All Films

Tortoise and the Hare

1979 • 15 min • United States of America

The short is described as a "Road Runner film" adaptation of the fable, with the tortoise being a villain trying to capture the hare. It also introduces new characters along the way, such as a donkey, a bird, and fly. The short concludes with the race ending in a five-way tie. (Lost media)

O M da Minha Mão

1979 • 9 min • Brazil

A documentary on Brazilian musician Mario Gennari and the bond between his music's sonority and the public space of the streets of São Paulo.

The Land Where the Blues Began

1979 • 58 min • United States of America

An exploration of the musical and social origins of the blues, shot on location in Mississippi in 1978 by Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long in association with the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television and broadcast on PBS in 1980. This re-release in 2009 includes two hours of additional music.

William Blake and the Poet's Journey

1979 • 5 min

A short animated history of the works of William Blake.

How the Table Was Carried

1979 • 8 min • Soviet Union

The animals did not know how to properly carry the table, then they asked a little girl, to whom her parents gave colored pencils. She began to draw and explain everything perfectly to them in pictures.

Почему ослик заупрямился?

1979 • 8 min • Soviet Union

Welcome Back, Norman

1979 • 9 min • United States of America

Another disturbing glimpse at a day in the life of pitiful bumbler Norman Krasner. Returning home from a business trip, a visibly weary Norman must negotiate the baggage check and an airport parking lot. Mundane tasks for most, but for Norman a blank canvas soon to be smeared with failure. This time Norman does rate his own theme song, in the form of a bored singer-songwriter droning out the humdrum details of Norman's life.

Ocana, der Engel der in der Qual singt

1979 • 10 min • France

Legendary drag performer Ocaña in performance with a cardboard Marilyn on the west side of the Berlin Wall.

Ef

1979 • 4 min • United States of America

An eternal flame.

Children of Palestine

1979 • 35 min • Palestinian Territory

One of the many films Monica Maurer and Samir Nimer made for the PLO.

Six Days in September

1979 • 35 min • United Kingdom

Arena profiles John Hoyland, seen by many as England's finest abstract painter. As a major retrospective of his work opens in London, Hoyland faces hostile criticism, starts a new painting and explains why, in his bleaker moments, painting can seem little more than ' flicking away in a corner with a feather duster '.

Elbowing

1979 • 7 min

A man expresses his individuality in a conformist society.

Un sanglant symbole

1979 • 20 min • France

Un sanglant symbole is two films: the film of the image and the film of the voice. The film of the image was shot before the film of the voice. The film of the image is the reproduction of 160 photographs (of films, advertisements, news ...) filmed in variable durations (more and more slowly, then more and more quickly). What do we see? Looks. Hand gestures. The film of the voice is not a comment. Neither a voice-over: in no way does this voice have such a status and even less the character of an exhibit for a better understanding of the film. On the contrary, she perverts, disturbs, worries.

O Kimbanda Kambia

1979 • 41 min • Angola

Two meetings in 1978 with Kimbanda Kambia, a traditional healer in rural southern Angola. Kimbanda shows the place where he treats and prepares medicines, the women who help him with these preparations, and talks about his practice - how he treats cases of madness, epilepsy, spirit and witchcraft possession.

Cildo Meireles

1979 • 11 min • Brazil

A Brazilian avant-garde film matching the image of John Wayne on horseback to incongruous discourse in Portuguese.

The Ballad Of Annabel Lee

1979 • 59 min • United States of America

Unarius’ most controversial video work: the banned, pre-Civil War-era yarn The Ballad of Annabelle Lee! Whilst reliving one of her many past life experiences, Uriel becomes the Southern belle, Annabelle Lee. Meanwhile her nice white boy assistant gets demoted to her black mammy and is forced to wear black face and drag. Racial strife ensues on the riverboat, The Robert E. Lee, resulting in the tragic demise of all concerned. Of course, dems gots plenty mo’ lives t’ live. The ultimate in New Age logic, complete with blackface.

Five Improvisations

1979 • 4 min

The diagrammatic space first entered in Diagram Film becomes the stage for temporal, rhythmic, informational and spatial play with a single diagram (a 144-drawing cycle) that refers to the film and animation process, animation history, specific filmmakers and other encoded data. The arrangement of the drawings for each of the five sequences was improvised on the animation during the act of shooting, creating five variations and possible readings of the animated composition.

Al Neil: A Portrait

1979 • 40 min • Canada

An award winning 45-minute film portrait of Al Neil’s life, music and art. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

Bermuda Triangle

1979 • 7 min • Poland

The box from the film strip becomes an arbitrary plot of action relating to the mysterious phenomena taking place in the Bermuda Triangle. Experimental short by Jerzy Kalina.

Mend

1979 • 5 min

Is it happening in the screening room or on the screen; in a snowstorm or inside; what isn't surrounding and what is? From filming Ann sewing, on a grey winter day. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.

We’re out of the woods and songs

1979 • 16 min

Folk masters carve sculptures and recount memories in memory of the burned Ablinga villagers.

Poèmes électriques

1979 • 15 min

A film by Guy Gilles

The Motion Picture Camera

1979 • 33 min • United States of America

The history and development of motion picture machinery is lovingly and authoritatively presented and narrated by ASC cinematographer and film preservationist, Karl Malkames, using actual early motion picture cameras from 'The Malkames Collection'.

Food Doesn't Fly: Lunchroom Manners

1979 • 8 min

Children of the fourth grade take you through a typical lunch period - from washing hands to putting garbage in the trash barrel.