settima

@settima@mograph.social

飼育 [Shiiku / The Catch] (Nagisa Ōshima, 1961)

Feb

2

National Catchers Day

飼育 (1961)

The nameless soldier (Hugh Hurd) in the barn. Another person is with him. The soldier looks away, at something offscreen. DP: Yoshitsugu Tonegawa.

In the summer of 1945, the people of a small Japanese village find a Black American helicopter pilot in one of their traps and lock him in the communal storeroom. While the war continues and the villagers wait for orders from above, the man – for the townspeople, his presence, this allegory – becomes something else.

“Your keeping this animal has meant all of us suffer!”

飼育 shares more than a few themes with Đorđe Kadijević's Празник from 1967. The war's the same, any war is, and the Chetniks too capture a Black American pilot. Again, the villagers seem to share a folie, a madness, rooted in an unshaken belief – call it tradition or shared illusions foolishness or hope.

Accident (Joseph Losey, 1967)

Feb

1

Car Insurance Day

Accident (1967)

Anna (Jacqueline Sassard) on the backseat of a car, her head tilted back. DP: Gerry Fisher.

A car accident.

Un chant d'amour [A Song of Love] (Jean Genet, 1950)

Jan

30

National Escape Day

Un chant d'amour (1950)

From one prison window to another, a bunch of flowers swings towards a grasping hand. DP: Jacques Natteau.

An escape of sorts, in love and lust.

“He puts his cheek to the wall. With a kiss he licks the vertical surface and the greedy plaster sucks in his saliva. Then a shower of kisses.”

– Jean Genet, Notre-Dame des Fleurs (1942/43)

Shoot It Black, Shoot It Blue (Dennis McGuire, 1974)

Jan

29

Kansas Day

Shoot It Black, Shoot It Blue (1974)

A white cop (Michael Moriarty) aims his gun at someone offscreen. DP: Bob Bailin.

Holy Ghost People (Peter Adair, 1967)

Jan

28

Rattlesnake Roundup Day

Holy Ghost People (1967)

A man holds up a live rattlesnake in front of a congregation. DP: Peter Adair.

Ucho [The Ear] (Karel Kachyňa, 1970)

Jan

27

Thomas Crapper Day

Ucho (1970)

Ludvik (Radoslav Brzobohatý) taking a break from the official's party in a pristine but claustrophobic, white-tiled toilet stall. DP: Josef Illík.

“Even you, Ear, can't listen in the toilet!”

– Ludvik

Space Coast (Ross McElwee + Michel Negroponte, 1979)

Jan

26

NASA Day Of Remembrance

Space Coast (1979)

Cape Canaveral space journalist Mary Bubb, 59, determined to never miss a launch – shows up at a rocket launch.

“I'll take you to the horses. I'll take you to the Moon.”

– former NASA employee talking to his granddaughter

The Noah (Daniel Bourla, 1975)

Jan

25

Burns Night

The Noah (1975)

Noah (Robert Strauss) singing Auld Lang Syne. DP: Jerry Kalogeratos.

Auld Lang Syne is sung on Burns Night (Scotland)

“On old long syne my Jo, On old long syne, That thou canst never once reflect, On old long syne”

– Robert Burns, Auld Lang Syne (1788)

Zéro de conduite: Jeunes diables au collège [Zero for Conduct] (Jean Vigo, 1933)

Jan

24

International Day Of Eduction

Zéro de conduite: Jeunes diables au collège (1933)

The students on a rooftop, saluting as if part of an army. DP: Boris Kaufman.

“War is declared! Down with monitors and punishment! Long live rebellion! Liberty or death! Hoist our flag on the school roof! Stand firm with us tomorrow! We'll bombard them with rotten old books, dirty tin cans, smelly boots and all the ammo piled up in the attic! We'll fight those old goats on commemoration day! Onward!”

– Tabard, one of the students

Bakit Dilaw Ang Kulay ng Bahaghari? [Why Is Yellow the Middle of the Rainbow?] (Kidlat Tahimik, 1984/1994)

Jan

23

First Philippine Republic Day

Bakit Dilaw Ang Kulay ng Bahaghari? (1984/1994)

Young Kidlat Gottlieb Kalayaan in the midst of defacing political pamphlets of Ferdinand Marcos. DPs: Kidlat Tahimik & Roberto Yniguez.

“When you work with the cosmos, suddenly you get ideas for how to treat some visuals, like some images that had no intention of being in the film. That’s the freedom of the independent. Normally when you’re making a movie, it's almost pre-set, what elements will go in, so it will have “a unified structure”. But for me, I shoot so many things impulsively, that once I start editing a movie, suddenly there is an imperative for this obscure shot to come in here … or there. You keep juggling until you find on organic flow. You don't have a script, you just do it by feel. You're surprised that audiences like it.”

– Kidlat Tahimik, via