“It's a weird, crazy idea, but that's the reason it intrigues me.”Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 1956)
May
7
Susan Spencer (Joan Fontaine) lighting Tom Garrett's (Dana Andrews) cigarette. DP: William E. Snyder.
– Tom Garrett
“It's a weird, crazy idea, but that's the reason it intrigues me.”Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (Fritz Lang, 1956)
May
7
Susan Spencer (Joan Fontaine) lighting Tom Garrett's (Dana Andrews) cigarette. DP: William E. Snyder.
– Tom Garrett
“Producers are something I can easily do without”Le mépris [Contempt] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
May
5
Europe Day
Michel Piccoli, director Fritz Lang, Jack Palance, and director Jean-Luc Godard behind the scenes. The clapperboard held by Godard is for the movie that Lang's working on in Le Mépris, an adaption of Homer's Odyssey. DP: Raoul Coutard.
A director from the EU for Europe Day
– Fritz Lang
A film in a film, the former directed by Fritz Lang, directed by Godard.
– You haven't forgotten us again, have you, Marion? – You know perfectly well I'm Julia Ross!My Name Is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945)
May
5
Nina Foch as Julia Ross… or is she… Julia's lying on a made bed, looking over her shoulder at two middle-aged men and an elderly woman standing in the doorway to her room. DP: Burnett Guffey.
Maratón [The Marathon] (Ivo Novák, 1968)
May
5
1945
Karla (Jana Brejchová) and Ruda (Jaromír Hanzlík). DP: Václav Hanuš.
दुविधा [Duvidha / The Dilemma] (Mani Kaul, 1973)
May
3
National Paranormal Day
Lachhi, the bride (Raisa Padamsee). DP: Navroze Contractor.
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.
غزل [Ghazal] (Masud Kimiai, 1975)
May
2
Brothers and Sisters Day
The two brothers in their forest. DP: Nemat Haghighi.
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…”Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut [A Man Escaped] (Robert Bresson, 1956)
May
2
A hand with dirty nails writing on a scrap of paper with a pencil stump. It starts “Mai 2 Ma chère maman, Je suis à la pris[…]“. DP: Léonce-Henri Burel.
– Fontaine
“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.”Todo modo [One Way or Another] (Elio Petri, 1976)
May
1
National Day of Prayer
M. (Gian Maria Volontè) speaks to the gathered elite while a gypsum Christ multiplies bread and fishes. DP: Luigi Kuveiller.
A spiritual theme for the National Day of Prayer (USA)
– 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.
حاجی واشنگتن [Hajji Washington / Haji Washington] (Ali Hatami, 1983)
Apr
30
George Washington – 1789
The ambassador and guest in the embassy. The guest, a white cowboy peeling peanuts, leisurely rests on a Persian rug with a hookah by his side. The ambassador recites from a book, with his chaii within reach (via). DP: Mehrdad Fakhimi.
The White House, or set in Washington, DC, in commemoration of the first inauguration of George Washington in 1789.
Hajji Hossein-Gholi Noori was Iran's first ambassador to the United States in 1889. Stuck in DC, homesick, and without any US-based Iranians to serve, he slowly unravels
鬼の詩 [Oni no uta / Song of the Devil] (Tetsutaro Murano, 1975)
Apr
29
Jerry Seinfeld – 1954
Keima Kyo entertaining his audience by hanging numerous clay pipes from his face. DP: Yasuhiro Yoshioka.
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.