Halber Mensch (A.K.A.- 1/2 Mensch) (1986) by Sogo Ishii & Einstürzende Neubauten

"Halber Mensch" (aka "1/2 Mensch") is a 1986 film by Japanese director Sogo Ishii with German band Einstürzende Neubauten. It was originally released on VHS, and re-released on DVD in 2005. The film's title comes from the album of the same name.

Einstürzende Neubauten were in their creative prime when punk film pioneer

Sohgo Ishii shot this 58-minute document in Tokyo during the band's world

tour in 1985.

Set mostly in a condemned factory/junkpile (the former Nakamatsu Ironworks),

the film features a tormental troupe of butoh dancers, fire, FM Einheit repairing

his shoe, micro photography, industrial textures, live footage from their Korakuen

Hall arena shows, one of their guerilla street actions, lots of beautiful destruction

and amazing music.

It's extremely, lyrically visual, perhaps because Ishii didn't feel the need to

hang everything on some skimpy plot this time and could just let his camera do the talking.

[01]. Armenia

[02]. Sehnsucht

[03]. Letztes biest

[04]. Abfackeln

[05]. Zerstorte Zelle

[06]. Halber Mensch

[07]. Z.N.S.

[08]. Die Zeichnungen des Patienten

[09]. Der Tod ist ein Dandy

[10]. Schaben

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halber_Mensch_(film) 

Savage Messiah (1972) by Ken Russell

Savage Messiah is a 1972 British biographical film of the life of French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, made by Russ-Arts and distributed by MGM. It was directed and produced by Ken Russell with Harry Benn as associate producer, from a screenplay by Christopher Logue, based on the book Savage Messiah by H.S. Ede. Much of the content of Ede's book came from letters sent between Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and his lover Sophie Brzeska. The music score was by Michael Garrett (though music by Claude Debussy and Alexander Scriabin was also used), and the cinematography by Dick Bush. The sets were designed by Derek Jarman.

Starring: Dorothy Tutin, Scott Antony, Helen Mirren, Lindsay Kemp, Peter Vaughan and Michael Gough.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Messiah

Whore (1991) by Ken Russell

Whore is a 1991 film and the last film by controversial British director and screenwriter Ken Russell, starring actress Theresa Russell as a Los Angeles prostitute. The film remains fairly rare as it has only been released on VHS as of 2012. Below is a link to the view the full feature. Enjoy.

Alejandro Jodorowsky - Interview at ICA London (December 2002)

An interesting and amusing interview with Chilean surrealist filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky  (Fando and Lis, El Topo, The Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) recorded at the ICA, London in December 2002 after a screening of Santa Sangre.

Alan Moore on Austin Spare from The Culture Show (BBC)

Author and magician Alan Moore discusses the virtually unknown but enormously talented Edwardian artist and magician Austin Osman Spare on The Culture Show from the BBC.

Buckminster Fuller - Everything I Know (1975)

networkawesome.com has compiled 42 hours of video taken during the last two weeks of January 1975 when Buckminster Fuller gave an extraordinary series of lectures concerning his entire life's work. These thinking out loud lectures span 42 hours and examine in depth all of Fuller's major inventions and discoveries from the 1927 Dymaxion house, car and bathroom, through the Wichita House, geodesic domes, and tensegrity structures, as well as the contents of Synergetics. Autobiographical in parts, Fuller recounts his own personal history in the context of the history of science and industrialization. The stories behind his Dymaxion car, geodesic domes, World Game and integration of science and humanism are lucidly communicated with continuous reference to his synergetic geometry. Permeating the entire series is his unique comprehensive design approach to solving the problems of the world. Some of the topics Fuller covered in this wide ranging discourse include: architecture, design, philosophy, education, mathematics, geometry, cartography, economics, history, structure, industry, housing and engineering.

Reference: networkawesome.com

El Tigre Saltó y Mató, Pero Morirá…Morirá…. (1973) by Santiago Álvarez Román with music by Víctor Jara y Violeta Parra

Santiago Álvarez Román (March 18, 1919– May 20, 1998) was a Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed many documentaries about Cuban and American culture. His "nervous montage" technique of using "found materials," such as Hollywood movie clips, cartoons, and photographs, is considered a precursor to the modern video clip.
El Tigre Saltó y Mató, Pero Morirá…Morirá…(The Tiger Jumped and Killed but It Will Die, It Will Die...) is a documentary film directed by Santiago Alvarez Roman depicting the injustices committed in Chile during the 1970's under the fascist dictatorsip of General Augusto Pinochet. It features music by Chilean folk singers, Violeta Parra and Victor Jara. Shortly after the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973, Jara was arrested, tortured and ultimately shot to death with 44 bullet shots by machine gun fire. His body was later thrown out into the street of a shanty town in Santiago. The contrast between the themes of his songs, on love, peace and social justice and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a symbol of struggle for human rights and justice across Latin America.

Alvarez studied in the United States but in the mid-1940s returned to Cuba, where he worked as a music archivist in a television station and participated in Communist Party activities. After the Cuban Revolution he became a founding member of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and directed its weekly Latin American Newsreel.

One of his most famous works, the short Now (1964) about racial discrimination in the USA, mixed news photographs and musical clips featuring singer/actress Lena Horne. Other well-known works included the anti-imprerialist satire LBJ (1968) and 79 Springs (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh. In 1968, he collaborated with Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas (members of Grupo Cine Liberación) on the four-hour documentary Hora de los hornos, about foreign imperialism in South America. Among the other subjects he explored in his film were the musical and cultural scene in Latin America and the dictatorships which gripped the region.

He died of Parkinson's disease in Havana on May 20, 1998 and was buried there in the Colon Cemetery.

References: www.wikipedia.com

Director: Santiago Álvarez.
Producer: Sergio San Pedro.
Sound: Juan Demóstenes.
Editor: Gloria Argüelles.
Music: Víctor Jara and Violeta Parra.
Graphics: Adalberto Hernández and Santiago Peñate.
Trucas: Jorge Pucheaux and Eusebio Ortiz.
35mm. Black and White. 16 mins. 1973.

Unidentified man and Santiago Alvarez Roman

(to the left of Fidel Castro)

Austin Osman Spare (1886 – 1956)

Austin Osman Spare (30 December 1886 – 15 May 1956) was an English artist who developed idiosyncratic magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilizationbased on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self. His artistic work is characterized by skilled draughtsmanship exhibiting a mastery of the use of the line, and often employs monstrous or fantastic magical and sexual imagery.
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Spare