Migrating Forms

Closed Vagina

November 1963 •Japanese

Adachi's follow-up to Bowl using the figure of a woman suffering from an unusual sexual aliment has often been taken as a controversial allegory for the political stalemate of the Leftist student movement after their impressive wave of massive fiery protests failed to defeat the neo-imperialist Japan-US Security Treaty. The ritualistic solemnity of the charged sexual scenes contribute to the oneiric qualities of Closed Vagina which Adachi would later insist was an open work, not meant to deliver any kind of deliberate political message. - Harvard Film Archive

The Illiac Passion

December 1967 •English

Prometheus, on an Odyssean journey, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge in search of the characters of his imagination. After meeting the Muse, he proceeds to the "forest." There, under an apple tree, he communes with his selves, represented by celebrated personages from the New York "underground scene" who appear as modern correlatives to the figures of Greek mythology. The filmmaker, who narrates the situations with a translation of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, finds the personalities of his characters to have a timeless universality.

Joshua

January 2007 •English

The arrival of a newborn girl causes the gradual disintegration of the Cairn family; particularly for 9-year-old Joshua, an eccentric boy whose proper upbringing and refined tastes both take a sinister turn.

Jacob's Ladder

November 1990 •English

After returning home from the Vietnam War, veteran Jacob Singer struggles to maintain his sanity. Plagued by hallucinations and flashbacks, Singer rapidly falls apart as the world and people around him morph and twist into disturbing images. His girlfriend, Jezzie, and ex-wife, Sarah, try to help, but to little avail. Even Singer's chiropractor friend, Louis, fails to reach him as he descends into madness.

Astronaut's Uniform

March 2021 •Russian

Mockumentary experimental film, which shows one day in the life of a young man. The action takes place on the Day of Soviet Cosmonautics, April 12, one of the last years of the USSR. Outside the window, it is gradually getting warmer, the onset of spring is felt, promising hope for the possibility of changes in the country. The hero of the film is fond of space. The young man, who idolizes Gagarin, is engaged in reconstruction, making the uniform in which the cosmonaut walked in the prime of his glory. Our hero is also a film enthusiast. He makes films with stories of space flights and shows them to his friends. The film is stylized as amateur films of the 1980s and was shot on a 16-mm color film made by the company" Svema", made in the Soviet Union. The quality of this film allows the viewer to fully immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the time of the film, which is dedicated to Soviet cosmonautics and Edward D. Wood Jr.

American Torso

January 1975 •Hungarian

In the final days of the American Civil War, an emigre Hungarian military officer attempts to map the situation of the enemy. Many veterans of the 1848 War of Independence in Hungary fought on the northern side. Experienced Fiala, Boldogh who struggles with homesickness and the reckless Vereczky all experience their enforced emigration in different ways and news of impending peace elicits different reactions from them all.

Hysteria

October 1997 •English

Legendary actor Patrick McGoohan turns his famous character from THE PRISONER upside down as the psychiatrist in charge of an insane asylum. He has connected his inmates into a group mind where they share each other's psychoses, dreams and sexuality with all the scary and titillating implications imaginable! Like his highly acclaimed cult classic MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, director Rene Daalders provocative excursion into sci fi-horror filmmaking looks at first glance like a classic grindhouse movie, but it is up to much more. In addition to its operatic mayhem, HYSTERIA is a mind-expanding reflection on individual vs. group consciousness, power, control, and freedom.

Those Who Walk Away

February 2022 •English

Max and Avery go on their first date after meeting on a social media app. Their evening takes a perilous turn when they end up at a local haunted house, the home of ‘Rotcreep’, a sinister creature that rots your body and soul with one touch.

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

July 1987 •English

The final 17 years of American singer and musician Karen Carpenter, performed almost entirely by modified Barbie dolls.

Begotten

June 1991 •English

Begotten is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth.

The Big Departure

November 1972 •French

This is the only feature directed by the famed French painter and sculptor Martial Raysse. In keeping with the revolutionary spirit of the time, the movie has no plot to speak of and appears to have been largely made up on the spot. We follow the cat man into a bizarre fantasy universe presented in negative exposure that reverses color values (black is white and vice versa) and written words. The cat man steals a car and then picks up a young girl he promises to take to “Heaven.” Heaven turns out to be a country chateau inhabited by several more animal mask wearing weirdoes...

Dyketactics

January 1974 •English

Born in Los Angeles but a New Yorker by choice, Barbara Hammer is a whole genre unto herself. Her pioneering 1974 short film Dyketactics, a four-minute, hippie wonder consisting of frolicking naked women in the countryside, broke new ground for its exploration of lesbian identity, desire and aesthetic.

Rock, Paper and Scissors

August 2019 •Spanish

Jesus and Maria José live together in the grand house that belonged to their recently deceased father. Their playful routine is disrupted when Magdalena, their half sister on their dad’s side, returns from Spain asking for her share of the inheritance. What are they going to do about this interloper into their dangerous folie à deux?

Friend of the World

August 2020 •English

After a catastrophic global war, a young filmmaker awakens in the carnage and seeks refuge in the only other survivor: an eccentric, ideologically opposed figure of the United States military. Together, they brave the toxic landscape in search of safety... and answers.

Rey

November 2017 •Spanish

In the nineteenth century, a French adventurer sets off to establish a kingdom in the inhospitable South of Chile, uniting the feared Mapuche under him. The response of the Chilean army is devastating.

Kataksha

June 2019 •Urdu

Razor Blades

January 1968 •English

In Razor Blades, Paul SHARITS consciously challenges our eyes, ears and minds to withstand a barrage of high powered and often contradictory stimuli. In a careful juxtaposition and fusion of these elements on different parts of our being, usually occurring simultaneously, we feel at times hypnotised and re-educated by some potent and mysterious force.

Black Mountain Side

January 2016 •English

A group of archaeologists uncover a strange structure in Northern Canada, dating over ten thousand years before the present. The team finds themselves isolated when their communication systems fail and it's not long before they begin to feel the effects of the solitude.

The Tenant

May 1976 •English

A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in Paris where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.

Bear

January 1993 •

Bear (10 minutes, 35 seconds) was Steve McQueen's first major film. Although not an overtly political work, for many viewers it raises sensitive issues about race, homoeroticism and violence. It depicts two naked men – one of whom is the artist – tussling and teasing one another in an encounter which shifts between tenderness and aggression. The film is silent but a series of stares, glances and winks between the protagonists creates an optical language of flirtation and threat.