All Films

Yuki, Moemasu! Making of Sukeban Deka

1985 • 46 min • Japan

Le temps des bouffons

1985 • 15 min • Canada

A short film created (and narrated) in 1985 by Québécois director Pierre Falardeau. It compares English rule in Ghana with Canadian dominance in Quebec by showing the 200th anniversary celebration of the Beaver Club of Montreal.

L'étang

1985 • 22 min • France

A walk within a place which possesses its own rhythm, in the heart of the city: the garden. A dream amongst the trees, children, birds and strollers. Like mental images of the dreamer, fishermen watch over these scenes. A line links them to the mysterious world where fish evolve. This video was filmed in October 1984, at the Saint-Mandé Park, and contains images taken at the Trocadero Aquarium.

Spalding Gray: A Life in Progress

1985 • 27 min

Performance clips and biographical anecdotes from the life of Spalding Gray.

Taiga

1985 • 45 min • Soviet Union

After a mail plane crashes in the Siberian taiga, two rivals set off along untrodden paths in search of missing money.

The Way I Like It

1985 • 30 min • Chile

Agüero interrupts the filming of 5 films that are being made in Chile in 1984, to ask each director the meaning in their work, at a time when making films in Chile was almost prohibited.  

Other Beats

1985 • 26 min

Swedish punk documentary from 1985 about Anti Cimex, more specifically Sixten Andersson. Shows the edgier side of Swedish music in the 80s, the anarchist ideals of the members and friends of the band and an overall discontent with the 'promising' future of the "Svensson life".

Paths of liberation

1985 • 20 min • Peru

Documentary presenting the theory and application of the Theology of Liberation via interviews to priests from humble parishes in the slums of Lima. A fruitful labor of a Catholic Church sector committed to address social issues.

Glass Cluster Game

1985 • 9 min • Soviet Union

A cut-out animation about ice and fire, the victory of the sun's life-giving warmth over icy nothingness.

Feuerland is Burned Off

1985 • 6 min • Germany

"A film that creates connections between image and text material and whose appeal lies in its fragmentary [...] destructive, strongly associative character; To see the film as a gloomy fantasy of doom, as a difficult poetic puzzle or simply as an idiosyncratic document of a bizarre fantasy is left to the viewer for himself." -Bielefeld Magazine

Schatt's Last Shot

1985 • 10 min

Solondz’s 1985 student short film “Schatt’s Last Shot” provides an ideal entry point to his unflinching universe of dark comic despair. A young Solondz stars in the 10-minute short as geeky high schooler Ezra Schatt, a neurotic, primitive headcase of the young Woody Allen variety. Buried under thick, unseemly glasses and an endlessly dazed expression, Ezra’s worst enemy is basketball. Unable to make a single basket under the brutal pressures of his vulgar gym teacher (“You’re shit, Schatt!”), Ezra also fails at both impressing the cheerleader of his dreams and realizing his aspirations of attending MIT.

Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Vol.1 Stories of the 'A.T. VOTOMS'

1985 • 55 min • Japan

A chronological compilation of the TV series.

Ben Nicholson 1894-1982

1985 • 52 min • United Kingdom

British abstract painter Ben Nicholson, whom artist and critic Patrick Heron claimed 'was the greatest English painter since Turner' and director John Read extolled as "the man who re-drew the map of English painting', is presented through the eyes of his closest friends, as they take us on a tour of his career and reflect on his art.

The Little Elephant Got Sick

1985 • 10 min • Soviet Union

The baby elephant fell ill, his tooth ached and he did not go to school, but remained at home with a bandage. Camel comes to visit a friend, and then a cunning cat.

The Beggar

1985 • 8 min • Soviet Union

It is a parable about indifference

August Afternoons

1985 • 5 min

Sunlight and shadows whisk through time. Optically printed from Super 8 footage. Charleston, SC, with Randy Buggs and Ray Harvey.

Drawing on My Mind

1985 • 5 min • United States of America

Animated versions of George Carlin's wacky "news items".

Stranglers in the Night

1985 • 47 min • France, United Kingdom

The French TV series Les Enfants du Rock produced a documentary on The Stranglers during the release of their eighth studio album, Aural Sculpture. Being a French production, the film leans heavily on Jean-Jacques Burnel, featuring moments such as him performing “Euroman” from his solo career, teaching a karate class, and even strolling the streets in drag. The documentary captures a unique and engaging portrait of the band: Jet Black delivers reflective monologues straight to camera, Hugh Cornwell is interviewed mid-workout, Dave Greenfield demonstrates how he can program his keyboard to “answer” interview questions, and the band is even shown selling their own Strangled magazine on a street corner. Songs performed are Punch and Judy, Aural Sculpture Manifesto, London Lady, Midnight Summer Dream, Euroman (JJ Solo), Strange, Little Girl, Uptown and Paradise

Pitchmen

1985 • 53 min • Canada

If you've ever bought a wonder wallet, a food slicer, a canapé maker, a patty stacker, a miracle brush or a super knife, you may know that the CNE, the Calgary Stampede, and virtually every home show, car show, craft show, fall fair and ploughing match in Canada has at least one thing in common. At hallway intersections and bleacher exits work the second cousins of the carnival barker, the crowd pleasers and teasers, jugglers of people, product and pitch: the point-of-sales professionals known as pitchmen. This documentary looks at the psychology of the impulse sale and provides a view of the world of commerce, salesmanship and advertising at the grass-roots level. The men and women featured in the film have mastered the fine art of selling everything you never needed. Shot at fairs and on the set of a late-night TV commercial, the film shows the hard work behind the hustle.

Karajan: Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 8

1985 • 39 min

World-renowned classical conductor Herber Von Karajan masterfully conducts Antonin Dvorak's "Symphony No. 8" in a live 1985 concert with the Wiener Philharmoniker. The recipient of numerous international honors and awards, Dvorak traveled extensively but remained a modest man of simple tastes, loyal to his Czech nationality.

Dots, Whips and Cobwebs

1985 • 11 min

This film looks at the work of three prominent lace makers in Carrickmacross, Northern Ireland in the 1980s. Mary Wilson, Mary McMahon and Rose Feeney show various intricate lacework techniques that were inspired by their natural surroundings, as well as teaching us the history and language of lace through detailed demonstrations, all captured beautifully in this film by Roy Spence for the Ulster Folk Museum. Although the popularity of lacework has declined in recent years, the Ulster Folk Museum continues to preserve these disappearing traditions for future generations.

First In, Last Out

1985 • 60 min

During the Vietnam War, the main threat to the strike packages was the V-750 (S-75) Dvina, the first effective Soviet surface-to-air missile (SAM). Better known by the NATO designation SA-2 Guideline To suppress and destroy this threat, the U.S. Air Force countered with the courage and skill of the Wild Weasels, who not only flew some of the most dangerous missions in Southeast Asia but also became pioneers in Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) operations. This documentary tells the story of the Wild Weasel program.

Interno Tautium

1985 • 3 min • Germany

Short film by SCHMELZDAHIN

KLM: Diplomatix

1985 • 32 min • Norway

Diplomatix was Norway's entry at the Montreux Comedy Festival in 1985, represented by the comedy trio KLM consisting of Trond Kirkvaag, Knut Lystad and Lars Mjøen. They also wrote the script. Kent Nilssen was the director.