All Films

Old Nip and Master Needle

1983 • 15 min • Czechoslovakia, East Germany

A long time ago, there lived a tailor in Selva who was highly regarded for his good work. However, he was a crook who often cheated his customers. This is what happened to Hans, a carver, whose wedding suit turned out to be too small because the mayor's son was dressed in the fabric he had taken. Then Rübezahl intervened. The magic power of the mountain spirit caused all the cloth, which the tailor had wrongly acquired, to dissolve into nothing. Some people, including dignitaries, stood there in their underwear and the tailor felt the wrath of those who had been cheated. Hans received a new suit and shoes from Rübezahl and was now able to marry his Marie.

Feuilles d'été

1983 • 16 min • France

Teo Hernández films some friends in a park under the Parisian summer heat.

Pukaskwa National Park

1983 • 18 min

This short documentary by Bill Mason explores Pukaskwa National Park on Lake Superior, providing a background of the park's geological past and plant life. The film also shows scenes of hiking, canoeing and camping. The result is to put us back in touch with the natural elements that our ancestors both fought and enjoyed.

An American Family Revisited: The Louds 10 Years Later

1983 • 56 min • United States of America

A ten-year update on the Loud family and their reflections on becoming the first reality TV stars. Their experience of becoming media celebrities and the parents' subsequent divorce changed them in many ways. Each family member explains how they were affected by these dramatic life events.

Orlando - Hermaphrodite II

1983 • 40 min

An echoing, nocturnal, elliptical text. Female voices speak it. Fragments of music punctuate and suspend the images. The text says the transformation of the hero into a woman during his sleep. Games of inverted masks, transvestites, transparency of the frontiers of the sexes. Self-representations. Black and white visions clouded with magenta and cyan. Fields, positives, negatives, degrees of grey, light textures. A device made up of screens and projectors, still images and moving images, the projection surface multiplied. Water, bare trees, light trails, a gun, tigers.

Ciné-Portrait of Raymond Depardon

1983 • 10 min • Canada, France

A fortuitous meeting, late one afternoon, in the garden of the Tuileries, of one or two cameras, a tape recorder, and three cameramen/directors, Raymond Depardon, Jean Rouch, and Philippe Costantini.

Good Trick

1983 • 4 min • United States of America, Canada

The short's plot concerns the magician Mr Mysterio performing magic tricks at the Rivoli Theatre; his rabbit assistant, unimpressed with his act, begins doing magic tricks of his own with his magician's wand. Mysterio, now irritated at the rabbit's antics, begins chasing him down to get his wand back.

Sportmen's Humour

1983 • 6 min • Romania

A series of short sketches with Gopo's Little Man about sports.

The Search Continues

1983 • 21 min • Soviet Union

Follows the search and use of solar, wind and geothermal energy in the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Spaces: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph

1983 • 29 min • United States of America

Spaces: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph is a 1983 American short documentary film narrated by Cliff Robertson and produced by Bob Eisenhardt about the work of architect Paul Rudolph. It recreates a genuine sense of the personal presense of the late modern architect and the ambience of his studio. Mr. Rudolph was widely recognized within the architectural profession as spontaneously brilliant, and the unchallanged master of space and the manipulation of form. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Restlessness

1983 • 10 min • Soviet Union

The little mole enters the forest for the first time. Everything here is new and interesting for him. Trying to help the inhabitants of the forest, he does everything at the wrong time - drains a puddle so that a frog does not drown in it, transfers chicks from the nest so that they are not flooded by rain.

Beats of the Heart: Shotguns and Accordions: Music of the Marijuana Regions of Colombia

1983 • 50 min

This documentary journeys to the violent marijuana-producing regions of northern Colombia to examine the drug trade's influence on the community and its culture, including a unique style of indigenous music known as vallenato.

A Donkey Got a Bit Sulky

1983 • 2 min • Japan

In this animated musical short, a traveling donkey becomes upset at minor inconveniences, each of which his chipper young master is only too happy to accommodate.

Elemental 7

1983 • 58 min • Canada, United Kingdom

A visual art music/video album created by the members of the industrial/experimental group Throbbing Gristle, Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti.

Trick or Drink

1983 • 20 min • United States of America

Adapted from a performance by the same name, fuses autobiographical material with information about how an alcoholic family perpetuates addictive behavior. Elements of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, such as the “Hi, my name is...” introduction are used along with photo-montage and a disjointed narrative. In addition to being shown at venues such as the Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum, Trick Or Drink has been used regularly by hospitals and alcohol treatment centers throughout the United States.

A Few Stories About a Man

1983 • 20 min • Poland

The film is a portrait of Jerzy Orłowski, an armless graphic artist. Impressionistic scenes present the protagonist in various situations: when he has to deal with everyday chores, when he jumps into water, skis and draws. Even the simplest activity requires struggle, resilience and outstanding fitness from him. Many takes are in slow motion, contemplating the smallest detail, which the director is so skilfully able to bring out.

Brown Eyed Girl

1983 • 3 min

Experimental short film by Dean Snider.

Treatment for Traitors

1983 • 50 min

Revealing documentary compilation from historic footage shot by the National Institute of Cinema in Mozambique which looks at the rehabilitation of former colonial government collaborators by the government of Samora Machel (former president of Mozambique). During his reign Mozambique, which gained independence in 1975, was drawn into the struggle against white rule in Rhodesia and South Africa. In 1986 Machel died in an aircrash which is still shrouded in mystery.

A másik part

1983 • 40 min • Hungary

For the film, the authors used motifs from Alain Robbe-Grillet's novel Le voyeur.

Bram Van Velde

1983 • 26 min

Bram Van Velde in his workshop then in his Grimaud garden in the company of a friend and during a walk in Paris in the snow, talking about his life and painting. Showing little interest for the Real, he makes an effort toward the invisible. He pays homage to his mother who lived with her children in the greatest poverty, talks of his meeting with Samuel Beckett and says that starting a painting is a great adventure. This portrait of Bram Van Velde (born in Holland in 1895) is illustrated by his drawings and watercolours.

Tree of life

1983 • 19 min • France

Imagine a land without trees: erosion, desolation, desert... Imagine... Technocrats of "development" and pseudo-farmers, do you happen to have a little imagination ?

The GPO Story

1983 • 59 min • United Kingdom

Documentary which examines the work of the GPO Film Unit in its fiftieth year. Co-produced by The Post Office and Arena.

Triplecross

1983 • 55 min

After being hired to find a kidnapped girl named Lisa, Detective Fanni finds herself instead lured into the clutches of her arch-nemesis Tonya.

Opium für das Volk - Karl Marx und die Kirchen

1983 • 29 min • Germany

The first part of the film shows parallels between Christianity and Marxism. The second part describes the influence of both the Judeo-Christian background and that of other religious critics on Marx's position as a critic of religion. Beyond the well-known facts, this documentary not only analyzes the historical background of Karl Marx's life and work, but also deals in particular with his personal relationship to Christianity.