All Films

Many of my films involve humour, but unlike the earlier work Shepherd’s Delight attempts to confront the problem of humour head-on, referring directly (since a large part of the film is composed of jokes and their analysis) to the viewer’s perception of the film itself. The film is largely concerned with how context determines the reading of information. Since the film’s statements oscillate between the deadly serious (concentrating particularly on an examination of the more sinister aspects of humour) and the totally bogus, with no clearly defined points of changeover, the context is often ambiguous. Hopefully, this strategy undermines both the authority of the ‘serious’ statements and any predictable effect of the ‘jokes’. John Smith, 1984

A love story between an arab man and a jewish woman.

Paul feels life should be an adventure, and sets out on one to prove that Trolls really exist.

In Hamburg, a slap out of the blue is received by the victim with appreciation. The man, who is hit by a woman, interprets it as an act of anarchy and finds meaning in it. Then they both go out into the street and declare slapping to be an art form.

The beautiful daughter of a merchant sacrifices her freedom to save her father from the punishment of a cursed beast.

30 minutes of footage left after the finances collapsed.

Early short film by Jane Campion.

Two teenage boys, Alasdair and Kevin, out camping in the Ontario woods are abducted by a spaceship and are held with two other captives, a cat burglar and a teenage intellectual, by two aliens who take them on a trip through space and time while Alasdair and Kevin and their two other captives try to figure out the aliens agenda for them.

In this concert, a take-off on the play "A Chorus Line," comic Billy Crystal uses the premise of auditions for a Broadway musical to play various characters trying out for the parts.

Ever wondered how to marinade a Yeti...? No? Well neither had a rather bemused Nick Briggs until he caught up with John Leeson on location for the Doctor Who drama Downtime. Ten years earlier, it was all a lot easier for Keith Harrison when he interviewed John for the second Myth Makers. Life was simple then, you just sat down and had a nice chat about life and being the voice of K9. Now, you have to run around the inside of the Doctor’s faithful robot companion, plus learn how to cook (and more importantly how to catch) a Yeti! Well these are the ingredients, its all been cooking in the oven, so take your seats for dinner. Confused...? Not half as much as Nick!

New York, summer 1983. Jeanne Moreau goes to meet Lillian Gish to film a portrait of her. The star of American silent films invites her to her apartment and discusses her career from its beginnings on film in 1912. She remembers the conditions on stage when she was a child, the first Hollywood blockbuster, D. W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation (1915), and her passion for cinema guided by an inexhaustible curiosity.

1984 CBS Saturday Morning preview special starring Joyce Dewitt.

An unusual visit to a large, empty apartment. But is it empty or not? Maybe a family has lived there or is going to live there. Maybe a young girl is going to escape from there. Maybe some of the old-timers who lived there never left. The walls themselves tell the stories of the time passing by.

A joyous romp through the dance, food, music, friendship, and even religion of the Polka. The explosive energy and high spirits of the polka subculture are rendered with warmth and dedication to scholarship in this journey through Polish-American celebrations. Polka stars like Jimmy Sturr, Eddie Blazonzyck and Walt Solek are featured.

The 1930 Hollywood-produced anti-war film "Nothing New in the West" is one of the great works in film history. But like hardly any other cinema classic, it was ostracized, shortened, censored, altered in image and sound and banned. The documentary deals with the eventful fate and especially the censorship history of the film classic.

Haruhiko, a painting student, is intertwined violently until the morning in an old Western-style building. Haruhiko, who works at a bar in Sanada where many gay men gather, continues this relationship sly, thinking that it is not something he can continue. At that time, Shingo comes to the store. Shingo always goes to a hill overlooking the city of Yokohama, where Haruhiko often goes to sketch. Feeling destined, Haruhiko gently put his hand on Shingo's hand.

"Reverse Television" was created in the mid-1980's by video artist Bill Viola. The 30-second portraits were about portraiture and the idea of a person staring at the viewer (as the viewer stares at the TV screen). Conceived of as a "micro-series," the work features 42 30-second portraits of television viewers in their living rooms. The portraits appear very formally composed, with attention paid to composition, lighting, and color. The viewers sit quietly, only occasionally making a slight shift in position. No external sound score has been added, so that the only sounds heard are sync sounds that have been heightened. These sounds include viewers' clothing when they move, swallowing, and background noises, such as traffic outside the viewer's home or a dog barking in the distance.

This documentary focuses on the making of the 235-minute, silent epic Napoleon, the masterpiece of French director/writer/actor Abel Gance. Napoleon showcased Gance's talents with the camera, his use of multiple-images (like a split screen), and his handling of crowded action scenes -- all brought forward in this documentary by his later assistant, Nelly Kaplan. While Gance was shooting Napoleon in 1925-26, he and his crew were also being filmed for a documentary titled Autour de Napoleon. The only extant reels from that documentary are included in this film, as well as views of Gance's unique "triptychs" -- three different scenes lined up side-by-side across a super-wide screen to convey the effect of a panorama, or of three separate interludes. Nelly Kaplan put together this documentary using old footage, such as Gance filming the famous snowball fight at the Brienne military school and still photographs and excerpts from Gance's production diaries.

Documentation of three Survival Research Laboratories events, 1983-1984. Meet Stu, the SRL guinea pig, and see him training to operate the 4-legged Walking Machine, see 10-barrel shotguns, hear the "Stairway to Hell".

A sick boy's toy rabbit comes to life. Part of the Enchanted Musical Playhouse series. Marie Osmond played the part of the Velveteen Rabbit. Songs were composed by the Sherman Brothers.

Promotional film for R.E.M.'s second album, Reckoning, directed by James Herbert.

Shot during Maiden's historic tour of Poland and other parts of the Eastern Bloc in 1984, featuring interviews, live and offstage footage, capturing the atmosphere of this remarkable journey behind the Wall at the height of the Cold War.

Recorded Live In Tokyo, Japan, August 11 & 12, 1984.

Man reconsiders his life after a chance meeting with a childhood acquaintance.