The Corporation (Sundance 2004)

The Corporation features interviews with prominent corporate critics such as Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Michael Moore, Vandana Shiva and Howard Zinn as well as opinions from company CEOs such as Ray Anderson (from the Interface carpet & fabric company), the conservative viewpoints of Peter Drucker and Milton Friedman, and think tanks advocating free markets such as the Fraser Institute.



150 years ago, the business corporation was a relatively insignificant institution. Today, it is all-pervasive. Like the Church, the Monarchy and the Communist Party in other times and places, the corporation is today's dominant institution. This documentary examines the nature, evolution, impacts, and possible futures of the modern business corporation.
You can buy The Corporation.

Subnormality

You can read other Winston Rowntree's comics on Virus Comix.

Metropopular (Sundance 2001)

Metropopular is an animated short film about what the cities of America would say to one another if they could talk. Jonah Hall use a unique animation style. The characters are great and the plot is fun.




Frantic about a popularity contest in which these cities are competing, they jockey for top position while arguing between themselves. Highlighting their separate personalities, each city had his or her own reason why they should be America's favorite city.

A really entertaining film.

Details

By Ye Rin Mok.

Born Into Brothels (2005 Accademy Award)

Amidst the apparent growing prosperity of India, there is a dark underbelly of poverty of another side of the nation that is little known. This film is a chronicle of filmmakers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman's efforts to show that world of Calcutta's red light district.
Briski, a documentary photographer, went to Kolkata to photograph prostitutes. While there, she befriended their children and offered to teach the children photography to reciprocate being allowed to photograph their mothers. The children were given cameras so they could learn photography and possibly improve their lives. Much of their work was used in the film, and the filmmakers recorded the classes as well as daily life in the red light district.




The red light district has existed for centuries and will exist for centuries more, but now we know the tortured lives of children in the shadows of Calcutta. The fate of the children is not resolved, but their dreams resonate in our world and lives.
The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee has criticized Briski for using hidden camera work to incorrectly present the children's parents as uncaring, for ignoring the prostitutes' substantial efforts to unite, and for harming the global movement for sex worker rights and dignity.
You can buy Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids.

The Bureaucrats

by Robert Renaud. You can read other The Bureaucrats' strips on their website.

Tenshi no Tamago (天使のたまご, 1984)

Angel's Egg incorporates surrealistic and existentialist qualities but very little dialogue, making it a commonly cited example of progressive anime.
The whole film is beautifully animated and designed. The atmosphere is dark: empty streets creates a dreamlike, slightly sinister atmosphere reminiscent of proto-surrealist painters Giorgio deChirico and Dalì. And there is plenty of symbolic Christian imagery: almost the story of Noah's ark takes up a good portion of the sparse dialogue. There are also references to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.



In a desolate and dark world full of shadows, lives one little girl: she is the sole protector of a very precious, large egg. A mysterious man enters her life and when he wins her trust, they begin to discuss about the world around them.
Each metaphor spoken and piece of symbolism shown only helps to further deepen the mystery behind the film.
You can read this article about its simbolism.

Children no more

Rocco Lombardi is the founder of some punk bands (I.A.S., Waika, R.aM.A., 'Sti Cazzi). He issued illustrations on Kerosene, Blu, Stripburger, Frigidaire and Lamette. He also issued L'albero Sfregiato.

Titler (Sundance 2000)

Filmed with effective black-and-white visuals and disintegrating locations of abandoned Met State hospital which evoke a bombed-out post-war Berlin, Gregory Roman energizes the screen with a performance of brilliant comedic nuances and mannerisms that evoke the lonesome glamour of Marlene Dietrich.
It's an entertaining, hilarious and shocking film.



This short performs eight numbers as Titler, a cross-dressing man with a woman's figure and the hair and mustache of the Fuhrer's. An absurd superimposition of two brands of charisma featuring Adolf Hitler!
What wonderful portrait of the Führer in drag belting out sexually reassigned show tunes!
Greg Roman has also created Titler web site that further evolves the character and tone established in the film.

Guest Comic From Adam Holwerda!

You can read A Slice of Life by Noel Graham.

Plasticland (Future Film Festival 2004)

The Setting:Night. Metropolis. Future?
A pocket full of money. When a tramp asks him for some money, a cat has to struggle with his many internal consciences to come up with a decision.



Simon Bogojevic-Narath has created a surprising and rich world in 3-D computer generated animation.

Batcha

Dice Tsutsumi worked for Blue Sky Studios as a visual development/color key artist on their blockbuster film projects such as Ice Age, Robots and upcoming Horton Hears A Who. Now he works as art director at Pixar Animation Studios.

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (Accademy Award 1989)

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam is a documentary based on the book which printed letters from the soldiers and nurses who served in Vietnam.
This movie is so powerful precisely because it is so simple. Using real letters written by US soldiers and archive footage, the film creates a highly personal experience of the Vietnam War.



An intensely moving and disturbing experience. It shows a more humane story of the war than we see in most media outlets and reveal real people in real situations trying to explain or understand the war.
It has no plot except of thousands of young men who went to a faraway country and had unspeakable experiences there; many of them died or were wounded for life in body or soul.
You can buy Dear America - Letters Home from Vietnam.

Making Biscuits (A Slice of Life 3)

You can read A Slice of Life by Noel Graham.