The legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt is detailed on this news TV special by combining present day interviews with historical material. It examines his response to the Great Depression and the radical changes in the role of the federal government under his leadership. Social security, collective bargaining, unemployment compensation and control of financial institutions, all parts of Roosevelt’s legacy are examined.
Tag: 1980s
Without dialogue, but with a lot of music, the film tells the story of four young women who escape from their indifferent parents, lewd teachers, sinister policemen and numerous criminals to form a commune based on the principle: “solidarity between women is powerful” in an abandoned house.
Broadway on Showtime production of a ‘play within a play.’ A little school on the verge of closing decides to stage a benefit performance of a new play. Hilarious hijinks ensue as a talentless cast, an egotistical director, and a very bad play combine. Anyone who’s ever performed in little theatre productions will find this all hysterically familiar and those who haven’t will still have lots of fun. The brilliant performances of Alan Shearman, Diz White, and Ronald House make this a must-see.
Tomek and Gucia are a pair of seven-year-olds. On a beautiful, sunny afternoon, they engage in typical children’s games after school – playing hopscotch and hide-and-seek, doing somersaults on the beater and climbing the wall. But above all, they play with each other – the boy tries to turn the girl into a boy named Piotrek. However, behind childhood games there is something much more serious – the first feeling.
A rich and challenging account of the experiences of a German Jewish musician who settled in Britain to escape Nazi persecution. Two of his friends are being sued by a former SS Kommandant, who denies their accusation that he was responsible for the genocide of 300 Belgians. Documentary interviews and archive footage merge with dramatised scenes to create a new way of representing history and memory.
A film about black women in South Africa filmed secretly with the help of two black women journalists. Through interviews with five typical women, and comments from four women activists, including Winnie Mandela, the film clearly shows the devastating impact of apartheid on black women and their families. Narration by Peggy Phango.
This short fiction has much to say about kindness, although without any dialogue. In a combination of live action and animation, we are introduced to a man who discovers a small plant hidden under the snow and takes it inside his house. The plant responds to his loving care with rather startling enthusiasm.
A first film made almost single-handedly on a tiny budget, this is an admirably ambitious stab at the documentary-essay form familiar from films like Chris Marker’s Sunless. A brazenly personal response to Calcutta, it attempts to delve beyond the facile notions the West entertains about the city (‘an example of wretched over-population’), and combines vivid visuals with a narration that plunges fearlessly into economics, politics, religion, sociology and philosophy. Adverts, movie clips, comic strips, stills of the director’s mother, footage of religious ritual and street life merge into a complex web of ideas that are neither hackneyed nor obvious. A tantalising effort.