All Films

Yasujiro Ozu and the Taste of Sake

1978 • 15 min

A 1978 episode of the French television program Ciné regards, featuring critics Michel Ciment and Georges Perec, that looks back on Ozu’s career.

Five in Millions

1978 • 27 min • United Kingdom

Captures the work of the British Rail Parcel Service, illustrating the story of five different consignments over a twenty-four hour period. These are: a schoolboy in Cheshire being sent a new bicycle; a housewife in Rhondda Valley awaiting the arrival of a new vacuum cleaner; a man in Lincoln expecting an insurance cheque; a tourist in Cornwall waiting for his daily newspaper to arrive at his hotel; and a research scientist who urgently needs some equipment in Manchester.

The Mountain Master

1978 • 18 min • Soviet Union

In the Urals there are mountains all around. One mountain is called Copper, and it has its own Mistress. For a bad person to meet her is grief, and for a good person - little good.

Women of Suriname

1978 • 55 min • Netherlands, Suriname

Oema Foe Sranang (1978), translated in Dutch as Vrouwen van Suriname, was a film made in close collaboration with LOSON (Landelijke Organisatie Strijd Organisatie Suriname). This anti-colonial, feminist portrait of the lives of five Surinamese women came about after the recent independence of Suriname in 1975, also shedding a light on the experience of the Surinamese migrants entering the Netherlands and the Dutch hostile attitude towards this large flow of migrants.

Omai Fa'atasi: Samoa Mo Samoa

1978 • 32 min

The dilemmas and challenges facing Samoan Americans are frankly explored in this film about Omai Fa’atasi, a Southern Californian community group. It is one of the first films documenting Pacific Islander communities on the North American continent.

Reflections on a Political Cinema

1978 • 25 min • France

This documentary addresses the challenges facing the Italian film industry in 1978 by focusing on the television productions of Francesco Rosi's CHRIST STOPPED AT EBOLI (1979) and Elio Petri's LE MANI SPORCHE (1978)

Candy Candy: Candy's Summer Vacation

1978 • 19 min • Japan

As the long-awaited summer holidays begin, Candy and her friends go hiking in the mountains. However, a heavy rainstorm interrupts their leisure, making them hide in the forest. After the rain has stopped, the friends are ready to proceed, but Candy gets herself into some serious trouble when she encounters a cute bear cub.

The Most Beautiful of All Mothers

1978 • 30 min • Canada, France, Lebanon

Interviews with mothers and family members who lost loved ones in the Lebanese conflict with Israel.

Elements

1978 • 2 min

One of the earlier works Hill produced on the Rutt/Etra video synthesizer, Elements combines abstract “landscapes” with fragmented syllabic language. Undulating topological forms superimpose themselves on one another, changing their shape and direction of movement.

L'Occhio L'Orecchio La Bocca

1978 • 20 min • Italy

A short documentary about a 70s Roman film club.

Offering

1978 • 3 min • Argentina

Short film that shows daisies throughout the day with music as an accompaniment.

The Red Bowmen

1978 • 58 min • Papua New Guinea

Every year, a ritual known as ida is performed by the Umeda people, who inhabit the dense primary forest of the Waina-Sawanda district of West Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Ida, the central social and cultural drama of the Umeda, is a fertility ritual, in which a dominant theme is the metamorphosis of the cassowaries. An ethnography by anthropologist Alfred Gell, Metamorphosis of the Cassowaries, complements the film.

Ni scène ni coulisses

1978 • 10 min

Three dancers, alternately disembodied or discernible, move through abstract motions. Sometimes they move against backgrounds, sometimes they incorporate them. Electro-acoustical music further heightens the other-worldly atmosphere of this experimental dance film. Special effects, animation and live shooting combine to create a complex of unusual images. Film without words.

Commemorative Photo

1978 • 3 min • Japan

An extraordinary animated work composed of 99 still images. The bizarre story of the mechanized walking doll “Margaret” kidnapping and confining a female student in a sailor-style school uniform is realized with a precisely calculated method of full in-camera editing of one 100-foot reel. The filmmaker himself appears in this humorous, radical Pop film, one of Nakamura’s best-known works.

Sleeping Vampire

1978 • 60 min • Japan

In the town of Arkham in 1927, a series of female murders occur. An exorcist arrives in a town gripped by fear.

Caesar's Guide to Gaming with Orson Welles

1978 • 28 min

A movie made for closed circuit television to be played in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Orson Welles explains the rules of various gaming,. Depictions of the talent and amenities at the hotels are also shown.

If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth a Fuck

1978 • 51 min • United Kingdom

Legendary documentary of the 1977 package tour arranged by David Robinson and Andrew Jakeman ("Kake Riviera") after they founded Stiff Records in London, England for five of their artists, and the bands that they concocted for the tour.

Pink in the Drink

1978 • 7 min • United States of America

The Pink Panther is scammed by a South Sea cruise, which turns out to be a pirate trap. He is then forced to do the captain's orders.

Impasse

1978 • 10 min • United States of America

A classic of abstract animation that follows a tiny red arrow's journey through a multitude of spirals of white and waterfalls of color. Directed by Caroline and Frank Mouris, preserved in 2020 thanks to a collaborative effort between the Academy Film Archive and the Yale Film Archive.

Ölüm Yarışı

1978 • 57 min • Turkey

A journalist's story of love and adventure as he uncovers the truth behind murders committed by the mafia.

David Bowie On Stage: Live in Japan

1978 • 60 min

The Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour, more commonly known as The Low / Heroes World Tour or The Stage Tour, was a worldwide concert tour by David Bowie. The tour opened on 29 March 1978 at the San Diego Sports Arena continuing through North America, Europe and Australia before reaching a conclusion at the Nippon Budokan in Japan on 12 December 1978. This performance at the NHK Hall in Tokyo, Japan on 12 December 1978 was filmed and broadcast on Japanese TV's The Young Music Show. Song listing: Warszawa, Heroes, Fame, Beauty and the Beast, Five Years, Soul Love, Hang on to Yourself, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, Station to Station, TVC15.

Discover Britain by Train

1978 • 7 min • United Kingdom

Part of BFI collection "The Age of the Train."

The Pepper

1978 • 9 min • Soviet Union

An adventure detective film by Orest Bachmaha, a person with multiple characteristics. He is a creator in many senses. A film amateur, an artist, a photographer, a poet, and a master trying to create on his own the things he uses. He was born and lives in Vynnyky. Most of his life, he has worked as a photographer and a decorator for exhibitions in Lviv Art Gallery. At some point in time, Orest Bachmaha got enthusiastic about filmmaking and developed an 8mm camera. However, he failed to complete it as the cinefilm changed the format to Super8. Also, he built several modifications for film projects, with all the details and the incorporated audio block.

Itzhak Perlman: Virtuoso Violinist

1978 • 59 min • Germany, United Kingdom

Documentary on the life and career of violinist Itzhak Perlman, including interviews, archival footage, and concert performances.