All Films

Happy Gregory

1987 • 10 min • Soviet Union

The gloomy dog Gregory no longer wants to be an "evil dog". Philosophical puppet cartoon about the search for happiness.

Kai Pūrākau – The Storyteller

1987 • 25 min • New Zealand

Gaylene Preston's documentary on writer Keri Hulme — filmed two years after Hulme shot to global fame thanks to her Booker Prize-winning novel The Bone People — is both a poetic travelogue of Ōkārito (the township she lived in for 40 years), and a sampler-box of musings on Hulme's writing process, whitebait fishing, the supernatural, and the 1200 pages of notes for her next novel, the elusive Bait. Leon Narbey's camerawork is aptly alert to the magical qualities of the coast, from the resident kōtuku to the surf and birdsong peppering Hulme’s crib.

Michael Caine on Acting in Film, Arts and Entertainment

1987 • 60 min • United Kingdom

Michael Caine teaches the art of movie acting to five young actors, who perform scenes from Alfie (1966), Deathtrap (1982) and Educating Rita (1983)

Depuis le Jour

1987 • 5 min

Derek Jarman's interpretation of the aria 'Depuis le jour' from the final act of Gustave Charpentier's opera Louise (1900) features Aimée Delamain as an aging opera singer taking her final bow and recalling a love affair from her youth. As the aria goes: 'Et je tremble délicieusement au souvenir charmant du premier jour d'amour! (And I tremble deliciously at the delightful memory of the first day of love!)' – Her reveries feature Tilda Swinton and Spencer Leigh wandering around the topiaries of Swinton's family garden and at various seaside locations. The film was made for Aria (1987), the portmanteau project of producer Don Boyd who invited ten directors to create short films set to operatic arias of their choice. The particular performance used in Depuis le jour is by esteemed African-American soprano Leontyne Price.

Rob Roy

1987 • 49 min • Australia

The tale of Scottish legend Rob Roy MacGregor is retold in beautiful animation. Rob Roy borrows money from the local nobility to buy cattle to increase his status in life. When the money is stolen, he must use the fighting skills he's tried to avoid in order to escape the powerful men who believe he stole the money. Rob Roy begins by fighting for his own survival, as well as his family's, but pretty soon he is fighting for the people of Scotland. Heroism, courage, and sacrifice are at the center of this stirring tale. Rob Roy is a worthy addition to any film library.

Every Dog's Guide to Complete Home Safety

1987 • 10 min • Canada

This hilarious short animation offers over 40 safety tips for homes with infants and young children. The film's hero is a very earnest, somewhat pompous, but endearing dog called Wally. A "professional" in home safety, Wally is assigned to a house with an infant whose parents have little safety consciousness. Accidents and near-accidents succeed each other with lightning speed, constantly putting Wally to the test.

Madballs: Gross Jokes

1987 • 21 min • United States of America

It begins with a warning. It is said that the episode contains scenes that may offend viewers. It is also said that most viewers may experience nagging backache, rapid heartbeat, post-nasal drip and delerium, swelling of the nose, throat, and abdomen and loss of facial hair. Repeated viewing of the episode will result in the loss of one's bodily functions, redistribution of facial features, and a difficulty in forming simple sentences. The announcer concludes the warning by saying that you should definitely watch this episode if you really want to have a career as a lawn ornament. After the roll call(which curiously excludes Bash Brain), Bash Brain appears and says that he's never seen anything so awful in his life. He then reminisces about some time in a hosptial.

Fabrications

1987 • 18 min

This Super 8 short film was discovered on May 22, 2024, at the Paraguayan-German Cultural Institute in Asunción. The film is the result of a workshop produced by the ICPA's film department in 1987, led by filmmaker Marie Louise Alemann, a pioneer of experimental cinema in Argentina.

Nossos Bravos

1987 • 31 min • Brazil

Docudrama on labor mobilizations in the beginning of the 20th century in Brazil, led by union organizations with anarcho-socialist influence. Using fictional resources and historical archives, the film reconstructs an important part of the memory of Brazilian unionism and its biggest strikes, establishing a dialogue between different working generations.

É Miquelina, Minha Mulher

1987 • 17 min • Brazil

A musical narrative with only one line of dialogue. A man who dreams he's dead and is buried in a modern cemetery by his wife, contrary to his wishes.

Yilmaz Guney: His Life, His Films

1987 • 53 min

A documentary detailing the extraordinary life and career of Turkish actor and director Yilmaz Güney, who wrote many of his films from prison and broke out of jail to edit "Yol". The film includes the last interview Guney did before his death.

Gilbert Gottfried... Naturally

1987 • 30 min

Improvisation and impersonations.

Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland

1987 • 54 min

Considered one of Canada's most important women artists of the second half of the 20th century, Joyce Wieland's art embodies the essence of her homeland, feminism, and ecology. Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland captures the vibrant spirit of this painter, collagist, quilt maker, and filmmaker. In the early '70s, Wieland was involved in filmmaking, producing movies with a political message. In her 30-year career, she worked in a variety of mediums, including cloth, pastels, colored pencil, oils, bronze, and watercolor. Her works and her influence are examined in this detailed video portrait.

In the Wee Wee Hours...

1987 • 20 min • United States of America

In the Wee Wee Hours... is a 1987 American short documentary film directed by Izak Ben-Meir about homeless people in Los Angeles. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

The Thief and the Expelled Master

1987 • 44 min • Japan

The original novel is by Shugoro Yamamoto. It depicts a friendship that transcends social status and age, featuring the captivating monologue by Kunie Tanaka and moving expressions of the soul. When the thief Denkuro (Tanaka Kunie) sneaks into a dilapidated mansion, he finds a young samurai (Furuoya Masato) sleeping there. Despite being threatened, the young samurai remains unfazed and helps Denkuro when he falls into a hole in the floor. Denkuro receives a pair of straw sandals from the young samurai who says he hasn't eaten anything for three days, and the next morning Denkuro goes out to buy food and prepare breakfast. From that day on, Denkuro takes care of the naive and helpless young samurai, nicknamed "Nobusan."

Dancing Around the Table, Part One

1987 • 57 min • Canada

Dancing Around the Table: Part One provides a fascinating look at the crucial role Indigenous people played in shaping the Canadian Constitution. The 1984 Federal Provincial Conference of First Ministers on Aboriginal Constitutional Matters was a tumultuous and antagonistic process that pitted Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the First Ministers—who refused to include Indigenous inherent rights to self-government in the Constitution—against First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders, who would not back down from this historic opportunity to enshrine Indigenous rights. The conference was Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s last constitutional meeting before he resigned and the process was handed over to his successor, Brian Mulroney.

The In-Laws

1987 • 29 min • Soviet Union

A film novella based on the story of Vasily Shukshin "Sergey Sergeevich's brother-in-law". Generous and hospitable Sergey Sergeyevich, who came to the village to visit relatives, does not notice himself how with his sweeping manners, he hurts the sense of human dignity of people who do not live in poverty, but are forced to count both a penny and a ruble, and even more so a hundred.

The Media Waltz

1987 • 27 min • France

Study on the evolution and modernization of public libraries and media libraries.

Summer Kiss

1987 • 48 min • United States of America

Two young men fall in love as they contemplate who, and what, they want out of life during a summer in Provincetown.

A Boy Named Hiroshima

1987 • 45 min

Thirty-eight years after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, a boy is born with only a single day to live. Named "Hiroshima," he sets out into the city in search of his mother and encounters a young girl... An independently produced short film created from the desire to let the boys who perished in the atomic bombing see their mothers one last time. By placing the boy in the past and the girl in the present, the film expresses this heartfelt wish.

in-sight

1987 • 11 min • Germany

Gerd Conradt's experimental documentary "Ein-Blick" from 1987 captures the rhythms of daily life along Elsenstraße's border in a time-lapse. Over the course of a day, a camera focuses on a house and watchtower within the border zone, snapping one image per second for twelve hours. What unfolds is a surreal ballet of reality, transforming into a slapstick grotesque, all set to the backdrop of evocative piano melodies.

The Ballad of a Singer

1987 • 18 min • Soviet Union

About how wine and fame turned a talented donkey into a stupid donkey.

Ana Mendieta: Fuego de Tierra

1987 • 52 min

This beautiful film is a portrait of the life and work of Cuban-born American artist Ana Mendieta. Mendieta used her own body, the raw materials of nature, and Afro-Cuban religion to express her feminist political consciousness and poetic vision. Interview footage with Mendieta and her own filmed records of her earthworks and performances are incorporated to render a vivid testament to her energy and extraordinary talent after her tragic, untimely death in 1985.

Trilogy for One Man

1987 • 53 min • France

The most legendary 'sequence' ever achieved by a mountaineer: on 12 and 13 March 1987, in 40 hours, 26-year-old Christophe Profit managed to climb three of the highest north faces in the Alps, in winter: Grandes Jorasses, Eiger, and Matterhorn. But over and above this 'coverage' of the feat, we discover the wings, the story behind the project, the peaks and troughs of the preparations for it, and the personality of the man behind the climbs, a dancer on sheer rock faces, focusing all the energy and reflexes of life itself in his fingertips.