All Films

Ten Minutes of Silence for John Lennon

1980 • 10 min • France

The documentary is about the ceremony dedicated by American people to John Lennon after his murder. The 10 minutes of silence in New York's Central Park allows a deep observation of the particularly immobile people.

Pop Pop Video

1980 • 9 min

"Dara Birnbaum's Pop-Pop Video... [has] been hailed as [a] classic of the new wave. [The tape] juxtaposes fragments from a soap opera with sequences of ice skating races. The graceful movements of the skaters punctuate repeated excerpts from a dreadfully intense discussion between a doctor and his patient: ‘He doesn't do anything, doesn't say anything.... It's just the way he looks at me.... That sound crazy?’ The narrative builds up slowly as a few more words of the deadly dialogue are released. Extended in this way, the pathos is bare, the narrative content becomes meaningless and the result is particularly moving." --Katherine Elwes, Performance (July/August 1981)

Survivor

1980 • 30 min

The third part of John Hanson and Rob Nilsson's Prairie Trilogy

Canada Vignettes: June in Povungnituk - Quebec Arctic

1980 • 1 min • Canada

On a beautiful summer’s day in Nunavik, a family enjoys the pleasures of berry picking and fishing as the sound of two Elders throat-singing fills the environment.

Paddington Bear Goes to the Movies

1980 • 21 min • United Kingdom

Paddington, having just seen Gene Kelly on the cinema screen, takes to the streets in a rain storm with his umbrella. Join him as he starts singin' and dancin' in the rain.

The Blind Waiter

1980 • 15 min

Early Sam Raimi/Bruce Campbell short.

Luther Metke at 94

1980 • 27 min • Argentina

Portrait of Luther Metke, a Spanish American War veteran, poet, philosopher, and log-cabin maker, aged 94 at the time of filming. In voice over narration drawn from interviews, Metke recites his own poetry and talks about his life and his philosophy. Includes footage of Metke building a six-sided cabin, being interviewed by a local TV news station, and visiting with his family. Oscar nominated documentary short in 1980.

Duplicity III

1980 • 22 min • United States of America

The final Duplicity film does seem at resolve with the term. All previous visual manifestations have been extended to their limits, through four-roll superimpositions. Obvious costumes and masks. Drama as an ultimate bid for truth, and totemic recognition of human and animal life-on-earth dominate all the evasions a duplicity otherwise affords.

Third Avenue: Only the Strong Survive

1980 • 59 min • United States of America

The stories of six "ordinary" people who live or work along New York City's Third Avenue, which runs for sixteen miles through Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, cutting through the complex social strata of the city to reveal wildly different economic and ethnic subcultures.

Meeting

1980 • 35 min • Soviet Union

Anna and Nikolai meet many years later. In their youth, they loved each other, but life separated them.

Witches, Faggots, Dykes and Poofters

1980 • 45 min • Australia

In 1978 the police attacked demonstrators at the Sydney (Australia) Mardi Gras celebrations. This film details the communities' responses.

Fisheye

1980 • 9 min • Yugoslavia

A fishing village falls prey to a nightmare revenge from the sea. Award-winning Yugoslavian animated short film.

Szetna, a varázsló

1980 • 51 min

Energica

1980 • 9 min • Romania

The little man discovers oil and invents all kinds of machines, including a robot woman, to satisfy his consumer needs.

Dreams of Leaving

1980 • 60 min • United Kingdom

William came to work in Fleet Street in 1971. London meant girls, as many girls as he could find. Then he met Caroline and so it began, that very strange summer ... Caroline said the best of her life.

The Greedy Rich Man

1980 • 5 min • Soviet Union

A cartoon about punished greed.

Skiing Scenes With Franz Klammer

1980 • 21 min • Austria, Poland

A 'creative documentary' about an Austrian skier who was known during the 70s. Examined from a biographical / visual standpoint.

Resolution of the Eye

1980 • 40 min

This work explores perception, time and memory, based on the concept that "science has yet to determine the actual resolution of the eye." Using time-lapse, slow dissolves, and ghostly, ephemeral images, the artists manipulate linear time and dimensionality. Evoking subconscious memory, Remains Vivid recalls childhood experiences through use of the "after-image," while Over/Time subtly transposes physical and temporal distance as contrasting, equally resonant landscapes. POV explores the subjective eye versus the camera eye, and the nature of artistic creation. Using a split-screen technique, Similar Nature dissects the activities of four people in a study of time, motion, and simultaneity of gesture. Sax and Violins is a conflation of sound and fragmented image in which the musicians perform separately and are brought together only in the post-production process.

Freighters of Destiny

1980 • 3 min • France

The Tailor of Ulm

1980 • 15 min • East Germany

Dammbeck made this film – a reference to the myth of Icarus and a metaphor for failure, hope, and human exploration – at the invitation of the legendary animator Kurt Weiler. It’s the first example of Dammbeck’s experimental, grotesque, surrealistic style of animation. The idea of flying, which Dammbeck uses here for the first time, will reappear continuously in his next films. THE TAILOR OF ULM established Dammbeck’s reputation among East German animation directors.

The Unlucky Star

1980 • 9 min • Soviet Union

Can a person overcome what is commonly called fate? After all, it is much easier to succumb to circumstances, even if they are not the most favorable, and allow the flow of life to carry you. But if you want favorable changes, then you need to make efforts. The main character often finds himself in the center of curious situations, as if he is being chased by an unfortunate star. Will he be able to turn the tide of events?

Refused

1980 • 25 min • Greece

Frieda Liappa in this short film casts an alternative gaze on the notion of historicity. Loukia is a teenager currently staying at her cousin’s house in Athens. Unlike her cousin she is timid and quite stressed for the school exam. She studies history. Between the lines of her book the historical events sprung up in a multidimensional way. Liappa transverses the dimensions of the real the imaginary and the symbolic. She invites the viewer to consider the construction of the filmic as well as the historical text. She succeeds in making a film with an open end and to leave room for our own contingent constructions.

Sing Beast Sing

1980 • 9 min • Canada

Animated short film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.

Frequent Seas

1980 • 7 min

Frequent Seas is a lyrical experimental film. It combines live action with hand-drawn animated mattes to create an abstract, sometimes disturbing portrait of a woman. Images break apart randomly and come back together. Nothing is ever completely revealed. This is a highly manipulated, non-linear, non-narrative piece. It does not tell a story, but it does create a feeling.