“These are not pretty stories but they need to be recorded.”

– Odette Robert

Thomas Reichman follows bandleader and musician Charles Mingus in those tense hours on November 22, 1966, right before he's forced to evict his #GreenwichVillage studio.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag–the white flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of America. When they say “black” or “negro,” it means you’re not an American. I pledge allegiance to your flag. Not that I have to, but just for the hell of it I pledge allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. The white flag, with no stripes, no stars. It is a prestige badge worn by a profitable minority.”

– Charles Mingus

Between the banter (“This is the same gun they shot Kennedy with”) and magical moments between the giant and his little daughter, we see and hear Mingus perform at Lennie's-On-The-Turnpike in Peabody, Massachusetts.

Filmed on campus of the University of Michigan and inspired by Alain Robbe-Grillet's concept of characters being born at the start of the film, and dying at the end.

 

Outside of this framework, the characters do not exist.

Swiss documentary maker S. (Steff Gruber) explores New York's high-tech dating market when he slowly comes to the realisation that he himself is lonely. Trying to track down the woman he saw on the plane en route to America, S. and his crew find themselves in Boston.

“Fifty ways to meet your lover”

– computer dating ad

The cyclical story of the Christ envisioned as an icon maker, the creator of sacred images of the saints and the Holy.

 

When you know what to look for – the significance of bread, the judgement of the Pantocrator, the wheel that begets martyrs – Иконостасът speaks the language of the people, not of the ecclesiastic.

A songwriter as the lead.

“This song is called 'Alice's Restaurant', and it's about Alice. And the restaurant. But Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the name of the song. And that's why I called the song 'Alice's Restaurant'.

– Arlo Guthrie, intro to “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” (1967)

A teacher, enthralled by one of his students, gets lost after she graduates.

“Fran.”

– Govert Miereveld

Heavy and light, absurd and profane. An absolute recommendation.

“You who go, you will return You who sleep, you will rise You who walk, you will be resurrected”

Someone is watering houseplants for National Houseplant Appreciation Day (USA)

“Shirley my dear, would you mind sitting somewhere else? Body odor offends me.”

– Mrs. Taggart