Cinematic Era: 1981 Vintage

A ragtag group of kids set out to save derelict steam ferry Lady Hope from destruction.

Multiple overlapping images combine with still-frames of an amorous Puerto Rican filmmaker's telephone conversation with a repairman, coincidentally also interested in film. Written by Lee Breuer and performed by Ruth Maleczeck, both of Mabou Mines theatre company. Music by Bob Telson.

A fairytale about a little boy and his policeman friend who are saving the princess from the dragon.

At the beginning of the 60s in Athens, Nikos and Takis, two young poets, lead the life of bohemian artists of older times. At their heyday, all of a sudden, they withdraw, and mysterious rumors are spread about them.

A documentary exercise on the lives of the last basque representatives of this ancestral trade: charcoal burners.

Pink film from Toei Central.

Erotic drama distributed by Nikkatsu for home video.

Great movement of body cinema in the 80s! My contribution to this movement! – F.D.

The life of James Kutcher, a man who lost both his legs in WWII before his membership in the Socialist Workers Party caused him to be fired from his federal government job, leading to a years-long court battle.

A magnificent cardboard spaceship crashes in the grass, so the crew of the Enterprise beams down to the scene to render first aid. However, buckets of enemies are just waiting for their moment to put that alien crew to flight - only they didn't count on the phasers & fists of our heroes!

At sunrise, a peasant begins plowing. This iconographic motif becomes a caricature in the animation. The problem is that the peasant gropes, he plows through the legs of a resting peasant woman, railway tracks, a dining carriage, double bedrooms, office corridors, palace interiors, and meetings of diplomats. His march through the country is shown on TV. The peasant is really surprised to see a TV set in the rump of a horse. He crosses a crowded beach and disappears in the depths of the water together with the setting sun.

A short film for school kids about the importance of sharing.

Portrait of four working class families sharing the same hobby: rabbit breeding.

Informative but not dramatically charged, this fictional documentary looks at an incident in 1976 when a group of dissidents were forcibly exiled to an island hotel in order to keep them silenced during the visit of King Carlos of Spain to France. This pseudo-documentary features a Canadian filmmaker who is looking into the group of dissidents. He interviews them to get the story of what happened recorded for posterity. Among the group was another man of Spanish ancestry who suddenly arrived on the island but managed to find a way out. His future exploits are brought into question since there are certain terrorist connotations to his character.

Bringing offerings of rice, flowers, and woven coconut leaves, clients visit Jero in her household shrine to determine the cause of their son's death. Jero lights an incense brazier, sprinkles holy water, and recites mantras as preliminaries to trance. Several ancestors and finally the young son speak through her voice, revealing the nature of his premature death (witchcraft) and his wishes for cremation. In contrast to other films about Balinese trance which focus on spectacular, community performances, this film provides an intimate view of a fascinating process of communication between Jero, the spirits, and her clients who are at one point moved to tears. (der.org)

One day, a kitten named Filya gets a new friend - a funny, good-natured wizard. Unfortunately, he had never seen mice, and when, at Fily's request, he tried to create them, things in the apartment came to life and caused a real mess. The brave kitten, not afraid of the rebellious things, pacifies them and rejoices in his victory together with his friend.

A cage is searching for a bird, but all its efforts fail. Without its help, a bird finds a way in. The cage closes its door and stands proudly on a pedestal, for it is now worthy of admiration.

Taiwanese horror movie from 1981.

A film commemorating the 300th anniversary of Edinburgh's Company of Merchants.

The film outlines the history of the redevelopment of the Sydney suburb of Waterloo. Residents are interviewed and archival footage is used to outline the history of change in the area. The documentary emphasises the need for consultation and shows the results of more recent residents’ action groups.

Documentary about Italian film director Ermanno Olmi, with emphasis on "The Tree of Wooden Clogs".

A 65-year-old cleaning woman for a professional dancers' exercise studio performs her job while telling us in voiceover about her life, hopes, goals, and feelings. A challenge to mainstream media's ongoing stereotypes of women of color who earn their living as domestic workers, this seemingly simple documentary achieves a quiet revolution: the expressive portrait of a fully realized individual.

A woman, enclosed in the four walls of her home, struggles to find a balance between her fairy tale upbringing and the mundane reality of her everyday life.

A silent, Super 8 film in color by Joseph Morder.

Mozart's life was turbulent, even in Prague in 1787, when he was pressed for time to compose the overture to »Don Giovanni«.

Paweł looks for the perpetrator of the theft in a student labor cooperative.

The film takes place entirely in one room and is based on a series of six repetitive shots. These shots establish a schema, a set of expectations which are then undermined. The film favours image rather than sound, in contrast to most narrative film, and the sound, where it occurs, serves only to confound or displace any meaning that is established. There are people, activities, a location and a hint of story. The film, however, cannot be mentally reassembled into anything like what it hints at in its depiction of bits of mundane domestic activity. On the contrary, it intends to confound any such attempt at a coherent reconstruction, preferring instead to leave the viewer with a lingering sense of doubt. – N.H.

In trying to exercise his labor rights a worker is kidnapped by the police so that his employers can fire him without problem. Neither his family nor his companions understand the meaning of his effort or his sacrifice because of lack of communication.

In Michel Auder's short video Talking Head, a young girl (presumably his daughter) is occupied with a plastic toy-package of some sort. She talks incessantly about 'a nothing-nothing'; 'a thing that never came back again…. everyone was mad about it and sad about it…but nothing ever happened'. Michel Auder, hiding behind a Yucca (or some such exotic plant), films the girl telling this story. She develops her 'story' circumventing and encompassing this nothing-thing, and she does it in a hypnotizing and repetitive way, like a mantra, using all the permutations possible with a minimum amount of words or facts.

The film scores particularly as a psychological study of a student dropout. It focuses on Pavle Komel, a young man who shuns even the most elementary relationship with previously close friends and acquaintances. A final attempt to find himself via a return to his childhood roots in a rural area, followed by a brief contact with his estranged father, prove fruitless: in the end Pavle decides to quit his studies altogether at the university.

A crew of female migrants come to town to help harvest produce and to lively up the men in town.

Short film about language

Part of the medium-length films for TV Lisboa Sociedade Anónima, O Banqueiro Anarquista is a fine example of what a fabulous script (by Pessoa), exuberant set design, attentive camera work, and an actor (Santos Manuel) at his most daring and accomplished can achieve. The result is a cynically entertaining film, markedly representative of the First Republic, where for almost an hour the viewer is delighted (and unsettled, of course) by the fallacies of a script to which Santos Manuel gives the weight of a body and a voice, that is, he brings it to life. The Anarchist Banker is a brilliant satire on political discourse, of unfailing intelligence and ferocity.

Follows the fate of Colonel Dzandar's two sons, one joined the Bolsheviks, the other joined the counter-revolutionaries.

A small village during World War II. Due to deep poverty, some villagers engage in trade of goods, contraband, across the mountain border. A great gap opens between the villagers and those fighting the enemy.

A documentary that critiques the neo-colonial destruction of indigenous African agriculture and economies, resulting in mass starvation.

Documentary about the special friendship between the 72-year-old music machine collector Johann Bartisch and the 12-year-old farm boy Gerd from the village of Arnsgereuth. As a child, the Romanian Johann played "O sole mio" on the piano while his brother accompanied him on the violin. Even then, he was fascinated by the music machines that could be found at fairgrounds, in cinemas and on trains. As an adult, Johann began his passion for collecting in Bucharest, rescuing self-playing instruments from barns, cellars or even garbage dumps. With great attention to detail, Johann restores his found treasures in his 250-year-old schoolhouse in the village of Arnsgereuth.

Highlights from Le Mans 1981, capturing all the thrills, spills, and excitement of the event.

A superb visual trick that will mystify its audience, this animated film transforms the commonplace into magic.

"Apartment Wife" pink film distributed by Okura Eiga.

Jayasri is entrusted with her manager's illicit cash and has to transport it to Chennai. Jealous opportunists and hitmen have their eyes on this valuable cargo as well

Chiang Ching, who began her career as a movie star in Hong Kong, is now a choreographer with her own dance company in New York City. A Dance Journey documents her life, from her first dance classes in China to her eventual development of a personal style that melds Chinese and Western dance elements.

Pink film directed by Satoru Kobayashi.

Pink film distributed by Tokatsu.

Sid and Nancy’s life as enacted by two little babies.

Dames, drunks, and devil-worshipers—a day in the life of the Langley Punks.