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Friendship's Death (Peter Wollen, 1987)
Sep
9
1970
Bill Paterson and Tilda Swinton as Sullivan and Friendship. DP: Witold Stok.
“What will happen when your machines become intelligent? When they become autonomous? When they have private thoughts? You humans look down on your machines because they're man-made. They're a product of your skills and labour. They weren't even domesticated like animals were. You see them simply as extensions of yourself, of your own will. I can't accept that. I can't accept subhuman status simply because I'm a machine based on silicon rather than carbon, electronics rather than biology. If I sound fanatical, it's because I've been trapped in a time warp. In a world where the full potential of machines hasn't been guessed at. A world where I have to wear a human disguise to be accepted? I came here too late. It will all end before the computers that already control the fate of the world have reached the point where they wanted to survive.”
– Friendship
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The Year of the Sex Olympics (Michael Elliott, 1968)
Sep
7
ESPN – 1979
The people of a suspiciously 60s looking future critically watch the audience of a reality TV show called The Hungry Angry Show.
Sports watching on TV for ESPN's debut.
“Sex is not to do. Sex is to watch.”
– Nat Mender
All that's on TV is pornography and violence. Welcome to the Year of the Sex Olympics.
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আকালের সন্ধানে [Akaler Sandhane / In Search of Famine] (Mrinal Sen, 1982)
Sep
7
A clapperboard in the jungle. DP: K.K. Mahajan.
“Past. Presence. And future.”
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More (Barbet Schroeder, 1969)
Sep
7
Estelle (Mimsy Farmer) and Stefan (Klaus Grünberg) tripping in Ibiza. DP: Néstor Almendros.
“I had imagined this journey as a quest. I finished my studies in math. I wanted to live. I wanted to burn all the bridges, all the formulas, and if I got burned, that was okay, too. I wanted to be warm. I wanted the sun and I went after it.”
– Stefan
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Nostos: Il ritorno [Nostos: The Return] (Franco Piavoli, 1989)
Sep
6
Magellan expedition – 1522
A seafaring explorer in commemoration of Ferdinand Magellan's (almost) completed circumnavigation in 1522. The Portuguese Magellan was enlisted by Spain to gain access to the Moluccas' spices and other trading goods by sailing west instead of east, thus avoiding the heavily armed Portuguese and Dutch traders who were plundering Southeast Asia, its peoples and cultures.
“Calypso the lustrous goddess tried to hold me back,
deep in her arching caverns, craving me for a husband.
So did Circe, holding me just as warmly in her halls,
the bewitching queen of Aeaea keen to have me too.
But they never won the heart inside me, never.
So nothing is as sweet as a man's own country.”
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Mélodie en sous-sol [Any Number Can Win] (Henri Verneuil, 1963)
Sep
6
Tue
Mario (Henri Virlojeux), bathhouse proprietor. A nearby wall calendar reads mardi, septembre 6. DP: Louis Page.
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Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Sep
6
Sun
The newspaper of Sunday, September 6, announcing a derby. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.
“The pickings were poor and not worth the risk.”
– Michel
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Homicidal (William Castle, 1961)
Sep
6
Man's hands hold a picture of Emily (Joan Marshall). DP: Burnett Guffey.
“We've been to Haunted Hills, and through Tinglers, and even Ghosts... but now we're going to meet a group of people who just happen to be… Homicidal.”
– William Castle, introduction
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Nuits rouges [L'homme sans visage / Shadowman] (Georges Franju, 1974)
Sep
6
A faceless man in black wearing a red balaclava (Jacques Champreux) holds his right wrist, which is bleeding profusely. DP: Guido Bertoni.
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Jaider, der einsame Jäger [Jaider, the Lonely Hunter] (Volker Vogeler, 1971)
Sep
5
Mother Teresa
Gottfried John as Jaider (via). DP: Gérard Vandenberg.
“Denn auf den Bergen, ja da ist die Freiheit,
denn auf den Bergen ist es doch so schön,
dort wo auf grauenhafte Weise
der Jennerwein zugrund mußt gehn.”
Jennerwein-Lied, 19th c.
Jaider, just returned home from the Franco-Prussian War and incapable to find work, turns to poaching to feed himself and his impoverished town. Soon he leads a gang of poachers, who in their turn are hunted by Bavarian soldiers and state-sanctioned hunters. Loosely based on legendary “Jaider” (“hunter”) and poacher Georg Jennerwein.