Cinematic Era: 1979 Vintage

The old couple, Afanasy Ivanovich Tovstogub and his wife Pulcheria Ivanovna, live in seclusion in one of the remote villages known as "starosvitsky" in Little Russia. Their life is so peaceful that to a guest who happens to visit their low, green-roofed manor house, the passions and turmoil of the outside world seem to have no existence. The small rooms of the house are filled with all sorts of trinkets, the doors are singing in different keys, and the storerooms are filled with supplies, which are constantly being prepared by the servants under the supervision of Pulcheria Ivanovna. Despite the fact that the household is being robbed by the steward and the servants, the blessed land produces so much that Afanasy Ivanovich and Pulcheria Ivanovna do not notice the thefts at all.

Socialist Slovenia’s first feature-length experimental film, DAILY NEWS was shot in 1980 on Super-8mm by then-26-year-old Franci Slak, who would go on to become an acclaimed industry director. As its title suggests, the film is a diary in which the author records his observations of the outside world; as Silvan Furlan writes, it “evokes with a certain nostalgia those golden days of the underground, when the freedom of filmmaking was written in capital letters.” Film theorist Jože Dolmark appraised it best: “the film contains a desire to record (not strictly chronologically) the experience of a lived day: what happened to you, what you experienced, or which is more interesting, what you would like the day to look like, according to how you’ve imagined it. I think the entire power of DAILY NEWS lies in this desire of Franci’s for what remained unspoken, what slipped, what remained outside the edges, and what we’ll never know.”

A group of eight collage films, using various clips from television commercials, educational documentaries and other sundry sources. (1) Birth; (2) Wake up; (3) Come Alive; (4) Video Breakup; (5) Sorry, Wrong Number; (6) Ways of a Witch; (7) Board Meeting; (8) Turn of the West – A Western.

A couple of bumbling private detective siblings get hired to investigate a bar robbery, in this short, low budget, action/comedy send-up of the 1970s "TV private detective" genre.

During the peasant uprising of 1888, Alecu Dumitru, a socialist, hides from police in the Nada Florilor island, next to a fishing village.

Experimental docufiction concerns itself with the future of the Ryuku islands, as the United States turns control over to Japan in the late 1970s.

The final days of the reign of the Shah: processions of mourning and jubilation, scenes after the fire in the Cinema Rex in Abadan, southern Iran, in which 377 viewers died; the famous interview with the Shah – shortly before his departure at Mehrabad Airport, followed by the acclaimed arrival and first speech by Ayatollah Khomeini; finally the graves of the martyrs of the revolution in Tehran’s large cemetery Behesht-e Zahra. Torabi and his cameramen film euphoric crowds and thoughtful revolutionaries, statesmen and members of various minorities such as Turkmen and Zoroastrians.

Winter of 1944, the last days of the war. When the roads and houses ceased to exist and the bottom of the cellars become filled with life, when fortunes were lost and countries burned up, her used coat was only important to Mama, the cloak-room servant of a local dance-school. Her son stole it to sell it for twenty pengő. He did it because Aranka Fussbaum's love cost money. There is no honour left in such a destroyed world. Yet still they start looking for that coat... (Elemér Ragályi won Best camera with this movie in Montreal, 1979, and in Budapest, 1980.)

About the figure skating competition for the prize of the Nouvelle de Moscoux newspaper.

Based on the letters of a fictitious poetess to her lover. Duras reads extracts from these letters, as the film shows a boat journey down the Seine, past familiar bridges and landmarks. – BFI

"A virtuoso display of all the Hodgdon concerns: language, film politics, and the demystification of the film illusion through jest." - Picture Start catalog entry

Pink film from Toei Central.

With the layering of picture (double exposure, flowing changes of images, frosen image, solarisation) and sound, the artists and the objects in the television studio merged into electronic sensations - an infinite series of over-illuminated, perforated and broken images. The video was made on the basis of the multimedia project (screening and installation) of the same title, and it was presented as 'the deconstruction of screening' in the framework of experimental programme on television. (RTV Ljubljana)

A story about an old man whose village is planned to be eliminated.

The film is based on the life of the protagonist Unni, who is moved by Naxal ideas. It was banned by the censor board because of the portrayal of naxal ideas. The film was screened only twice and its print is now lost.

Maria, a blind girl apparently raped by her stepfather, is held in an isolated and dilapidated hospice, desperately awaiting a miracle by Our Lady of Fátima. Turned over by Angela, her aunt, into the care of Dr. Firmino, an imposing doctor, she will suffer moments of despair, grace, and fear, among beliefs, phantoms, and revelations.

Gédéon, the Count of Niedeck's gamekeeper, visits Dr. François to invite him to the chateau. He explains that his master has suddenly gone mad during a change of moon. En route, the two men meet a strange old woman who lives in the woods. Gédéon explains to the doctor that whenever this woman prowls around, the Count is plagued by dementia. Once there, the doctor treats the Count and calms him down. The Count has a daughter, Odile, whom he clearly hates. One evening, a mysterious traveler arrives.

“I don’t drive, but I know people who’ll drive 100 metres to go to the shops. Our society is obsessed with the car, with coming and going, getting somewhere. I used very intricate matting, some shaped like knives. I wanted the cars to slice each other in two, creating a kind of hurdy gurdy atmosphere…an abstract rushing to and fro, going nowhere. The first half of the film is silent. The second half, a grainy dupe of the same images, has sound and is far more urgent and aggressive.” (Paul Winkler)

Serra’s film about the production of his sculpture Berlin Block (for Charlie Chaplin) (1977) at the Henrichshütte Hattingen steelworks in the Ruhr Valley, begun roughly one year before the first major wave of strikes in the German steel industry since the war, combines conventions from documentary film, agitprop, black-and-white photographic studies and architectural film.

Place De La Concorde was Jean Michel Jarre's first concert, held on July 14, 1979, celebrating the Bastille Day. One million spectators attended this concert, setting up a new record for Jean-Michel to the Guinness Book of Records.

“This 60 minute electronic fantasy featuring computer animation can control and change your moods of elation and tranquility. To change or enhance your mood, simply play a musical selection that accompanies your present feeling - its mesmerising! The abstract colorised computer animated visuals are artfully paced with their complimentary sound track. Images explode with colour while sooting with flowing shapes and rhythms, Great for parties or individual contemplation.”

A mockumentary (or is it a fake fiction?) about journalism.

Film-dossier on workers' struggles against industrial diseases.

A 1979 Filipino comedy film starring Nora Aunor and Rey Malonzo.

A documentation of the eponymous area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, then under threat of redevelopment.

Through rare film footage and interviews with some of the pioneers who made film history, this documentary traces the history of filmmaking in Canada from 1939-1953. It covers the establishment of the National Film Board in 1939; the war years; Canada's first Oscar; and John Grierson's sudden demise as Canada's driving force in the industry. We witness the struggles of the private film producers, the development of the film industry in Québec, and the emergence of the documentary. Above all, the film asks whether the alternating fortunes of the Canadian film industry, in the face of an overwhelming American presence, reflect the attitudes of the Canadian people towards themselves and their culture.

Official entry to the first Metro Manila Film Festival in 1979 directed by Pablo Santiago and starred Nora Aunor, Christopher de Leon, Alma Moreno, Rudy Fernandez, Rebecca Gonzales, Lito Anzures, Jose Garcia, Matimtiman Cruz, and German Moreno.

A film by Valentina Berardinone

In this educational film, an adolescent girl experiences the physical and emotional insecurities of puberty.

This film documents the yearly cycle of the great blue heron, its migration from Central America and the West Indies to the St. Lawrence River in Québec, and the breeding and rearing of its young. Outstanding footage shot by the filmmaker perched high in a tree affords close-ups of the birds' intricate courtship rituals. A sensitive, beautifully photographed nature film with much to tell us of ecology and wildlife.

A short fantasy-mystery film spoof that was part of the educational film "Meadowlark Lemon Presents The World" (1979)

The film depicts the formation of a clay head, which the sculptor makes in memory of a childhood event, when a man's head was cut off and piled on a stake.

This documentary chronicles the assassination attempt made on Adolph Hitler on July 20, 1944 and the subsequent trial of the conspirators. Film footage is used to lay the foundation for the failed conspiracy that perpetrators hoped would bring an end to the war fueled by Nazi propaganda. Scenes of adoring crowds cheering for Hitler are included to remind the viewer that those who resisted his evil machinations were in only a small minority of military officers among the Nazi faithful.

An operetta based on Franz Lehár’s "The Merry Widow".

In the past, it was sport and camaraderie that mattered at the RHI football club. Now it's the battle for position, but at the same time, the club is still going downhill. One day, the team's best player leaves the field in the middle of a match. TV play by Henry Smith.

A handicapped woman talks about her decision to give birth to a girl despite her harsh living conditions and pressures from the surroundings to give up the pregnancy.

Ten-year-old Brigitte spends holiday with her father Peter on the Baltic Sea and everything is perfect until they meet strange and beautiful woman on the beach.

In this atmospheric psychological drama by Jef van der Heyden, concert pianist Kasper Bertheim lives under psychiatric care in Geel, haunted by the memory of a woman he believes has vanished into the underworld. After witnessing a funeral, he leaves his foster home and wanders through a surreal cityscape that seems suspended between life and death. Along the way, he encounters workers, drifters, priests and other outsiders who guide him deeper into his obsessive search. Adapted from a novel by Hubert Lampo, the film blends psychological drama with magical realism, creating an ambiguous world where madness, grief and imagination merge, and where it remains uncertain whether Kasper’s visions are delusions or glimpses of another reality.

A young court official (David Chiang) is sent by the government to spy on a prominent family who are believed to be rebels. Once inside, he falls in love with the elder's daughter. To get her out he must defeat siblings and father. From this comes the development of the Shaolin Mantis style. Action-packed from start to finish, including a cameo by the master killer himself!

A young pilots is in love with a young girl and plans to marry her, but he has an accident before he could open the marriage to the public.

Using the example of 16-year-old, physically disabled Wolfgang, the film shows how non-disabled people can help a disabled person and what should be avoided. It also shows that the tense behavior on both sides is caused by fear and insecurity and that the disabled person can also do something wrong, i.e. is a completely normal person.

Combining concert footage and interviews with the performers, Reggae Sunsplash takes an inside look at the biggest reggae music festival in the world.

The story of a Serer village in the groundnut basin of Senegal. Using the words of their ancestors passed on by oral folklore, the villagers trace the history of their village and their difficulties in working their land and living off their produce. Fad'jal is an extraordinary boundary defying film that interweaves ethnographic footage, intimate observation of everyday village life and fictionalised historical scenes. With it, Faye carefully encourages the viewers to reflect both on African history and storytelling, and on the intersection of fiction and documentary.

"I made a film about suicide illustrating some of the ways I thought I’d kill myself, and literally edited it in about an hour and a half and screened it, and as I watched the film, the suicide voices stopped in my head and they haven’t come back since." Anne Charlotte Robertson.

About the last year of Leo Tolstoy's life, disagreements in the family, conflicts with his children and wife, about his leaving home.

Early student film by composer and director Mikel Rouse.

The purpose of this film isn't entirely known but I suspect it's targeted at the parents with a mentally disabled child who want to educate her about menstruation. It shows what's likely a real family in which the youngest girl has down syndrome discussing periods and the older sister demonstrating the correct use of a pad.

Two Roman boys, lazy and unhappy with the life they lead, dream of escaping by moving to Brazil, also involving a third friend, who works in his father's pastry shop.

Cosgrove Hall's stop-motion animation of the classic fairy tale Cinderella

Politician Hans van Mierlo, director Pim de la Parra and writer Frank Martinus Arion meet in Amsterdam. Interspersed with film fragments from Dirty Picture and Wan Pipel.

Student film about hiding Jews during the Second World War.

Four Vietnam veterans return from war, go to college, and work part-time collecting unpaid bills (and getting into fights). Starring four prominent Dallas Cowboys from the 70s: Jay Saldi, Drew Pearson, Thomas Henderson and Ed Jones.