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Lights (Marie Menken, 1966)
Dec
1
National Christmas Lights Day
It took experimental filmmaker Marie Menken three years to shoot Lights. From midnight until 1 AM, she filmed New York's window displays during the holiday season, using her camera, motion, colour, and available light sources as her paintbrush.
“There is no why for my making films. I just liked the twitters of the machine, and since it was an extension of painting for me, I tried it and loved it. In painting I never liked the staid and static, always looked for what would change the source of light and stance, using glitters, glass beads, luminous paint, so the camera was a natural for me to try—but how expensive!”
– Marie Menken, c. 1966
Filming at night helped to avoid unwanted interruptions of people and cars, but turned out to be problematic for her hand-cranked #Bolex, which kept stalling in NYC's icy winter nights.
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1999 A.D. (Lee Madden, 1967)
Nov
27
Cyber Monday
In the soul crushing future of 1999, one heroic nuclear family bravely fulfils their gender-specific duties. While Father Mike works in his computer-aided office, Son Jamie fails at computer homeschool and Mother Karen slavishly shops, cooks, and cleans as if the 70s never happened.
Thankfully, the future turned out to be even bleaker.
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Weihnacht (Roland Klick, 1963)
Nov
24
Black Friday
The miracle of Christmas, as seen in a fancy shop window. A dress shirt is on display among Sputnik-style decorations and an entranced toddler is reflected in a gilded mirror. From across the street, “Woolworth's” in neon text bounces off the window pane. DPs: Jochen Cerhak & Roland Klick.
A little boy takes in the magic of pre-Christmas, while the adults rush and worry about all that must to be bought.
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O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (Jan Němec, 1966)
Nov
22
grapes
A man in tuxedo removes a grape seed from his mouth. He's seated at a wonderfully opulently set table in a birch forest. DP: Jaromír Šofr.
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O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (Jan Němec, 1966)
Nov
22
Bales' Birthday
The birthday party mingled in with the others in the woods, all dressed immaculately and seated at elaborately decked tables. The guests and their host raise their glasses towards the camera. DP: Jaromír Šofr.
“So will someone tell me what happened or not? A brother shouldn't turn against his brother. And a guest shouldn't turn against a guest.”
– the host
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Tätowierung [Tattoo / The Delinquent] (Johannes Schaaf, 1967)
Nov
18
National Adoption Day
Benno (Christof Wackernagel), a pensive young man with dark hair and dark eyes. DPs: Petrus R. Schlömp & Wolf Wirth.
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Muloorina (David Cobham, 1964)
Nov
17
Guinness World Records Day
The Bluebird parked amongst the crew's Jeeps. DPs: John Daniell, Ross King, Frank McKechnie, Ian Millar & Bob Wright.
Short in gorgeous Technicolor, Muloorina tells about a small, arid town in Australia that one day finds itself on the world's stage. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, a local salt lake that hasn't seen a drop of rain in nine years, is the perfect spot for a landspeed record attempt by British daredevil Donald Campbell and his Bluebird.
A play of contrasts. The supersonic blue machine on the ancient white riverbed and the slowness of the eternal landscape versus something faster than should be possible. And meanwhile, the locals care for their land and animals, and wait for rain.
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Something's Got to Give (George Cukor, 1962)
Nov
10
Forget-Me-Not Day
Marilyn on set during the infamous pool scene, four days days after singing Happy Birthday at JFK's birthday gala. DPs: Franz Planer & Leo Tover.
Everyone assumed that Ellen Arden, swept away during a yacht race, was gone. But there she is, years later, and very much alive.
“Fame will go by, and so long, I've had you, fame.”
– Marilyn Monroe, 1962
The story ends on August 4, 1962, almost two months after she was fired from the shoot. Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home. She was 36 years old.
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Matka Joanna od Aniolów [Mother Joan of the Angels] (Jerzy Kawalerowicz, 1961)
Nov
9
Chaos Never Dies Day
A possessed nun in white spinning on her axis among her sisters. Black clad priests in the background observe the scene. DP: Jerzy Wójcik.
Four years after the tragic events at Loudun. Mother superior, the titular Mother Joan, is still possessed by the Devil and has slowly pulled in the other sisters. A priest, the fourth one, is send to the convent to exorcise the demons who at this point have possessed all but one sister. Chaos ensues.
“If one can't be saint, it's better to be damned.”
– Mother Joan of the Angels
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Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)
Nov
7
International Merlot Day
Nora (Salome Jens), seen from the back with her dress half unzipped, holds up a glass of red wine while kissing a reluctant Antiochus (Rock Hudson) during the ecstatic Bacchanal scene. DP: James Wong Howe.
At a bacchanalia, Rock Hudson's Antiochus Wilson finally strips down his hesitancy and realises he has a second chance at life, as a member of the new generation. To the Queen of wine! To Bacchus! To Pan!
“Bacchus gives us his blood so we may be born again.”
Director of photography James Wong Howe's very controlled framing of the (initially censored) pre-Woodstock #Bacchanalian scene beautifully frames this pinnacle moment and proved almost too much for American censors.