An Erotic Concert

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

1988 · ★ 7.6

This documentary offers a rare glimpse of the legendary Soviet filmmaker, Andrei Tarkosvky, at work. Tarkovsky made only seven films in his brief, but brilliant, career; Michal Leszczylowski's respectful movie chronicles him at work on his last film, The Sacrifice. Offering insight into Tarkovsky's working methods and transcendental aesthetics, the movie is a compelling account of the difficulties of film production. In the case of an uncompromising and visionary filmmaker like Tarkovsky, the practical problems of filmmaking are only magnified, as cast and crew struggle to realize the ambitious concepts in Tarkovsky's mind.

Botero Born in Medellin

2008 · ★ 1

To mark the artist Fernando Botero's 75th birthday, Peter Schamoni made a documentary film about his moving life. Fernando Botero is immediately recognizable by his colourful and exuberant works. Schamoni convinces us that, behind the cliché of the naïve, Fernando Botero is an artist who also devotes himself to serious and profound themes. Schamoni not only accompanies Botero to Tuscany, where he creates his sculptures, and to his Parisian painter's studio. The film also takes us on a journey to Colombia, where Schamoni lets the viewer take part in the world in which the artist lives and works, in the highs and lows of his life.

The Cinema and its Double: Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 'Despair' Revisited

2011 · ★ 6.5

This absolutely top-notch documentary by Robert Fischer is a fascinating look back at not just the film in question, but Fassbinder's meteoric career which ended all too soon with his untimely death. Archival footage of Fassbinder is utilized (including several fascinating snippets culled from interviews he did at the disastrous Cannes premiere of Despair), as well as many others involved in the film and its release. Even if you're not a particular fan of Despair, or even in fact of Fassbinder, this is stellar documentary film making and is an intriguing look at one of the most enigmatic masters of the New German Cinema.

The Big Wheel

1980

During the 1980 exhibition of Burden's monumental kinetic sculpture The Big Wheel at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York, Burden and Feldman were interviewed by art critic Willoughby Sharp. Burden articulates the process of creating The Big Wheel, a 6,000-pound, spinning cast-iron flywheel that is initially powered by a motorcycle, and discusses its relation to his earlier performance pieces and sculptural works. Addressing his motivations and the meaning of this potentially dangerous mechanical art object, Burden discusses such topics as the role of the artist in the industrial world, "personal insanity and mass insanity," and "man's propensity towards violence."

Cinema in Sudan: Conversations with Gadalla Gubara

2008

The film builds up a portrait of a great Sudanese film-maker, Gadalla Gubara. At eighty-seven, he is one of the pioneers of cinema in Africa. He has recently lost his sight but still continues to film life in Sudan as no one before him. Through his oeuvre, Gadalla reveals to us a Sudan both mysterious and misunderstood. Despite censorship and lack of financial support over sixty years, he has produced cinema that is independent and unique in a country where freedom of expression is a rare luxury.

Living Lines

Living Lines is a series of performances and poetry by artist Stephanie Trujillo documented as a short film, drawing inspiration from her Peruvian ancestry, namely the Nazca Lines – giant, mysterious and ancient earthworks made by pre-colonial and pre-Christian societies in Peru – to create site-specific rituals dedicated to the flora and fauna native to Merseyside.

SHUT UP AND DRAG-SE

2020

A documentary that follows the Bixa Pare Collective during an edition of the Sarau Bixaria Literária, exploring art, freedom of expression, and issues surrounding the world of drag queens.

Better Than Andy - The Crazy Finn is Here

2009 · ★ 3

Mock -documentary about a Finnish contemporary artist who took the world by a storm.

El Cuerpo del Escándalo - Un film acerca de Natacha Voliakovsky

2019

No synopsis available.

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

2009 · ★ 6.5

An exploration of the appeal of horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.

Wallflower

2006

An overdressed girl tries her luck in dance events that are for Finnish tourists in a small Estonian health resort town, Pärnu.

Easy Rider

2006

A young man in a tram is asking a bit too much from a stranger.