- Come, this party is for hard-working people!

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 5: light a #bonfire for #BonfireNight

It started, #Estonia​ns will tell you, 4000 years ago when #Kaali appeared. Ever since, come rain or shine, come socialism or capitalism, the people gather and light #bonfires in its remembrance ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/jaanipaev-1978

This is #AndresSööt magical Jaanipäev (1978)

#documentary #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #jaaniõhtu #MidSummer

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 6: play basketball on #PlayBasketballDay

Within the boundaries of #SharonLockhart's static camera, girls from Goshogaoka junior high school practice #basketball. In six uninterrupted 10 minute scenes we see them warm up and train several typical moves. With the camera set in one position, some of the action happens off-screen, resulting in unrehearsed synchronised choreography. This is *Goshogaoka* [*御所ケ丘*] (1998) ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/goshogaoka-1998

#film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 7: someone drinks red wine on #InternationalMerlotDay

Seconds (#JohnFrankenheimer, 1966)

At a bacchanalia, #RockHudson's Antiochus Wilson finally strips down his hesitancy and realises he has a second chance at life, as a member of the new generation. To the Queen of #wine! To Bacchus! To Pan!

https://write.underworld.fr/settima/seconds-1966 #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #DavidEly #RockHudson #JamesWongHowe #Scifi

- More shoes, more boots, more garlic.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 8: someone #cooking something special for #CookSomethingBoldDay

After boiling for five hours in a concoction of #garlic, #herbs, and stock, the shoe was ready to eat and #Herzog could keep his promise to fellow director Errol Morris. This is Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980).

#film #cinemastodon #LesBlank #WernerHerzog #ErrolMorris #ShortFilm #USA #food #documentary #1980s ★★★★½

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 9: chaos breaks out on #ChaosNeverDiesDay

Matka Joanna od Aniolów (#JerzyKawalerowicz, 1961) takes place four years after the tragic events at #Loudun. Mother superior, the titular Mother Joan of the Angels, is still possessed by the Devil & has slowly pulled in the other #nuns. A priest, the fourth, is send over to exorcise the demons who at this point have possessed all but one sister. Chaos ensues. https://write.underworld.fr/settima/matka-joanna-od-aniolow-1961

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

- Fame will go by, and so long, I've had you, fame.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge: November 10: a diseased actor on #ForgetMeNotDay

Everyone assumed that Ellen, swept away during a yacht race, was gone. But there she is, years later, and very much alive. Marilyn wasn't that fortunate. On August 4, 1962, 2 months after she was fired from Something's Got to Give (#GeorgeCukor, 1962), Monroe was found dead in her home. She was only 36 years old.

#MarilynMonroe #film @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 11: origami for #WorldOrigamiDay

Ceremonial #origami, known as girei or #origata can be seen hanging from the altar in this scene from #NagisaŌshima's 儀式 [Gishiki / The Ceremony] (1971).

#Shinto #Shintō #神道 #Japan #1970s #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 12: #pneumonia on #WorldPneumoniaDay

In #KenRussell's Mahler (1974), the sickly composer and his wife Alma (#GeorginaHale) dwell on their shared lives while travelling to #Vienna by train. Storylines – circular like a journey, rondo like #Mahler's compositions – drift from the ordinary to the grotesque ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/mahler-1974

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 13: someone becomes orphaned on #WorldOrphansDay

Les enfants terribles (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950), based on a novel by Jean Cocteau.

With their mother bedridden, Elisabeth (#NicoleStéphane) nurtures her snowball-fight-injured brother Paul (#EdouardDermithe) back to health. Withdrawn in their family home, they form a strong manipulative bond, drawing others into their games ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/les-enfants-terribles-1950

#JeanPierreMelville #JeanCocteau #film #cinemastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 14: a child reading on #YoungReadersDay

#FrançoisTruffaut explores L'enfant sauvage (1970) right when the idea of the noble savage seemed to lock on with counterculture. With #Truffaut as Victor's tutor Itard in front of the camera, directly guiding amateur child actor (and “gipsy”) Cargol, the film not only reimagines Victor's fate, but reenacts Western presumed enlightenment over The Other ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/lenfant-sauvage-1970

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 16: an Andy for #NationalAndyDay

Everything is noise. Everything is light. Everything is dark. Everything is motion. Everything is static. Everything is energy. Everything is lethargy. Everything is rhythm. Everything is chaos. Everything is silent.

https://write.underworld.fr/settima/kick-that-habit-1989 #PeterLiechti #VoiceCrack #NorbertMöslang #AndyGuhl #film #cinema #CineMastodon #noise #ExperimentalMusic #Documentary #Switzerland @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 17: someone sets a world record on #GuinnessWorldRecordsDay

#DavidCobham's #Muloorina (1964) tells about a small, arid town in #Australia that one day finds itself on the world's stage. Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, a local salt lake that hasn't seen a drop of rain in nine years, is the perfect spot for a landspeed record attempt by British daredevil #DonaldCampbell and his #Bluebird ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/muloorina-1964

#film #documentary #cinema #cars #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 18: an adoption on #NationalAdoptionDay

#JohannesSchaaf Tätowierung [Tattoo aka The Delinquent] (1967)

16 year old Benno (#ChristofWackernagel) lives in reformatory until the Lohmanns, a rich altruistic #WestBerlin business couple decides to adopt him. For the teenager, this neatly regulated new bourgeois life feels all wrong. With his ne'er-do-well mate Sigi, Benno traverses #Berlin ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/tatowierung-1967

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

– Get the #OuijaBoard.
– It's got the Bible on top of it, keeping it quiet.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 19: play a #boardgame on #PlayMonopolyDay

Two neat little ladies playing that quirky 1891 novelty game in #RolandWest's The Bat Whispers (1930) summon the aforementioned bat, black-clad fiend and #Batman predecessor. Who is he? What does he want? And how can he be stopped? Do you know the answer?

YES                 NO
      GOOD B Y E

#PreCode #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 20: a #BeautifulDay

Two hopeless lonely hearts meet each other at #ConeyIsland, spending the most wonderful day in each other's company.

#PálFejős' joyful Lonesome (1928) was made just when motion pictures became talkies, and new and more modern novelties were expected by the audience. Fejős delivers, with sound and musical inserts, and the occasional – almost shocking – burst of colour ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/lonesome-1928

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 21: an entrepreneur for #NationalEntrepreneursDay

In my book, entrepreneur is just a fancy talk for conman. A famous one, the one who may've tried to sell you the #BrooklynBridge, was George C. Parker. #MaeWest's Peaches O'Day bamboozles it her way in #AEdwardSutherland's Every Day's a Holiday (1937). And boy, does she have a bridge to sell you!

https://write.underworld.fr/settima/every-days-a-holiday-1937

#PreCode #vaudeville #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 22: a #birthday party for #BalesBirthday!

Happy birthday, @bales1181!

Screenshot from satirical allegory #JanNěmec's O slavnosti a hostech [A Report on the Party and Guests] (1966)

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 23: family dinner for #Thanksgiving

While mother Scorsese's famous meatballs in gravy is working its way to perfection, son Martin interviews his parents Catherine and Charles. For those unsure what to cook, and for those who don't celebrate Thanksgiving at al, mama's recipe is included in #MartinScorsese's #Italianamerican (1974) end credits. And here ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/italianamerican-1974

#documentary #food #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 24: holiday shopping on #BlackFriday

A little boy takes in the magic of pre-Christmas, while the adults rush and worry about all that must to be bought in #RolandKlick's Weihnacht (1963) > https://write.underworld.fr/settima/weihnacht-1963

#holidays #Christmas #ShortFilm #documentary #docudrama #capitalism #WestGermany #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 25: protecting a woman on #WhiteRibbonDay

In #AkiraKurosawa's 隠し砦の三悪人 [The Hidden Fortress] (1958), a couple of greedy peasants escort a man and woman across enemy lines after the man has promised them a share of the gold they're carrying. Unknowingly, the fools not only protect their bounty, but a general and princess trying to escape an enemy clan so they can rebuild their kingdom ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/yin-shizhai-nosan-e-ren-1958

#ToshirōMifune #MisaUehara #film #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 26: a koala for #WorldLewisDay

It's not possible to be in #nature, one can only be absorbed by it. This is Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975).

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #PeterWeir #JoanLindsay #BookAdaptation #Australia #koalas #animals #drama #1970s

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 27: online shopping on #CyberMonday

- What year is it now? I forgot.

In the soul crushing future of 1999, one heroic nuclear family bravely fulfils their gender-specific duties. While Father Mike works in his computer-aided office, Son Jamie fails at computer homeschool and Mother Karen slavishly shops, cooks, and cleans the cyber way. Thankfully, the future turned out to be even bleaker than #LeeMadden could've imagined in his 1999 A.D. (1967).

#film #SciFi

#Bales2023FilmChallenge November 28: someone is given something special for #GivingTuesday

#JeanCocteau & #RenéClément's La Belle et la Bête (1946)

Just before leaving home, a father asks his three daughters what he can bring them as a return gift. The eldest two ask for silly, extravagant things, but the youngest simply wishes the most beautiful flower. The father finds it in an enchanted garden, guarded by a terrible beast… ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/la-belle-et-la-bete-1946

#Cocteau #film #CineMastodon @film

Peace is at hand.
— Henry #Kissinger,1972

#Bales2023FilmChallenge Nov 30: #warcrime

Over an 11 day period, the 1972 #Christmas bombings resulted in 20000 tons of American shells being dropped on #Hanoi & #Haiphong, killing at least 1624 civilians. During this unmentionable carnage, #HảiNinh directed The Little Girl of Hanoi (1974), which gave the people of North #Vietnam not only a face, but a voice ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/em-be-ha-noi-1974 #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film #warcrimes

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 1: #Christmas lights for #NationalChristmasLightsDay

It took experimental filmmaker #MarieMenken three years to shoot Lights (1966). From midnight until 1 AM, she filmed New York's window displays during the holiday season, using her camera, motion, colour, and available light sources as her paintbrush ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/lights-1966 #ShortFilm #ExperimentalFilm #ArtFilm #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

If you have a #Vimeo account, you can watch #MarieMenken's Lights (1966) on The #Film-Makers' Coop channel here https://vimeo.com/230187590

@film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 2: shaving on #SafetyRazorDay

Accompanied by the sweet tunes of I Can't Get Started, a young man shaves. The Big Shave (1967) is short but contains many of the hallmarks of #MartinScorsese's later work. #Scorsese's theme here is the carnage laid upon so many young men sent off to the smouldering battlefields of the East. There'd be another 6 years of that. And meanwhile, some young men came back. And became cabbies ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/the-big-shave-1967

#CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 3: hugged on #LetsHugDay

Nanon (#JoanCrawford) is mortally afraid of men. Of their grabbing, grasping, groping hands. She only trust knife thrower Alonzo the Armless (#LonChaney) but he and accomplice (#TufeiFilhela) use the #circus to hide from the long arm of the law. Who'd suspect an armless man? The Unknown (1927) is arguably #TodBrowning and Chaney Sr's pinnacle of silent #precode #horror. 14 minutes are still missing. Check your attic!

#film #cinema @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 4: a letter to Santa on #SantasListDay

3615 code Père Noël (#RenéManzor, 1989)

France's proto-Internet #Minitel used codes, not URLs. Dial 3615ULLA to text with a sexy lady – some telecom employee pretending to be one – and 3615PERENOEL for #Santa Claus. The real one, of course. 9 yr old Thomas is dead set on proving that Santa is real and not some weirdo looking for a gullible kid to play with. A trap is set, and the boy waits ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/3615-code-pere-noel-1989

#film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 5: digging in soil on #WorldSoilDay

Mr. Hayashi (Bruce Baillie, 1963)

#BruceBaillie #ArtFilm #documentary #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 7: a Judith/Judy for #NationalJudithDay

#BenMaddow, #SidneyMeyers, & #JosephStrick's The Savage Eye (US, 1959/60) follows divorcée Judith X's lonely exploration of a gritty, hopeless LA. Filmed over 4 years by #HaskellWexler, #HelenLevitt, and #JackCouffer in #CinémaVérité style, Eye feels naked and raw, and broke ground for the American New Wave that came crashing in a decade later ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/the-savage-eye-1959

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 8: a #ChristmasTree for #NationalChristmasTreeDay

Fireworks' (1947) Dreamer, #KennethAnger, is still asleep. The violence is harrowing, filmed with such exquisite eye that it's impossible to look away. Blood finds its way out, pulsating and spurting. Ambiguous glances. A hand, no finger. A young man awakes, is born. The dreamer is still asleep ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/fireworks-1947

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film #LGBT

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 9: something's lost and found on #OfficialLostAndFoundDay

A white #dove, lost over #Prague, is shot down by a boy and found by an artist in #FrantišekVláčil's directed and #JanČuřík's wonderfuly photographed Holubice [The White Dove] (1960).

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 10: a candle is lit for #WorldwideCandleLightingDay

Candles lit in prayer, longing, and #poetry in #AndreiTarkovsky's Nostalghia [Nostalgia] (1983).

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film @art_film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 11: mountains travelled on #InternationalMountainDay

In #KeisukeKinoshita's highly stylised 楢山節考 [The Ballad of Narayama] (1958), a starving community has come to the agreement that the elders approaching the age of seventy are to be carried up the mountain Narayama to die. The day prior to the mountain's festival, sixty-nine year old Orin prepares to leave, carried by her son Tatsuhei ☞ https://write.underworld.fr/settima/you-shan-jie-kao-1958

#film #cinema #CineMastodon @film

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 12: bad breath on #National12HourFreshBreathDay

#LesBlank explores the taste, smell, history, and myth of that stinky rose, #garlic in Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980). And manages to sneak in a little workers' rights agitprop along the way. It truly is a wonder spice!

#WernerHerzog #AliceWaters #food #documentary #USA #1980s #film #cinema #CineMastodon @film ★★★½

#Bales2023FilmChallenge December 13: the #NationalGuard shows up for their #USNationalGuardBirthday

American dissidents are given the choice to spend decades in federal prison, or 3 days in the desert, chased by National Guardsmen et al. If they manage capture the American flag, they're free to go. While the washed-out 16mm footage and #Nixon references may tell you otherwise, #PeterWatkins' #PunishmentPark (1971) remains a gut-punching portrait of a timeless America.

@film #cinemastodon #film