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Ihmemies [Wonderman] (Antti Peippo, 1979)
Sep
21
Peace Day
Olli Ruusunen (Antti Litja) in a diner enjoying a small hamburger with a cup of coffee (via). DPs: Pekka Aine & Juha-Veli Äkräs.
TV reporter: We are not alone in the world. An increase of national income in developing countries is absolute requirement for world peace at the end of this century.
Martti Tuomola: Bullshit.
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Het gangstermeisje [A Gangstergirl] (Frans Weisz, 1966)
Sep
20
Sophia Loren – 1934
Cast and crew study a map of Rome (via). DP: Gérard Vandenberg.
Italy or Sophia Loren for La Loren's birthday (1934).
“Film is kijken naar mensen die kijken.”
– Remco Campert, Het gangstermeisje (1965)
A writer tasked with writing a screenplay based on his novel Het gangstermeisje suffers from writer's block. Some time at his friends' house in France brings the inspiration needed but also a few twists and turns, similar to his book, leading him to Cinecittà.
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Smrt si říká Engelchen [Death Is Called Engelchen] (Ján Kadár + Elmar Klos, 1963)
Sep
19
ER – 1994
Pavel (Jan Kačer) recovering face-down in his hospital bed. DP: RudolfMilič.
An emergency room: ER debuts on this date in 1994.
A paralysed Czechoslovak partisan recovering from a shot in the back in an emergency ward, feverishly remembers the events that brought him to that moment. He particularly remembers Engelchen, the SS Sturmbannführer who killed his best friend and massacred the local villagers.
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Слънцето и сянката [Slantzeto i syankata / Sun and Shadow] (Rangel Vulchanov, 1962)
Sep
18
National First Love Day
The two young lovers (Georgi Naumov and Anna Prucnal). DP: Dimo Kolarov.
First love for National First Love Day (USA).
A boy and a girl fall in love at a resort at the Black Sea. He's the son of an architect, an optimist who sees creation where possible. She's the daughter of a nuclear scientist, the future an inevitable apocalypse.
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Äppelkriget [The Apple War] (Tage Danielsson, 1971)
Sep
17
National Apple Dumpling Day
Locals and a centaur – half man, half papier-mâché – enjoy a drink. DP: Lars Swanberg.
– What are you gonna do with tons of apples? They can't be sold! Ask any apple farmer! They just pile up and rot!
– The apple farmers?
– No. The apples!
A beautiful, picturesque part of Sweden will become… Deutschneyland! At least, that's the brilliant business plan Herr Volkswagner has. But the local apple farmers – a large family that's half human, half mythological creatures – have no need for an amusement park on their grounds.
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Sep
16
El Grito de Independencia
Grinning seminary boys hang from monkey bars. DPs: Salvador Gijón, Rubén Gámez & Segismundo Pérez de Pedro 'Segis'.
El Grito de Independencia: ¡Viva México!
“¡Mexicanos!
¡Vivan los héroes que nos dieron patria!
¡Viva Hidalgo!
¡Viva Morelos!
¡Viva Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez!
¡Viva Allende!
¡Vivan Aldama y Matamoros!
¡Viva la independencia nacional!
¡Viva México! ¡Viva México! ¡Viva México!”
Accompanied by Juan Rulfo's poem, Gámez explores Mexico's identity, and loss thereof. Crying out for the Mexican with Coca-Cola in the blood.
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Hullumeelsus [Безумие / Madness] (Kaljo Kiisk, 1968)
Sep
15
International Day of Democracy
Windisch (Jüri Järvet) pacing, blending in with a white-clad inmate. DP: Anatoliy Zabolotskiy.
“Stop shooting! Stop democracy!”
– Person Nr. 1
The Gestapo arrives to liquidate the inmates of a mental hospital. Then Windisch, plainclothes Nazi, brings them a letter: there's a special commando hiding amidst the 583 patients. Interrogating them slowly pushes Windisch among them.
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Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men (David Hinton, 1989)
Sep
14
Patrick Swayze – 2009
Dancing, or Patrick Swayze who passed away on this date in 2009.
“I caused dreams which caused death … this is my crime.”
– Dennis Nilsen
Dennis Nilsen was a lonesome, closeted gay man in Thatcher's London, whose desperation lead to multiple horrific killings. He'd ritually bathe and dress the bodies, and held on to them for company. Radical dance troupe DV8's interpretation of Nilsen's transgressions explores the horror of the act in suffocating beauty.
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Sweet Movie (Dušan Makavejev, 1974)
Sep
13
International Chocolate Day
The most virgin, Miss 1984 (Carole Laure), bathing in chocolate. DP: Pierre Lhomme.
“In all my years of practice, I've never seen anything so sweet. A rosebud.”
– Dr. Mittelfinger
Miss Canada, winner of the “most virgin” contest, escapes her rich, milk tycoon husband into a world of anarchy, lust, and sugar.
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Un matrimonio interplanetario [A Marriage in the Moon] (Enrico Novelli, 1910)
Sep
12
Луна 2 – 1959
Aldovin (director and author of La Colonia Lunare (1908) meets his lovely Martian fiancée halfway, on the Moon.
To commemorate the launch (not landing) of the Луна 2 aka the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket on September 12, 1959, we present The Moon.
According to Wikipedia, Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to touch the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body. Well, Enrico Novelli went there first…
“Mars Daughter, You are fine. I am loving you and I should like very much to marry you.”
– Aldovin, Terrestrial Astronomer (Aldovin's radiotelegraph to Mars), via