Cinematic Era: 1996 Vintage

The long flights of spacecraft have been in the past, as well as the chronicle of accomplishments. Snatches of memory bring to us the fragments of those memories that are confused and do not leave a coherent and consistent trace. All in the past. But was it really ?!

Jean, a schoolboy who started smoking at the age of 8, talks about his addiction. Jean's smoking career is an example of how addiction develops. In a futile attempt to give up smoking again at the age of 18, Jean comes to the frustrating realization that the addiction has him in its grip.

A superhit Tamil family entertainer

Rodeo is a tough way to make a living-that's what this video is all about. These are the hardest hit, toughest rides, most heart pounding moments of the 1995 Season of the world famous Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

The nation, the country, where do we belong in it? In this film through conversation and poetry two poets meet for the telling and the listening. Adrienne Rich is a distinguished American feminist poet, and author of numerous books of prose, poetry, essays and speeches. Dionne Brand is a Trinidadian-Canadian femininst poet, writer and filmmaker. Incisive and inquisitive, the two women meet to discuss the world as they each see it. Claiming any subject, they talk about events as they see them, analytic, contemplative, honest and open ended. Topics include political issues, feminism, racism and lesbianism, among others. The viewer is invited into the exchange by the familiar images of two women talking intimately around a kitchen table, in corridors, or casually outdoors in the United States, Tobago and Canada. Shot in black and white and in colour, the conversation takes us over the territories of their poetry.

The waves of the fjords hit the shore waking the little gnome. In a fantastic mountain landscape, the gnome finds the entrance to a mysterious grotto. Fascinated by the flickering light, he follows the direction from where it comes. The creeping gnome is watched from behind picturesque rocks by trolls. Behind the next rock paragraph, the gnome notices the shadows of the trolls dancing in a frenzied rhythm. Above a huge bonfire towers the figure of the King of the Mountains. The gnome is pulled into the dancing circle. In the final stage of the ecstatic dance, the King of the Mountains leaps into the fire and emerges from it as the all-powerful ruler of the underworld.

The 1970s were a golden age in the world of international rally, it was just before the monsters of Group B would arrive and the cars being raced were far closer to their road-going counterparts. The heroes of the age include icons like the Ford Escort, the Porsche 911, the Datsun 240Z, the Alpine A110, the Lancia Stratos, and many, many more. This documentary covers the highlights of the decade from 1970 to 1979, the footage alone makes it worth watching, with remarkable aerial shots we’ve never seen before. The simplicity of top flight rally during this period is almost enviable – with fans often lining the stages standing on the wrong side of blind corners, seemingly trusting the drivers more than they probably should have.

This political thriller centers on a young hero who returns to Israel from Berlin to ostensibly attend the funeral of his father, a convicted Russian spy. Instead he learns that the death was a ruse and that he is to be the bait in an elaborate scheme to catch his father, who has just escaped from prison. When the son learns the truth, he enters the desert to search for his father. He is assisted by a beautiful young actress. They are constantly followed by a pair of determined cops.

Zaur and Tahmina didn’t meet each other at the right time. Tahmina is married, and Zaur's family is categorically against their son being with a married woman. Despite all the objections, they love each other madly. Just as everything has an end, this love also has an end, but such an end would not have even occurred to Zaur...

Vincent, a young Chinese-Kiwi, is rescued from a group of racist punks in a spacies parlour by a mysterious Asian, then drawn into a seedy Triad underworld.

Synti, is a wry film about themes like sense of guilt, sin and the role that morality plays in choices that people make every day. By setting day-to-day events against the background of the seven mortal sins: pride, wrath, jealousy, lechery, stinginess, idleness and gluttony.

Travel diary filmed in Tamaris (near Toulon), Istanbul and Marseille, “Le Manteau de Michel Pacha” is a film-essay on exoticism. How can exoticism persist beneath the documentary? Between the imagery and the experience of travel, the numerous filmed portraits experience the fixity of a mental image. “The civil war replaced exoticism”: this film abruptly intersects with History.

Short film by Ono Kouta

The Donut Man, Duncan and Mary are invited to start a new branch of the Donut Repair Club “After School”, at a Christian academy where some of the students need extra tutoring in character development. Faith in God, honesty, respect for authority and God’s Word, wholesome speech and good work habits are reinforced through scripture-based songs.

The small town of Bransk used to boast a large Jewish population before the Holocaust. As Bransk prepares to celebrate its 500th anniversary, the authorities debate whetherto acknowledge the town's Jewish past

It's the story of Charly Cohen, a young boy living in the Jewish quarter of Paris, who wants to become a musician and Zeff, his best friend, on a quest for his own identity. The story of a real friendship, which is going to deteriorate progressively as the differences in origin, religion and social standing appear. It's a testimony, a contemporary chronicle, a funky comedy.

During the Second World War, while America was fighting the Japanese, a unit of second-generation Japanese-Americans was fighting bravely on the European front. The 100/442nd Regiment suffered the highest casualty rates and became the most decorated unit in American history. Meanwhile, back at home, their families were in desolate internment camps, forced to leave their homes, farms, and businesses. This film, made by the daughter of one of the soldiers, tells their story through remembrances and archival footage. With pride, the veterans recall how they rescued the" Lost Battalion" of 211 Texans about to be annihilated by the enemy. Eight hundred soldiers were wounded or killed in this operation.

A short film made up of flashbacks.

The literal translation of the title of this movie is: I also have a dad. Although this movie is a family movie, it is actually very good for adults too, particularly for fathers. In the recent Chinese rapid economic boom, everybody is concentrated on making more money by working extra jobs or extra long hours, and as a result, the family is ignored. Of course this applies to both men and women but in China, it is often the man who is the bread winner of the house. This movie advocates the fact that family should not be sacrificed for making financial gains and it did a good job by depicting in the eyes of young kids. - zzmale @ zzmale

This little hand-painted film was over-a-year in the making, and absolutely dependent upon a quality of "broad-stroke" in the painting which I think only children really capable of achieving, at least insofar as such stroke can approximate flame. These strokes/flames had, then, to be chopped back to the frame, in order to exist meaningfully on film. They had to be so timed as to epitomize the relentless of fire, so toned that fiery ice would be included in the aesthetic. - SB

On the 100-year anniversary of the death of Joseph Anton Bruckner, Pierre Boulez conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker in their interpretation of Bruckner's "Symphony No. 8." A complex masterpiece, the composition is considered one of the last great Romantic symphonies. Classical music lovers will delight at Boulez's beautiful rendition of the strongly emotional piece that remains true to Bruckner's original intentions.

Rajaaka (Akkasaheb) and Hindurao Inamadar are married for 12 years but are still childless, following which Akka wants Inamdar to marry another lady but he denies the prospect all the time. Inamdar has a lot of respect in his village and has helped many people. His friend Sethji notices that he is not the same Inamdar he used to be and discusses with other friends Badarmrao and Danger. Inamdar finds that its not Akka but him who can't bear a child which has left him distressed.

Young and old live peacefully and harmoniously under one roof! But that all comes to an end when the wives Annamirl and Pepi find out that a pretty waitress is responsible for their husbands' evening visits to the pub.

Aliens from outer space crashes on Hervanta and starts to transform people into flesh eating creatures.

Based on the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity’s “Tomorrow’s Leaders” conference held in Venice, Italy, the film documents the meeting of world leaders, conflict resolution facilitators, and 30 teenagers, representing divergent points of view from some of the world’s most serious crisis regions, with a goal of working toward mutual understanding and peace.

Fredi Rüegg's job is to bring runaway cats (some of which he stole himself in the first place) back to their owners. He lives in a garage and he has come to terms with the lack of excitement in his life. His colleague Alain has other worries: he is both broke and divorced. He cons his daughter into thinking that he is a successful businessman. One day Alain tries to curry favor with his daughter by offering to drive her band to their rehearsal room. But when a car accident happens and they find themselves owing Russians CHF 1500 to pay for their damaged Mercedes, Alain and Fredi need a way to come up with the money fast. They get the idea to kidnap a "healer cat", since her owner will undoubtedly pay a lot to have her back, and begin to plan the abduction...

8mm film by Yosuke Okawado.

Hmong textile art, Paj ntaub or "flower cloth," consists of textile arts traditionally practiced by Hmong people. The embroidery consists of bold geometric designs often realized in bright, contrasting colors. Different patterns and techniques of production are associated with geographical regions and cultural subdivisions within the global Hmong community. This documentary interweaves the Paj ntaub art form with the history of the Hmong in Southeast Asia and the devastation brought by the secret war on Laos. Through interviews with women from the Hmong community in Rhode Island, we get an insight into the art form of paj ntaub and the experiences of the Hmong community in the United States.

A lady came back to home. While rest in home, she fell in a phantasmal dream. A dead man's soul came to her and she witnessed his death. She felt sympathized to him and recognized his death.

Arne Anka had been declared dead as a comic strip character since a few months back. However, by this time Charlie Christensen's (a.k.a. Alexander Barks) creation had reached status as quite a cult phenomenon, so the play must have been received with much anticipation and enthusiasm, so much so that it was filmed and subsequently released on video-tape.

Four days in the life of 16-year-old Leo: basketball, friendships, rivalries, and the desire to get the attention of the girl he likes, at a time when everything seems to be played out with intensity.

Shaul and Rami are best friends, 40 years old. Both are in unhappy marriages, but Rami has found comfort in the arms of a Russian immigrant with whom he's having an affair.

During the war a field hospital is bombard. A group of red crescent helpers bring an injured soldier to take him to the behind lines. But it is not easy at all and in the way they face many difficulties.

Other essential predecessors of film were those devices that created the illusion of motion by taking advantage of the persistence of vision and the stroboscopic effect, such as the thaumatrope, phenakistoscope or wheel of life, zoetrope or magic drum and praxinoscope and later on, the more sophisticated flip-books such as the kinora and mutoscope.

Three months after new semester starts, but this boy marching band, the band that owned a world champion, still cannot find new members. More than half of the band graduated last semester and new generation of students like to play guitar, keyboard and drum rather than music instruments in the marching band.

A hand-painted double-frame printed film which begins with textures reminiscent of a gray shag rug that is fretted by green and golden flashes-of-shape deepening into darker solid purples and even black solidities at brief intervals: this evolves into black hair-like lines which curl and trace circularities midst all earlier textures, forms and colors until, finally, tanned flesh and blood tones predominate. Suddenly a sweep of thin black verticals generate a recapitulation of the beginning which, then, ends on a glob of black.

A documentary about the first century of pornographic cinema, including extracts from pornograhic films and animated movies. In order to show the evolution of this genre, the film is divided in several parts: "Une préhistoire clandestine" ('a clandestine prehistory'), "Le temps de la libération" ('freedom time'), "L'age d'or du X" ('heyday of porno'), "L'explosion de la vidéo" ('the multiplication of videos') and "Les nouvelles tendances" ('the new tendancies').

Have yourself a merry little Christmas with some of your favorite country music stars from Branson, Missouri.

Crude animation.

The adolescence of a girl.

A documentary about the German-American movie poster artist Will Williams made by his close friend Eckhard "Ecki" Baum.

Two girls in love are going to discover that a bus can take you from a traffic jam in Mexico City to a celestial place.

Two brothers lived happily with their married sister. Once they both got married; motivated by their wives, one choose the path of honesty and hardship and the other one became corrupted.

Blending authentic reenactments, expert commentary and on-location footage, this thought-provoking installment of the English Masters series explores the work of portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds. Inspired by the Old Masters while on an artistic pilgrimage to Italy, Reynolds wove those classical influences into a style -- dubbed "the Grand Style" -- that was all his own. Eventually, he would become one of the best-known artists in England.

Kjell needs to fix some shelves to the walls in his apartment and borrows a Black&Decker drill from a neighbour. Kjell is very amused by drilling holes, and takes up a slightly bizarre fascination for the drill. One day the neighbour comes to get it back...

Live at the City Hall in Sheffield, England on the 7th of February and the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool, England on the 8th of February, 1995. Setlist: 1) Billy Budd 2) Have-A-Go-Merchant 3) Spring-Heeled Jim 4) You’re the One for Me, Fatty 5) The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get 6) Whatever Happens, I Love You 7) We’ll Let You Know 8) Jack the Ripper 9) Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself 10) The National Front Disco 11) Moon River [Henry Mancini cover] 12) Hold On to Your Friends 13) Boxers 14) Used to Be a Sweet Boy 15) Now My Heart Is Full 16) Speedway

The most requested segments from the Rats Arse tour including - 'Celebrity Sperm Bank', 'Ladies and Gentlemen'. Also featuring the songs - 'I Hate Cats Vol. 02' and 'Why Won't Rolf Harris Just f*!#off and Die'.

Dr. Horazzi is a mad scientist who wants to build a being in his image and likeness. He also performs surgeries to enable homosexuals to give birth.

Babsan wants to invite her new neighbor for coffee. This is easier said than done since the neighbor seems to be a strange type.

Professor of entomology Vakhtang Itrieli published several articles in which he sharply condemned Georgian nationalism. He calls for civil harmony in the name of universal ideals. For this, he is persecuted by nationalists who threaten to expel him from the university. Vakhtang meets a girl Nina. She is sympathetic to Vakhtang's problems. He, in turn, feels that danger is hanging over the girl...

A new neighbor arrives at the building with a strange suitcase. He doesn't receive visitors or talk to anyone, but a light flashes under his door. Only Lila knows his secret: she spies on him from her window and every night they share the ritual. The neighbors are scared: mysterious noises invade the building. You have to call the fumigator.

Making of documentary for the King Kong segment of the in the 1996 IMAX movie 'Special Effects: Anything Can Happen', featuring stop-motion animation created by the late great David Allen.