GIRI CHIT tells a tale of the subtle trace of irreconcilable worlds. A worker driving a mobile sweeper in hypnotic circles across an already immaculate surface. The high drama of cosplay aficionados clamoring to be seen. A cast of thousands toiling hundreds of feet above the street. Giri translates as ‘duty’ in Japanese, but the concept is in fact far more complicated. Giri is a sort of interpersonal political capital that informs careers, family relations, and much more. Its presence and flow is palpable in Japan, where this film was shot. A “giri chit” then may be a hypothetical voucher for this intangible flow (with a tip of the cap to Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland”). Selected Screenings and Awards: DaVinci Film Festival (Best Experimental Film), Chicago Underground Film Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival, Dallas Videofest, ICDOCS Film Festival, NewFilmmakers at Anthology Film Archives, Oxford Film Festival, Director’s Lounge Berlin
23 Mar 1970
German writer Uwe Johnson lived for several years in the 1960s on Manhattan’s Upper Westside where he got to know his neighborhood very well, observing the goings-on in the streets, cafeterias, and parks. In 1968 German Television agreed to co-produce a film for broadcast featuring interviews with various neighborhood characters.
01 Dec 1991
Shortly after German reunification, three residents of a quiet area north of Berlin talk about their plans and attempts at new economic beginnings amid the changes brought by the fall of the Berlin Wall.
04 Aug 1933
The ultimate Bobby Jones golf series reaches its climactic conclusion on board a speeding train to oblivion.
08 Nov 1962
Like the best USIA films, The Wall distills political events into an emotionally clear and compelling ideological "story". In 1962 Walter de Hoog gathered footage from U.S. and German newsreel sources and crafted this taut short film about the first year of the Berlin Wall. Straightforward, keenly balanced narration portrays Berliners as "accepting the wall but never resigned to it". The extraordinary footage of the first escapes was propaganda enough-- His challenge was to make the politics human.
01 Jan 1996
The subject matter of Memory Room 451 is the cultural and historical significance of 20th-century hairstyles – the Afro, the conk, dreadlocks – in Black communities on both sides of the Atlantic. Akomfrah has disguised this exploration as a science fiction story – in the manner of the groundbreaking writers profiled in The Last Angel of History – while providing a bravura display of the aesthetics of video art in the 1990s. The tale of visitors from the future who gather dreams from unwitting subjects in order to construct a history of the Black diaspora both defamiliarizes Akomfrah’s ongoing project and points to the danger that extracting history from memory can be a kind of expropriation.
31 Oct 2023
Ten years after the death of iconic French filmmaker, Chris Marker. A filmmaker, hoping to rediscover that unique sensibility against the uncertainty of the new century, returns to the places synonymous with those incomparable and unforgettable films-- From the cat cemetery of Sans Soleil, to the mausoleum of The Last Bolshevik; The caves of Level Five to the rooftops of The Case of the Grinning Cat. A biographical portrait of one of the 20th century's greatest and most misunderstood filmmakers.
09 Nov 1960
Hansjürgen Pohland's short documentary is an audiovisual study that captures events and people on the streets on film. The special feature of the work is that the people and objects are portrayed exclusively through their shadows.
25 Oct 2023
An Editor recounts the diaries of a failed film production as they attempt to construct a new narrative from the remaining footage.
25 Dec 2023
Ricky Tomlinson sits back in his chair and takes a fond look back at the much-loved comedy series The Royle Family, sharing his memories of playing head of the family Jim Royle and his experiences working with the show’s co-creator Caroline Aherne, who, as well as writing the show with co-star Craig Cash, also played Jim’s daughter Denise. Ricky talks about how a chance encounter helped him get the part of Jim, recounts what it was like filming some of the show’s most iconic moments, and tries to get the bottom of the origins of Jim’s famous, below-the-belt catchphrase.
02 Nov 2022
Coming back during Winter, Alex Powell explores both the places and personal connections found in his hometown and how they've changed. “Guide to a Midwest Hometown” explores what makes the barren places at home feel sentimental and special, and the good and bad feelings that come when being back home. Inspired by "How To With John Wilson".
21 May 2021
Aldo has always felt like a being from another planet, stranded on Earth. His autism and long struggle to speak fluently alienated him from others. Now, he searches for meaning in the esoteric and for connection with people like himself.
05 Aug 2022
After the earthquake, my grandmother is facing the loss of her apartment.
27 Oct 2021
Twenty-two years after the massacre perpetrated by paramilitary groups in complicity with the government, the people of Acteal celebrate their martyrs and persist in their demand for justice.
19 Sep 1912
Footage of the German airship Hansa over Copenhagen.
02 Apr 2016
The Kurdish Iraqi poet and actor Zeravan Khalil travels with his dog through an Alpine gorge after fleeing from IS war and genocide. As he remembers the abomination, he writes a poem with the title “You drive me mad” in Kurmanji Kurdish. In his home country, Yazidic Kurds are forbidden to work in his profession. Then he eats his apple and wanders through Europe’s middle with more hope.
13 Jul 2023
Aurum Iter is a cinematic journey that delves into the depths of the visual and sonic, challenging the boundaries of traditional storytelling. Inspired by the minimalist essence of "Koyaanisqatsi", the short film invites viewers into a unique sensory experience where King Crimson's music intertwines with the visuals. Without dependence on words, the film reveals the fascinating interaction between humanity, exploring the intrinsic beauty and complexity of the world around us. As the visuals unfold before the viewer's eyes, an invitation is issued to contemplate society's impact on humanity and our never-ending quest for harmony with the environment. In Aurum Iter, I invite viewers to a poetic meditation on life, the interconnectedness of all things, and the urgent need to preserve the delicate balance between man, nature, and the body itself.
09 Sep 2000
Home movies and family photographs mixed with drawings and texts tell the story of a family that has lived with disease.
01 Oct 2011
Johann Lurf‘s film Endeavour slides between documentary, avant-garde film, and science-fiction. This highly singular combination of materials and techniques gives the viewer of Endeavour a feeling of flight, as the film continually evades the gravity of genres and definitive definitions. Lurf uses NASA footage from a day and a night launch of the space-shuttle that follows the booster rockets from take-off to splashdown.
01 Dec 1933
An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)
27 Apr 1959
Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.