Cinematic Era: 1984 Vintage

Unfinished early documentary by Ulrich Seidl about a foto shooting with Sonja Kirchberger and Peter Baumann at the Tunisian seaside.

Based on Georgian folk proverbs.

Short comedy about a man suffering from the 'red cabbage' syndrome.

A singer in a night club gets engaged with a belly dancer, who is working in the same club. After their marriege they move to the village of the husband. The couple becomes trouble with the villagers, when they discover the past of the belly dancer.

Tired of money, multimillionaire Rena is afflicted with the disease of the rich: boredom. In her attempt to escape the monotony of her easy life, she meets a group of misfits and they all get involved in a series of wild and crazy adventures...

Rivals in the piggery business play dirty tricks against each other.

Short movie by Crudelity Stoffe.

A dwarf rejected by society imposes on people by becoming a crook.

1984 Indian Kannada film starring Rajkumar, Shankar Nag and Ambika.

Venezuelan documentary that centers on Luis del Valle Hurtado, an artist from Cumaná, one of the first European settlements in the Americas, who, for over three decades, has embodied the Diablo de Cumaná (Cumaná Devil) during annual festivities. Del Valle's performance is a fusion of Indigenous, Spanish, and African influences, where he transforms into a drumming, dancing black Satan. His portrayal draws inspiration from various sources, including the myth of Saint Michael the Archangel, the behavior of cats—animals often linked to witchcraft—and his own dreams, creating a unique and personal interpretation of the devil. Through this ritualistic dance, the documentary delves into themes of cultural syncretism, identity, and the enduring power of traditional expressions in Venezuela.

A contemplative, static walk in the woods.

Two blind men make their way through the desert accompanied by a donkey. Connected by a rope, sometimes the two men decide the way, and sometimes the donkey leads them through the desert.

The point of departure for this film is the 1981 composition De Tijd by Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. Van der Keuken leaves the music undisturbed as an autonomous soundtrack and has the images engage in a sort of battle with it. These images are associations, fragments of events, scenes and situations. The film is preceded by a text by Bert Schierbeek.

The story of a wife who, due to an identity crisis, leaves home and man.

Sunrise is an educational “tips film” that analyzes F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. Through selected excerpts and commentary, it draws attention to Murnau’s use of framing, movement, and light, offering viewers guidance on how meaning and emotion are constructed in silent cinema.

A table in a restaurant, a high-class man who progressively loses his studied composure as he eats and drinks, a waiter who serves him ...

When a giant monster ravages a German town, humanity’s only hope lies in the secret weapon known as the super giant fighting robot

Norwegian TV-movie from 1984 about punks in Oslo.

Vienna in the early eighties: After a suicide attempt, Tina, who comes from a middle-class family, is hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. There she gets to know Gerhard, an apprentice plumber, who also wanted to do away with himself. He comes from a working class family. They fall for each other. A modern love story which is set inside the real life circumstances of the closing of the alternative Youth Center "Gassergasse" in Vienna.

After debuting in 1983 with Casta Diva, Eric de Kuyper immediately made Naughty Boys in 1984, a film that he himself described as “a sad musical comedy” in which he pays homage to the old musicals and comedies. The film is set in an unspecified time, somewhere between both World Wars in a large English country house. Six gentlemen in dinner jackets try to maintain the atmosphere of a party that has just ended. Naughty Boys was the second film De Kuyper made with friends and students, but here for the first time they were joined by a “professional” actress, Linda Polan.

The destiny of a family of iconographers in a monastery in Macedonia during the Kresna Uprising in 1878.

Invandrarkvinnor is a documentary made in collaboration with IFFI, the International Association for Immigrant Women in Sweden. Özer’s film is a rare documentation of the work of IFFI and recounts both painful and empowering stories of immigrant women.

A woman from Manilla moves to a NSW country town to marry a typical Australian man, we then experience culture shock from both sides.

In this interview with Craig Owens the artist discusses her early family influences and her time at the University of California. "There was a tremendous amount of alternative culture that completely took place... without any relation to the high art world of New York,” she remembers. A historical interview originally recorded in 1984 and re-edited in 2005 with support from the Lyn Blumenthal Memorial Fund.

Short documentary about Polonsky and his Hollywood years.

“Duja-Viah” (second marriage)

Scenes in a foggy train station: a little boy and several adult figures can be seen. Underlaid with music.

Noni, for the sake of her love for Tono, was willing to sacrifice everything, including running away from home and becoming a prostitute at Tono's request. While Tono himself continued to gamble until their house was burned down. Noni was gang raped because of Tono's own bait. However, when she wanted to complain to Tono, she only found a letter informing her that Tono was going to marry another woman. So at his wedding party, Noni came with a knife as a gift that was stabbed into Tono's body.

A vignette about a sleeper and an insomniac.

So, what exactly were we doing with this work? To put it simply, we tried to see if we could do something similar to musical improvisation in film.In musical improvisation, some performers play instruments, others voice, and sometimes even dancers join in, creating a unique expression through the collaboration of these expressive acts, which could be described as a kind of friendly competition on the spot.In film, there was a "convention" to construct a work based on a "blueprint" called a concept, whether it was a scenario for a commercial film or an experimental film.This film is an attempt to break away from that style, and together with the staff and actors with whom I have worked on several other films, I explored a free jazz-like approach to making a film through a session.I didn't want to keep shooting indefinitely, so I decided to shoot from March 1st to March 10th, 1984.

The thirteen animated films in Tales of King Matthias are a tribute to the work of perhaps the most demanding animation team in the country, the artists of the Kecskemét Studio.

È pericoloso sporgersi tells the story of a child who has been thrust into a position where he must make an impossible decision.

Old parents living in the estate decided to withdraw from the educational principles based on the romantic-idealistic tradition. By observing the reality around them, they recognize that it is worth going with the times and they change the value system they have used so far.

Every year since 1980, I have filmed the Good Friday ceremony reconstructing the Passion of Christ in Burzet, a remote village in the Ardèche area, where for seven hundred years, the local people have dressed up to celebrate and perpetuate this religious rite. (Gérard Courant)

It is the Fall of 1944. Events take place in the newly liberated Berat. A group of partisans are charged with the task of normalizing the life in the liberated city during this first night of freedom.

He's the "Rocky" of the 15th century-defender of the poor, enemy of evil, champion of justice. He's fearless and the strongest man in the land. He's ready and willing to take on all wrong doers-rich and poor. Accompanied by a lovable, meek little friend, his quest takes him on an unforgettable journey. Swamp monsters, knights in armor, duels, royal pageantry, and damsels in distress all abound in this story of timeless values. In the spirit of "Robin Hood," it's a robust, romantic tale: a feast for the eyes and a joy for the heart.

Developed from Ian's published diaries these short works provide an objective, compassionate, often humorous and bizarre view of events that happen around us daily. Commissioned by Channel Four and made in collaboration with independent producer Anna Ridley, this series of short pieces were broadcast over a six week period in April and May 1984.

Two 12-year-old children, second-generation Algerians, decide to secretly travel to the sun, the sea... Algeria. They find themselves stranded at the port of Le Havre.

This is a story of adolescent boys and girls and their early experiences in life and love. How they took life's realities and learned its lessons.

Just before his brother Sigsby's funeral, Ben persuades his wife Kathryn to listen to the eulogy he has composed. After hearing his adulations, Kathryn insists on giving her own private eulogy which describes Sigsby's true character as deceitful and manipulative. Having acknowledged the truth about Sigsby privately, they can now join together in conforming to society's expectations of them at the funeral

A young man struggling with his sexual identity is driven to the gay BDSM underworld. There he is preyed upon by other men who exploit him for their own desires. Realising his dire situation he decides get shocking revenge on the people who wronged him.

Returning from the World Cup to his country, the winner of the diving competitions Afsal Deman learns that a military coup has taken place in his homeland. Having never been involved in politics before, the hero, having decided to fight the dictatorship, becomes a journalist. The film takes place in a small Asian country in the late 70s.

Reel 40 of Gérard Courant’s on-going Cinematon series.

Jools In Jamaica film report with Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru, Sly & Robbie, Lee 'Scratch' Perry

Early computer animation produced at Ohio State University. This has appeared in a number of computer graphics compilations, sometimes shortened and/or with different music. Here it is in its pristine entirety.

A B'nai B'rith delegation visits the town of Oberammergau to meet with its mayor and the monk who is responsible for the passion play which is presented every ten years. The group discusses their efforts to eliminate the antisemitic tone of the play.

With the gloomy, mountain of the Cévennes in the backdrop, the filmmaker interviews an aging village clergyman, who shares his wisdom and perspective on life.

"Perfidi Incanti" is made up of three short episodes. The first, "Il Viaggio" ("The Journey"), is taken from Francis Scott Fitzgerald's diaries, and shows the adventures of a writer traveling between America, Africa and Europe. The second episode, "Estrellita Va a New York" ("Estrellita Goes to New York"), is inspired by a comics story by Carlos Ceesepe, and tells the escape to the United States of little Estrellita and her friend Katia who, helped by Pablo Picasso, try to escape from Paris occupied by the Nazis. The third segment, "Due Dongiovanni", is an original subject by Mario Martone and Giorgio Barberio Corsetti, freely inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's movie Saboteur (1942). The three episodes are linked together by an original musical motif composed by the Panoramics which returns in all the stories, but with different arrangements.

Inhabiting an enormous crack in the earth of Arequipa, the ashlar quarry workers extract the material with which to build a city that is alien to them. Migrants who have been dragged there by a cursed wind travel their uprooting, leaving their strength, their dreams and their lives in that quarry of volcanic stone.