Calle Santa Fe (Carmen Castillo, 2007)
Oct
5
Miguel Enriquez holding Carmen Castillo in a family snapshot. DPs: Ned Burgess, Sebastián Moreno, Raphaël O'Byrne & Arnaldo Rodríguez.
A Sunday in September (James Hill, 1961)
Sep
17
1961
A large group of bobbies attempts to block off the street in front of an Underground station. They're greatly undone by the large group of protesters behind them (via).
Television documentary about the nuclear disarmament demonstration at Trafalgar Square on September 17, 1961 (description via aforementioned link in the caption).
Il pleut sur Santiago [Rain over Santiago] (Helvio Soto, 1975)
Sep
11
1973
Naicho Petrov as Chilean president Salvador Allende. DP: Georges Barsky .
آداب بهاری [Adab-e Bahari / Rites of Spring] (Ali Asghar Agahbanaei, 1982)
Aug
11
spring
In a dewdrop hanging from a rose, the face of a smiling woman appears.
Dita e Verës, a pagan spring celebration from Albania, celebrated in March: a spring scene*
The restless anticipation of spring. Iran as it was before and after the 1979 toppling of the Shah. While the snow melts away, the Revolution takes place, and fresh buds appear on the rose bushes. A poem.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related.
“The 17th of July. Comrade Anna is not lying!”
Ucho [The Ear] (Karel Kachyňa, 1970)
Jul
17
Party member, and rather drunk, Anna (Jiřina Bohdalová) and her newspaper hat at the officials' party. DP: Josef Illík.
“This film tells a story of rebels (played by real rats) and cops (played by real cats). After a long domination by cats, the rats escape from prison (this is their rebellion) and find refuge in Canada. There, they feed on organic produce from a garden where the grass hasn’t been sprayed with DDT.”
Rat Life and Diet in North America (Joyce Wieland, 1968)
Jul
4
Independence Day
Rats – gerbils actually – nibbling on the Stars and Stripes (via). DP: Joyce Wieland.
A movie set in the USA for Independence Day (USA)
– Jonas Mekas, via
French-Canadian patriot Joyce Wieland tells a fable of freedom.
Coincidentally, the Canadian city of Trois-Rivières, scene of the final battle of the American Revolutionary War, also celebrates an Independence Day on the fourth of July.
“On July 4, 1976 I and my camera toured the state of Colorado with governor Richard D. Lamm, as he traveled in parades with his children, appeared at dinners, lectured, etc. On July 20, I spent the morning in his office in the state capitol and the afternoon with himself and his wife in a television studio, then with Mrs. Lamm greeting guests to the governor’s mansion and finally with Governor Lamm in his office again. These two days of photography took me exactly one year to edit into a film which wove itself thru multiple superimpositions into a study of light and power.”
The Governor (Stan Brakhage, 1977)
Jul
4
1976
And July 20
– Stan Brakhage
Sochaux, 11 juin 1968 [Sochaux June 11th 1968] (Bruno Muel, 1970)
Jun
11
1968
Several of the striking workers in a row. The composition echoes the famous propaganda image of Marx, Engels, Lenin etc. DP: Groupe Medvedkine de Sochaux.
“This nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (Robert Drew, 1963)
Jun
10
1963
An energetic Bobby arrives at the White House in his limousine. DP: Gregory Shuker.
– JFK
“Ich bin nicht der offizielle Kirchenjesus, ich bin nicht euer Superstar.”
Jesus Christus Erlöser [Jesus Christ Saviour] (Peter Geyer, 1971/2008)
May
29
Ascension Day
Kinski speaking to (presumably) journalists as part of promoting his Jesus tour (via)
The birth, life, death or teachings of Jesus on Ascension Day
– Klaus Kinski
It is November 20. The Jesus Christus Erlöser tour brings Klaus Kinski to Berlin's Deutschlandhalle. His monologue, spoken from Jesus the revolutionary's perspective, brings out the hecklers. It's 1971, the post-68 generation is not satisfied with words. It wants to debate, dissect, and devour their Saviour.