Correspondances

East, West, Home

PTSD911

First Responders sign up to serve; they risk their lives and their mental health to respond to someone’s worst day. Who will rescue them? PTSD911 is a documentary film about real people: normal, average human beings who have chosen to work in professions that require above average heroism, fortitude, and resolve. These men and women have jobs that require a willingness to face things that most of us can’t even imagine, yet maintain a high level of dignity and professionalism. First responders in fact repeatedly see and experience things that most of us will never see, causing compound issues related to post-traumatic stress injuries and disorders.

O Pintor e a Cidade

The painter António Cruz wanders around the city of Porto painting what he sees: old and modern buildings, people arriving and leaving work in the factories, children playing. The impressionist realism of Cruz’s drawings dissolves into Oliveira’s vision of Porto, which at the same time portrays the painter and his work.

Le maréchal-ferrant

While his aide continuously turns the handle of the bellows, keeping hot a small furnace in front of him, a farrier prepares a horse's hoof to receive a new shoe.

Ateliers de La Ciotat

Men working at the shipyards of La Ciotat.

Nymphlight

A short, avant-garde movie, starring twelve-year-old ballet student Gwen Thomas, Nymphlight is a lovely blend of fact and fiction, using Bryant Park at the New York Public Library as a stage set for the fantasy inclusion of a certain nymph. A meditation on an ephemeral day in the the life of a park shared by birds, the young and the old.

Starlit Days at the Lido

Basically this is a commercial for Hollywood's Lido Lounge and for MGM contract players. The Lido is a large watering hole; we visit one afternoon with an orchestra playing, all sorts of stars and would-be stars sitting at tables near the pool alongside paying customers, and bathing beauties parading and diving. The Lido's manager, Reggy Denny, introduces the stars in the audience. He's sometimes interrupted by someone who does a bit, sings a song, or otherwise entertains: most of these are novelty acts. By the end, everyone's having a swell time.

Thoughts on the Purpose of Friendship

Thoughts on the Purpose of Friendship follows two friends and their effortless friendship. The subtle interplay and hidden expressions between them remind us, in our increasingly transaction-based society, of the true and simple foundations required to build a friendship.

Danse au bivouac

Soldiers dancing.

Baignade de chevaux

Mexican vaqueros (cattle herders) in Guadalajara guide their horses through water.

Barcelone, panorama du port I

The camera sails off, giving us a view of the port from the water.

Robin's Wish

The final word in the story of what really happened to Robin Williams at the end of his life, focusing on his fight against a deadly neurodegenerative disorder known as Lewy body dementia.

Admiral Dewey Receiving the Washington and New York Committees

Showing Committee of Arrangements visit to the Admiral on board the U.S. Cruiser Olympia.

Panorama from the Tower of the Brooklyn Bridge

Filmed from the Brooklyn tower of the bridge, this is a panorama starting at Manhattan's Battery and then panning northward along the East River shoreline. Reportedly filmed somewhere between 1897 - 1899, though not copyrighted until 1903.

Défilé de voitures de bébés à la pouponnière de Paris

A long line of nurses pushing carts with their babies enter from the far right, cross a garden in front of the large nursery home, and leave by the close left to the camera. A few toddlers also follow in the same orderly line, along their nurses.

Muse: The Making of Absolution

Behind the scenes taken from the original Absolution Special Edition CD + DVD.

Who Farted?

A collaboration between acclaimed Canadian documentary filmmakers Nik Sheehan (FLicKeR, No Sad Songs) and Albert Nerenberg (You are What you Act, Laughology), Who Farted? is the world’s first climate change documentary comedy — and hopefully not its last. Who Farted? suggests that understanding our place in nature is essential to our continued existence as a species. If we can’t deal with our own flatulence, how can we hope to comprehend the looming climate catastrophe? Are farts malevolent? Disgusting? Beneficial? Hilarious? What exactly is a fart? And how much does animal flatulence truly contribute to runaway climate change? From antiquity’s first fart joke to the ubiquitous whoopee cushion, the act of flatus both amuses and dismays... and now may contribute to civilization’s demise. Who Farted? is a frightening, illuminating, and funny journey through the absurd reality of 21st Century human survival.

Exploding a Whitehead Torpedo

The title pretty much tells you all there is to know about this Edison film. It runs a very brief 27-seconds and shows a torpedo hitting its target and going off. I think the most fascinating thing about this is that we get a pretty close shot of the explosion and its aftermath. It was rather funny seeing this large explosion and especially seeing how long it took for everything that flew up in the air to land back down.

Le Caire, un enterrement

A funeral parade in Cairo.