Din Of Celestial Birds
E. Elias Merhige, USA, 2006, 14 min
The film begins with the phrase « hello and welcome … do not be afraid … be comforted … remember … our origin… » and proceeds to depict the first violent formation of matter from nothingness. Then, after a hyper-accelerated trip through the evolution of life and the earth, the film culminates in the birth of a embryonic pseudo-humanoid that reaches to some unknown source.
It is the second of an unofficial trilogy of experimental films, the preceding film being Begotten (1991), which deals with the Genesis Creation Story.
Almanach
Denys Desjardins, Canada, 1999, 48 min 29 s
En cette époque incertaine et angoissée où Nostradamus et les prophètes de malheur font l’actualité, ce documentaire se penche, avec humour et dérision, sur le monde des arts divinatoires. Fascinant voyage au cœur de l’insolite, il parcourt les sphères du paranormal pour nous faire découvrir une galerie de personnages. Avec une douce folie qui vire au délire, le cinéma de Denys Desjardins brouille toutes les boules de cristal et sème la zizanie dans la galaxie ésotérique!
Shadows of our forgotten ancestors
Sergei Parajanov, Soviet Union, 1964, 97 min
In a small Hutsul village in the Carpathian mountains of Ukraine, a young man, Ivan, falls in love with the daughter of the man who killed his father. Though their families share a bitter enmity, Ivan and Marichka have known each other since childhood. In preparation for their marriage, Ivan leaves the village to work and earn money for a household. While he is gone, Marichka accidentally slips into a river and drowns while trying to rescue a lost lamb. Ivan returns and falls into despair after seeing her body. He continues to work, enduring a period of joyless toil, until he meets another woman, Palagna, while shoeing a horse. Ivan and Palagna get married in a traditional Hutsul wedding in which they are blindfolded and yoked together. The marriage quickly turns sour, however, as Ivan remains obsessed with the memory of Marichka. Estranged from her emotionally distant husband, Palagna becomes involved with a local sorcerer, while Ivan begins to experience hallucinations.
At a tavern, Ivan witnesses the sorcerer embrace Palagna and strike one of his friends. Roused into an uncharacteristic fury, Ivan snatches up his axe, only to be struck down by the sorcerer. Ivan stumbles into the nearby woods and perceives Marichka’s spirit to be with him, reflected in the water and gliding amongst the trees. As reality merges into dream, the colorless shade of Marichka reaches out across a great space and touches Ivan’s outstretched hand … – WIKI
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The Color of Pomegranates (1968) by SERGEI PARAJANOV (December 1, 2010)
‘Maudit que c’était pas difficile voter pour le PQ à cette époque-là’ …
Godin, le film
Simon Beaulieu, Québec, 2011, 75 min
Version intégrale diffusée à la télé le mercredi 14 décembre 2011 à 20 h à voir ici.
Documentaire portant sur Gérald Godin, poète et homme politique québécois (1938-1994)
L’œuvre et la vie de Gérald Godin auront été marquées par son engagement viscéral envers le Québec. Oubliée ou méconnue, la contribution de son héritage politique et littéraire au patrimoine culturel est inestimable. Figure marquante de la poésie québécoise toute sa vie durant, il aura aussi été un acteur de premier plan dans les grands bouleversements socio-politiques des cinquante dernières années. De Trois-Rivières à Montréal, des années 60 au Référendum de 1995, en passant par les prisons d’Octobre et les chansons de sa compagne Pauline Julien, le film GODIN allie archives et entrevues pour retracer le parcours unique d’un combattant. Un portrait saisissant de celui que l’on surnomme le député-poète.
Une courtepointe cinématographique du Québec moderne, tissée par un amalgame d’archives d’exception.
The Juniper Tree
Nietzcha Keene, Iceland, 1986 (not released until 1990), 78 min
Based on the fairy tale « The Juniper Tree » collected by the Brothers Grimm … The Juniper Tree is set in Iceland and portrays the story of two sisters, Margit (Björk Guðmundsdóttir) and her elder sister Katla (Bryndis Petra Bragadóttir), who escape their home after their mother (Guðrún S. Gísladóttir) is stoned and burned for witchcraft. They go where no one knows them, and find Jóhann (Valdimar Örn Flygenring), a young widower who has a son called Jónas (Geirlaug Sunna Þormar). Katla uses magical powers to seduce Jóhann and they start living together. Margit and Jónas become friends. However, Jónas does not accept Katla as his stepmother and tries to convince his father to leave her. Katla’s magic power is too strong and even though he knows he should leave her, he can’t. Margit’s mother appears to her in visions and Jónas’ mother appears as a raven and to bring him a magical feather – WIKI
