“The lush and mysterious realm evoked by SHELLS AND RUSHES recalls the uncanny eclecticism of the surrealists. Strange, flesh-like sea shells, restlessly turning and quivering; enigmatic allusions to classical mythology, such as the Birth of Venus and Leda and the Swan; and paradoxical uses of positive and negative space variously bring to mind Man Ray, Dali and Cornell. But Couzin’s film creates its own rich, secretive world and provides its own astonishing pleasures. Accompanied by an otherworldly soundtrack of ancient throat-singing, this deftly edited film is by turns seductive, humorous and serene.” – Rafael Wang

Early morning in the Bavarian woods. Christoph, suffering from a severe hang-over, sits next to his mother on a high seat. While she is aiming at a deer, Christoph tries to make up his mind. He’s had the plan to come out to her, but this really doesn’t seem like the best time. He checks his breath, screws up his courage and tries to tell her – simultaneously she fires a shot. Everything goes wrong and if that wasn’t enough, his boyfriend is about to arrive.

Inherently political, the three films that constitute Muster (Rushes) (2012) visually link to one another, with each roughly half-hour narrative (79 minutes combined for the single-channel version) taking place at a former Benedictine monastery outside of Kassel, Germany. This monastery functioned as a concentration camp during the Nazi era, a reformatory for girls in the 1970s, and later a psychiatric clinic.

Gregor Nicholas explores the outer edges of obsession in this deliciously fruity comedy. The syncopated medley of music, strange noises and varied eccentrics doing their special thing shares similarities with a fondly-recalled scene in cult film Delicatessen; though Delicatessen was yet to emerge when this short film first debuted. Rushes played in multiple festivals, including the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand. The soundtrack is by ex Techtones guitarist Steve Roach. Director Nicholas followed this with another oddball romp: his feature debut User Friendly.

Auður tries to get acclimated to the life on a small island, away from the stress of a modern community.

Three weeks of travel in the USA in June 1997: New York, Vermont, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, edited entirely in camera and projected with music from the 60s.

Led by a madly enthusiastic director, a team of amateur filmmakers hole up in a former undercover DOD research facility to make a film about a dream researcher who disappeared while in the midst of a secret neurological experiment.

Perhaps it speaks to the sheer power and beauty of L’Atalante that 40 years after its initial butchered release, critics and fans still seek to piece together Vigo’s vision – and debate the choices involved in that process. Bernard Eisenschitz, who was involved with Luce Vigo (daughter of Jean Vigo) in the 1990 reconstruction of this masterwork, takes us into the raw materials by which this complex film was re-envisioned and continues to be analyzed and changed today. An important vision of film as a tradition of viewership, curation and exploration.

Thirteen-year-old Vendula dozes off at school and dreams about her parents riding in a carriage dressed in their wedding clothes. The young teacher is angry with the girl who has already failed a year, and has no idea that she is looking after three younger half-brothers. They all have a different father and their mother comes home noisy and drunk every day, often accompanied by a man...

A docu-style narrative exploring memory loss, legacy and how we remember.