Katami (original title) | Nobuhiko Ôbayashi | Japan | 1963 | Short, 17 min

November 1, 2013

Appreciation Rating:  7.3 

José Val del Omar | Spain | 1961 | Short, 23 min

November 1, 2013

Appreciation Rating:  7.2 

อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล | 2013 | Short, 20 min

July 9, 2013

Appreciation Rating:  8.4 

La coquille et le clergyman (original title) | Germaine Dulac | France | 1927 | Short, 31 min

October 28, 2012

The Seashell and the Clergyman. Directed by Germaine Dulac (1882-1942). Shot June-September 1927. Premiere at Ciné-Club de France October 25, 1927. First theatrical exhibition February 9, 1928 at Studio des Ursulines, Paris. Scenario by Antonin Artuad, revised by Dulac. Photographed by Paul Guichard. Edited and special effects by Paul Parguel. Cast: Alex Allin (clergyman), Lucien Bataille (general), Gênica Athanasiou (woman).

In this independent production, often regarded as the first surrealist film, Dulac employs dream-like environments to probe the mind of a cleric whose religious vows frustrate his sexual impulses. It was originally banned by the British Board of Censors, which issued the statement that "the film is so cryptic as to be almost meaningless. If there is a meaning, it is doubtless objectionable."

"The film is composed of a series of episodes using Freudian imagery to express the clergyman's mental anguish. Antonin Artaud, dissatisfied with the way Dulac handled his script, incited against her at the Studio des Ursulines. Despite Artaud's dissatisfaction, Dulac's film is a sincere and honest experiment whose sequences in the streets of Paris are especially notable."

—French film historian Georges Sadoul

Peter Greenaway | UK | 1978 | Short, 12 min

October 21, 2012

Peter Greenaway | UK | 1976 | Short, 17 min

October 21, 2012

Jean Painlevé | France | 1939-45 | Short, 9 min

October 20, 2012

Directed by Jean Painlevé (1902-1989). Cinematography by André Raymond. Music by Duke Ellington ("Echoes of the Jungle").

The doyen of French scientific filmmakers, Painlevé was a specialist in scientific documentaries which became popular with experimental filmmakers and surrealists, who were taken with their wit and the director's eye for mysterious and bizarre details, bringing his own form of poetry and fantasy to his films. An active militant during the Occupation, he fought against the Nazis as a member of the Underground.

Le Vampire begins with clips of animals known for sucking or squeezing their prey dry. After a few shots from Murnau's 1921 Nosferatu, the first significant vampire film, Painlevé introduces his film's star, the South American vampire bat. The bat approaches a guinea pig, seems to kiss it, numbing it, and then begins sucking on its cheek. The guinea pig sits calmly while its blood is drained by the bat. At the end, the bat extends one of his wings in what looks like the Nazi "Heil Hitler" salute. The blood-sucking bat is clearly a metaphor for Nazism.