Restricted (2000)

The result of a challenge from Melvyn Bragg to write a film that Ken Russell himself would be eager to see banned, was A Kitten For Hitler – a 10-minute short in which a plucky young Jewish boy traverses the globe on a quest to warm the Führer's heart with the gift of a cuddly feline.

Viola's seminal piece, The Reflecting Pool, was made three decades ago on analogue video tape and yet could easily pass for a contemporary digital piece; in it, Viola emerges as central protagonist from a thick forest into a clearing filled by an artificial pool. As the noise of an aeroplane slowly passes and fades overhead, Viola approaches the edge of the pool, whereby he removes his shoes, squats down yelling and then prepares to make a powerful jump.

A small town doctor gets a visit from a former study-friend. He doesn't know this former surgeon has become a junkie that wants to steal his morphine.

Title cards introduce images we watch without narration; they are displays of shape and color. François de Roubaix's electronic music accompanies these images, photographed under a polarizing microscope. The crystals appear to move like tiny organisms: small four-part fans share the frame with flowing lines of pink. Multiple patterns appear side by side.

Poetic essay about the beginning of life from labor pains and birth and about its symbolic meaning.

In 1952, Haanstra made Panta Rhei , another view of Holland through the eyes of a painter and filmmaker. Its poetic images of water, skies and clouds reflect Haanstra's own moods.

An unknown observer is seen traveling through a bleak corridor. At the end of the corridor they see a naked woman, whom they are unable to reach as their trip seems to become increasingly twisted and looped.

A portrait of a deserted fisherman's village in Northern Norway called Børfjord - a place with an incredible personality in the middle of a magnificent Arctic nature. The 12 minute short film was filmed in 70mm Super Panavision, using a specially developed "nature animation" technique. The result is a magic flight in one single shot, along the remains of an internal village road. At the same time a whole year passes by at 50 000 times normal speed! Most of the year, the village of Børfjord lies empty with virgin snow between cold houses. People show up only during a short and hectic summer season. But the cycles of nature go on as they have always done, totally independent of what people might do.

A girl tells the story of her life and hopes for the future.

Inhabitants depicts animals in panic: the film is mostly filled with shots of mass migrations and stampedes (some, surprisingly, filmed from a helicopter). The title equalizes the species of the earth. Artavazd Peleshian merely alludes to the presence of human beings—a few silhouettes that seem to be the cause of these vast, anxious movements of animal fear. In many ways, this film is an ode to the animal world that moves toward formal abstraction, with clouds of silver birds pulverizing light. Peleshian said, “It’s hard to give a verbal synopsis of these films. Such films exist only on the screen, you have to see them.”

마리 앙트와네트의 저주받은 다이아몬드처럼 사람들의 운명을 좌지우지하면서 세상을 떠도는 옷 한 벌에 대한 기발한 단상이 네덜란드에서 날아왔다.애인의 결별선언과 이웃의 다툼에 상처입은 디자이너가 그려낸 원색의 나뭇잎무늬 옷감. 이것을 가지고 변태적 성행위를 즐기는 또 다른 디자이너가 한 벌의 원피스를 만든다. 그리고 이 옷을 손에 쥔 이들은 생산과정에서 비롯된 일탈과 욕망에 전염되기 시작한다. 처음 이 옷을 산 노년의 스텔라. 이 노부부는 뒤늦게 성에 탐닉하고, 스텔라가 이유없이 죽어간다. 빨랫줄에 걸려있다가 바람에 날린 드레스는 조안나와 칸탈이라는 여자들을 거치고 관음증에 사로잡힌 검표원 디스메트가 두 여자를 탐한다. 결국 공원의 부랑자 여인 마리의 누더기 위에 입혀진 드레스는 마지막 주인과 함께 땅에 묻힌다.죽음에서 시작해서 죽음으로 끝난 기묘한 옷의 운명을 통해 욕망이 끝간 곳을 보여주는 날카로운 풍자, 무릎을 치는 신선한 상상력외에도 억눌려진 성적 욕망과 일탈의 갈망을 뒤집어지는 익살로 풀어낸 감독의 재기가 빛나는 영화. 비수기 일주일 개봉프로로 지나치기엔 너무 아까운 작품이었다.

The Hefbrug may not be a remarkably beautiful bridge, but through a mix of close-ups, long shots, bird’s eye views and low angles, Joris Ivens conveys a sense of the bridge’s structure, its intricate mechanisms and ways of operating, the way it fits into the overall transport infrastructure and therefore the immense importance of this bridge for the whole city of Rotterdam.

An abstract animation from Walter Ruttmann.

An English dreamer experiences both the beauty and harshness of nature when he relocates to the Canadian prairie.