The Abyss

Dark Side Of The Lens

August 2010 •English

An stunning Visual insight into the mind and world of renowned Surfing Cinematographer Mickey Smith.

Land Without Bread

December 1933 •Spanish

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

When the Century Took Shape (War and Revolution)

July 1978 •French

In 1978, just after Le fond de l'Air Est Rouge, which mercilessly analyzed the previous ten years of the revolutionary left's momentum until its collapse, Chris Marker made this complementary piece entitled Quand le Siècle a Pris Forme (Guerre et Révolution).

Art Through Our Eyes

October 2016 •Malay

As an omnibus of short films, Art Through Our Eyes is inspired by the art collection found at the National Gallery Singapore. Each of the five directors – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Brillante Mendoza, Eric Khoo, Ho Yuhang and Joko Anwar – handpicked a masterpiece from the 19th and 20th century as inspiration for their short films.

Weaving Women

December 1905 •Macedonian

A group of Macedonian women are shown hard at work.

Night and Fog

April 1959 •French

Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

Antigravitation

January 1995 •Lithuanian

An isolated village in the Lithuanian countryside. Seated in her house, an elderly woman recites an old folk story. Then she climbs up the tall ladder that takes her to the rooftop of the church.

R. F. Outcault Making a Sketch of Buster and Tige

March 1904 •English

Buster Brown creater R.F. Outcault sketches his creation. Part of the Buster Brown series for Edison film studio.

PRESENCE

November 2023 •English

Presence narrates the journey of Thati, a woman determined to overcome her anxiety attacks through surfing. She finds refuge in the waves, where the surfboard becomes her ally and personal therapy.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

June 1896 •French

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Going Dark: The Final Days of Film Projection

June 2013 •English

Hollywood has made up their minds, forcing theaters to convert to digital or go dark. As theaters around the world change to newer digital technology, the job of the 35mm film projectionist is becoming irrelevant. Going Dark profiles two theater projectionists during their final days on the job.

Calligraphie Japonaise

January 1958 •French

In a comparative study between different forms of calligraphy, the film traces parallels between modern Japanese painting and traditional Japanese writing.

Fajr

April 2019 •Arabic

In the Moroccan desert night dilutes forms and silence slides through sand. Dawn starts then to draw silhouettes of dunes while motionless figures punctuate landscape. From night´s abstraction, light returns its dimension to space and their volume to bodies. Stillness concentrates gaze and duration densify it. The adhan -muslim call to pray- sounds and immobility, that was condensing, begins to irradiate. And now the bodies are those which dissolves into the desert.

Scum Manifesto

January 1976 •French

Delphine Seyrig reads passages from a Valerie Solanas’s SCUM manifesto.

Actress Quarentine

February 2020 •English

The life of actress Alina Nastase in Quarentine.

En dehors de vos murs

June 2024 •French

Arabian Coffee

January 1968 •Spanish

'Coffea arábiga' was sponsored as a propaganda documentary to show how to sow coffee around Havana. In fact, Guillén Landrián made a film critical of Castro, exhibited but banned as soon as the coffee plan collapsed.

Lipstick

September 1994 •English

With an off beat sense of humour, the film looks at the politics and glamour of lipstick and the dilemmas of the modern woman in a marketed world.

Loyal to My Image

April 1992 •English

Through one woman's experience as an adopted person and also as a mother who relinquished her child in 1971, this documentary highlights the many complex issues associated with adoption.

When Darkness Came: The Making of 'The Mist'

March 2008 •English

Behind the scenes documentary on the making of the film.