All Films

From Mr. Gunnar Papphammar

1981 • 47 min • Sweden

The clumsy Gunnar Papphammar, with his gray coat and funny hat, stumbles from one disaster to the next.

101 Dalmatians: A Lesson in Self-Assertion

1981 • 9 min • United States of America

The film teaches how to stand up to a bully through self-assertion.

Trumpeter Anton

1981 • 58 min • East Germany

Anton and his family moved into a high-rise building. In order for the new neighbors to accept his trumpet music, he has to perform a little "miracle" with the instrument.

Taoist Priest of Mount Lao

1981 • 25 min • China

Wang Qi is a lazy scholar who doesn't want to study hard, he only likes reading a book about the adventures of the immortals and dreams about becoming an immortal himself. One day, he dreams that he travelled to Mount Lao where he takes an old Taoist priest as his master, hoping to become an immortal.

Papick, L'Enfant Du Mont Blanc

1981 • 30 min • France

Eleven-year-old Papik (nickname for Yannick Vallençant) dreams of climbing Mont Blanc with his father, Patrick Vallençant. After serious training, the adventure begins: they set off from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, climb the ridge of the three Mont Blancs, bivouac at the Col de la Brenva, cross the Mur de la Côte and reach the summit of Mont Blanc. No child his age had ever before achieved this feat by this route.

Pikoo

1981 • 26 min • India

A day in the life of a six-year-old child in Calcutta, who lives shut up in the family home, insulated from the city by a park. The father is away at work. The grandfather is alone in his room, ill and confined to his bed. The mother receives her lover.

See What I Say

1981 • 24 min • United States of America

See What I Say is a 1981 American short documentary film produced by Linda Chapman, Pam LeBlanc and Freddi Stevens. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. The subjects of the film are hearing-impaired women who discuss their use of sign language.

Rebuilding an Old Japanese House

1981 • 59 min

Five Japanese carpenters came to Boston that summer to reconstruct a Kyoto silkweaver's 150 year old townhouse that had been packed in crates and shipped to Boston Children's Museum. This first-hand observation of traditional tools and woodworking techniques chronicles the assembly process. In the progress of construction the contractor performed three Shinto housebuilding ceremonies.

Limitless Paradise

1981 • 41 min • Japan

An 8mm animation that was produced by Harada during his high school years.

Guests of the Nation

1981 • 60 min • United States of America

This drama tells the story of Irish insurgents and the captured British soldiers whom they are assigned to guard. While confined to a remote farmhouse the foursome enjoy card playing, jig dancing, and a great deal of amiable bickering. Throughout the conviviality, however, Barney Callahan is haunted by the knowledge that reprisals will be in order if the Irish harm their British captives.

I Am A Viewer You Are A Viewer

1981 • 4 min • Japan

In "I Am A Viewer, You Are A Viewer" the performer plays the double role of the performer and the audience simultaneously, talking to his own shadow. At the end, the performer suggests the audience members move into the light to see themselves in shadow.

Hermeto, the Champ

1981 • 44 min • Brazil

Photographs present Hermeto Paschoal in the middle of the instruments he plays in the studio in his house. The rehearsals where the sounds are discovered and improvisation sets the tone. Hermeto's testimonies on the self-taught construction of his theoretical knowledge about music and his political position on the market. The musicians who are part of his band talk about the joint process of creation and the admiration they feel for the multi-instrumentalist. The creation of Hermetus from the sounds of bees and next to the frods. The use of unusual objects made of iron and the use of the body itself to generate new sounds.

XEX: Live at Hurrah

1981 • 35 min

9-song XEX concert from 1981, recorded live at Hurrah in New York by Merrill Aldighieri.

Transcending Mirror Boundaries

1981 • 8 min • United Kingdom

Episode six in a series of eight short films produced for TV, that sadly was never transmitted. Filmmaker Jon Coley reduced costs by taking on the starring roles, performing both innocent man and evil doppelganger. Jon chose an atmospheric Brian Eno soundtrack to perfectly meld with the action, which was shot in 1981 on location at Prestatyn's High Street and seafront. Coley's mother, Shirley, fully supported her son's endeavours, acting as cameraperson in this film. Jon Coley's inspiration came from watching cult TV series such as 'The Outer Limits', 'The Invaders' and Patrick McGoohan's 'Danger Man'. (BFI)

Ein Zug nach Manhattan

1981 • 59 min • Germany

1952 in a suburb of New York: the pious Leon Sternberger is a cantor in a small Jewish community. One morning, he realizes that he has lost his faith in God. There is simply too much misery and injustice in this world. His friend Schames Rosen advises him to ask Rabbi Markus in Manhattan for advice. In the subway compartment, a young woman wants to take her own life because she cannot forget December 22, 1942 in Utrecht. That was the day her family was deported. On another train, he meets a man who also cannot forget December 22, 1942. The unusual events are connected in an exciting way and shed new light on the question of God's existence despite all the suffering.

After the Axe

1981 • 56 min • Canada

This full-length drama depicts the reality of managers getting fired and the emergence of a new industry specialized in handling executive terminations. The film was made with the cooperation of the business community, which helped script some of the scenes and provided authentic locations. The central figure, D.R. "Biff" Wilson, 44, is a composite figure based on extensive conversations with fired executives.

High Tide

1981 • 30 min

No plot found anywhere online.

Close Harmony

1981 • 30 min

A chorus of 4th- and 5th-graders at the Brooklyn Friends School and a chorus of elderly retirees at a Brooklyn Jewish seniors' center combine to give an annual joint concert. Practicing separately for several months while communicating only as pen pals, they eventually meet for a rehearsal prior to their concert. The children's various preconceptions about older people, as well as the seniors' approach to aging and their young co-performers, are a principal focus.

The Little Tiger on the Sunflower

1981 • 10 min • Soviet Union

Taiga tale about a tiger cub who warmed the seed of sunflower.

Superbman: The Other Movie

1981 • 30 min

Facing impending doom on the planet Krapton, Kid-O, infant son of Jel-O, is sent to earth where he is found and adopted by Ma and Pa Cant. Eventually, the Kraptonian now known as Clark, becomes a newspaper reporter for the Daily Comet. Together with fellow reporter Lois Lame, they uncover a sinister plot by Rex Ruthor, to destroy the world.

Grover Washington Jr. - In Concert

1981 • 60 min

Multi Grammy Award-Winner Grover Washington, Jr. blends the best of jazz fusion, R&B, blues, funk, pop and soul to create his own innovative and distinctive musical voice. The hottest star in jazz-pop fusion, backed by an all-star band was captured in this rare concert appearance at the very peak of his powers.

The Attitude Factor

1981 • 23 min • United States of America

A 1981 educational film about the perils of school bus drivers having a bad attitude while on the job. Follow Barbara, a model employee... until she developed a bad attitude and let it effect her job performance.

Stainless Steel and the Star Spies

1981 • 50 min • United Kingdom

The Metaliens, alien robots intent on galactic domination, encounter a major setback. Their enormous Space Saucer, 'Compromise', enters a black hole in a strange, uncharted region of Space, and collides with another craft – sending the Kleptonite Ball, their precious cargo and the key to Universal Conquest, hurtling to a planet inhabited by primitive life forms: Earth. Having materialised in a bar, the Ball variously functions as a Christmas tree decoration, a bathroom ornament, and a fortune-teller's prop. The Metaliens must retrieve the Kleptonite Ball if their mission is ever to succeed. And that's when their problems really begin…

Monkeys Catch the Moon

1981 • 11 min • China

Animated folk tale about some very lively monkeys that catch the moon's reflection, only to lose it through a selfish quarrel.