-popular light melodies, dance folk dances, exchange jokes, and the ceremony is crowned by the selection of the local Miss 1971.

Pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Montevergine, in Irpinia, between ancient and new customs.

The film is an adaptation from two sources: Kinesics and Context by Ray L. Birdwhistell, and Choreomania, a performance by Joan Jonas

INT operating theatre, man is wide awake while he has an operation, acupuncture as anaesthetic. Fruit spooned into patient's mouth. Man gets up and walks out of room after operation. Patient interviewed after operation says he didn't have much pain.

A film about women. A film by women. A film for women. With a man’s camera. Someday women will see these sad images of our survival and will wonder how we have been able to take it. (D.J.)

The Madonna del Pollino is one of the most archaic festivals in Basilicata. The faithful walk to the church after a strenuous journey. The manifestations of religious faith alternate with particular profane celebratory customs that take place outside and inside the temple.

It is set in Naples and faces the so-called cult of the "holy face", examined in the light of the complex Neapolitan religious and religious framework and above all in reference to the cult of the deceased.

Mexican feature film

A film by John Baldessari

Paleolithic Pornograffiti is about a prehistoric man who learns how to whack, is shown how to fuck, and sets out to try

The Videofreex had several experiences with the Black Panther Party, including interviewing Illinois Chapter Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton and New Haven Minister of Information Cappy Pinderhughes. In this tape, recorded on March 5th 1971, the Videofreex one-person camera crew Bart Friedman is walking the hallways of CBS, trying to find out where a video statement by Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver is located. The shots are mostly close up on people’s torsos and there is some image loss, but the sound is intact. The tape has an eerie espionage feel. There is a conflict between station personnel and Bart: they keep telling him, “You can’t tape in here.”

One girl and three boys tell their story. The drugs did great harm to the users. The girl is suffering from a disease caused by the LSD, an opium-user got into prison and a speed-user was treated several times in a clinic. The fourth is still on opium and speed. The film was made for several youth-centers in Rotterdam.

A film by Naomi Levine from 1971

In 1971 Matta-Clark produced works for the exhibition Brooklyn Bridge Event. This film records his process of making a sculpture - a small wall made of rubbish, waste paper and tin cans collected from the area. —EAI

The screen is empty: the artist stands off-screen — he breathes in and out, his stomach moving into and out of the frame.

City of Sarajevo from the view point of children.