Balkan actuality.
Social & External
Thomas Haemmerli is about to celebrate his fortieth birthday when he learns of his mother's death. A further shock follows when he and his brother Erik discover her apartment, which is filthy and full to bursting with junk. It takes the brothers an entire month to clean out the place. Among the chaos, they find films going back to the 1930s, photos and other memorabilia.
For most of us a funeral is traditionally a modest, somber affair, but there are some families who are prepared to go above and beyond to ensure their loved ones go out in style. Warm, funny and surprising, this film explores some of the UKs most extraordinary final goodbyes.
The film does not have a plot per se; it mixes documentary footage, along with standard movie scenes, to give the audience the mood of Germany during the late 1970s. The movie covers the two-month time period during 1977 when a businessman was kidnapped and later murdered by the left-wing terrorists known as the RAF-Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction). The businessman had been kidnapped in an effort to secure the release of the original leaders of the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. When the kidnapping effort and a plane hijacking effort failed, the three most prominent leaders of the RAF, Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe, all committed suicide in prison. It has become an article of faith within the left-wing community that these three were actually murdered by the state.
The story of Robert Flanagan, a man who was born with cystic fibrosis and told he wouldn't live past 20, who through a unique odyssey of masochism, art and love found a way to live decades past his expiration date.
An intimate portrait of Matthew Shepard, the gay young man murdered in one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S. history. Framed through a personal lens, it's the story of loss, love, and courage in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
Part film, part baptism, in BLACK MOTHER director Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual journey through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and tranquil countryside, Allah introduces us to a succession of vividly rendered souls who call this island home. Their candid testimonies create a polyphonic symphony, set against a visual prayer of indelible portraiture. Thoroughly immersed between the sacred and profane, BLACK MOTHER channels rebellion and reverence into a deeply personal ode informed by Jamaica’s turbulent history but existing in the urgent present.
Robert Drew shows the sights and sounds from the funeral of President John F. Kennedy in November, 1963. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2002.
In fremder Erde (In Foreign Soil) documents the Muslim traditions of burial in Turkey and Germany, but above all, the paths the dead take to return to Anatolian soil.
Victims of a tragic air crash are honoured in a sombre military funeral procession through the streets of Hitchin.
Stanley Kubrick’s short documentary about Father Fred Stadtmueller, a Catholic priest serving a vast 4,000-square-mile parish in rural New Mexico. To reach his scattered congregation, he pilots his own Piper Cub aircraft, the Spirit of St. Joseph. Over two days, Kubrick follows the “flying padre” as he conducts Mass, mediates between quarreling children, attends a funeral, and airlifts a sick child to medical care—capturing both the challenges and quiet heroism of his daily mission.
This controversial film from director Glauber Rocha records the funeral of his friend, major Brazilian painter Emiliano Di Cavalcanti.
A lighthouse keeper prepares his earthly funeral while trying to reconnect with his inner elf. Hulda and Trausti have shared a roof on the Icelandic coast for over seventy years. Her love of books is matched by his love of stones. When he tells her he wants to change his name to Elf she warns him that the family will reject him. Now, as his one hundredth birthday nears and Trausti senses the hand of death upon him, he is searching for an elf’s coffin…
Stacey tackles the subject of death by immersing herself in the world of undertaking at a century-old funeral director's.
Darrell Scott tells stories of his daughter, high school student, Rachel Joy Scott. Also included is footage from her funeral.
On 28 January 1901 the great musician Giuseppe Verdi died from the consequences of a stroke that had struck him six days earlier. These very rare images, captured in Milan on 27 February 1901 by the operator and pioneer of Milanese cinema Italo Pacchioni, document the transfer of the Maestro's body from the Monumental Cemetery of Milan to the famous retirement home for musicians which he himself founded.
The Other Side of Burka is a 2004 Iranian documentary directed by Mehrdad Oskouei. In the southern island of Qeshm, Iran, which is a very strict region in point of tradition and African-Arabic rules, all women are under the pressure of patriarch society. Their sufferance is manifested by different mental (Zar, Possession) and physical diseases which must be only treated by Zar Ceremony. For the first time, despite the danger these women face, this film tells us the sad story of their life and shows their confection in front of the camera. It tries to be an honest mirror which reflects their sufferance and unveils their Burka to reveal their real characters.
Yamamoto Senji fought against the Peace Preservation Law in the Diet. On March 5, 1929 he was assassinated by the right wing. A farewell ceremony was held near the University of Tokyo. Prokino's Tokyo Branch shot the procession.
In 2004 Sheldon Oberman, a Jewish storyteller from Winnipeg, passed away. At his funeral the presiding Rabbi said that Sheldon’s spirit was with the congregants in the sanctuary. For filmmaker Saul Henteleff this was a revelation that began a personal and spiritual journey into the meaning of Jewish death. My Jewish Death is the result of this journey.
A six minute film of the funeral of the murdered Metropolitan Emilianos of Grevena, of which all has been lost, save for 17 seconds. Emilianos was murdered on October 1st, 1911.
A funeral parade in Cairo.
Experimental film following a cycle of seasons as well as the stretch of a single day as a man and his dog slowly ascend a mountain.
Two teenagers are playing by night in a dirty parking lot. After they are driving on an empty road, they start to tease each other on the way to the sea, but they seem to be too young to drive and the road is a bit strange.
A short comedy spoof about Universal Monsters and their everyday unconventional work done at their very own talent agency for their movies.
David McDoll is a selfish and wealthy man living an enviable lifestyle in his large villa and collecting fancy cars. However, his life is about to be changed forever when he inherits his six grandchildren. His glamorous lifestyle quickly becomes complete chaos. But he will learn a valuable lesson that teaches him about placing family first and discovering a newfound appreciation for life.
Paris, France. Commissaire Wens is put in charge of the investigation into the murder of one of six friends who, in the past, made a very profitable promise.
A documentary about the legendary and influential comedian, actor and writer, who went out from the BBC to conquer Hollywood, but sadly the system quickly withdrew its support when they couldn't contain his talents. This portrait is spiked with many comments from people who knew Feldman privately or had dealt with him professionally. His early death sadly rendered him all but forgotten by the public. The compilation consists of interviews, some film clips and photos as well as various audio clips from him.
In a remote Kyrgyz village, a mother navigates daily life as her family is drawn into the upheaval of World War II. Left behind to tend the land and hold her household together, she clings to hope amid growing uncertainty. As seasons pass, the quiet weight of absence and memory shapes her world. A deeply personal story of endurance, Mother’s Field captures the emotional cost of war from the perspective of those who wait.
The story of a girl in a small North Indian town who is an obsessive fan of top Hindi movie star Madhuri Dixit, and dreams of moving to Mumbai to become a film heroine herself.
The catchy Schoolhouse Rock tunes have taught millions of children that Knowledge Is Power! This specially designed Classroom Edition DVD takes the highly regarded, Emmy(r) Award-winning series to new heights that will make Schoolhouse Rock fans out of a whole new generation of kids.
When civil engineer Siddharth is arrested for a murder on the basis of a pictorial evidence, cops discover his lookalike Aditya and realize they have only 48 hours to solve the case.
The second solo program by the Dutch cabaret artist Harrie Jekkers. Jekkers tells and sings about growing up and about his uncle Jan.
Yanki (Japanese delinquent) Hayato, is on his way with his senpai, (upperclassman) Yocchan to a so-called “resort” job with good pay, food, and housing. Hayato, not being able to commit to work, meets another Yanki who’s trying to work hard and form a family. Meanwhile, Yocchan ends up falling for the lunch lady at the “resort”... Will she be the one for him?
This short film follows a man lost in the woods driven by his fear of the unknown.
A married woman with a lovely daughter lives a carefree life, until she meets her ex-lover at a friend’s wedding. They haven’t seen each other in ten years, but they begin an affair.
A weak before her lady-killer lover, a blond diva breaks up with the arrogant libertine to be with a kind friend. His ego demands appeasement, but the lethal revolver in her hand thirsts for retribution. Who is to blame for her downfall?
Jerry keeps sleepwalking and doing things unknowingly to Tom. He becomes aware of this and tries to stay awake.
Jerry mixes and drinks a high-acceleration potion which renders him so fast that he eats all of Tom's food before the bewildered cat can even see him.
After a tense few months following a miscarriage and an unemployment spell, things are finally looking up for Sean and Lisa Miller when Sean lands his dream job at an advertising firm. But when Sean’s assistant, Jen, his self-proclaimed “Work Wife,” begins vying for his affection, it soon becomes clear that she will stop at nothing to rip their marriage apart and claim him as her own.
