Brussels Film Loops
A collection of twenty short films, averaging 2-3 minutes, by various filmmakers depicting American life, intended to be shown in a continuous loop at the American Pavilion of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Some releases of the film include ten extra minutes of rough cuts.
D. A. Pennebaker
Shirley Clarke
Charles F. Schwep
Richard Leacock
Leonard Stark
Wheaton Galentine
Jules Bucher
Martus Granirer
Andre Kaufman
Also Directed by D. A. Pennebaker
Woodstock Diary was originally broadcasted on U.S. TV in August 1994 - in honor of the 25th anniversary of the event. Later it was released on DVD with remastered 5.1 sound. It includes performances not shown in the Woodstock movie but not exclusively. Between the songs there are recent interviews with the producers / organizers of Woodstock Joel Rosenman, John Roberts, Michael Lang, the stage announcer Wavy Gravy and Lisa Law (a member of the Hog Farm who helped out at the festival).
The collar awarded to the winners of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (Best Craftsman in France) is more than the ultimate recognition for every pastry chef - it is a dream and an obsession. The 3-day competition includes everything from delicate chocolates to precarious six foot sugar sculptures and requires that the chefs have extraordinary skill, nerves of steel and luck. The film follows Jacquy Pfeiffer, founder of The French Pastry School in Chicago, as he returns to France to compete against 15 of France's leading pastry chefs. The filmmakers were given first time/exclusive access to this high-stakes drama of passion, sacrifice, disappointment and joy in the quest to have President Sarkozy declare them one of the best in France.
On May 24, 2000, the historic Ryman Auditorium was booked to offer Nashvillians an evening of sublime beauty. Label executives and soundtrack producers so loved the music of O Brother, Where Art Thou? that they brought it to life as a benefit concert for the Country Music Hall of Fame. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen loved it so much that they hired famed documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker to record the show for posterity. The concert that unfolded that night was one of the greatest musical moments in the annals of Music City. Performers: John Hartford, Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Chris Thomas King, The Cox Family, Fairfield Four, Union Station, Colin Linden, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, The Peasall Sisters, Ralph Stanley, David Rawlings, The Whites.
Those who played prominent roles in Clinton's 1992 Presidential campaign return to discuss how politics and the media have changed since that time.
A pioneer in the world of rock-'n'-roll guitar, Chuck Berry has created a legacy that spans decades. Berry performs some of his greatest hits and all-time favorites in this concert video that was filmed on September 13, 1969 at 'Toronto Rock'n'Roll Revival.' The Concert includes the songs "Rock and Roll Music," "Long Live Rock and Roll," "Johnny B. Goode," "Promised Land," "Carol," "Hoochie Koochie Man," "Maybellene," "Too Much Monkey Business," "Reelin' and Rockin'," "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "In the Wee, Wee Hours."
In 1988 Depeche Mode were Andy Fletcher, Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Alan Wilder. Master and Servant Pimpf Behind The Wheel Strangelove Blasphemous Rumours Stripped Somebody Black Celebration Pleasure, Little Treasure Just Can't Get Enough Everything Counts Never Let Me Down Again
Hammersmith Odeon, London, July 3, 1973. British singer David Bowie performs his alter ego Ziggy Stardust for the very last time. A decadent show, a hallucinogenic collage of kitsch, pop irony and flamboyant excess: a musical symbiosis of feminine passion and masculine dominance that defines Bowie's art and the glam rock genre.
A fascinating documentary focusing on backstage realities of art and business during the British synthesizer band's 1988 American tour.
This special presentation offers all the remaining footage from Jimi Hendrix's incendiary appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Hendrix classics such as "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze" are delivered in crystal clear sound and vision, with Eddie Kramer (who was Hendrix's original engineer) breathing new life into the audio with a new mix.
Also Directed by Shirley Clarke
A 1957 rehearsal film test for a dance film inspired by Pablo Picasso's 'Family of Saltimbanques'. Anna Sokolow can be seen on the lower left of the frame. Based on the script found in Shirley Clarke's collection, this looks to be a complete version of Ms. Sokolow's choreography for Act One of the film. Plot subtitles are taken from Shirley Clarke's script. Pierrot and Pierrette's duet transformed into Shirley Clarke's 1957 dance film 'A Moment in Love'.
In 1953, Shirley Clarke went to make a film about French mime Ettiene Decroux. The legend goes that he had left town and instead, she created In Paris Parks. Not known, is that in 1955, Clarke tried a second time to make a film about Decroux. This is the unfinished workprint.
Filmmaker Shirley Clarke ("The Connection") directs this powerful, stark semi-documentary look at the horrors of Harlem ghetto slum life filled with drugs, violence, human misery, and a sense of despair due to the racial prejudices of American society. There is no patronizing of the black race in this cinematic cry for justice. A fifteen-year-old boy called Duke is ambitious to buy a "piece" (a gun) from an adult racketeer named Priest, to become president of the gang to which he belongs, and to return them to active "bopping" (gang fighting) which has declined in Harlem. It is a clearly patent allegory of an attempt by Duke to attain manhood and identity in the only way accessible to him - the antisocial one.
Eight drug addicts are waiting for their connection in a New York apartment belonging to Leach. Jim Dunn, a budding filmmaker, has agreed to pay for the fix if the addicts will allow him to film the connection.
First shown on January 30, 1967, FOR LIFE AGAINST THE WAR was an open-call, collective statement from American independent filmmakers disparate in style and sensibility but united by their opposition to the Vietnam War. Part of the protest festival Week of the Angry Arts, the epic compilation film incorporated minute-long segments which were sent from many corners of the country, spliced together and projected. The original presentation of the works was more of an open forum with no curation or selection, and in 2000 Anthology Film Archives preserved a print featuring around 40 films from over 60 submissions.
A couple in love interacts across a multitude of environments.
A prelude to Tongues (1982) which languishes over love and its effect on people.
A performance piece written by Sam Shepard, enacted by Joseph Chaikin and directed by Shirley Clarke, a dying man reflects on his life while delivering his own last rites.
A highly edited work complimenting an exhibit on Persian art in the Los Angeles Museum of Art.
Beatrice Seckler rehearses a dance, filmed by Shirley Clarke in 1952.
Also Directed by Charles F. Schwep
This 14-minute film talks about the Hindu god Brahma's creation of life, the world and of course the first woman. Saeed Jaffrey narrates the story as dancers Bhaskar, Dinu and Anjali Devi "act" out the story. Perhaps I went into this film with too high of expectations but I found the end results to be mildly disappointing. It really wouldn't be fair to call this movie bad but at the same time it had a really hard time keeping my attention. I thought for the most part that the images were quite good as director Charles F. Schwep at least has some nice cinematography and he gets some good colors out of it. I thought the three performers did a good job with their dances but I'd be lying if I said anything the narrator said was of interest to me. I think the film would have been much better had it just focused on the dancers and left the narration alone as a simple introduction would have been all we needed.
Also Directed by Richard Leacock
In the hands of another director, the inner-workings of a magnet laboratory could have caused a whole classroom to fall asleep of boredom. No so when Leacock was hired to produce this twenty-minute version of lab mayhem. Try this: six researchers in a lab at MIT in the late 1950's show-off the power of electro-magnets, and in the process, accidentally set an experiment on fire. Or this: half way through the film the phone rings off screen, and host Francis Bitter says "tell 'em I'll call 'em back later" while he's looking at the camera, discussing bus bars. Leacock’s fleshed out all the personalities here, from "Beans" Bardo, who cranks up the generator to nearly explosive proportions, to the mysterious Mr. Lin, who barely peeks over his shoulder at us, seemingly in mockery, disdain, or curiosity.
Documentary about the career of actress Louise Brooks in Berlin.
In 1963 the first known surviving set of American quintuplets were born to Mary Ann and Andrew Fischer, this film looks at some of the changes their arrival caused to their family.
A look at the daily business of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, with a focus on some of the political issues he faces six weeks into his term.
Toby is a heartwarming and entertaining portrait of one of the last travelling variety shows in the United States. Every summer, Toby, the troupe's charming, down-to-earth owner/lead actor takes his small band of performers to towns across the Midwest to perform under a massive tent. Leacock captures the heat of the summer night on the faces of the appreciative audiences, the thrill of the live performances and the challenge of the set-up.
A documentary on the KKK
The first candid film made on a foreign chief of state, three weeks in the life of Jawaharlal Nehru.
An educational physics film utilizing a fascinating set consisting of a rotating table and furniture occupying surprisingly unpredictable spots within the viewing area, Leacock’s Frames of Reference (1960), features fine cinematography by Abraham Morochnik, and funny narration by University of Toronto professors Donald Ivey and Patterson Hume, in a wonderful example of the fun a creative team of filmmakers can have with a subject other, less imaginative types might find pedestrian.
This brief portrait follows 28-year-old campaign manager John Grenier as he maps out strategies for Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential run and engineers a takeover of the Republican convention.
The doc brings us back to a 1961 football game played in front of 40,000 people at the Orange Bowl. A high school football game, pitting Miami High against their rivals from Edison High. The title refers to the coaches of each, and the film follows them separately, with their real families and their clan of players, in the days leading up to the big event. And then at last it astonishingly chronicles the game from all kinds of angles you wouldn’t expect from even the newly mobile tools of the Drew crew. Today’s television coverage doesn’t come nearly as close to capturing the spirit of the sport and its fans the way Lipscomb does here. (Nothing But the Doc)
Also Directed by Wheaton Galentine
Promotional film extolling the wonders to be seen at the New York World's Fair.
Displays the hypnotic rhythms and flashing precision of the sewing machine.
Also Directed by Jules Bucher
This film shows several important visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance at work.