All Films

The First Violin

1958 • 20 min • Soviet Union

Voyage en Boscavie

1958 • 9 min

The Tale About Malchish-Kibalchish

1958 • 20 min • Soviet Union

The Last Day of Summer

1958 • 59 min • Poland

A subtle tale of a confrontation between two lonely people, one from which true understanding cannot seemingly result.

The Story of H.M.S. Shannon

1958 • 7 min • Canada

This animated short describes an incident in the War of 1812. Here, colourful drawings give a satirical twist to the engagement between a British ship, the H.M.S. Shannon, and an American ship, the U.S.S. Chesapeake. Sung to guitar accompaniment by Canadian folksinger Tom Kines.

Three Lines to Milan

1958 • 25 min • Italy

"Documentary, showing workmen erecting one of the pylons and stringing up three cables which will eventually reach to Milan." - BFI

Dr. Gu’s New Discovery

1958 • 19 min • China

Dr. Gu finds a fly, but he didn't recognize it, thinking it was a newly discovered bug in the world.

Gestes du repas

1958 • 23 min • Belgium

This ethnographic film sends us the image of the man who eats, a stark look at Belgium. We spend about one-eighth of our days eating. Luc de Heusch films these repetitive gestures that seem trivial, yet reveal so much of a particular culture and a civilization. From morning to night, from the market installation to dinner, from the daily and fast meal to the feast, the ethnologist is interested in all social classes. Originally, an attempt of cinematographic ethnography, neutral and distant, intended to define the Belgians by the way they eat. In fact, Luc de Heusch films his contemporaries as if they were Papuans.

At the Crossroads

1958 • 10 min • Soviet Union

The Knot in the Handkerchief

1958 • 15 min • Czechoslovakia

A boy makes a knot in his handkerchief to remind himself to repair his leaky faucet. The handkerchief, however, is alive and kicking, and flees from its pocket to explore the outside world. The boy gets distracted by a game of soccer, forgetting the faucet. In the meantime, the handkerchief meets other pieces of fabric that come to life.

The Mountain of Flames

1958 • 35 min • China

It is said that on this day, the Tang monk, master and apprentice went through thousands of mountains and rivers, and came to a place called Flame Mountain. The flames here stretched for hundreds of miles, blocking the road to the west. It turned out that Sun Dasheng made a disturbance in the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago and knocked over the alchemy furnace of the Supreme Lord. The true fire of samadhi descended from the sky, accomplishing another tribulation on the path of learning the scriptures. Tang Seng is frowning, Zhu Bajie retreats before the battle, and Monkey King plans to ask the wife of the Bull Demon King to extinguish the fire with a plantain fan.

Llano adentro

1958 • 40 min • Venezuela

Documentary that tells the story of a group of laborers who live on the banks of the Amazon.

Turn the Other Cheek

1958 • 14 min

Molly's upset now her best friends Carol and Sue can't play together. Molly's dad suggests that the catty squabble can be solved by following Jesus's advice to "turn the cheek."

Miss Thompson Goes Shopping

1958 • 23 min • United Kingdom

Adaptation of Martin Armstrong's poem about an elderly lady who becomes perturbed by something we can't see. It becomes apparent that she is looking for her past, lost in a memory or the clutches of nostalgia. Miss Thompson's shopping trip to town is in chaotic contrast to the tranquil nature of her lonely home, which on return seems like paradise.

Train 406

1958 • 28 min

This short documentary offers a step-by-step account of a fast freight train on a run from Toronto to Halifax, with glimpses of the vast amount of organization necessary in the operation of a country-wide transportation network.

Gelati

1958 • 20 min • Soviet Union

Lana Gogoberidze's thesis film about Gelati Monastery, a medieval monastic complex near Kutaisi in the Imereti region of western Georgia.

Les hommes de la baleine

1958 • 25 min • France

In a small fishermen's village in the Azores, an enormous whale is being jointed, carved and stocked. Once this task is over, the whalers ready themselves for another hunt, a fascinating but trying and dangerous experience...

The Old Man and the Crane

1958 • 10 min • Soviet Union

A crane and other magical creatures save a poor fisherman from a greedy miller. Based on Russian folk tales.

Leukada, the Island of the Poets

1958 • 16 min

Considered the first creative documentary in Greek cinematic history, this short homage shot by Roviros Manthoulis as his debut film on the island of Lefkada in 1958, commissioned by the Hellenic Press Office, is nothing short of a voyage through a land that takes the poetry of everyday life as its guide, since every image – be it sweeping or small – of this stunningly beautiful island is “translated” via the voice-over into a story forged from many ages of myths and traditions.

Roundabout

1958 • 15 min

A man enters a restaurant and, after trying and failing to attract the attentions of the waiter, an absurd battle of wills commences.

Rusty and the Falcon

1958 • 46 min • United States of America

Rusty is a 12-year-old boy who lives in a remote Rocky Mountain mining town. With few friends his own age, he has developed a fantasy world which manifests itself in the abandoned mine shaft where he plays every day. It is here that the boy finds an injured falcon, whom he ultimately restores to health and grooms as a hunting bird.

Sportland

1958 • 18 min • Soviet Union

Golden Stalks

1958 • 20 min • Soviet Union

Yanko and Olesya are looking for the Wind, on which their harvest depends.

The City’s Unknown

1958 • 13 min • Italy

The life, the problems, the hopes of the ragazzi of the suburbs of Rome. Ignored by the city, these young men spontaneously express their vitality, their violence, their willingness to put themselves at risk. They are at the center of "Ragazzi di vita", the first novel by Pier Paolo Pasolini, author of the text of this documentary.