Most aka Bridge (An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge) (1960)

Most aka Bridge (An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge) (1960)

Director:Janusz Majewski
Country:Poland
Runtime:14min

A very interesting curiosity here: another adaptation of Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, made famous by Robert Enrico's version (as part of his Bierce anthology, In The Midst Of Life) which was subsequently used as an episode of the Twilight Zone.  What's interesting is that Majewski's version was seemingly made two years BEFORE Enrico's, and yet shares a number of stylistic similarities with the later film >> did Enrico see this adaptation (made as a student film), or does the material just suggest a certain cinematic interpretation that both Majewski and Enrico followed independently?

Synopsis:
Set during the American Civil War, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is the story of Peyton Farquhar, a Confederate sympathizer condemned to death by hanging upon the Owl Creek Bridge of the title. The main character finds himself already bound at the bridge's edge at the beginning of the story. It is later revealed that a disguised Union scout enlisted him to attempt to demolish the bridge, and subsequently he was caught in the act.  When he is hanged, the rope breaks. Farquhar falls into the water and makes a bid for freedom...

Nirakar Chhaya AKA Shadows Formless (2007)

Nirakar Chhaya AKA Shadows Formless (2007)

Director:Ashish Avikunthak
Country:India
Runtime:82min

A film trapped between two monologues. A lonely and abandoned wife’s fantasy comes to life when the paramour she invokes springs forth and transforms her reality. Shadows Formless is an interpretation of the Malayalam novella Pandavpuram by the distinguished novelist Sethumadhavan from Kerala.

Director's Statement:
This film is a stylized adaptation of a novel called Pandavpuram by an important Malayalam author, Sethu Madhavan. It explores the psychological universe of a lonely woman abandoned by her husband, awaiting a paramour who she believes will rescue her from the mundanity of her existence and bring passion into her life. This yearning stems from both her emotional need to overcome loneliness and a suppressed sexual desire. As the yearning translates into an imagined reality, the film travels through the daily life of this lonely woman, inhabited by a affectionate sister-in law and a paramour.

Contemporary urban society in India is increasingly faced with the problems of alienation and loneliness, arising from nuclear family units and rising levels of marital separation and abandonment. In the absence of the support of the larger joint family, this alienation can take on the nature of a psychosis. The film attempts to probe into the complexities of such a state, which blurs the boundaries between reality and unreal. This film contemplates upon the reality of such an imagined world through the use of the aesthetic and structural possibilities of the cinematic medium.

Katho Upanishad (2011)

Katho Upanishad (2011)

Director:Ashish Avikunthak
Country:India
Runtime:82min

 “Teach me the path beyond death,” asks Nachiketa to Yama, the God of Death. ‘Katho Upanishad’ is a film that expounds on this basic quest of human existence. It is a film about a man's pursuit for nirvana. The film centers on the metaphysical dialogue between Nachiketa and Yama. It is an adaptation of a two and half thousand years old Sanskrit treatise of the same name, where Yama instructs Nachiketa about the path towards enlightenment. Structurally, the film is a triad with three chapters – the quest, the dialogue and the final liberation

Film contains only three shots

Do Not Forget Me Istanbul (2011)

Do Not Forget Me Istanbul (2011)

Directed by
Hany Abu-Assad        
Stefan Arsenijevic        
Aida Begic        
Josefina Markarian        
Eric Nazarian        
Stergios Niziris        
Omar Shargawi
Country:Turkey
Duration : 1h 54mn

Six directors from the Balkans and the Middle East including Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now), and Aida Begic (Snow) have been enlisted to make short films for a portmanteau revolving around the city of Istanbul.
Do Not Forget Me Istanbul is being produced by Huseyin Karabe at Asi Film Production, Sevil Demirci at Yeni Sinemacilik and Emre Yeksan at YXN Film and is designed to demonstrate the cultural influence of the city throughout the centuries.
The other directors on the film are Serbia’s Stefan Arsenijvic, Eric Nazarian, an American of Armenian descent whose first feature was The Blue Hour, the Danish-born Palestinian Omar Shargawi (Go With Peace Jamil) and and Stergios Niziris from Greece.
Petros Markaris, the Greek co-writer of numerous films by Theo Angelopoulos, is the script editor and consultant, while Karabey, who directed My Marlon And Brando, is the artistic head of the project…

 Half Moon Strangers by STERGIOS NIZIRIS
Vangelis has to frequently travel between Thessaloniki and Istanbul to buy textile to sustain his job, even if he doesn’t like the Turks. Each time, instead of spending the night in Istanbul, he prefers to make the long round trip journey on the same day. He is stressed and lonely man and Istanbul has no interest for him. This time, following a fraud by the shopkeeper with whom he collaborates, his money is stolen and he has to stay overnight…

 Mirko by STEFAN ARSENIJEVIC
Dragan and Ana are having a vacation in Istanbul. Having been married for a long time, they are quarrelling continuously. During one quarrel at the Spice bazaar, Ana looses her husband in the crowd…

 The Jewish Girl by OMAR SHARGAWI
Fayez, a successful Palestinian writer living in London, has recently been in Israel to negotiate the adaptation of his latest novel to the screen with a film studio. There, he has met a young woman, Levana, with whom he had an affair. But a relationship between an Israeli and a Palestinian is no easy thing in these territories, so the two agreed to meet in Istanbul for a romantic weekend….

 Otel(o) by AIDA BEGIC
Young Bosnian actress Alma has come to Istanbul to prepare for auditions of Othello. On one side she is dealing with the jealous and incessant phone calls of her lover, on the other she’s trying. To prepare the part in the trendy hotel he has booked for her. At some point of the evening she convinces hotel employee Ayca to help her…


Almost by HANY ABU-ASSAD
When Israel was created in 1948, Palestinian Samah was displaced and forced to settle in Syria. Her sister Zahra has not seen her since 62 years. Only now are they able to meet in Istanbul…

 Bolis by ERIC NAZARIAN
Armenak is a successful Oud player who is in Istanbul for the first time for an important musical event. His feelings towards the city, where his Armenian grandfather disappeared from “at the tip of the sword” on April 24, 1915, are very complex. Armenak arrived expecting to hate the city, but instead finds it full of familiarity…


Epilogue by JOSEFINA MARKARIAN
The famous Greek writer Petros Markaris left his native Istanbul in the 60s after turbulent political and social conflicts. Now he is back to the city and visiting all the places that mattered to him one by one…

Germany-DADA: An Alphabet of German DADAism (1969)

Germany-DADA: An Alphabet of German DADAism (1969)

Director: Helmut Herbst
Country: West Germany
Runtime: 61 min

In post-World War I Zurich, out of the conflict's sobering aftermath, there was born an artistic movement that preached a baffling, radical-yet-whimsical philosophy of creativity. Random and meaningless by definition, calculatedly irrational by design, the movement spread like revolt to America and across Europe, voicing the delightfully bizarre protest of a brave new community of artists and writers. Filmed with the cooperation of original Dadaists Hans Richter and Richard Hulsenbeck, this unique motion picture collage of art, music and poetry is not only an alphabet of German Dadaism, but is in itself, a true Dadaist experience.

Moacir Arte Bruta (2006)

Moacir Arte Bruta (2006)

Director: Walter Carvalho 
Country: Brazil
Runtime: 71 min

Documentary on naïve Brazilian artist Moacir. Facing many problems, such as impaired hearing and speaking, abnormal bone formation and poverty, black artist Moacir lives in the National Park of Chapada dos Veadeiros, aloof and oblivious of outside world, and was discovered by director Walter Carvalho in the 1980s. He spends his days drawing marvellous works with his crayons, depicting human and fantastic beings, fauna, flora, his own inner visions, mystical themes and sex, with a trace of impressive primitivism and beauty. The film registers his daily life, and another Brazilian artist, Siron Franco, paying him a visit.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE ARANA?

HAVE YOU SEEN THE ARANA?
DIRECTOR /   Sunanda Bhat
Country:India
Year:2012
Runtime:85min

In a world that has grown more dynamic and uncertain, where diversity and differences make way for standardization and uniformity, the film explores the effects of a rapidly changing landscape on people’s lives and livelihoods. Set in Wayanad, part of the fragile ecosystem of the western mountain range in South India, the film takes you on a journey through a region that is witnessing drastic transformation in the name of ‘development’.

A woman’s concern over the disappearance of medicinal plants from the forest, a farmer’s commitment to growing traditional varieties of rice organically and a cash crop cultivator’s struggle to survive amidst farmers’ suicides, offer fresh insights into shifting relations between people,knowledge systems and environment.

Interwoven into contemporary narratives is an ancient tribal creation myth that traces the passage of their ancestors across this land, recalling past ways of reading and mapping the terrain.

As hills flatten, forests disappear and traditional knowledge systems are forgotten, the film reminds us that this diversity could disappear forever, to be replaced by monotonous and unsustainable alternatives.

WON AWARD FOR THE BEST DOCUMENTARY  AT THE SIGNS FESTIVAL, 2013, TRIVANDRUM.
 
 Sunanda Bhat has been making documentaries and short films since 1995, under the banner
Songline Films. Her interest in documentaries is to represent people living on the margins of
a fascinatingly intricate and stratified Indian society. Unraveling these layers reveal glimpses of
lives that are often far more interesting than fiction.
`Let`s make it right` about rural sanitation won the `Gold Drop` award at the International Water and
Film Events 2012 at Marseilles, France. Her first documentary `Bol Ayesha Bol (Speak Ayesha
Speak)` was screened at IDFA, 1998. Her other films are `Athani to Dusseldorf` on the transformation
of leather crafts people from artisans to entrpreneurs; `Nalai Nammadai (Tomorrow is ours)` on
micro enterprise; and `Yoga as therapy`, a series of 14 films on Yoga for stress related illnesses.

The Sperm (2007)

The Sperm (2007)

Director: Taweewat Wantha
Country: Thailand
Runtime: 93 min








A teenage rock musician masturbates gleefully and often. Way too often. One night, flying
sperm escape and impregnate local women. The babies grow into an army of little creatures
with the teen's head -- and libido.

Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

Berberian Sound Studio (2012)

Director: Peter Strickland
Country: UK
Runtime: 92 min


In the 1970s, a British sound technician is brought to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his psyche, driving him to confront his own past. Berberian Sound Studio is many things: an anti-horror film, a stylistic tour de force, and a dream of cinema. As such, it offers a kind of pleasure that is rare in films, while recreating in a highly original way the pleasures of Italian horror cinema.

5 Broken Cameras (2011)

5 Broken Cameras (2011)

Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi
Country: Palestine
Duration : 1h 34mn


Five broken cameras—and each one has a powerful tale to tell. Embedded in the bullet-ridden remains of digital technology is the story of Emad Burnat, a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bil’in, which famously chose nonviolent resistance when the Israeli army encroached upon its land to make room for Jewish colonists. Emad buys his first camera in 2005 to document the birth of his fourth son, Gibreel. Over the course of the film, he becomes the peaceful archivist of an escalating struggle as olive trees are bulldozed, lives are lost, and a wall is built to segregate burgeoning Israeli settlements.

Gibreel’s loss of innocence and the destruction of each camera are potent metaphors in a deeply personal documentary that vividly portrays a conflict many of us think we know. Emad Burnat, a Palestinian, joins forces with Guy Davidi, an Israeli, and—from the wreckage of five broken cameras—two filmmakers create one extraordinary work of art.