All Films

Feuerland is Burned Off

1985 • 6 min • Germany

"A film that creates connections between image and text material and whose appeal lies in its fragmentary [...] destructive, strongly associative character; To see the film as a gloomy fantasy of doom, as a difficult poetic puzzle or simply as an idiosyncratic document of a bizarre fantasy is left to the viewer for himself." -Bielefeld Magazine

Schatt's Last Shot

1985 • 10 min

Solondz’s 1985 student short film “Schatt’s Last Shot” provides an ideal entry point to his unflinching universe of dark comic despair. A young Solondz stars in the 10-minute short as geeky high schooler Ezra Schatt, a neurotic, primitive headcase of the young Woody Allen variety. Buried under thick, unseemly glasses and an endlessly dazed expression, Ezra’s worst enemy is basketball. Unable to make a single basket under the brutal pressures of his vulgar gym teacher (“You’re shit, Schatt!”), Ezra also fails at both impressing the cheerleader of his dreams and realizing his aspirations of attending MIT.

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Vol.1 Stories of the 'A.T. VOTOMS'

1985 • 55 min • Japan

A chronological compilation of the TV series.

Ben Nicholson 1894-1982

1985 • 52 min • United Kingdom

British abstract painter Ben Nicholson, whom artist and critic Patrick Heron claimed 'was the greatest English painter since Turner' and director John Read extolled as "the man who re-drew the map of English painting', is presented through the eyes of his closest friends, as they take us on a tour of his career and reflect on his art.

The Little Elephant Got Sick

1985 • 10 min • Soviet Union

The baby elephant fell ill, his tooth ached and he did not go to school, but remained at home with a bandage. Camel comes to visit a friend, and then a cunning cat.

The Beggar

1985 • 8 min • Soviet Union

It is a parable about indifference

August Afternoons

1985 • 5 min

Sunlight and shadows whisk through time. Optically printed from Super 8 footage. Charleston, SC, with Randy Buggs and Ray Harvey.

Drawing on My Mind

1985 • 5 min • United States of America

Animated versions of George Carlin's wacky "news items".

Stranglers in the Night

1985 • 47 min • France, United Kingdom

The French TV series Les Enfants du Rock produced a documentary on The Stranglers during the release of their eighth studio album, Aural Sculpture. Being a French production, the film leans heavily on Jean-Jacques Burnel, featuring moments such as him performing “Euroman” from his solo career, teaching a karate class, and even strolling the streets in drag. The documentary captures a unique and engaging portrait of the band: Jet Black delivers reflective monologues straight to camera, Hugh Cornwell is interviewed mid-workout, Dave Greenfield demonstrates how he can program his keyboard to “answer” interview questions, and the band is even shown selling their own Strangled magazine on a street corner. Songs performed are Punch and Judy, Aural Sculpture Manifesto, London Lady, Midnight Summer Dream, Euroman (JJ Solo), Strange, Little Girl, Uptown and Paradise

Pitchmen

1985 • 53 min • Canada

If you've ever bought a wonder wallet, a food slicer, a canapé maker, a patty stacker, a miracle brush or a super knife, you may know that the CNE, the Calgary Stampede, and virtually every home show, car show, craft show, fall fair and ploughing match in Canada has at least one thing in common. At hallway intersections and bleacher exits work the second cousins of the carnival barker, the crowd pleasers and teasers, jugglers of people, product and pitch: the point-of-sales professionals known as pitchmen. This documentary looks at the psychology of the impulse sale and provides a view of the world of commerce, salesmanship and advertising at the grass-roots level. The men and women featured in the film have mastered the fine art of selling everything you never needed. Shot at fairs and on the set of a late-night TV commercial, the film shows the hard work behind the hustle.

Karajan: Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 8

1985 • 39 min

World-renowned classical conductor Herber Von Karajan masterfully conducts Antonin Dvorak's "Symphony No. 8" in a live 1985 concert with the Wiener Philharmoniker. The recipient of numerous international honors and awards, Dvorak traveled extensively but remained a modest man of simple tastes, loyal to his Czech nationality.

Dots, Whips and Cobwebs

1985 • 11 min

This film looks at the work of three prominent lace makers in Carrickmacross, Northern Ireland in the 1980s. Mary Wilson, Mary McMahon and Rose Feeney show various intricate lacework techniques that were inspired by their natural surroundings, as well as teaching us the history and language of lace through detailed demonstrations, all captured beautifully in this film by Roy Spence for the Ulster Folk Museum. Although the popularity of lacework has declined in recent years, the Ulster Folk Museum continues to preserve these disappearing traditions for future generations.

First In, Last Out

1985 • 60 min

During the Vietnam War, the main threat to the strike packages was the V-750 (S-75) Dvina, the first effective Soviet surface-to-air missile (SAM). Better known by the NATO designation SA-2 Guideline To suppress and destroy this threat, the U.S. Air Force countered with the courage and skill of the Wild Weasels, who not only flew some of the most dangerous missions in Southeast Asia but also became pioneers in Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) operations. This documentary tells the story of the Wild Weasel program.

Interno Tautium

1985 • 3 min • Germany

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

KLM: Diplomatix

1985 • 32 min • Norway

Diplomatix was Norway's entry at the Montreux Comedy Festival in 1985, represented by the comedy trio KLM consisting of Trond Kirkvaag, Knut Lystad and Lars Mjøen. They also wrote the script. Kent Nilssen was the director.

Bullwackie

1985 • 56 min • United Kingdom, United States of America

Founded in the Bronx by Jamaican expat Lloyd ‘Bullwackie’ Barnes in 1976, Wackie’s take on dub and reggae was nothing if not distinctive. Idiosyncratic by nature, and textually lo-fi by necessity, this unique mojo long served as the label’s de facto sonic aesthetic. A protégé of Prince Buster, and a former engineer at Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label, Barnes’ touch can be felt across dozens of records including sides from Wayne Jarrett, Sugar Minott, Prince Douglas, Horace Andy, Love Joys, and fellow producer, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. Released in 1981, the following hour-long documentary, Bullwackie In New York, provides a priceless snapshot of the independent label and the culture surrounding it. Live performances, interviews, studio footage and more.

Metamorphose Works No.3〈Mixed juice〉

1985 • 16 min • Japan

In front of a train station in the suburbs, a man chopping dried fish, chicken bones, and logs. When the man strikes with his machete, the entire scene begins to rotate. As if it had been put through a juicer, it was broken down into small pieces and eventually put into the glass the girl was holding.

Niños desaparecidos

1985 • 28 min • Argentina, Cuba

A portrait of the courageous efforts of Argentine grandmothers to locate their missing grandchildren, victims of state terrorism during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Some were kidnapped, others were born in captivity. The film includes interviews with military personnel and grandchildren who were found and reunited with their families.

Theater '85

1985 • 3 min • Germany

In Search of Maria

1985 • 15 min • Colombia

Based on the only four surviving shots of the first Colombian silent film, MARÍA (1921), by directors Máximo Calvo (Colombia) and Alfredo del Diestro (Spain), IN SEARCH OF ‘MARIA’ combines historical research, interviews, and scenic reconstruction to rescue the memory of a lost film.

Knöchel

1985 • 6 min • Germany

The last few years of collaboration with Schmelzdahin were mainly devoted to the chemical processes during and after the development of the film material. This led to a number of very interesting phenomena such as: shifting of the color balance within individual layers of color, etc.

And Umai Saw a Dream

1985 • 10 min • Soviet Union

A girl named Umai got tired of toys, she threw them aside, and then went to bed. And Umai saw a dream in which the offended toys decided to leave her.

As the Lights Go Down

1985 • 58 min

Duran Duran's Oakland, California concerts that were filmed for the Arena (An Absurd Notion) movie were also edited to form the one-hour As The Lights Go Down concert video. As The Lights Go Down is essentially the Arena video without the theatrical sequences, although the live footage for many songs was edited differently. This version was first aired on the Cinemax cable television channel, and later on MTV and other music channels.

Incidents in an Expanding Universe

1985 • 45 min • United Kingdom

The year 2037. Rugged soldier Max and weary sculptress Nicky try to sustain a relationship in a bleak totalitarian future plagued by war, nuclear fall-out, and overpopulation. Flashbacks show Max and Nicky's doomed romance throughout the years as things get worse and the world deteriorates all around them.