The Breathers-In

Something New to Die for

August 1993 •English

Portrait of The Church of the SubGenius in scratch, which means high speed cutting, media manipulation. Contains clips from the Arise, the Church's own film about itself (recrutment video), the SubGenius MTV productions, and TV interviews with sacred scribe Rev. Ivan Stang, intercut with a barrage of weird clips from movies and television.

Brain Damage

January 2006 •English

A new film directed by Ira Cohen and produced by BASTET created from never-before-seen original 16mm outtakes, featuring a new soundtrack composed by Will Swofford with the Expanded Instrument System

Neverwhere

July 1968 •English

A meek office worker finds himself flung into a fantasy world as a naked muscleman. An early version of the Den character, known from the comic magazine Heavy Metal and the movie by the same name.

The Liberal War

November 1974 •English

The Vietnam War during the JFK years and beyond. Made in 1972 in the filmmaker's apartment, without documentary footage of the war, metaphors are created through the animation of images and objects, and through guerrilla skits. By rejecting the authority of traditional documentary footage, the anarchist spirit of individual responsibility is established. This is history from one person's point of view, rather than a definitive proclamation.

Bloodlust

November 1999 •German

An attempt to constitute a human / machine dialogue. It shows the filmmaker’s blood as seen / heard with the eyes / ears of the machine which is a film projector with optical sound. He affixed his blood onto clear film leader by cutting into the flesh and then pressing the film leader onto the wound. Additionally he had blood taken with a syringe and afterwards dripped it on the film leader. fresh and clotted blood was used.

Chelsea Girls

September 1966 •English

Lacking a formal narrative, Warhol's mammoth film follows various residents of the Chelsea Hotel in 1966 New York City. The film was intended to be screened via dual projector set-up.

The Lion's Den

January 2017 •English

A group of Staten Island radicals lead by ex-philosophy student Marie and her boozy filmmaker boyfriend Nick attempt to kidnap the CEO of the Leo Corporation but instead accidentally capture Daniel, a nutty small time accountant. With Daniel in custody at their commune, several of the radicals attempt to 'revolutionize the bedroom', an endeavor further complicated by a surprise visit from Marie's tough boy ex-lover Junior.

King of Sanwi

September 2020 •English

A companion piece to Pelourinho: They Don’t Really Care About Us (NYFF57), King of Sanwi continues Akosua Adoma Owusu’s exploration of Michael Jackson as a global pop icon. Here, Michael’s long affinity with the African continent—from the Jackson 5’s arrival in Senegal in 1974 to Michael’s coronation as an Ivorian king in 1992—is captured in vibrant, fuzzy archival video, made visceral by Owusu’s funky audiovisual collage and richly material direct animation effects.

Untitled (Pink Dot)

January 2007 •Japanese

In Untitled (Pink Dot), Murata transforms footage from the Sylvester Stallone film First Blood (1982) into a morass of seething electronic abstraction. Subjected to Murata's meticulous digital reprocessing, the action scenes decompose and are subsumed into an almost palpable, cascading digital sludge, presided over by a hypnotically pulsating pink dot.

Matouqin Nocturne

July 2007 •Japanese

A baby, John, who was abandoned in the church with a horse-headed koto on his side. His grandfather was once a Morin Khuur player and died in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The brilliantly colored images have an avant-garde charm while hiding the sadness of the war, and will grab the viewer's heart.

Not Bad at All

Invalid date •English

Every weekend for six years, Jessica takes a bus from NYC, where she lives and works as a set decorator, to Boston, her hometown, where she cares for her dad, Aloysius, who is 87 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease.

Meditation

December 1971 •English

An abstract experimental short film from Jordan Belson.

Blood Moon's Dance

December 2010 •English

As a lunar eclipse commences, a frantic moon becomes increasingly twitchy as it attempts to hold back the darkness.

Feel Better Fast

January 2016 •English

This film subverts info-mercials designed to promote well-being and turns them into an anxiety-inducing collage.

Environmental Training

September 2016 •Portuguese

The silent film is about a depressive lady of the last century who travels through time to a beach of current times, but ends up coming across a completely polluted environment.

The Lady, or the Tiger?

January 1969 •English

A visually experimental adaptation of the classic Frank Stockton short story.

Qu'est-ce que c'est?

September 2016 •Dutch

An experimental docu-fiction short from hours of collected material shot by the director. Different scenes, from drunk parties with friends to shots of the Dutch landscape during a train ride, are cut together to see if a narrative story can be constructed from nothing but randomly shot footage.

She Had Her Gun All Ready

January 1978 •English

Two women – one passive and resigned, the other aggressive and domineering – interact in various locations in New York city. The film explores the dynamic between them before ending with a showdown at the roller-coaster on Coney Island.

Who?

January 2005 •Hindi

Suggestions of ancient and modern myths and folklore coalesce in dreams to bring alive a colourful animated world.

Noite de Lamentações (Night of Wails)

September 2020 •Portuguese