Letter to America (1999)
Genre : Comedy, Drama
Runtime : 20M
Director : Kira Muratova
Writer : Sergei Chetvertkov
Synopsis
A couple of post-Soviet slackers want to record a video message for their friends who have moved to the United States. Muratova’s view of different types of freedom and pleasure.
A woman suddenly disappears. Her fiance then sets out to find her and, in the process, uncovers layers of dark hidden secrets.
Ben lives with his father in a dreary highrise housing estate, earning a bit of money delivering leaflets. The young man′s big dream is to one day write travel logs as a journalist. His unemployed father has been thrown hopelessly off balance with the death of his wife. Ben has since then been carrying all responsibility, taking care of the household, and making sure that all ends meet on his own. The financial pressures he increasingly stands under finally lead him to become criminal.
Leonor, a widow in a small South American town, gives birth to Charlotte, a dwarf. The mother not only provides a rich childhood for her daughter, she erases any clues her daughter might see that would lead her to think she is different (mother burns books such as "Snow White" and destroys lawn statues of gnomes). In short, she doesn't want to talk about it. The mother succeeds in creating a modern-day Rapunzel: Charlotte becomes an accomplished young woman who captures the heart of Ludovico. But then, the circus comes to town.
The film follows Gabriel Angel (Rakie Ayola), a young Caribbean aviator who falls in love with the forger Duncan Stewart (Jonathan Pryce) on her journey to England. Stewart is pursued by his nemesis Rex Goodyear (John Hurt), and the group are supported by Dr Angela Bead (Vanessa Redgrave) and Miss Gwendolyn Quim (Dorothy Tutin), retired missionaries who become lovers during the voyage.
Brothers Martin and Simon, not yet teens, are incorrigible vandals; Martin runs away from reform school, Simon from foster homes, and they always find each other in a seacoast town of Lignan, where their destructive behavior is infamous. (It may date to their mother's leaving the family.) Martin is philosophical, romantic, and poetic: he dreams of being the son of a shark; he holds tight to a book about goldfish his mother gave him. In both halting and wild ways, he tries to court Marie, a neighbor girl. Simon, with a pocketknife and an intractable will, seems more dangerous to others. What, on earth, is there for these children-becoming-men?
A television executive low-level begins to rise sharply by the career ladder when he discovers a chimpanzee with an unerring ability to find television programs that will achieve immediate success.
The three-parts documentation GET ALONG portraits the identical twins TEGAN & SARA, who have been discovered by Neil Young himself, from three different points of view. STATES retraces the start of their career, INDIE accompanies the two musicians on their first India tour and FOR THE MOST PART is a recording of a very personal and intimate concert of the sisters from Vancouver, BC.
A documentary which examines the creation and co-production of the popular children's television program in three developing countries: Bangladesh, Kosovo and South Africa.
At the tender age of 70 years, Sigrídur Níelsdóttir starts to publish her music – directly from her living room. This modern Icelandic fairy tale is one of the most beautiful stories to be told about music. In seven years, Grandma Lo-Fi recorded 59 records and wrote more than 600 songs. The creative senior is a cult figure of the Icelandic music scene and thus it seems obvious to go through Grandma Lo-Fi’s life accompanied by artists such as Múm, Sin Fang and Mr Silla.
Dutch filmmakers gathered to make this compilation movie, consisting of 17 segments, as a reaction to the status quo in The Netherlands after the assassination of filmmaker Theo van Gogh on november 2, 2004.
Giving fans unprecedented access to the real life of the music sensation, Katy Perry: Part of Me exposes the hard work, dedication and phenomenal talent of a girl who remained true to herself and her vision in order to achieve her dreams. Featuring rare behind-the-scenes interviews, personal moments between Katy and her friends, and all-access footage of rehearsals, choreography, Katy’s signature style and more, Katy Perry: Part of Me reveals the singer’s unwavering belief that if you can be yourself, then you can be anything.
Months after Hosni Mubarak stepped down, Egyptians country-wide seem determined to maintain the insurgency until their demands are met.
The Icelandic people was born of Norwegian immigrants who would not submit to the tyranny of the king of Norway and established a republican country in the Middle Ages, where social classes were virtually diluted and developed a subsistence economy. After centuries of freedom was first submitted by Norway and then by Denmark until World War II. Iceland has always had a libertarian spirit that is born of its history and of being a place with few inhabitants and always with a rebellious and disobedient spirit.
Filmmaker and Iranian exile Nahid Persson talks with Queeen Farah, the widow of the late Shah of Iran, who also has been an Iranian exile since the Shah was overthrown in 1979. A meeting of two women who once belonged to opposite sides in Iran.
Refusenik is a 2008 documentary film by Laura Bialis that chronicles the struggle of Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union in the 1960’s and 70’s. A former refusenik Natan Sharansky appears in the film.
Serbian film about the life of refugees from Bosnia is Serbia during the war years.
Dear Pyongyang is a documentary film by Zainichi Korean director Yang Yong-hi (Korean: 양영희, Hanja: 梁英姬) about her own family. It was shot in Osaka Japan (Yang's hometown) and Pyongyang, North Korea, In the 1970s, Yang's father, an ardent communist and leader of the pro-North movement in Japan, sent his three sons from Japan to North Korea under a repatriation campaign sponsored by ethnic activist organisation and de facto North Korean embassy Chongryon; as the only daughter, Yang herself remained in Japan. However, as the economic situation in the North deteriorated, the brothers became increasingly dependent for survival on the care packages sent by their parents. The film shows Yang's visits to her brothers in Pyongyang, as well as conversations with her father about his ideological faith and his regrets over breaking up his family.
Michael has life pretty sweet. His girlfriend adores him, his best mate David is loyal to the end, plus David’s girlfriend doesn’t mind a quick hook-up either. But Michael’s self-regarding lifestyle comes crashing down when he is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Desperate not to let his life just fade away, Michael steals the $200,000 raised for his treatment, and catches a one-way flight to London. He isn’t there for long before his nerve and sense of humour earn him a vicious beating in a back alley. Waking up cold and bloodied, he finds himself being watched over by the ethereal Sylvie; a mysterious French drifter. They fall head over heels in love, and attempt to outrun death itself.
Through an immigrant cab driver, our world collides with a nervous filmmaker, a lawyer whose new breasts her ex-boyfriend wants to see, a mystery man, a gay man who might or might not have AIDS, and a birthday girl who got stood up. It is a mixture of laughter and sadness, all floating on a sea of philosophy.
15-year-old Berliner Fili has lost interest in school and spends much time daydreaming about how she will lose her virginity to Johnny Depp, whom she's never met. She composes a series of audio letters to him, begins saving money for a plane ticket to Los Angeles in hopes of visiting him, and has imaginary conversations with Depp (in his various film roles). Meanwhile, the talk among Fili's friends is of boys and sex. When Fili discovers that Johnny is only interested in girls with some experience, she is in a hurry to lose her virginity -- but with whom? Trying to find the right guy for her initiation turns out to be a bit more complicated than Fili imagined; the fellow she picks is twentysomething Ike who already has a girlfriend and isn't too interested in Fili.