The Luggage

The Luggage 1981

1

The Luggage comprises an array of intertwined scenes featuring activities with such props as a TV set, high-heeled shoes, mirror, torch. The film emanates physical tension, accentuated through dynamic editing and the aesthetics of compulsive repetition, characteristic of Sosnowski’s practice. It presents murky explorations, shaky scenes of convulsion, magic rituals with an undertone of eroticism.

1981

The Case of the Spiral Staircase

The Case of the Spiral Staircase 1981

1

A woman walks down a staircase of which the steps gradually become adrift, and change into triangular forms. Spatial and geometric illusions are created by the unusual camerawork and choreography.

1981

Mémoires Filmiques

Mémoires Filmiques 1981

1

A homage to the 80s experimental cinema. A poetic play manifesto about this form of expression that at the moment had a huge development.

1981

Plexi Radar

Plexi Radar 1981

1

Plexi Radar is the act of filming a gyrating motion of a circular plexiglas sculpture, which is then looped by a computer. The image of the sculpture alternately divide in between some hypnotic shots in which subconscious impose the illusion of a constant change of frame.

1981

Citizens Banned

Citizens Banned 1981

1

The last in Phil Munnoch aka Captain Zip's series of 8mm portraits of the London punk scene captures the movement in decline - and Chelsea's last gasp as a bohemian enclave. Zip's extended family of young punks - including Katie Thunder and Wobble - are still a close-knit bunch, defiantly living it up on the Kings Road. But by 1981 they were a tourist attraction, posing for photos with curious straights for a few quid.

1981

Girl Pack

Girl Pack 1981

1

Recently restored, Lisa Baumgardner's punchy Girl Pack rewrites Jean-Luc Godard's famous axiom, proving that all you need to make a film is six girls and and a six-pack of beer.

1981

Old Believers

Old Believers 1981

1

Margaret Hixon's 1981 film documents a real-life wedding in the Old Believer settlements of Marion County, Oregon, in the years 1979 and 1980. The film briefly touches on a wealth of traditional arts (embroidery, clothing construction, weaving, vernacular architecture, folk song and foodways) and beautifully presents a whole series of rituals -- the "devichnik" (engagement party), "selling" the bride and her braid, the wedding feast, the bargaining over the dowry, and the ceremony of bestowing gifts and advice on the newlyweds. In English and Russian with subtitles or voice-over translations.

1981

Joy Unspeakable

Joy Unspeakable 1981

1

Joy Unspeakable is an ethnographic film that examines the question, what does it mean to be Pentecostal, through the documentation of three types of Oneness Pentecostal services in Southern Indiana: a gospel-rock concert, a regular Sunday service, and a camp meeting. Religious behavior, doctrine, and social values are discussed by several Oneness Pentecostal church members and ministers in interviews interspersed with footage of the various services.

1981

The Laziest Girl in Town

The Laziest Girl in Town 1981

1

The Laziest Girl in Town features the transvestite antics of Morrisroe, Stephen Tashjian (Tabboo!), and Jack Pierson, culminating in an obscene sequence reminiscent of John Waters' Pink Flamingos.

1981

Oh, South America!

Oh, South America! 1981

6.00

On 12 July 1981, six small airplanes, flying in perfect formation over Santiago, Chile, dropped 400,000 flyers discussing the relationship between art and society.

1981

Five Billion Years

Five Billion Years 1981

1

This superbly animated science film traces the evolution of North America from the Earth's geophysical beginnings, through the genesis of the first living organisms, right up to the arrival of humans. Radiant colours and smooth-flowing animation evoke sizzling lava rivers, oceans bursting with life, and freezing ice ages. The film provides an excellent view of the time frame within which these remarkable events took place and highlights the fact that, relatively speaking, we are newcomers to Planet Earth.

1981

Landscape and Desire

Landscape and Desire 1981

1

...a "mordantly nostalgic" sojourn across America. A landscape of mute streets, empty rooms and serene fields; the remains of a civilization which has momentarily disappeared.

1981