All Films

1996 / U-Matic / color-b&w / sound / 1S / 12' 00

There's something that's been bothering Sato lately. His cigarettes are dwindling strangely fast. He wonders if he's smoking enough for two people. Or is there someone else smoking? Then he thinks. Is there really no one in the room when I'm not there? Then one day, a man in a pair of briefs appears from the wardrobe. The man, who sometimes tries to fly on the balcony, begins to ask practical questions and give his opinion to Sato, who spends her days in a state of apathy. What is his true identity...? The world stretches out beyond his sight. When he thinks about the overwhelming size of the world, he realises how small he is. Cutting off all contact with the outside world, Sato tries to hide his fear. By using subtitles for his conversations with the man, the film succeeds in expressing his closed world. The humorous touch of the film, depicting a small rebirth that took place over a few days, was made even more striking by the ending theme music.

16mm film by Tachibana Kaoru

Out of Frame (1996) plays with your expectations and the way how we are used to “read” pictures and their framing. A woman is rubbing herself against a white wall, making the typical noises of having sex from the back, and Onishi takes his time to open the framing and then showing them in explicit positions. You don’t see the penetration but watch the rhythm of two bodies, listening to it, too. The framing by windows will allow you some rest. The man is putting on his clothes and closing the door while the woman is looking out oft he window. Onishi’s typical black inserts again, and we watch the same couple on the toilet, where he is putting her hands into hand-cuffs. After that he is showering her carefully, and she remains in hand-cuffs while they are having sex again under the shower. He is using his revolver then to free her from these metal things. And the toilet is a calm place when she comes back after strangling a young man on the street.

A short dance film about a hard journey from the sea to the top, and back.

In the quiet of an Austrian winter, a young priest received heavenly inspiration to commemorate the most significant event in history by writing the world's most beloved Christmas carol, "Silent Night." In this beautiful, touching drama, young Father Joseph Mohr's life is affected by his fatherless upbringing, inspiring him to bring joy and love to the people of his parish. One winter evening in 1818, God used father Mohr to describe the miracle birth of the Christ Child in the world's most memorable Christmas carol. Sung around the world in 120 languages, few know the real story of how "Silent Night" came to be.

Documentary about the experiences of filmmaker Pam Walton as she struggles to reunite with her "family values" father after a long-standing rift. Rus Walton, a radical religious fundamentalist, disowned his daughter because of her lesbian lifestyle. Although he once suggested that practicing homosexuals should be executed, Pam is willing to pay the emotional price to fulfill her longing for parental acceptance.

Unlike any art movie you've ever seen, Making it in Manhattan is informed 'entertainment' about the people who make contemporary art. Artists, collectors, and dealers bring to life the art capital of the world, New York, as it plunges into the 21st Century. Presenting a cross-section of artists, the film discusses inspiration, aesthetics, and the meaning of success. With Louise Bourgeois, Brice Marden, Chuck Close, Neil Jenney, Elizabeth Murray, Ashley Bickerton, Gary Simmons, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Rirkrit Tiravanija, St. Clair Cemin, Ivan Karp, Jay Gorney, Matthew Marks, Jerry Saltz, Herb & Dorothy Vogel, and others. From abstraction to figuration, from installation to conceptual art, from the privacy of the doctor's office to the posh gallery opening, Making it in Manhattan captures the reality of a special world. Music by Tom Waits, Don Braden Ryuichi Sakamoto, George van Eps, Piero Umiliani with Chet Baker.

Born in Cairo in 1929, Yasser Arafat was named chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization 40 years later. From this post, he was at the forefront of years of violence, border disputes, and the Palestinian liberation movement, all centering on neighboring Israel. Arafat signed a self-governing pact with Israel in 1991, at the Madrid Conference, and together with Israeli leaders made several attempts at lasting peace soon after, notably through the Oslo Accords (1993) and the Camp David Summit of 2000. Stemming from the Oslo Accords, Arafat and Israel's Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize, but the terms were never implemented. Arafat ceded his PLO chairman post in 2003, and died in Paris in 2004.

Kurt Kren records snapshots of visitors to Vienna who are photographed in front of the statue of Johann Strauss Jr.

During an attempted rescue of their friends who have been taken into the forbidden, enchanted forest by a bad troll, the siblings, Hansel and Gretel, are assisted by friendly animals and a family of good trolls, only to be left on their own in the dark forest. They spy a gingerbread and candy house and are captured by the wicked witch.

A suit and tie dressed gang plays Ska.

Brice Dellsperger's reprise of Brian de Palma's Dressed To Kill in Disneyland

Set to Leonard Cohen's 1988 song "I'm Your Man", this animated short offers a playful meditation on romance and the clichés that go with it.

Boulevard of Broken Sync is about a lover's revenge.

Takako Miura is 92 years old and has lived alone since her husband died six years ago. Since a few years ago, she has regarded herself as president of an imaginary broadcasting station and announcer of a daily morning radio programe. She can hear voices which can’t be heard by anybody except her. It’s an imaginary world only for her. She usually sings old Chinese songs on the radio. However, she can’t get any thanks or reward from anyone, which annoys her. One stormy night, she makes her last speech with anger on the radio about a story which she believes to be true. The next morning she gives up waiting for presents and leaves her room ... Her granddaughter films this documentary from her personal viewpoint. „My Grandmother sings old songs and recounts her life story on her imaginary radio programe but nobody understands her. The only thing that I can do is to listen to her“.

Messy lives. Messy relationship. Messy sock drawers. This short and sweet animation will show you how to tidy it all up in less than one minute.

The story of a bus driver Pentti Hartikainen.

Short film by Ono Kouta

A colony of cockroaches feasts on the food in an old refrigerator, while a lone roach stands guard outside. When a man discovers the infestation and tries to destroy them all, the brave little roach defends himself and his fellows.

Admiral Flipside is one crazy sea-dog. Driven by a darker than black alter-ego he embarks upon a bizarre voyage of destruction and self discovery. Haunted by his subconscious he is driven by ghostly manifestations into a surreal world of circus and theatre inspired by Sebastian Brant’s 1494 book ‘Das Narrenschyff’ (The Ship of Fools). Unbeknown to him he is the leading actor in a stage play based on the ship of fools. He leads the witless fools on a disastrous voyage to find ‘Narragonia’ (Fools Utopia). Flipside finds himself the sole survivor after the ship is set upon by fire breathing monsters from the deep. He is washed up on the very beach that he left many years ago, only to discover his innocence waiting for him. Here at last, after so many long years searching, he is forced to confront the grim reality that is himself. These short films combine computer animation, traditional animation, video and concepts of theatre to produce a bizarre visual story.

A documentary short about Aishah's Black feminist lesbian exploration of her coming out process through self reflection, and candid conversations with her father, Michael Simmons, her younger brother, Tyree Cinque Simmons (DJ Drama), and Yvonne Marie Jones, one of her best friends from high school.

A 16-mm jump back in time to the Klub-Kid subculture of party promoters that ruled New York City nightlife from the mid-1980s through the 1990s.