Produced by the BBC, Joan Miró: Theatre of Dreams profiles the Spanish painter known for his childlike exuberance and playful abstract images. Ironically, his colorful pieces were often inspired by painful wartime experiences — specifically, the harshness of Franco’s regime. Written and narrated by Miró’s longtime friend Roland Penrose, the documentary features conversations between the two. Miro, who belonged to the surrealist school, often began paintings by marking the canvas with a splotch or a stain, which later transformed into a bird, a pretzel-shaped man, or a crooked star. At 85, Miró was still working.
Tag: UK
There’s a big drought in Africa. Food and water are scarce. 90,000 wild baboons suddenly start attacking humans and eating them in order to survive. Some people find themselves being hunted by the starving monkeys and must do whatever they can to stay alive.
Rat Lovers are not house proud. Their sense of smell is questionable, yet members of the Fancy Rat Society do know how to devote their lives to the underdog of the rodent world. Their houses are filthy and their friends think they are crazy but the subjects of Rat Women don’t care. They do it for love – the love of rats.
A charming story about a West Indian girl who moves to 1950s London. Marcia has spent most of her 11 years living with her Jamaican grandmother but is sent to damp, dark London to start a new life with her parents. Missing her gran terribly, Marcia is surrounded by bullying schoolgirls, racism on TV and a jealous younger brother… Only her favourite pop star will help her feel at home.
In 1998, filmmaker Dan Reed and cameraman Jacek Petrycki traveled to the Drenica Valley as the civil war in Kosovo came to a head. They spent much of the year there, and The Valley documents the lives of soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict, as well as the violence and brutality they confront on a daily basis. Dispensing with narration, The Valley allows its subjects to speak for themselves, giving a sense of how bitter the divide had become between Islamics and ethnic Albanians, and how cruel fate had been to those caught in the middle of the fighting, as women and children who’ve lost their families shiver in makeshift huts, and people discover the bullet-riddled bodies of their loved ones.
A taut crime thriller about the hunt for a mysterious stranger who is poisoning small children with barbiturates. A tough and compelling film, which offers a gritty reflection of life in 1960s South East London behind the initial whodunnit. Ellen McIntosh gives a bravura performance as a single mother juggling work with raising a family, and Jean Anderson paints a sympathetic portrait of an older mother coming to terms with the extent of her son’s mental health issues. Striking and bold, The Silent Playground explores the fine line between innocence and criminality.
While on his way to work one morning, a man looks out the window of the train and sees a young woman being murdered. When he investigates the crime, he discovers a foul-tempered illusionist, Zoltini, who has a turbulent relationship with his young wife Vivienne.