All Films

Fantasia on the Childhood of Busoni

1981 • 16 min

A fantasy on the childhood of a highly gifted pianist/composer who visited Italy & Germany on a concert tour when he was 10. The film serves as a homage to mothers who tirelessly support their talented childrens endeavors.

4D Special Agents

1981 • 60 min • United Kingdom

A group of children in the East End of London belong to a police sponsored scheme called '4D Special Agents'.

The Eternal Day of Michel de Ghelderode

1981 • 29 min

Using the tricks of the Flemish playwright's own trade--puppetry, masks, and a Breughelesque sense of bizarre carnival, the collaborators succeeded in bringing about a rich and sardonic humor lurking at the edge of the playwright's macabre, death-obsessed imagination in an allusive homage.

È una domenica sera di novembre

1981 • 45 min • Italy

A documentary about the 1981 earthquake in Irpinia.

Paul Simon in Concert

1981 • 52 min

Recorded for Home Box Office at Philadelphia's Tower Theater on October 8, 1980, this concert captures Paul Simon on the top of his form with an exceptional backing band. He plays songs from throughout his career combining solo hits with Simon & Garfunkel classics. Highlights include 'Still Crazy After All These Years', '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover', 'The Sound Of Silence', 'One-Trick Pony', 'The Boxer' and more. TRACK LISTING 1) Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard 2) Still Crazy After All These Years 3) Ace In The Hole 4) Something So Right 5) One-Trick Pony 6) Jonah 7) 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover 8) Late In The Evening 9) American Tune 10) The Boxer 11) The Sound Of Silence

The Owl Paula

1981 • 37 min • Germany

A young boy is getting ready to start school and can't wait till September 1st.

The Flintstones: Jogging Fever

1981 • 30 min • United States of America

After failing his annual physical, Fred wants to prove to everyone that he is in shape, so he decides to become the first citizen of Bedrock to enter the Rockstone Marathon.

Behind the Scenes: The Making of Ceddo

1981 • 25 min • Senegal

Paulin Vieyra captures Ousmane Sembène, one of the greatest filmmakers of Africa, during the filming of Ceddo. L’Envers du Decor was completed after four years of production. As for Ceddo, it would be censored under the Senghor regime and until 1983 by the Senegalese authorities.

Reggae Music

1981 • 40 min

Documentary about reggae in Jamaica and its history. Filmed in 1979.

From Mr. Gunnar Papphammar

1981 • 47 min • Sweden

The clumsy Gunnar Papphammar, with his gray coat and funny hat, stumbles from one disaster to the next.

101 Dalmatians: A Lesson in Self-Assertion

1981 • 9 min • United States of America

The film teaches how to stand up to a bully through self-assertion.

Trumpeter Anton

1981 • 58 min • East Germany

Anton and his family moved into a high-rise building. In order for the new neighbors to accept his trumpet music, he has to perform a little "miracle" with the instrument.

Taoist Priest of Mount Lao

1981 • 25 min • China

Wang Qi is a lazy scholar who doesn't want to study hard, he only likes reading a book about the adventures of the immortals and dreams about becoming an immortal himself. One day, he dreams that he travelled to Mount Lao where he takes an old Taoist priest as his master, hoping to become an immortal.

Papick, L'Enfant Du Mont Blanc

1981 • 30 min • France

Eleven-year-old Papik (nickname for Yannick Vallençant) dreams of climbing Mont Blanc with his father, Patrick Vallençant. After serious training, the adventure begins: they set off from the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, climb the ridge of the three Mont Blancs, bivouac at the Col de la Brenva, cross the Mur de la Côte and reach the summit of Mont Blanc. No child his age had ever before achieved this feat by this route.

Pikoo

1981 • 26 min • India

A day in the life of a six-year-old child in Calcutta, who lives shut up in the family home, insulated from the city by a park. The father is away at work. The grandfather is alone in his room, ill and confined to his bed. The mother receives her lover.

See What I Say

1981 • 24 min • United States of America

See What I Say is a 1981 American short documentary film produced by Linda Chapman, Pam LeBlanc and Freddi Stevens. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. The subjects of the film are hearing-impaired women who discuss their use of sign language.

Rebuilding an Old Japanese House

1981 • 59 min

Five Japanese carpenters came to Boston that summer to reconstruct a Kyoto silkweaver's 150 year old townhouse that had been packed in crates and shipped to Boston Children's Museum. This first-hand observation of traditional tools and woodworking techniques chronicles the assembly process. In the progress of construction the contractor performed three Shinto housebuilding ceremonies.

Limitless Paradise

1981 • 41 min • Japan

An 8mm animation that was produced by Harada during his high school years.

Guests of the Nation

1981 • 60 min • United States of America

This drama tells the story of Irish insurgents and the captured British soldiers whom they are assigned to guard. While confined to a remote farmhouse the foursome enjoy card playing, jig dancing, and a great deal of amiable bickering. Throughout the conviviality, however, Barney Callahan is haunted by the knowledge that reprisals will be in order if the Irish harm their British captives.

I Am A Viewer You Are A Viewer

1981 • 4 min • Japan

In "I Am A Viewer, You Are A Viewer" the performer plays the double role of the performer and the audience simultaneously, talking to his own shadow. At the end, the performer suggests the audience members move into the light to see themselves in shadow.

Hermeto, the Champ

1981 • 44 min • Brazil

Photographs present Hermeto Paschoal in the middle of the instruments he plays in the studio in his house. The rehearsals where the sounds are discovered and improvisation sets the tone. Hermeto's testimonies on the self-taught construction of his theoretical knowledge about music and his political position on the market. The musicians who are part of his band talk about the joint process of creation and the admiration they feel for the multi-instrumentalist. The creation of Hermetus from the sounds of bees and next to the frods. The use of unusual objects made of iron and the use of the body itself to generate new sounds.

XEX: Live at Hurrah

1981 • 35 min

9-song XEX concert from 1981, recorded live at Hurrah in New York by Merrill Aldighieri.

Transcending Mirror Boundaries

1981 • 8 min • United Kingdom

Episode six in a series of eight short films produced for TV, that sadly was never transmitted. Filmmaker Jon Coley reduced costs by taking on the starring roles, performing both innocent man and evil doppelganger. Jon chose an atmospheric Brian Eno soundtrack to perfectly meld with the action, which was shot in 1981 on location at Prestatyn's High Street and seafront. Coley's mother, Shirley, fully supported her son's endeavours, acting as cameraperson in this film. Jon Coley's inspiration came from watching cult TV series such as 'The Outer Limits', 'The Invaders' and Patrick McGoohan's 'Danger Man'. (BFI)

Ein Zug nach Manhattan

1981 • 59 min • Germany

1952 in a suburb of New York: the pious Leon Sternberger is a cantor in a small Jewish community. One morning, he realizes that he has lost his faith in God. There is simply too much misery and injustice in this world. His friend Schames Rosen advises him to ask Rabbi Markus in Manhattan for advice. In the subway compartment, a young woman wants to take her own life because she cannot forget December 22, 1942 in Utrecht. That was the day her family was deported. On another train, he meets a man who also cannot forget December 22, 1942. The unusual events are connected in an exciting way and shed new light on the question of God's existence despite all the suffering.