I Curse This Land

In a sleepy coastal village a curse lies waiting. Legend has it one night centuries ago when a smuggler was delivering his illicit wares, the excise men pounced. One of the villagers had betrayed him. The smuggler was caught and quickly hanged as an example but, his widow was more than she seemed, the practitioner of an ancient religion of magic and sorcery. The villagers formed a mob to hunt her down as a witch, they brutalised her, tarred and feathered her, but before they could kill her she put one last curse upon the land; that nothing should flourish, no life or love, before taking her own life and spilling her blood upon the land.

The Color Purple

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.

Life in Loops (A Megacities RMX)

Timo Novotny labels his new project an experimental music documentary film, in a remix of the celebrated film Megacities (1997), a visually refined essay on the hidden faces of several world "megacities" by leading Austrian documentarist Michael Glawogger. Novotny complements 30 % of material taken straight from the film (and re-edited) with 70 % as yet unseen footage in which he blends original shots unused by Glawogger with his own sequences (shot by Megacities cameraman Wolfgang Thaler) from Tokyo. Alongside the Japanese metropolis, Life in Loops takes us right into the atmosphere of Mexico City, New York, Moscow and Bombay. This electrifying combination of fascinating film images and an equally compelling soundtrack from Sofa Surfers sets us off on a stunning audiovisual adventure across the continents. The film also makes an original contribution to the discussion on new trends in documentary filmmaking. Written by KARLOVY VARY IFF 2006

Toronto Jazz

Toronto is regarded as the third largest jazz centre in North America. This film features a cross-section of jazz bands of that city: the Lenny Breau Trio, the Don Thompson Quintet and the Alf Jones Quartet. Their styles show creative self-expression, hard work, and improvisation.

Daybreak Express

Set to a classic Duke Ellington recording "Daybreak Express", this is a five-minute short of the soon-to-be-demolished Third Avenue elevated subway station in New York City.

Baron Blood

A young man, Peter, returns to Austria in search of his heritage. There he visits the castle of an ancestor, a sadistic Baron who was cursed to a violent death by a witch whom the Baron had burned at the stake. Peter reads aloud the incantation that causes Baron Blood to return and continue his murderous tortures.

Cautio Criminalis

Sau Saal Baad

A warlock whose lover has been turned to stone by a yogi tries to restore her back to life using the blood of one of her descendants.

The Circle

An otherworldly evil is slipping into a small town in Sweden. Six unrelated girls have been chosen to fight this evil. Together they must overcome their differences in order to save themselves and the world.

So Near... So Far

The young American Pablo Menéndez came to Cuba to study Music at the National School of Art. Here he formed a family and became one more Cuban. Member of the Sound Experimentation Group of ICAIC and promoter of the teaching of the electric guitar in Cuba, he is, together with his group Mezcla, one of our most original musicians.

Music Inn

During a decade rife with paranoia, in the middle of the McCarthy era, Music Inn was a bold experiment. Halfway between the Second World War and The Civil Rights Movement, Phil and Stephanie Barber created an oasis in the Berkshire Hills in Western Massachusetts where aspiring musicians came to learn from the very best. Students and faculty, young and old, rich and poor, white, black, and brown convened together and learned from each other. Defying the surrounding environment, Music Inn harbored a racial and cultural harmony where music was all that mattered.

Boléro

Boundary-pushing Russian dancer and actress Ida Rubinstein selects renowned French composer Maurice Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet. Ravel ends up creating his greatest success ever: Boléro.

Salem Witch Trials

Salem, Massachusetts. A small town—with no clear governing body—became embroiled in a scandal that forever stands as one of the darkest chapters in American history. For those accused of witchcraft by their neighbors and friends, there was little chance of clearing their names; the mass paranoia that ravaged through the community took the lives of 19 innocent men and women.

Soror

In 1946, in Soror city, three different stories intersect amid macabre events. While detectives Thomas and Carlos work in the unsolved cases of the mysterious body found in a tree and Serena Caires disappearance, those three stories get together suggesting the motivations of those respective crimes.

Fernanda Pivano: A Farewell to Beat

Noble Sissle's Syncopated Ragtime

Combining footage unseen since WWI with original scores from the era, this film tells the story of Noble Sissle's incredible journey that spans "The Harlem Hellfighters" of World War I, Broadway Theatre, the Civil Rights movement, and decades of Black cultural development.

Night of the Demon

American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science.

The Sound of Seeing

Made on a wind-up Bolex camera, The Sound of Seeing announced the arrival of 21-year-old filmmaker Tony Williams. Based around a painter and a composer wandering the city (and beyond), the film meshes music and imagery to show the duo taking inspiration from their surroundings.

Ivanhoe

Sir Walter Scott's classic story of the chivalrous Ivanhoe who joins with Robin of Locksley in the fight against Prince John and for the return of King Richard the Lionheart.

Louis Armstrong: 100th Anniversary 1901-2001

A documentary featuring archive footage to celebrate the 100th birth of jazz legend Louis Armstrong.

Two Days with Yukio Mishima

This documentary, produced by Hiroaki Fujii in 2005, features the crew of Yukio Mishima's 1966 film PATRIOTISM recounting their filming experience.

Men in White

National Lampoon's Men in White is a straight-to-television satirical parody of contemporary science fiction movies, mainly spoofing Men in Black and Independence Day. It debuted in 1998 on the Fox Family Channel.

Box

A group of friends try to defeat an evil king, and meet some quirky characters along the way.

Circle

This short film follows a man lost in the woods driven by his fear of the unknown.

The Lost Chick

A chicken has hatched seven chicks. She locates six of them, but the other, Eggbert, is missing.

Project Alien

In Norway a military plane crashes under mysterious circumstances: in his last message the pilot reported many lights falling from the sky. NATO wants to play down the incident, but the famous TV moderator George Abbot and the no less persistent journalist Milker sense a sensational story about UFOs and start snooping around in the area with help of pilot "Bird" McNamara. Inspired by the suspiciously rigorous isolation of the whole area around the crash point and cases of an unknown disease they have a closer look at the military's activities...

The Wings of the Dove

Kate is secretly betrothed to a struggling journalist, Merton Densher. But she knows her Aunt Maude will never approve of the match, since Kate's deceased mother has lost all her money in a marriage to a degenerate opium addict. When Kate meets a terminally ill American heiress named Millie traveling through Europe, she comes up with a conniving plan to have both love and wealth.

Rodeo

Shot in four days during the 1968 National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City, this lyrical documentary takes you inside the arena atop a 2800 lb bull. Watch Freckles Brown, a legendary cowboy, conferring with a young Larry Mahan, the previous year's champion and see crowd favorite Myrtis Dightman trying to hold his own in a dramatic ride. "Rodeo" shows the classic struggle of man against beast, a matter of life and death. Dick Rosmini's hypnotizing folk-fusion soundtrack and an intricate sound mix add to the climatic result.

Zindagi Virat

A family entertainer, Zindagi Virat is based on the relationship shared between a father and son and features some of Marathi cinema's finest actors such as Kishore Kadam, Atul Parchure, Bhau Kadam and Usha Naik playing important roles.

Push To Enter

Amidst mounting pressures, a food deliverer (Laith Nakli) has his morality tested when he finds a pair of keys left on the outside of a customer's door, culminating in a night of fear and self-discovery.

Serpiente

After his mother is brutally murdered, an anti-drug agent plans his sweet revenge

Spanking at School

Katja, a young journalist, tries to do her A-levels instead of her friend. But the class teacher falls in love with the supposed student. But before the happy ending, the class goes on strike and the chemistry lab is almost blown up.

It's Not My Fault and I Don't Care Anyway

A rich and famous self-help guru's controversial philosophy of extreme selfishness is put to the ultimate test when his only daughter is kidnapped and held for ransom.

The Nullarbor Nymph

Following two Water Australia employees who travel out along the Nullarbor Plain only to discover they are being hunted by the mythological creature, the Nullarbor Nymph.

The Outdoorsmen: Blood, Sweat & Beers

Once a year, an exclusive group of men travels to a top-secret location somewhere in the wooded mountains of Washington State to compete in an all-day event they call The Outdoorsmen. They battle their way through a series of events that combine physical challenges with high-speed beer chugging. For the past 4 years, this dedicated group has competed relentlessly to bask in the glory of winning the coveted title of Outdoorsmen Champion. As we examine the lives and friendships of the "Veteran" and "Newbie" Outdoorsmen, we discover a tradition of male bonding and whole-hearted dedication to a competition that pushes its players through events like DEATH RACE 3000, THE HATCHET TOSS, and BLIND MAN'S BEER.

Vagabunda