settima

Christmas

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari [The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari] (Robert Wiene, 1920)

Dec

25

Hanukkah + Christmas

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1822 – 1827)

Cesare (Conrad Veidt) escapes with Jane (Lil Dagover) in his arms. Composition and distribution of light and shadow – much of which was painted directly on the set pieces – strike a strong resemblance with the oldest known survived photograph by Nicéphore Niépce from ca. 1822 – 1827. DP: Willy Hameister.

A favourite scene featuring light for Hanukkah and Christmas.

Alan “How long will I live?”

Cesare “Till the break of dawn.”

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (Richard Winer + Barry Mahon, 1972)

Dec

20

Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (1972)

A bunch of screaming children on top of a red firetruck stand right behind the driver, a stoic person in a pink bunny costume. DPs: William Tobin & Richard Winer.

“What is that? What is that I hear? Where's it coming from? I hear a siren, but I don't see any fire, I don't see any smoke. Whenever there's a siren, it means there's a fire, but I don't see any smoke. That siren. Where is it coming from? Where's that sound coming from?”

– Santa Claus

Kisapmata [Sa bawat kisapmata / In the Wink of an Eye] (Mike De Leon, 1981)

Dec

8

Tue

Kisapmata (1981)

Noel (Jay Ilagan) enters Milagros' (Charo Santos-Concio) room. On a sparse green wall a calendar with an image of the Virgin Mary. The 8th, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, is marked red as a holiday. DP: Rody Lacap.

Night of the Comet (Thom Eberhardt, 1984)

Sep

20

cereal

Night of the Comet (1984)

An empty box or Raisin Bran lies tipped-over next to a Toshiba boombox. Just visible but out of focus is Samantha Belmont (Kelli Maroney) in her cheerleader uniform DP: Arthur Albert.

“Hey! If you're going to throw those guns away, can I have one?”

– Sarah

Wśród nocnej ciszy [Quiet Is the Night] (Tadeusz Chmielewski, 1978)

Sep

14

Wśród nocnej ciszy (1978)

A young student sits on the ledge of a barge, looking up at another man. DP: Jerzy Szurowski.

Kisapmata [Sa bawat kisapmata / In the Wink of an Eye] (Mike De Leon, 1981)

Aug

18

gatas

Kisapmata (1981)

Adelina Carandang (Charito Solis) unwell in bed. She holds a glass of milk. DP: Rody Lacap.

Salesman (Albert + David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)

Mar

29

breakfast

Salesman (1969)

Bible salesmen enjoying breakfast at a soulless motel. DP: Albert Maysles.

Watched on Good Friday.

Иконостасът [Ikonostasat / The Icon Stand] (Christo Christov + Todor Dinov, 1969)

Feb

5

apples

Иконостасът (1969)

A closeup of woman's hand moving an apple. The black-and-white photography is deliberately out of focus. DP: Atanas Tasev.

Рождество обитателей леса (ca 1912)

Various beetles and a grasshopper rejoice around the Christmas tree materialised by Old Man Frost.

Рождество обитателей леса (ca. 1912)

December 25: a Santa for #Christmas

Pождество обитателей леса [Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa / The Insects' Christmas] (Wladyslaw Starewicz, ca 1912)

Father Christmas makes a Christmas tree for the people of the forest.

Дед Мороз (Ded Moroz, or Old Man Frost) is the Slavic version of Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus. An ornament depicting the old grey climbs down a child's (or doll's) Christmas tree and sets off to the forest where he plants his magic staff to create a Christmas feast for the woodland animals.

The word “animation” means “a bestowing of life“. Like his ancestor in the arts Bernard Palissy and the ancient winter solstice celebration of the return of light that long ago spawned Christmas, Wladyslaw Starewicz's Insects' Christmas breathes life into real but inanimate beetles, dragonflies, and frogs. The illusion is complete as you effortlessly forget they are painstakingly animated.

From me to you, a little Christmas treat

Director Wladyslaw Starewicz and his daughter Irina (Irene), surrounded by several of his tiny actors. Irina, writer and director in her own right, starred in her father's WW1 short “Liliya Belgii” [“The Lily of Belgium”] (1915).

Рождество обитателей леса (ca. 1912)

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #WladyslawStarewicz #Russia #fantasy #animation #ShortFilm #Christmas #holidays #StopMotion #insects #animals #1910s ★★★★☆

#todo

Празник [Praznik / The Feast] (Đorđe Kadijević, 1967)

Dec

25

Christmas dinner

Празник (1967)

Soldiers eating bread at a set table. DP: Aleksandar Petković.