All Films

The Rise and Fall of a Long Distance Relationship

2008 • 5 min

From Saint-Jean Terre-Neuve, a woman leaves phone messages on the voicemail of a mysterious Sabrina… The Rise and Fall of a Long Distance Relationship was produced as part of the 5th edition of the Montreal Super 8 Festival whose rule main task is to shoot a single 50-foot cartridge, without post-image editing.

theEYE: Conrad Shawcross

2008 • 26 min

Regularly using subjects which lie on the border of science and philosophy, Conrad Shawcross‘s structural and often mechanical sculptures question empirical, ontological and philosophical systems ubiquitous within our lives. While at first appearing rational and functional, his complex mechanised systems in the end deny all rational function and so the viewer is forced down philosophical and metaphysical avenues to deduce a ‘rasion d’etre’. From early works such as The Nervous System, 2002 – a monumental spinning machine that endlessly weaves a length of coloured rope into the form of a double helix, the shape of DNA – to his recent giant spiral work Continuum, 2004, the artist has attempted to visualize, among other things, the incomprehensible of human concerns, time.

The Sandpit

2008 • 54 min • Portugal

The Guajará community was formed more than 200 years ago by descendants of slaves who found their freedom there.

Little Dinosaurs

2008 • 2 min • United Kingdom

A five-year-old Scottish boy discusses the best way for a group of small dinosaurs to stop a big dinosaur from picking on them. The boy's short discussion with his father is brought to life using a mix of 2D and 3D computer-generated animation.

Seeds of Peace

2008 • 49 min

The Palestinian Jawdat Talousy worked in the Israeli settlement ‘Nizzane Ha Shalom’ (Seeds of Peace), located on the West Bank. He was fired because he wanted to establish a labour committee. In the settlements on the West Bank, labour laws for Palestinians are ambiguous and law enforcement is weak. This juridical chaos is causing abuse of Palestinian workers. Despite of this, more and more Palestinians turning for work to the Israeli settlements. Because the Palestinian economy is unable to create enough jobs.

Anti-Gay Hate Crimes

2008 • 50 min

The 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a student at the university of Wyoming, brought national attention to the rising incidence of anti-gay hate crimes in America. Although Matthew's case received enormous coverage in the press, many other murders of the same nature have gone largely unnoticed by the media. In this compelling special, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS goes beyond the headlines to examine the rise in these violent, hate-motivated crimes and investigates the various organizations which promote discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Lacuna

2008 • 10 min • Canada

Lacuna: 1. an empty space or a missing part; a gap; an absence. 2. a discontinuity in an anatomical structure.
Different textures of grief and acceptance emerge and the camera eye becomes a lens into the interior. Space is inhabited by memory; memory becomes a gesture that seeks the past.
Lacuna is a poetic meditation that navigates a landscape of absence, memory and transformation through image and sound.

Pencilman for President 2008

2008 • 2 min

Pencilman is in the running for President of the United States as a write-in candidate! Vote for Pencilman!

Solito Posto

2008 • 8 min

Burgin brings together a 360° video panorama of a square in Venice, animated from still photographs of the place, together with other photographs he shot in Venice and Milan. In common with most of his other moving image works, the story is told in fragmentary form through dissolves between intertitles. It was first shown simultaneously in public art spaces in Milan and Venice.

Shinrei Kenkyūka Ikeda Takeo no Reikai Junrei Sono Go: Oniyo no Iriguchi Oni Junrei

2008 • 60 min • Japan

This is the fifth installment of the horror documentary series in which psychic Takeo Ikeda undertakes a terrifying pilgrimage to save souls in the afterlife. The film clearly depicts his pilgrimage as he listens to the voices of the spirits who remain in this world even after death and are never rewarded.

Shinrei Kenkyūka Ikeda Takeo no Reikai Junrei Sono Ni: Himei no Tonneru Kyū Misaka Junrei

2008 • 60 min • Japan

This is the second horror documentary film featuring psychic Takeo Ikeda on a terrifying pilgrimage. The film clearly captures the "strongest psychic" as he goes on a pilgrimage, listening to the voices of spirits who have unfinished business with the world even after death, and who will never be rewarded. This film is full of terrifying images.

Shinrei Kenkyūka Ikeda Takeo no Reikai Junrei Sono Roku: Kijo no Furumichi Kaisaka Junrei

2008 • 60 min • Japan

This is the sixth horror documentary film about psychic Takeo Ikeda, who undertakes a terrifying pilgrimage to save souls in the afterlife. The film clearly depicts his pilgrimage as he listens to the voices of the spirits who remain in this world even after death and are never rewarded.

Mysterious! Unbelievable: Impact! Spirit Photographs of Malevolence

2008 • 60 min • Japan

A popular series spotlighting ghost photography! Featuring shocking reports that expose the haunting truth behind the ghost photos!

Train Station on Wednesdays

2008 • 47 min • Russia

Every Wednesday, Dr. Liza and her friend Petrovich arrive at the Paveletsky railway station in Moscow, where the homeless are waiting for them. Bandaging, treatment of wounds, feeding, distribution of medicines and things, but just human participation. It seems to us that all homeless people look the same. If we look at them through the eyes of Dr. Lisa, we can see how different they are.

Copper Man

2008 • 20 min • Russia

The city of Karabash is one of the most polluted points on the world map. The copper smelter, whose work has led to such a deplorable ecological state, has existed for more than 100 years. The author asks a question, is a worker a slave who does not care what will happen to his house and the land on which he lives, or can a worker be a free person?

Long Way Home

2008 • 16 min • Russia

The inscrutable ways of the inhabitants of the Russian provinces can lead to something important for everyone.

The Return of the Musk Ox

2008 • 52 min • Estonia

About 3 thousand years ago, apparently due to climate change, musk oxen in Eurasia became completely extinct. They remained only in hard-to-reach places in North America and Greenland. To return the musk oxen to their historical homeland, scientists decided to conduct an experiment and brought 30 musk oxen to Taimyr. To find out how the experiment went, 35 years later we set off on a long trip to Taimyr and there we try to meet musk oxen.

Time to Go Home

2008 • 26 min • Russia

A film about simple human love in a large family. The head of the family, Grigory Babanin, went through the Chechen war and managed to keep the warmth that he gives to his children, and there are 16 of them, and all are adopted.

EpicGutiar

2008 • 51 min

One of the absolute finest efforts on Patoo Brigham's career remains to be one of the most iconic pieces of animation to ever impact their legacy of Flipnote Hatena

Eye on the Sky

2008 • 21 min

On the outer limits of an Oklahoma town both eyes scan the skies for the terror being foretold by the volatile vapors that pulse with urgent radio frequencies. Meanwhile the tummy works overtime in adjusting to the exotic fare being deposited in its once expansive cavity (which has now shrunk somewhat in self-defense from the onslaught). It comes at the viewer in bursts of electric fury, this onslaught, and only the companionship of local beings can relieve the anxiety one feels at the crushing weight of water vapor in a vengeful mode.

City of Sun

2008 • 49 min • Russia

The protagonist of the film decided to create his own "City of the Sun", based on the ideological platform of the philosopher Tomaso Campanella, in which former alcoholics and parasites would live in equality, justice and Christian brotherhood.

Nashi

2008 • 26 min • Netherlands

In the forests between Moscow and St.Petersburg 10.000 young Russians are preparing themselves for a heroic future. Their aim is to make Russia the global leader of the 21st Century. They are the choses ones of Russia: the future managers and politicians of the country. As the only outsider, Daya Cahen was allowed to film extensively inside the summer training camp of Vladimir Putin’s radical youth movement “Nashi”, known for breaking up anti-Putin demonstrations and using violence against Putin’s opponents.

Anno 7515 From the Creation of the World

2008 • 51 min • Russia

In the summer of 2007, a group of four volcanologists landed in Medvezhya Bay on Iturup Island in the Great Kuril Ridge. The purpose of the expedition is to study the Kudryavy volcano, the hottest on the planet. Volcanologists will have to live on the island for 2 months. And this part of their life will pass away from stuffy cities, from demanding civilization, from endless fuss. It is believed that 7515 years have passed since the creation of the world, but it seems that nothing has changed on Iturup since then.

Sub

2008 • 46 min

Ruminating on the mystery and power of water, Julien Loustau’s otherworldly short lends a ghostliness to the existence of Chinese dams, cryobots, and an impenetrable lake locked under the ice of the Antarctic. Recurring images of dark, nocturnal currents draw out our most primal fears and curiosity.