All Films

Deep Six

1986 • 35 min

Ivy Hotchkis (Kristen Vallow) is a beautiful and bored East Village performance artist who along with her boyfriend Tony Marachek (Walter Barnett) have infiltrated the elite and cliquish downtown art scene, which is reigned over by its queen Kay L (Kara Vallow). When Ivy is mistaken for a drug lord, she is handed a bag with a million dollars in it.

Strange Wedding

1986 • 34 min • Albania

The year is 1943. At his last breath, partisan Gani asks his friends to make sure that his daughter Sherka is married on the date set in advance for her wedding. Once the wedding ceremony starts, they find out that the bridegroom is a collaborator of the invaders. Sherka decides to cancel her wedding and joins her father s friends in their struggle for the liberation of the country.

John Grin's Christmas

1986 • 50 min • United States of America

An adaptation of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol " with Robert Guillaume as John Grin, the Scrooge character. His son Kevin has a role as the Bob Cratchit character, with Geoffrey Holder and Ted Lange as two of the Ghosts.

The Four Wishes

1986 • 6 min • Bulgaria

The Trial of Tilted Arc

1986 • 52 min

The artwork on trial is Richard Serra's public sculpture, Tilted Arc, commissioned and installed by the U.S. government in 1981. Four years later, a public hearing was held to consider the removal of the sculpture from its site in Federal Plaza in New York City. In documenting the climatic General Services Administration hearing, The Trial Of Tilted Arc is a thought-provoking indictment of the state of the arts. At issue is the validity of a contract between an artist and the government, the freedom of artistic expression, and the "public's" involvement in designing the visual environment. The dialogue/debate between the art community and the bureaucrats has described this site-specific art work in terms ranging from "masterpiece" to "mouse trap."

In the Upper Room

1986 • 39 min • United States of America

In the Upper Room is a dance/theater collaboration between choreographer Twyla Tharp and composer Philip Glass. In the Upper Room from 1986, with music by Phillip Glass, choreography by Twyla Tharp. It's really impossible to convey in words just how brilliant this 40 minute piece is.

The World of Photography

1986 • 25 min

Artists Michael Smith and William Wegman — both of whom use conceptual humor as an art-making strategy — collaborated on this satirical commentary on photography, the process of image-making, and the interchange of "high" art and "low" culture. The tape is structured as an instructional guide that advances the "slice of life" method, imparting not only technique, but attitude and approach to the subject of photography. Wegman plays the world-weary artiste, a professional photographer who takes the innocent and earnest Mike under his tutelage. The business of art, the "reality" of the photographic image, and its pervasive role in contemporary culture are among the issues that receive irreverent treatment in this comedic collaboration.

Romance of the Wind

1986 • 5 min • Bulgaria

There is a wind blowing. In a hut near the sea lives a woman. The scenes in the animation keep changing; her body becomes a landscape, her breasts become the arses of 2 horses, etc. The scenes are filled with longing and an idea of passion, like in a dream.

Experiment 200

1986 • 29 min • Soviet Union

Based on K.Bulychev's story "Jubilee-200" about the humanization of chimpanzees.

Panzer World Galient: Crest of Iron

1986 • 54 min • Japan

Alternative universe spin-off of the 'Panzer World Galient' TV series

Kurt Schwitters: The Schwitters Scandal

1986 • 50 min

The Schwitters scandal was pure DADA! While he was alive, Schwitters provoked the art world with his one-man Dada movement Merz, which united painting, sculpture, architecture and literature in fragments. After his death he hit the headlines due to several sensational inheritance lawsuits involving his heirs, a mistress, the Norwegian government, and the Marlborough Gallery - which had gained notoriety in the Rothko scandal. Looking back on Schwitters’ life and work, this film unravels a bizarre story of deceit, intrigue, power and money.

Coffee and Cigarettes

1986 • 6 min • United States of America

In a vignette called "Strange to meet you," Roberto sits at a small table in a coffee bar. Five cups of coffee and two ashtrays are in front of him; he drinks and smokes. Steven joins him. They start a conversation about cigarettes and coffee. Steven likes to drink coffee before he sleeps, so he can dream faster. The conversation jumps around. "You know my mother?" asks Roberto. Steven describes coffee Popsicles. They switch seats; then switch back. Steven has to leave for a dental appointment he's not looking forward to. Roberto makes a startling offer, inspired no doubt by the coffee and cigarettes.

Knowing The Score

1986 • 55 min

Graeme has musical talent and is struggling to be allowed to express it. Lois is being pushed by her mother into solo parts in the girls' choir. Together they have to perform at a competitive concert while parents and supporters keep score.

Spirit to Spirit: Nikki Giovanni

1986 • 29 min

Once crowned "The Princess of Black Poetry," the prolific and political Nikki Giovanni has become one of America's most popular poets. The film highlights the life and work of a poet whose verse appeals to everyone interested in poetry and modern American life. This lyrical and visually provocative film details the poet's coming-of-age against the background of her times: the Civil Rights struggle, Vietnam, and the Women's Movement. In this dynamic portrait, selected readings by Giovanni reveal the values and personal history which have deeply influenced her poetry. Spirit to Spirit unveils the sly wit and sharp insights of Giovanni's multi-layered work, making it a delightful introduction to this talented poet and incisive social commentator. Restored in 2022 by the Academy Film Archive and the Women’s Film Preservation Fund, with support from the Leon Levy Foundation.

Sylvie's Story

1986 • 28 min • Canada

This short film recreates the experience of Sylvie, a battered woman who seeks shelter in a Montréal transition house. Faced with the threat of violence, loneliness, the lack of financial resources or information about services, the victim is often understandably reluctant to seek help. Emphasizing the importance for women of speaking out, the film also points out the role of the transition house in putting victims of abuse in touch with appropriate legal and social services.

Playboy: Farmers' Daughters

1986 • 50 min • United States of America

Go country with five corn-fed cuties from the hometowns of America's heartland.

My lost heaven

1986 • 5 min • Japan

Le Tiers providentiel

1986 • 11 min • France

In a supermarket parking lot, two shoppers push a shopping cart to their car. A helpful man approaches them. Friendly at first, his behavior soon becomes strange, invasive and aggressive.

Consuela (or, The New Mrs Saunders)

1986 • 36 min • United Kingdom

Jessica, the second Mrs Saunders, arrives with her new husband John at his country estate. Very much left to her own devices she is unnerved by the power that Consuela, the sinister Spanish housekeeper,seems to wield, comparing her to John's first wife and forbidding her to enter a mysterious locked room.

Concrete Grandma

1986 • 26 min • Sweden

Shows projects built by Skanska all over the world. In Germany, Algeria, Indonesia, Greenland, but also Sweden; Stockholm, Åre and Helsingborg.

Emanuel Ungaro

1986 • 5 min

This modest portrait of the fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro seems to mark a departure from Sarah Maldoror’s usual subjects, but it nonetheless reveals her abiding fascination with the sensuality of the creative act.

Les racistes ne sont pas nos potes, les violeurs non plus

1986 • 23 min • France

After a series of rapes in broad daylight in 1985, a demonstration takes place in September. Leaflets accuse the "immigrant criminal underworld." Immigrants and Muslims are blamed. Eight feminists: Claire Atherton (editing), Claire Auzias, Marie-Jo Dhavernas, Catherine Deudon, Anne Faisandier (camera), Liliane Kandel, Nadja Ringart and Ioana Wieder want to testify and fight sexism wherever they come from and whoever the authors are. They decide to realize a documentary. They meet Souad Benani and Malika Bennabi, activists of the group Les Nanas Beurs, then Fatima and Rosa, activists of SOS Racisme. Then three anti-racist activists : Harlem Désir, Adil Jazouli, Sami Nair to discuss it.

Still Life with Woman and Four Objects

1986 • 3 min • United States of America

A film portrait that falls somewhere between a painting and a prose poem, a look at a woman’s daily routines and thoughts via an exploration of her as a “character”. By interweaving threads of history and fiction, the film is also a tribute to a real woman, Emma Goldman.

Fun with the Fab Four

1986 • 54 min • United States of America

Rare footage of the sensational Beatles: hysterical crowds, press conferences, interviews, TV clips, newsreels and more.