settima

satire

Mr. Freedom (William Klein, 1968)

Mar

23

freebie: liberty

Mr. Freedom (1968)

Mr. Freedom (John Abbey) in his American football outfit carries Marie-Madeleine (Delphine Seyrig) is his muscular manly arms. Tagline: OH! OHHH! MR. FREEDOM! YOU KILL ME. DP: Pierre Lhomme.

Freebie: “Give me liberty or give me death!” (Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775)

“F-R-double-E-D, D-O-M spells Freedom! We fight for freedom, for one and for all! It's you-and-me-dom, and ten foot tall! Freedom, freedom, and oh-can-you-see-dom, we'll always beat 'em with star-spangled freedom!”

– Mr. Freedom singing his theme song

The Bed Sitting Room (Richard Lester, 1969)

Mar

22

National Goof-off Day

The Bed Sitting Room (1969)

The BBC (Frank Thornton) bringing you the news (still via). DP: David Watkin.

A truly silly film for National Goof-off Day (USA)

“I am the BBC as you can see, and here was the last news.”

– The BBC

La Chinoise, ou plutôt à la Chinoise: un film en train de se faire [La chinoise] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)

Mar

19

Howard University Protest

La chinoise (1967)

Yvonne (Juliet Berto) holed up behind piles of Mao's Little Red Book, wielding a machine gun. DP: Raoul Coutard.

Student activism to commemorate the March 19 1968 Howard University Protest

“One must confront vague ideas with clear images”

– slogan on a wall

Five Maoist students theorise, then practice a radical overthrow via terrorism.

 

Loosely based on Dostoyevsky's Бѣсы [The Possessed] (1871–72).

Even: As You and I (Roger Barlow, Harry Hay + LeRoy Robbins, 1937)

Feb

27

Even: As You and I (1937)

A film editor struggling with a long strip of celluloid. DP: Hy Hirsh.

Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie [The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie] (Luis Buñuel, 1972)

Feb

16

No One Eats Alone Day

Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1972)

The diners at a long table. DP: Edmond Richard.

People eat dinner together on No One Eats Alone Day*

“My God. What am I doing in this place?”

– Henri Sénéchal

The bourgeoisie meet for dinner in various settings, but never consume.

 

* this event takes place on the Friday of the second full week in February, which makes the 2025 date February 14.

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987)

Feb

4

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987)

A brunette Barbie doll representing Karen Carpenter makes a statement in front of the White House. DP: Barry Ellsworth.

“Mother, didn't you know there are children starving in Africa?”

– “Karen Carpenter”

Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (Stuart Cooper, 1974)

Scrawdyke

2

Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1974)

Malcolm Scrawdyke (John Hurt), disgruntled art student. DP: John Alcott.

“So, this month becomes the month of Scrawdyke.”

– Malcolm Scrawdyke

Macario (Roberto Gavaldón, 1960)

Jan

22

National Poverty in America Awareness Month

Macario (1960)

Macario (Ignacio López Tarso) passes a Día de los Muertos altar, stacked high with candles, human skulls and bones, and cempasúchil (marigolds), whose fragrant and colour lead the Dead back to their family on this revered day. DP: Gabriel Figueroa.

Poverty (National Poverty in America Awareness Month).

 

Macario, poor and hungry, wishes to eat a whole turkey all by himself on Día de los Muertos. When he finally has the opportunity, he is interrupted three times: by the Devil, by God, and by Death. With one of them, he shares his meal.

1. April 2000 [April 1, 2000] (Wolfgang Liebeneiner, 1952)

Jan

20

Inauguration Day

1. April 2000 (1952)

Austria's new Prime Minister (Josef Meinrad). DPs: Sepp Ketterer, Karl Löb & Fritz Arno Wagner.

Inaugurations for Inauguration Day (USA).

 

In the future year 2000, on April 1, the newly-elected Prime Minister of Austria is inaugurated. Much to the shock of the Global Union, he declares Austria's independence!

À propos de Nice – point de vue documenté [À propos de Nice] (Boris Kaufman + Jean Vigo, 1930)

Jan

1

New Year's Day

À propos de Nice - point de vue documenté (1930)

Exuberant prostitutes, Jean Vigo (5th from the left), and some who appear to be men in drag, dance on a landing with confetti all around them. In the moving footage they can be seen high-kicking with increased vulgarity, the camera posed below them. DP: Boris Kaufman.

Confetti for New Year's Day.

“In this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial… the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you and makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution.”

– Jean Vigo in his manifesto Vers un cinéma social