Cinema of the World

West Germany in the early 1960s. The country is quiet – for the time being. Bernward Vesper takes up his studies in Tübingen where he is attending Walter Jens’ seminar on rhetoric. Bernward wants to be a writer and spends his nights bashing the keys of a typewriter. At the same time he is keen to defend his father, the poet Will Vesper who was celebrated by the Nazis as a proponent of their ‘Blood and Soil’ ideology. The land where Bernward lives is being suffocated by its past. The war has only been over for fifteen years, old Nazis are back in positions of power, and nobody is prepared to talk about war crimes; the Republic is standing to attention. One day Bernward meets Gudrun Ensslin and her friend Dörte. Before long, the three friends are living together in a ménage à trois. But their three-way relation- ship doesn’t last long. It soon transpires that Gudrun and Bernward are twin souls.

The directorial debut of famed American writer, philosopher, and political activist Susan Sontag is an intriguing tale of two couples involved in academia and politics. Artur is a professor living in exile in Sweden with his enigmatic wife Francesca. He hires young Tomas to help prepare a compendium of his works, but Tomas soon suspects that there is an erotic side to his new assignment. New York Times critic Vincent Canby described Duet as “intriguing, surprising, witty and sinister to the end.”

Storyline

Maryse and her husband are desperate to sell a backhoe sitting abandoned in their suburban yard. Her brother, Benoit, is trapped in endless adolescence, sharing their childhood home with their invalid father. Benoit is enamoured with a single mom named Nathalie, and he's hoping to finally grow up by living with her... but Nathalie's son does not approve. A serious accident at the factory where Maryse works, a strange series of coincidences, and the arrival of a Man claiming to come from the future launch Maryse and Benoit on a life-changing road trip. Following up his acclaimed feature film Continental, a film without guns, filmmaker Stephane Lafleur once again brings us an ensemble of compelling characters, in a story where the ordinary and the fantastic collide. Written by Anonymous from imdb

A harsh dose of cinematic realism about a harsh time-the Bosnian War of the 1990s-
Juanita Wilson's drama is taken from true stories revealed during the International Criminal
Tribunal in The Hague. Samira is a modern schoolteacher in Sarajevo who takes a job in
a small country village just as the war is beginning to ramp up. When Serbian soldiers
overrun the village, shoot the men and keep the women as laborers (the older ones) and
sex objects (the younger ones), Samira is subjected to the basest form of treatment
imaginable.

THE GUARDIAN review (contains plot details):

An unhappily married couple break up in this complex, painful, fascinating Iranian drama by writer-director Asghar Farhadi, with explosive results that expose a network of personal and social faultlines. A Separation is a portrait of a fractured relationship and an examination of theocracy, domestic rule and the politics of sex and class – and it reveals a terrible, pervasive sadness that seems to well up through the asphalt and the brickwork. In its depiction of national alienation in Iran, it's comparable to the work of Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof. But there is a distinct western strand. The film shows a middle-class household under siege from an angry outsider; there are semi-unsolved mysteries, angry confrontations and family burdens: an ageing parent and two children from warring camps appearing to make friends. All these things surely show the influence of Michael Haneke's 2005 film Hidden. Farhadi, like Haneke, takes a scalpel to his bourgeois homeland.

Synopsis
Hunting for interesting subjects, a photographer, who is to produce images for a play being staged very soon, comes across an old man who has just had a heart attack, and tries to save the man's life. The effort to determine the old man's identity launches the photographer on a journey of imagination full of nostalgic remembrances. 'I opened a door, and remained under the burden of my father's heritage. Reed-pen, ink-pot and a pen dipped into honey and love, and a shadow of my father's hands in the cupboard...'

The film is based on the poetry of Sohrab Sepehri.

Sir Remy lives in his fabulous castle, where he is haunted by the memory of his former wife, Mathilde and believes he can still smell her perfume wafting through the castle. Remy marries a young and pure virgin who is secretly provided by some of his friends. Eva, his new bride-to-be decides to do whatever she can to lift up the spirits of the master of the castle. But Remy has other plans and soon will take his revenge on all those who seduced Mathilde in the past. French starlet Draghixa plays dual roles as the young virgin about to marry the lecherous [Remy] Christoph Clark as well as the role of his first wife, Mathilda, who mysteriously disappeared. Dorcel co-directed with Jean Rollin to create beautiful imagery along with steamy sex scenes in a well developed story. Dorcel also plays the uncle.

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Melodrama with fairytale elements about an urban beauty in Kyrgyzia who is kidnapped during a visit to the countryside and then has to marry a shepherd according to local tradition.

For decades it was common in Kyrgyzstan for single women to be kidnapped so they could become brides for local bachelors, and a couple discovers this still takes place in this comedy-drama. Asema (Asem Toktobekova) was born and raised in the big city, so she experiences a bit of culture shock when her fiancée Murat (Siezdbek Iskenaliev) takes her to the small village in the country where he was born to meet his parents. Asema learns that folks still kidnap would-be brides when she hears about a plot to abduct neighborhood bookworm Anara (Zarema Asanalieva) and wed her to Sagyn (Tynchtyk Abylkasymov), who raises sheep and never talks. Outraged, Asema tries to stop the kidnapping, but while she's busy with that Murat succumbs to the allure of his former girlfriend Burma (Elnura Osmonalieva), and some locals decide that Asema might make some lonely guy a fine mate.

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The film's plot is set during the war between Poland and the Soviet Russia (1919 - 1921). Wartime brutally encroaches on the life of a couple in love - Franek and Hanka. The Bolshevik troops cause damage to Polish villages and manor houses, and in one of the manor houses the invaders have a carousel. Luckily, the Polish cavalry comes to the relief just in time. Unable to wait passively, Hanka becomes a sister of mercy in one of the field hospitals near Vilnius, while Franek gains wide recognition after capturing a Russian spy. The significant documents found on the spy contributed to the capture of Vilnius. The bloody battles end with the Polish troops entering the town, and Hanka and Franek finally find each other again, although in quite surprising circumstances. The film ends with the documentary recording of the ceremony of incorporating Vilnius into the Polish borders, with the participation of Marshal Piłsudski, the highest commanders of the Polish army and some foreign guests.

For a soft-core porn movie, this film has quite a few funny moments, and works (kind of) as a parody of Shakespeare's play. A lot of the references are to late sixties pop culture and there are some genuinely erotic scenes.

Craig Johnson's poised and poignant first feature follows Sam (Mark Duplass), an, unbeknownst to him, washed-up rocker in the early stages of haggard. Jobless and apartment-less, he crashes with his aunt (a compassionate Melissa Leo) as a last resort and becomes reluctant camping-trip chaperone to her teenage son and a pal. That the three males are on par, maturity-wise, makes for engaging ensemble juvenilia. But in the stirring Pacific Northwest wilderness a surprising discovery turns dire -- and the distance from boy to man must be covered overnight. Duplass's ballsy and at times balls-out performance is a winner, particularly when Sam at long last takes stock of himself: it ain't pretty.

From the DVDr announce:
After a five-year hiatus from filmmaking, Piotr Szulkin returned in 1990 with "Femina", based on a novel by Krystyna Kofta and inspired by Luis Bunuel.

The main character is Bogna, a thirty year old woman lost in her surrounding reality and unhappy in her private life. After her husband departs for a foreign scholarship, Bogna learns that her mother died. The trip to her hometown for the funeral becomes a voyage in time, during which she relives the memories of her idyllic childhood.

As beautifully mounted as any of Szulkin's films, it's full of delirious wide-angle imagery (at times recalling the films of Terry Gilliam and Wojciech Has). Unavailable on DVD even in Poland, this is a most unfairly neglected work by Szulkin.

Plot: Young Raymond Floriot, following in his father Louis Floriot's professional footsteps, he now France's attorney general, has just passed the bar exam. Raymond's first case, appointed to him by the courts, is a murder case. His pitiful and poor Jane Doe client, who refers to herself only as Madame X, admits to killing the scoundrel of a man named Laroque, but won't disclose why or in turn defend herself in court. Raymond knows nothing of her past, which includes once being a woman of class, married to man of prestige. But that marriage ended because he treated her without love, which resulted in her leaving him for another man, who in turn passed away shortly thereafter. Her first marriage produced a son, who her husband refused to let her see. Her son never knew she was alive, he being told by his father that she died. The consequence of his action left Madame X on a downward path where she never found love. Now, in turn, she hopes her silence will protect the one that she really loves, he who doesn't even know about her selfless sacrifice. Written by Huggo

Plot: Newly inaugurated President Judson Hammond is content to live out the next four years exercising a hands-off approach and leaving the problems of Depression America to local authorities. But after a miraculous recovery from an auto accident, Hammond is ready to take on every social ill and neither Congress, gangsters nor the nations of the world will stop him. Written by Erik Gregersen

Plot: Joe E. Brown is a cowboy who wants to invest in a Broadway play. Ginger Rogers, a secretary, learns that her boss, Lew Cody, is attempting to swindle Brown and pulls a successful coup d'etat producing a play that she stars in. Written by Jack McKillop

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Director: Richard Curson Smith
Writer: Matthew Broughton
Release Date: 2 March 2002 (UK)
Genre: Drama
Cast : Stephen Fry (André Breton), Julian Barratt (Rosey) Ewen Bremner (Salvador Dali) Katrin Cartlidge (Gala) Noel Fielding (Bauer)

Surrealissimo, a comedy drama for BBC Four draws on one of the world's most significant art movements, Surrealism. The film centres on the trial of Salvador Dalí by Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism, and other key members of the movement.
Flashing between the night of the trial and the episodes which lead to it, Dalí addresses the viewer, laying out his ten point plan which must be followed to the letter to become the world's greatest artist. As the trial progresses, Dalí's arrival in Paris, his deviant and often highly comic relationship with Gala, and his inexorable rise to fame are played out.
After which, Dalí left for America to become arguably the world's first celebrity artist. It was not until later, that he was expelled from the movement.

Plot: A San Francisco librarian (Greer Garson) falls for a roguish seaman (Clark Gable), who loves her and leaves her pregnant.

SYNOPSIS

Amidst the impersonal hubbub of Paris' Orly Airport, strangers meet, secrets are revealed, and sudden intimacies develop in this beautifully observed mosaic of lives in transit.

REVIEW

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Loosely-linked scenes in the hall of Paris’ Orly airport. A man and a woman, both French but living abroad, meet each other by chance. He has just decided to move back to Paris and she longs to return there. A mother and her almost adult son are going to the funeral of her ex-husband, his father. A young couple is embarking on its first big trip. And a woman reads a letter from the man she has recently left. They are all waiting for their flight.

Plot: Jack Moffitt's original story deals with the realities of work for 1930s fliers. Jim Blane (Richard Barthelmess) is booted from his job as a commercial pilot when investigators fault him for an airliner crash in rough weather. He meets circus barnstormer Jill Collins (Sally Eilers) just as her pilot brother crashes to his death, and becomes her partner both in the air and in bed. They check into hotels separately but always take adjoining rooms.
Jim doesn't believe in marriage for fliers, and Jill soon takes up with his younger brother Bud (Tom Brown), also a pilot. And Jim's timing is also off ... although Jill loves him, she accepts Bud's offer of marriage. Jim takes off for dangerous jobs in parts unknown, but we know he'll have to come back to claim what's his. Plot summary by ethanedwards.

The film is set during the nation's difficult birth from the 1820s to the 1870s when conflicting interests – north against south and monarchist against republican – made the path to unity a fraught and often violent one. Three young men – Domenico (Edoardo Natoli), Salvatore (Luigi Pisani) and Angelo (Andrea Bosca) – dream of a unified Italy but their idealism soon turns to disillusionment, paranoia and murder.

This beautifully crafted and engrossing saga is threaded with the music of the time, including Verdi and Rossini, but the historical drama is only a background to the characters' personal struggles.

Plot: Growing up in a poor working-class family, Laura decides not to marry the boy-next-door and instead accepts wealthy, older Will Brockton's invitation to move in with him. After falling in love with young up-and-coming newsman Jack Madison she leaves Brockton to wait for Madison's return from a long assignment. She runs out of money and becomes desperate, returning again to Brockton who, upon learning of Madison's sudden arrival, tells Laura she must inform Madison of her living situation or he will. Written by Doug Sederberg

Plot: Capt. James Stewart pursues the bandit "The Kinkajou" over the Mexican border and falls in love with Rita. He suspects, that her brother is the bandit. Written by Stephan Eichenberg

Plot: Elyot and Sibyl are being married in a big church ceremony. Amanda and Victor are being married by a French Justice of the Peace. Both couples go to a hotel on the same day and are put in adjoining rooms with adjoining terraces. Things go fine until Amanda sees her former husband Elyot on the adjacent terrace. While they both pretend to be happy, both make plans to leave, but their spouses do not want to leave as it is their respective honeymoons. So the other spouses each go down to the bar. This leaves Elyot and Amanda together and they reminisce. Before long, the sparks again fly and they both decide to leave together to the Mountains of Switzerland. They love, they bicker, they fight, they stop. Then it begins over and over. Then Victor and Sibyl show up at their chalet. Written by Tony Fontana

DVDRip from print restored by Mosfilm in 1965 according to the credits, it still looks grey. After having read the descriptions below I found it be easy to follow the film without subtitles, the acting, the mise en scène and the cinematography are excellent. There is very little music though, two or three church choruses and folk songs, bits of post romantic orchestral music here and there. And, as been said below, no obvious propaganda.
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IMDB user Denis888 from Russia (slightly corrected): Forget about the terrible Stalin's purges that were going on in the Soviet Union when this film, or rather its first episode, was shot. The film has none of the Stalinist propaganda or dull Soviet ethics. This is a great, bright and powerful work. The role of the great Russian tzar Pyotr I is played by a brilliant Nikolay Simonov and he did a wonderful job. His Pyotr is wild, often terribly cruel, loud and unbearably ferocious to his enemies. He never hesitates and he breaks through like a wild bull. The first episode tells about the terrible beginning of the Northern War with Sweden, the Russians are shamefully defeated and thus the tzar starts his bloody reforms. He reorganizes the weak old army, he takes down the church bells for military purposes, he is even ready to arrest his own weak and sickly son Aleksey who is in fact his terrible rival. The second excellent role here is Aleksander Menshikov, the tzar's favorite aid, played by an enigmatic Mr. Zharov. His part is cute, sly and so great that it provokes a grand smile. The first episode is also about the first military victories, the beginning of the Russian fleet and the foundation of the city of St. Petersburg, exactly 300 years ago...

Romanov filmography site: PYOTR PERVY I AND II 1937-1938

Also known as “Peter I, Parts I and II,” and “The Conquests of Peter the Great, Parts I and II.” Soviet Union, 1937 (Part I) and 1938 (Part II). Black and white; Russian language; Running time: 96 minutes (Part I), 96 minutes (Part II). Directed by Vladimir Petrov. Screenplay by Vladimir Petrov, based on a book by Alexei Tolstoy. Starring Nikolai Simonov as Peter I, Nikolai Cherkasov as Tsesarevich Alexei, Alla Tarasova as Empress Catherine I, and Mikhail Zharov as Alexander Menshikov.