The Four Feathers

The Mills in Joy and Sorrow

May 1912 •Dutch

A hobo takes revenge to a miller who didn't give him something to eat.

Black Magic

July 1929 •English

On a South Seas island, "three white derelicts drink away memories of the past. After many adventures during which a girl enters the picture, the three are rehabilitated and everything turns out happily."

Carmen

September 1921 •Spanish

Birth of Shri Krishna

May 1918 •Hindi

This film begins with the invocation of 'almighty god' at a river where several people are gathered. The child god Krishna rises out of the water astride the demon snake Kaliya. Then we see Yashoda as she rocks the sleeping Krishna's crib and imagines the god as Gopala. The next scene shows Kamsa fantasizing about Krishna threateningly duplicated many times around him. Kamsa then imagines himself dead as his severed head rises up and descends again. People of all castes pay obeisance to the deity with the title-card: 'may this humble offering be accepted by the Lord'.

Four Feathers

May 1915 •English

A British army officer refuses to avenge the death of a general who was murdered years earlier. He is awarded three feathers by his officers. When his fiancée fails to defend his stance, he plucks a feather from her fan. He proves his courage by rescuing his comrades in dangerous and life-threatening situations. Later he returns each feather as proof of his redemption and courage.

Limite

May 1931 •Portuguese

Adrift in the vast expanse of the ocean, a solitary boat carries three castaways—a man and two women. Stranded and devoid of any glimmer of rescue, they find solace in recounting the tales of their lives to one another. As they delve into their personal narratives, reminiscing about the circumstances that led them to this desolate predicament, they navigate through the depths of three distinct destinies. Bound by the confines of their shared space, every aspect of their existence becomes a boundary, underscoring their plight.

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.

Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray

May 2024 •English

An immersion into the surreal and dreamlike world of painter, photographer and filmmaker Man Ray (1890-1976), one of the most prolific American visual artists, through four of his short films, brought to life by the atmospheric music of SQÜRL.

The Triplets of Belleville

June 2003 •French

When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her beloved pooch Bruno team up with the Belleville Sisters—an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire—to rescue him.

Love of a State Councillor

November 1915 •Russian

Silent film from 1915 which draws on the story of Carmen

The Joyless Street

March 1925 •German

In 1921, we follow two women - Marie and Grete - from the same poor Viennese neighborhood, as they try to better the lives of themselves and their families during the period of Austrian postwar hyperinflation.

Spring in the South

January 1932 •Chinese

To please his dying father, Hong Yu, a college student, is forced to abandon his girlfriend, Little Hong, and marry his cousin, with disastrous results.

The Hope

September 1920 •English

An upper class melodrama.

Paseo por una guerra antigua

January 1949 •Spanish

Madrid, Spain. A mutilated man, a war veteran, walks, leaning on a crutch, through the stadium of the Ciudad Universitaria, a place that still preserves in walls and buildings the terrifying traces of one of the bloodiest battles of the Spanish Civil War.

Wedding Festivities

September 1913 •Chinese

The film tells the story of a man and woman who don't know each other. After being matched by a matchmaker, after going through a series of red tape, they were sent to the bridal chamber and began a difficult life as a couple. Despite the primitive shooting methods and lack of training of the actors, the film has a very important place in the history of Chinese film. The film has now been lost.

The Aerial

April 2007 •Spanish

An entire city has lost its voice. Mr. TV, the owner of the city's only television channel, is carrying out a sinister plan to control all of the city's inhabitants.

Dingjun Mountain

December 1905 •Chinese

Directed by Ren Jingfeng.

Three Mirrors Creature's Flashes of Flesh

December 2023 •Italian

In the aftermath of an emotional shock, a ruthless high-class manager faces her own abyss, becomes pervaded by a sensory spirit and undertakes a purifying voyage.

The Mistletoe Bough

November 1904 •English

During a game of hide and seek, a new bride hides in a chest and remains undiscovered until a strange visitation thirty years later.

Diary of a Lost Girl

September 1929 •German

Thymian Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world.