This program presents excerpts from German plays written in the 1920s that illustrate tensions that contributed to the rise of Nazism. The plays are “Gas” by George Kaiser, “Hoopla! Such is Life!” by Ernst Toller, and “The Private Life of the Master Race” by Bertolt Brecht.
Tag: USA
A nuclear awareness fan-film satire, from 1984, synced to “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads, created as an expression of dismay on that era’s trigger happy leaders. It traveled the world among like-minded films a generation ago, with recognition in Portugal, Tunis, Brazil, and around the US. The MPD awarded it the “Bill Barton Animation Film Award” in 1985.
An aging beauty queen reluctantly escorts her daughter and friends back to Paris, Texas — her home, which she mysteriously fled a decade earlier — to oversee a beauty pageant in this campy road dramedy.
Felipa, a first-generation American girl, dreams of becoming a teacher. Her first pupil is her uncle, who she tutors in English so he can get a driver’s license and a better job.
Big Joe is a lineman for the telephone company. Angel is a teenage migrant worker. They form an unlikely alliance and start a rose-growing business. At first wary of each other, they grow to trust and like one another. Eventually, Angel must leave the area when his father relocates the family in search of migrant work.
Eleven directors from 11 countries each contribute an 11-minute short reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001: A village teacher in Iran tries to explain to her young students what’s happened; city kids in Burkina Faso think they’ve spotted Osama bin Laden; a deaf Frenchwoman in Manhattan writes a Dear John letter to a man who left that morning for work at the World Trade Center; a Chilean remembers Allende; events recall other deaths; a mother endures more than her son’s death. The tones vary, as do the locales. Most stories are about others coming to terms with the events of the day, but at least one confronts the viewer with tragedy and death.
A college student goes to prison for vehicular manslaughter and unpaid tickets. He escapes with his girlfriend, becoming fugitives. The narrative explores the sustainability and consequences of their life on the run.
Experimental film by Adam Cooley about a talk show host who interviews suicidal people, but his show is getting low ratings. So, he falls in love with a guy who is trying to kill himself but can’t (and is slowly turning into human feces); torn between love and trying to get him to be on his television show, what will this talk show host do, even after realizing there’s no reason to exist? I mean, does it even matter what he decides to do anyway? A hilarious black comedy — it’s a riot!