Persian Series #5

The Laughing Man

August 2016 •English

The Laughing Man references Scott Snyder’s “Death of the Family” Batman comic and takes place in a psychiatric facility where a new, unidentified arrival is being questioned. Viewers are taken on a tense excursion into brutal, bloody territory as the dialogue unfurls into a high-stakes role reversal.

Shoot Me

September 2013 •English

The Iranian filmmaker Narges Kalhor, daughter of a former advisor of Ahmadinejad's, has been living in exile in Germany for four years. When she hears that the fellow Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi, who is also living in exile in Germany, faces death threats and has to hide because of one of his songs, she doesn't hesitate and has to find him. On her search she encounters fear everywhere. Narges Kalhor has to face her inconvenient memories of suppression, hatred and anger for her past in Iran.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

September 1969 •English

As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.

M*A*S*H

February 1970 •English

The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.

La Jetée

February 1962 •French

A man is sent back and forth and in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a perpetual reminiscence of past events that are recreated on an airport’s viewing pier.

All About Eve

November 1950 •English

From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

March 1895 •French

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

Canned

March 2023 •English

An unhinged vocal coach and his dysfunctional staff struggle to keep the dying art of canned laughter alive.

Island of Lemurs: Madagascar

April 2014 •English

The incredible true story of nature’s greatest explorers—lemurs. Through footage captured with IMAX 3D, audiences go on a spectacular journey to the remote and wondrous world of Madagascar. Join trailblazing scientist Patricia Wright on her lifelong mission to help these strange and adorable creatures survive in the modern world.

The Gift of the Magi

December 1972 •Polish

Aningaaq

October 2013 •English

Aningaaq, an Inuit fisherman camping on the ice over a frozen fjord, talks through a two way radio with a dying astronaut who is stranded in space, 500 kilometers above Earth. Even though he doesn't speak English and she doesn't speak Greenlandic, they manage to have a conversation about dogs, babies, life and death.

Punishment

March 2019 •English

A Story Ark collaboration by Mad Tabby Films in association with Self Films.

Kingdom of Happy Fallacies

August 2020 •English

Shy high schooler Clementine struggles to play it cool when the boy of her dreams befriends her.

Body Text: Our Bones

November 2013 •Portuguese

Heleno walks through the morgue corridor, in search for the missing hustler. Text by Brazilian writer Marcelino Freire.

Geba Geba Shou Time!

March 1986 •Japanese

Anime based on original story by Kinoshita Renzo.

Saurora

July 2016 •English

An underwater rescue mission on a remote planet centered around two co-workers in heavy submersible suits takes shortly an unplanned course.

The Carriage or Dracula & My Mother

April 2014 •English

Ben consciously puts his family in danger to film something momentous. Yet when a twist of fate puts his life in danger instead, only his family can save him.

Justo

November 2019 •Spanish

A young woman proposes to the passengers of a full bus a change in seats. On the trip they will discover that, regardless of the result, it is always good to review the established order.

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.)

Primary

November 1960 •English

Primary is a documentary film about the primary elections between John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in 1960. Primary is the first documentary to use light equipment in order to follow their subjects in a more intimate filmmaking style. This unconventional way of filming created a new look for documentary films where the camera’s lens was right in the middle of what ever drama was occurring. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1998.