New Landmark Chinese Films
“Outcry and Whisper” & “An Elephant Sitting Still”
“If you watch only two Chinese films this year, watch Outcry and Whisper and An Elephant Sitting Still. I stand in awe of both films. Taken together, they form as deep, complex and varied a portrait as possible of contemporary China. Neither film should exist. Yet, they do. Beautifully. Miraculously. Brazenly…”
So begins Co-Founder of dGenerate Films Karin Chien’s short essay on the blog metafilm coinciding with OVID’s release of these two new landmark Chinese films. Watch the films on OVID and read Karin’s essay here.
Restored Films by Alain Resnais
“All the World’s Memories” and “Van Gogh”
At the intersection of artistic and informative, All The World’s Memory is a unique look at the effort to catalogue as much knowledge as possible in one of the world’s great libraries—the National Library of France.
Van Gogh won an Oscar for best short documentary film. Recently restored, this 1948 boundary-pushing short brilliantly evokes the life of Vincent Van Gogh, using only his paintings as visuals.
Space Dogs
A Film by Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter
With stunning cinematography and meditative pacing that recalls the work of Andrei Tarkovsky, SPACE DOGS is a singular work that de-centers humans in order to uncover a forgotten history. Archival footage of the Soviet space program is interwoven throughout the film, reveling in the bizarre tests and procedures the canines were subjected to in preparation for space travel. The hum of space-age machinery blends seamlessly with the hypnotic drone of the soundtrack, which in turn echoes the alien sounds of the modern city.
Notes on Marie Menken
A Film by Martina Kudlacek
Watch the story of Marie Menken (1909-1970), one of New York’s outstanding underground filmmakers, who inspired and worked with renowned artists Andy Warhol, Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Kenneth Anger and Gerard Malanga.
Rich in excerpts of Menken’s work, the film also features the rare and fascinating footage of “The Duel of the Bolexes” she conducted with Andy Warhol on a New York rooftop.
Santiago, Italia
A Film by Nanni Moretti
While the military coup that installed Augusto Pinochet in Chile is well-documented, director Nanni Moretti adds an angle many viewers may not know about—the efforts of the Italian Embassy to save and relocate citizens targeted by the fascist regime.
