All Films

Brussels Loops

1958 • 60 min • United States of America

A collection of twenty short films, averaging 2-3 minutes, by various filmmakers depicting American life, intended to be shown in a continuous loop at the American Pavilion of the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Some releases of the film include ten extra minutes of rough cuts.

Alone

1958 • 13 min • Yugoslavia

Harassed by the day, he runs away in the evening from people and town. He crawls into his little room to sleep. The dream is bringing him the limitless and quiet spaces of solitude. At last, he is alone and free. But the solitude engenders the fear.

Western Brigade

1958 • 30 min • Canada

This short dramatic film illustrates a cooperative program of fire protection that was carried out across Alberta in the late 1950s. It presents the problems inherent in a voluntary fire brigade, as well as the everyday heroes who step up and get the job done. The film is an entertaining look at how a crew that was once considered to be the joke of the town can evolve into the best fire brigade in the West.

A Walk in the Old City of Warsaw

1958 • 18 min • Poland

Little heroine, a music school student, wanders through the backstreets of Warsaw's Old Town and discovers a world to which others have no access. It is a world of extraordinariness and beauty of sounds. And these are sounds that are the most important thing for the girl – the hubbub of children, the sounds of the street, the puffing of a tractor, the tuning of an organ, the sweeping of a broom and the sound of jets flying overhead.

Understanding Others

1958 • 12 min • United States of America

As members of the high school press club await the announcement of their new editor-in-chief, they silently judge one another based on appearances and social standing. The film emphasizes that people should be valued for their true abilities and character rather than economic background or popularity, concluding with guided discussion questions.

Women at Work

1958 • 22 min • Canada

An introduction to the employment picture in Canada in the late 1950s, designed to inform potential immigrants of job opportunities existing for women. The film reviews many fields of work in which women are engaged, ranging from the highly specialized to the unskilled, and shows much of it being performed by women who have come to Canada from many different lands. Placement services and information services established to help newly arrived immigrants are shown in operation. Viewed from a modern perspective, the greater part of the film accepts as normal the waste of women's talents in repetitive or service jobs while elevating this work to the status of a career. Currently distributed only in 13-minute abridged form.

Klempo

1958 • 38 min • Yugoslavia

Holiday adventures of schoolboys spending their time on an airport taking flying lessons with sport planes.

The Grapevine

1958 • 7 min • United States of America

Illustrates the significance of communications between management and clerical groups within an office.

Magoo’s Three-Point Landing

1958 • 7 min

Magoo’s car breaks down on an airport runway.

Un américain

1958 • 17 min • France

An American sculptor, passioned by literature, comes to Paris to perfect his art, but ends up with barely no money, and to survive has to sell The New York Herald Tribune, at night, to his compatriots. A look at the bohemian Parisian life of the fifties.

What Shall We Do Now?

1958 • 20 min • Sweden

Deals with young people dealing and using drugs of all kind.

Andacollo

1958 • 30 min • Chile

Detailed record of the celebration of the day of the Virgin of Andacollo, a feast that takes place between December 23 and 27 in the city of Andacollo, located in the Coquimbo Region, Chile. The arrival of the pilgrims, the way to the temple, and the beginning of the procession of the Virgin through the town, along with the dances of the numerous brotherhoods that gather. Then, the penitences for completed errands, other activities around the festivity and, finally, the departure of the pilgrims.

Anna the Maid

1958 • 5 min • Belgium

Short film by Harry Kümel based upon a poem by Jean Cocteau.

A Misunderstanding

1958 • 12 min • Yugoslavia

The local postal service makes a mistake delivering a small figurative sculpture to a miller and a miller stone to a museum. The museum curator, not aware of the mistake, starts celebrating this abstract shape, influencing even the local artists to imitate that kind of shapes when portraying people.

Die Geschichte vom armen Hassan

1958 • 60 min • East Germany

The land in poor Hassan's Central Asian homeland is stony and lacks water. Every day, he gazes longingly at the well in the garden of the rich merchant Machmud, which is full to the brim. One day, Hassan's parrot sits on the edge of the well and is attacked by Machmud's guard dog. To save his only friend, Hassan has to kill the dog. The cadi then sentences him to take the place of the guard dog, chained up. When a horse is stolen, he also has to do its work. The slave girl Fatima is his only ray of hope. But even she cannot persuade him to flee, as his place seems predestined by Allah. Only an overheard deal between the merchant and the cadi makes Hassan realize that the world order is dictated by the rich.

Om Ad Po

1958 • 10 min

Short movie by Giulio Questi about "men of the Po" who have abandoned their families and decided to leave their homes to live as a sort of homeless man in a hermitage on the banks of the river, content with what the waves bring them.

Return of the Monster Maker

1958 • 4 min

Having escaped death (The Frankenstein Story) Doctor Frankenstein makes the decision to create a new monster. He sends Ygor and the original monster to find fresh body parts, whether from the gallows or from the living. With these new parts, the doctor creates a new monster. Unfortunately, the new monster is given a half decayed face. The new monster goes berserk, killing everybody in its path. It attempts to kill the doctor, Ygor and the original monster. The only way to stop it was for the Doctor to turn on the gas, that would kill them all.

From Powisle

1958 • 10 min • Poland

A documentary depicting the Warsaw district of Powiśle where time has stopped. One of several films made by Kazimierz Karabasz included in the "black series" of Polish documentaries. Featuring a commentary typical for documentaries of the second half of the 1950s, it is distinguished by penetrating observation and lyricism.

Glamador

1958 • 48 min • France

Fafai, a young boy, lives with his grandfather on the island of Glamador in the Camargue. To help the old man who can no longer work, Fafai finds a job as a caretaker. He must tame wild horses. But during a storm, they escape and swim to the island of Glamador. Fafai leaves for the island to bring back the herd... Glamador is none other than the island on which Folco and Crin-Blanc end up arriving after their escape, told in Crin-Blanc. This film is the sequel to “Crin Blanc”.

The Girl in the Picture

1958 • 32 min • Japan

Obayashi 8mm short about a man who reminisces about a girl in his past (played by Obayashi's soon-to-be wife Kyoko)

Grandma’s Jujube Tree

1958 • 11 min • China

In the morning, the chirping of the sparrows woke up the old woman. After getting up, the old woman packed a basket full of dates and left home. After a while, the weather turned cloudy and it started to rain. When the rain stopped, the ground was covered with dates. The hedgehog who had just experienced the wind and rain saw the jujube, rolled over excitedly and stabbed himself with thorns, ready to carry it home.

Beloeil

1958 • 18 min • Belgium

Is this documentary actually about the magnificent palace of Beloeil, owned for generations by the princes of Ligne and about its splendid park? Or is it about those who visit it and those who having fun in its park on a Saturday afternoon? Both actually, because Edmond Bernhard never visits a place without taking an interest in the people present there.

The Yellow Loves

1958 • 9 min

Short film from French director Jean Rollin with poetry by Tristan Corbière's (1845-1875).

Love Requited

1958 • 9 min • Poland

About the work of the naive painter J. Plaskocinski. A playful tale about the requited love of a shy young man.