All Films

Once in the Morning

1981 • 7 min • Soviet Union

One morning a small pretty duckling Krya-Krya went for a walk. He was still very stupid, but because he was friends only with his own shadow, he decided that no one needed him anymore. Humming a merry song, the duckling played with a ball, and it seemed to him that the shadow from the wall perfectly discards the ball. The chicken was so eager to play with the duckling too, but he roughly pushed him away. The same fate befell the sweet little goat. And then, having plenty of fun, the duckling ran through the meadow and accidentally fell into a deep dark pit. Oh God. It was so scary and damp, and most importantly, his best friend - a shadow was not going to help him out. It was simply not here.

Compañero Fernando

1981 • 50 min • Mexico

This documentary is a portrait made in Mexico by a group of Argentine exiles, directed by the painter Nicolás Amoroso.

Of Seals and Men

1981 • 33 min

Inuit seal hunting.

Chick Fowle, Faixa Preta de Cinema

1981 • 17 min • Brazil

About English photographer Chick Fowle. Statements by Anselmo Duarte, Leonardo Vilar, Marlene França, Vanja Orico. A film about directors, actors and teams that Chick Fowle worked and works with, also showing the possibility of renewal that Brazilian cinema can and must have.

The Princess Lindagull

1981 • 30 min • Finland

The Persian ruler Shah Nadir has only one daughter. Princess Lindagull is kind-hearted, but feels trapped in her palace life. The vengeful King Bom-Bali sends a Lappish witch disguised as a tiger to kidnap the beloved Princess.

Paramon and Apollinaria

1981 • 30 min • Soviet Union

Paramon is a 6-years old boy that loves to spend time with village elders. He runs through the whole village to his grandma Apollinaria every morning. Her husband that left her long ago now tends to come back. Paramon is very exasperated by this situation

Pickman's Model

1981 • 32 min • United States of America

Inspired by Lovecraft's short story, Pickman's Model is about a morbid painter named Richard Upton Pickman, who created from his fiendish brush "unbelievable loathsomeness and moral foetor." William Thurber, a student of occult art and author, becomes obsessed with Pickman and pursues him learning more and more about the source of his art until it finally consumes him.

You Have Struck a Rock!

1981 • 28 min

You Have Struck A Rock! commemorates the special contribution of South African women to the success of the anti-apartheid struggle. It recovers the remarkable "women's campaigns" of the 1950s against the hated pass system. This massive, non-violent civil disobedience movement was only finally crushed by the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre and the banning of anti-apartheid organizations. Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Dora Tamana and other leaders recall this struggle and their imprisonment and banning. Yet they remain undaunted, demonstrating the South African proverb: "When you have touched a woman, you have struck a rock."

Grove Carnival

1981 • 18 min • United Kingdom

A kaleidoscopic celebration of the 1980 Notting Hill Carnival. Arts Council of Great Britain.

Fall Line

1981 • 12 min

Fall Line isa 1981 short documentary directed by Bob Carmichael. It is about a recent development of extreme skiing, climbing to the top of one the peaks in the Grand Tetons and skiing down the extreme slopes. It follows one skier, Steve Shea, who had a exciting dangerous trip down. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Classic Striptease and Glamour Films 01

1981 • 55 min

Spectacular figure models from the 60’s opening with SUZIE, one of the most shapely Big Busts we’ve ever seen. Also offers the chocolate perfection of SISSY ROSCOE, a charming brunette nude bed roller, a great Scandinavian blonde and a delicious duo of shapely darlings stripping each other bare.

Insomnia

1981 • 5 min

“INSOMNIA is the most minimal and self-referential of Worden’s films. It consists entirely of punched holes in black leader. The fractal reference is secured spatially by using punches of two different sizes, and temporally by the distribution of the punches along the strip of leader. In some ways this is Worden’s purest pattern film. We are presented only with a pattern of black and white. There is no imagery to compete for our attention. But somehow we see the film as representational. The white struggles against the black in an attempt to pour into the foreground. It is as if the ancient cosmology were true: The stars are holes in the canopy that shrouds the earth. We yearn to leave the world of darkness and appearance for the world of reality and light on the other side.” —Dale Jamieson

Edward Hopper

1981 • 51 min

A film based on a search undertaken by filmmaker Ron Peck into the life and work of the painter Edward Hopper.

Maya: Lords of the Jungle

1981 • 59 min

Archaeological work on the Mayan civilization in Central America is revealing new facts about Mayan history, religion, agriculture, social structure, and art.

Postcards III; Woman at the Clavichord

1981 • 17 min • East Germany

With films including the 'rubble woman' portrait Martha, the three-part experimental film cycle Potter's Stier, Venus nach Giorgione and Frau am Klavichord, the portrait of the artist Kurzer Besuch bei Hermann Glöckner, and also the documentaries Rangierer and Die Küche, noted for their outstanding sound and visuals, Jürgen Böttcher distances himself yet further from the didactic tone and abstract heroic representation of socialist films.

The Halloween Planet

1981 • 30 min

When the boy genius, Zebulon, decides to run away from home in his hand-made spaceship he fails to discover his sister, Marsyas, who has hidden herself on board. With her extra, uncalculated weight on board he finds that the ship has veered far from its course.

Soho

1981 • 20 min • United Kingdom

A feminist view of how small businesses in London's Soho exploit working women.

Modesty

1981 • 13 min

Bob Rafelson: Self-portrait

Blood Donors

1981 • 3 min

"You told me you'd take me to Hollywood!" cries Glenda - but Ernie quips, "No, Cricklewood". Thus the wisecracks begin in this entertaining appeal for blood donors starring a reluctant Glenda Jackson and a crafty Ernie Wise. The tradition of using well-known film and TV personalities in charity appeals and public-spirited health campaigns goes back to the earliest days of the public information film. The National Blood Service definitely struck gold with this right royal pairing of the queen of costume drama and an acknowledged king of comedy.

Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott

1981 • 60 min

Award-winning documentary film tells the story of pediatrician author and activist Dr. Helen Caldicott.

Cabaret

1981 • 20 min • Soviet Union

Loosely inspired in some plays from the Spanish author Federico Garcia Lorca("The Puppet Play of Don Cristóbal", "The Billy-Club Puppets" and "Doña Rosita the Spinster"), this short does an incredibly job capturing all the poetry from those literary works, adding a new level of beauty to them by the art of puppetry and stop-motion animation. "Cabaret" starts as a bizarre comedy filled with many extravagances, then, it quickly evolves into a heart-breaking (But at the same time, captivating) tragedy, filled with a breathtaking lyricism that leads into a memorable ending, having some of the most beautiful lines that have been ever spoken in any animated film.

Topsy-Turvy

1981 • 9 min

About the imp who did not know how to do dirty tricks.

Film Without Title

1981 • 4 min • Poland

A short film depicting a young woman wandering around Warsaw Central Station while being observed and stalked by several men.

Andriesh

1981 • 10 min • Soviet Union

Moldavian fairy tale about young shepherd called Andriesh, who heads off to rescue the good fairy Dona from evil warlock. Based on the poem of the same name by Emilian Bucov.