The Seven Castles of the Devil

The Rear Gunner

April 1943 •English

Documentary-style drama on training of aerial rear gunners in World War II. Private PeeWee Williams, a Kansas farm boy, transforms his home-grown shooting skills into those necessary to an aerial gunner in the tail turret of an American bomber. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

The Weight of Emptiness

September 2011 •English

As a boy floats through the air, his mother struggles to keep him near. While the pair seek liberation from the dark clouds hovering above their heads, their power struggle stems from a lack of comprehension as to what defines them: is the boy her little angel as well as the cause of her grief? Alain Fournier creates an intricate, polished suspense that points to the necessity of being at peace.

After Spring

October 1986 •Norwegian

Two boys, age ten, spend their summer in idyllic rural surroundings. They play in the fields, they swim au natural, and more often than not - - - they find themselves in the company of those very beings that a ten-year-old boy pretends to hate..... girls!

Salome

August 1918 •English

Palestine, under the rule of Rome. Salome, daughter of Herodias and both niece and stepdaughter of King Herod, becomes infatuated with the prophet John the Baptist, who publicly denounces the depravity of the royal family and proclaims the arrival of a new messiah. (Film presumed lost.)

The Gruffalo's Child

December 2011 •English

A follow up to the 2009 animated feature and adapted from the childrens' book by Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler. The Gruffalo's child explores the deep dark wood in search of the big bad mouse and meets the Snake, Owl and Fox in the process. She eventually finds the mouse, who manages to outwit her like the Gruffalo before!

Erotikon

November 1920 •Swedish

Erotikon is a 1920 Swedish romantic comedy film directed by Mauritz Stiller, starring Tora Teje, Karin Molander, Anders de Wahl and Lars Hanson. It is based on the 1917 play A kék róka by Ferenc Herczeg. The story revolves around an entomology professor obsessed with the sexual life of bugs, and his easygoing wife who is courted by two suitors.

7th Heaven

September 1927 •English

In 1910s Paris, a sewer worker disillusioned with Christianity feels his prayers have been answered when he chances upon a street waif and they fall in love.

Man in the Frame

January 1966 •Russian

The way bureaucracy works is told by men in the frames.

Voice of the Nightingale

December 1923 •French

A young girl who has caught a nightingale dreams about the songbird and its mate, and comes to realize that birds are not meant to be captive.

Jack and Old Mac

July 1956 •English

Two stylized nursery rhymes are shown. First is "The House That Jack Built" as told with a variety of characters composed of letters that spell out their names (Example: the cow is made up of an intertwined C, O, and W). Next is "Old MacDonald Had a Band" (no, not farm) in which Old MacDonald and his band give way with a hot jazz number (even his animals play instruments). The piece comes to an end when Old MacDonald's wife is tired of doing all the housework and gives him a swift whack on his head with her rolling pin.

Khalif the Stork

February 1981 •Russian

A rich caliph is leading a careless life. One day an evil wizard sells him a magic potion that can turn human into any animal he wants. The only condition: one mustn't laugh.

The Fern Flower

January 1949 •French

Jeannot, a young boy living in the countryside with his mother and grandfather, ventures into the forest at night to pick a fern flower before the cock crows.

The Little Mermaid

January 1968 •Russian

Rusalochka opens in modern day Copenhagen, Denmark. Several tourists gather around the capital's famous mermaid statue, as a tour guide explains its significance. A fish in the water below the tourists scoffs at their foolishness, and then, proceeds to tell about the doomed love of the mermaid. Upon reaching her 15th birthday, the Little Mermaid is allowed to swim up to the surface above. As soon as she does, however, the Mermaid spots a young prince caught up in a dreadful storm. She admires the man's bravery and decides to save him, declaring that, "The beautiful and the brave should not perish." After the mermaid returns to the ocean, she decides that she wants to become human.

Cinderella

December 1979 •Russian

The Cinderella story.

The Tale of the Fisherman and the Goldfish

December 1950 •Russian

The tale about an old, henpecked man whose new friend fulfills all desires of his wife.

The Frog Princess

December 1954 •Russian

A prince discovers an enchanted beauty turned into a frog by Koschei the Immortal. After Koschei steals her again, the prince goes on a dangerous quest to free the land of the evil.

Cinderella

January 1922 •German

Lotte Reiniger's interpretation of Grimm's recorded version of Aschenputtel (Cinderella) from 1922.

The Little Chimney Sweep

June 1955 •English

The Collected Shorts of Jan Svankmajer

June 2003 •English

For the past 40 years, Jan Svankmajer (Faust, Conspirators of Pleasure) has been hailed as one of cinema's most consistently surprising, wildly imaginative, and remarkable surrealists of our time. Utilizing a delirious combination of puppets, humans, stop-motion animation, and live action, Svankmajer's films conjure up a dreamlike universe that is at once dark, macabre, witty, and perversely visceral. KimStim (and Kino) is proud to to offer this collection of remarkable short works from an artist that has mesmerized audiences the world over and has inspired filmmakers from the Brothers Quay to Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam.

Death in the Seine

November 1989 •English

Between 1795 and 1801, 306 drowned people were recovered from the Seine river, near Paris. Peter Greenaway propouns a historical approach were 25 significant cases of drownings are catalogued, dissected and elaborated, with multilayered visuals and 'documentary' asides.