How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels
Craig Welch, Canada, 1996, 11 min 5 s
The main protagonist of this short, surreal film is a man obsessed with control. In an automated world drained of all emotion, he is tortured by vague longings.
The Phantom Carriage
Victor Sjöström, Sweden, 1921, 93 min
The Phantom Carriage (Swedish: Körkarlen) is a 1921 Swedish romantic horror film, generally considered to be one of the central works in the history of Swedish cinema. Released on New Year’s Day, it was directed by and starred Victor Sjöström, alongside Hilda Borgström, Tore Svennberg and Astrid Holm. It is based on the novel Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness! (Körkarlen; 1912), by Nobel-prize winning Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf
The film is notable for its special effects, its advanced (for the time) narrative structure with flashbacks within flashbacks, and for having been a major influence on Ingmar Bergman. – WIKI
The Holy Mountain
Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mexico-USA, 1973, 114 min
The film is based on « Ascent of Mount Carmel » by St. John of the Cross and Mount Analogue by Rene Daumal, a student of G.I. Gurdjieff. In particular, much of Jodorowsky’s visually psychedelic story follows the metaphysical thrust of Mount Analogue such as the climb to the Alchemist, the assembly of individuals with specific skills, the discovery of the mountain that unites Heaven and Earth « that cannot not exist » and symbolic challenges along the mountain ascent. Daumal died before finishing his allegorical novel, and Jodorowsky’s improvised ending provides a clever way of completing the Work (symbolic and otherwise.) – WIKI
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Hommage à l’ensemble de l’oeuvre d’Alexandro Jodorowsky
Du 29 mars au 2 avril 2011 (Montréal)
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La Santa Muerte
Eva Aridjis, Mexico & USA, 2007, 84 min
Trailer for the documentary Saint Death (La Santa Muerte), directed and produced by Eva Aridjis, narrated by Gael García Bernal, distributed by Seventh Art Releasing.
In Mexico there is a cult that is rapidly growing – the cult of Saint Death. This female grim reaper, considered a saint by followers but Satanic by the Catholic Church, is worshipped by people whose lives are filled with danger and/or violence – criminals, gang members, transvestites, sick people, drug addicts, and families living in rough neighborhoods. « La Santa Muerte » examines the origins of the cult and takes us on a tour of the altars, jails, and neighborhoods in Mexico where the saint’s most devoted followers can be found.
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March 7, 2011 on Al Jazeera English:
As Mexico’s drug-related violence continues, some are finding comfort in spirituality. It is a mainly Catholic nation, but as Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras reports from Mexico City, many are turning to religious figures rooted in Mexico’s indigenous past. One alternative is the saint of death, also known as Santa Muerte.
Orphée
Jean Cocteau, France, 1950, 95 min
Set in contemporary Paris, the movie is a variation of the classic Greek myth of Orpheus. At the Café des Poètes, a brawl is staged by acolytes of the Princess (Casares) and the young poet Cègeste (Edouard Dermithe), a rival of Orpheus, is killed. Cègeste’s body is taken to the Princess’s car by her associates, and Orpheus (Marais) is asked to accompany them as a witness. They drive to a chateau (the landscape through the car windows are presented in negative) accompanied by abstract poetry on the radio. This takes the form of seemingly meaningless messages, like those broadcast to the French Resistance from London during the Occupation.
Orpheus becomes obsessed with Death (the Princess). Heurtebise (Périer), her chauffeur, entertains analogous unrequited love for Orpheus’s wife Eurydice (Marie Déa). They fall in love. Eurydice is killed by the Princess’s henchmen and Orpheus goes after her into the Underworld. Although they have become dangerously entangled, the Princess sends Orpheus back out of the Underworld, to carry on his life with Eurydice, but he cannot look at her or she will die. (This diverges from the common classical account found in the Roman versions of the myth by Ovid and Virgil, where Eurydice is lost forever.) They believe it to have been a dream, Eurydice is revealed to be alive, and expecting a child. – WIKI