Apr 1, 2009 0
Palna is an orphanage in India where two girls, Devi and Stuti, were taken temporarily, before being adopted by a couple from Finland. We follow everyday life of Devi and her adoptive parents, as they gradually progress with Stuti’s adoption.
Mar 31, 2009 0
Keep Looking (Cherche toujours) opens with an intimate close-up of a face and voice-over narration recalling a dream. This is not a conventional documentary about the nature of scientific explorations, and the science the film itself explores is also not entirely typical. The study of singing dunes, crumpled paper and the shape of leaves are only some of the interests of the group of scientists whose work we follow in their somewhat claustrophobic and chaotic laboratory. The chaos around them however is not indicative of their minds, which in contrast demonstrate a precision and level-headedness to the world around them. ‘Mad scientists’ they are not. Their furrowed brows and head in hands in quiet unguarded moments reveal intensely contemplative minds.
Mar 30, 2009 0
“How is Fidel?” asks the interviewer. Some say he’s well. Others, say he’s dying. After watching Alessandra Magnaghi and Ortensia Visconti’s Fidelity, we come to realise that no one really knows. Castro is like a mystical deity, a figurehead; asking ‘how is Fidel?’ is like asking ‘do you believe in God?’
Mar 30, 2009 0
What kind of brand message do you associate with the clothing firm Benetton? Remember those distinctive brightly coloured adverts which feature people from different cultures and creeds? Remember the shock tactics of the controversial ‘United Colours’ campaign, which featured an Aids activist dying of Aids and pictures of inmates on death row? Is Benetton a company with a social conscience perhaps, with a progressive and uncompromising attitude? The filmmakers of Colours at the End of the World set out to understand how a clothing brand promoting cultural equality came into conflict with two Mapuches over the issue of land rights. Ale Corte’s film uncovers a ‘quality’ of the Italian company Luciano Benetton would have preferred concealed.
Mar 28, 2009 0
It’s traditional to administer a spoonful of sugar with otherwise unpleasant medicine, and the saving grace of John Webster’s film Recipes for Disaster chronicling his family’s year-long “oil diet” is that while it trots out the usual, by now extremely familiar apocalyptic statistics about the long-term unsustainability of typical Western lifestyles, it’s often very funny indeed.
Mar 28, 2009 0
The United Colours of Benetton – anyone growing up in the 80s would remember the advertisements for this clothing brand: images of people of all colours, nationalities, races interacting on an equal footing, enjoying a harmonious existence and joyfully pushing societal boundaries. We were impressed by Benetton – clearly he was using his clothes to send out a great message about equality and freedom. Ale Corte’s Colours at the End of the World shows us that this was merely a very cleverly crafted marketing campaign, with one aim: to make money.
Mar 27, 2009 0
Voices Across the Wall is unlike anything you’ll ever see. More revealing than any BBC political commentary, this stunning piece gives a balanced and evocative picture of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli struggle. The haunting piano soundtrack will reverberate the thoughts and images depicted in the film through you long after its end. It feels like we are there with the director…
Mar 26, 2009 0
“I filmed the elephant man, the dwarf, a giant, a pair of lobster people, the half woman, a clown and a jumble of jug band musicians. On tour in a 20-year old school bus, travelling 2500 miles across America, the ‘freaks’ worked their way through the wild west. Laughing, crying and drinking – a carnival of the damned – searching for a home…” wrote Richard Butchins, the disabled director himself.
Mar 26, 2009 0
Few would argue that the Italians are passionate people, rarely hesitant to express themselves in whatever way they deem fit. Alfredo de Guiseppe’s Hidden Art lays out a platform for four such exuberant souls, lovers of life who escape their humdrum realities with fervent outpourings of their creative essence. We have the horticulturalist cum folk poet, the plasterer who compulsively models strange miniature enclaves, the level crossing signalman who not only paints à la Pollock but also composes verse in praise of his creator (who also, troublingly, appears to refer to himself in the third person) and finally, the hospital orderly who has discovered her talent for the stage, craving challenging roles and risking her reputation by taking on the role of (gasp) a lesbian detective.
Mar 26, 2009 0
Eva Weber’s The Solitary Life of Cranes is a thought-provoking journey above London and its surrounds, as seen from the perspective of crane drivers. Living in this crazy, frenetic, whirlwind of a city, we see cranes all the time, their seemingly static, spindly arms breaking up the regular flow of the city’s skyline. Rarely would we think about the perspective of the man at the other end, the operator of this city fixture. Never would we dream that he may already know all about us!
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