A director from the EU for Europe Day

“Producers are something I can easily do without”

– Fritz Lang

A film in a film, the latter directed by Fritz Lang, directed by Godard.

– You haven't forgotten us again, have you, Marion?

– You know perfectly well I'm Julia Ross!

Intergalactic travel on Star Wars Day. May the Fourth be with you.

“Our grandfathers always lived on Earth, and we are the first people ever to undertake such a journey. You can be proud that you’re here. Your grandfather, who volunteered to come, was a great man, and we’ve got to do everything to make sure that the Station keeps running.”

– Dr Francis (from Thirteen to Centaurus, J.G. Ballard, 1962)

A ship travels the universe, on its way to Centaurus. On board is a group of people, fourteen in total, one of them a teenager named Abel. His recurring nightmare about a glowing disc prompts to sessions with the on-board psychologist, and the only one with knowledge of Earth, Dr Francis.

A supernatural theme for National Paranormal Day (USA). May 3 (coincidentally?) is also the day Charles Fort passed on to a different realm.

 

A ghost falls in love with a bride whose husband, a merchant, is away from home. He takes on the man's form, and lives with her.

Sibling love or strife on Brothers and Sisters Day (USA).

 

Brothers Hojjat and Zeini live in peace in the forest. When strangers cut down the trees, a city woman joins the couple. Despite the comfort she brings with structure, food, and a warm body, the men come to realise that she's a disturbance of their peace.

“With nothing to do, no news and in terrible solitude, we were 100 unfortunates awaiting our fate. I had no illusions about my own. If I could only escape, run away…”

– Fontaine

A spiritual theme for the National Day of Prayer (USA)

“Have you ever tried to dress as a priest? Try it, at least once. It's a bit like being a woman. In summer the breeze enters under the genitals. You can go without briefs. Priests are half men and half women.”

– Don Gaetano

Inspired by the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, Italy's political leaders, industrialists, bankers, and business leaders gather for a retreat as an atonement for their past crimes of corruption and unethical practices, and to reinforce their power.

A comedian, or set in Brooklyn or NYC, for Jerry Seinfeld's birthday (1954).

 

Rakugo (落語, litt. “story with a fall”), is a style of Japanese comedy performed while seated. Armed with a few props, the rakugoka recites a comical monologue using pitch and gestures.

 

A dramatic retelling of the life of rakugoka Katsura Beikyo II. Keima Kyo, a talented rakugoka, is offered apprenticeship from an older successful performer, but refuses. Young and arrogant, he decides to take over the other man's act instead.

– Do you realise what today's date is, Rex?

– April the, er, 29th, why?

Something nuclear on International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day

 

In a state of delirium, engineer Prokop chases his stolen chemical formula, worried it may be used for mass destruction

 

With the experience of yet another world war, and two devastating applications of science biggest terror, Karel Čapek's 1922 novel Krakatit [“Krakatoa”] anticipated and moulded the decades to come.

 

And R.U.R. is now, just around the corner.