Experiments in Advertising: The Films of Erwin Blumenfeld: Advertising & Layout(2006)

Experiments in Advertising: The Films of Erwin Blumenfeld: Process & Surrealism(en)

Part of a triptych of fashion films edited from Erwin Blumenfeld's original footage by filmmaker Adam Mufti and sound designer Olivier Alary. This film examines the concept of 'Process & Surrealism' in Blumenfeld's motion image work.

Along Came Auntie(en)

A divorced couple try to pretend they are still happily married in order to get $100,000 from the woman's divorce-disapproving aunt.

Press(it)

Maurizio is a young journalist who works in a regional television. Luca is his cameraman. Tired of the daily routine imposed on him and of the assignments given by the owners Maurizio, decides to take a cue from reality to 'invent' stories that have a greater grip on the audience. Luca does not agree but Plays along. When their dangerous game seems about to be discovered, Maurizio has a new idea.

Harlem Is Heaven(en)

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson made his movie acting debut in this 1932 film, featuring Putney Dandridge, James Baskett (Oscar winner for "Song of the South"), Cotton Club dancer Anita Boyer, Henri Wassell, Alma Smith, Bob Sawyer, and composer/bandleader Eubie Blake and his orchestra.

Red(pt)

Turtle Rock(zh)

Filmed in beautiful black and white, this slow cinema piece spends four seasons with a family in Turtle Rock, a remote village in China named after a local rock formation that resembles a giant turtle. For nearly a century now, the village has been home to just seven families who have only four surnames. They once moved to this mountainous region fleeing war, and have eked out a simple life there ever since. Filmmaker Xiao Xiao’s grandmother was one of the first people to be born in Turtle Rock, and it's also the place where he grew up. This allows Xiao to get very close to the residents, whom he observes lovingly as they chop spices or firewood, carry huge trunks of bamboo on their shoulders or unhurriedly fashion an iron pipe from an old tube—here, everything is recycled. The rustling trees and cackling chickens create a natural soundtrack to this rhythmic, beautifully framed documentary, which doesn't shy away from the harsher aspects of this life, far from the madding crowd.

Curse of the Maya(en)

Renee Summers has just been released from a mental institution when her fiancee and psychiatrist, Jeffrey Morgan buys her a secluded cabin to rest before she faces her friends and family. Renee soon befriends her only neighbour Michael Richards who is not all that he seems to be. She also uncovers a deadly secret! The former tenants of the cabin, a mayan family, were butchered to death and dumped

Guest from Kuban(ru)

A young man comes to work to kolkhoz where no one knows that he has no experience whatsoever.

The Severed Heads Are Smiling.(fa)

A passenger picks up a woman at dawn who is to be a guest until midnight. Their journey begins...

Darkroom(de)

Lars, a male nurse from Saarbrücken, moves to Berlin with his lover, Roland. They begin to renovate an apartment and their happiness seems almost complete. What Roland doesn’t know is that, while secretly checking out Berlin’s night life, Lars is also experimenting with a deadly poison.

Rewind 2: 1996(en)

When Marty's car is stolen, he sets out on a mission to find it; however, he soon realizes that the person who stole it is much more dangerous than he thinks.

What's New Scooby-Doo? Vol. 4: Merry Scary Holiday(en)

A perfect ski vacation heads downhill in Winter Hollow, where any mention of Christmas unleashes the feared Headless Snowman. It's "A Scooby Doo Christmas" when Scooby-Doo and crew set out to melt the ferocious Frosty and save the holiday. It's no fun in "Toy Scary Boo" when all the toys in Happy Toyland start coming alive and wreaking havoc. In "Homeward Hound," a fiercely fanged cat creature petrifies the competing pooches at a dog show, including the visiting Scooby-Doo! Finally, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo's wildest dreams come true when they win a tour of Munchville, home of Scooby Snax dough and it spells out a "Recipe for Disaster."

Untitled Just Cause Film(en)

Movie adaptation of the hit video game franchise of the same name.

Date(de)

Greetings From Planet Smurf(fr)

The Smurfs were created in 1958 by the Belgian comic author Peyo (Pierre Culliford, 1928-1992) and they are one of Belgium's most recognized exports. From Brussels to Los Angeles, via Dubai, a journey into the tiny world of the famous little blue people, from the story of the creation of the original comic to the account of their huge global commercial exploitation.

Ski Into The Sun(en)

Short film by Willy Bogner. Created as an advertisement for the 1997 Bogner ski clothing collection. Featuring alpine ski and snowboard champions. Filmed at St. Moritz, Switzerland and Island Lake, Canada.

Generation Sputnik(de)

From 1957 —the year in which the Soviets put the Sputnik 1 satellite into orbit— to 1969 —when American astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the surface of the moon—, the beginnings of the space conquest were depicted in popular culture: cinema, television, comics and literature of the time contain numerous references to an imagined future.

Dior and I(fr)

Behind-the-scenes documentary revealing what goes on inside the colourful, privileged, and sometimes stressful Christian Dior fashion house.

Perfect Feet(en)

A feature length documentary film about one man's journey to find the perfect set of feet

Battle at Versailles(en)

M2M's first original long-form documentary, Battle at Versailles, follows an event in 1973 at Palace of Versailles where top French designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Cardin faced of against American newcomers Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein and Halston. That pitted France’s best designers against the best America had to offer. It was the first time the fashion world's gaze was fixated on American design.

Revolution: A History of the Sports Bra(en)

A history of this vital underclothing, from the Jogbra invented by friends Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller and Polly Smith to its biggest moment -- Brandi Chastain's triumphant reveal after the United States won the 1999 World Cup.

Comrade Couture(de)

This film undertakes a journey into the amazing parallel universe of East Berlin’s fashion designers and experts in the art of survival. For, in the midst of the constraints of life in the GDR, there existed a fantasy world where it was possible to dance to another tune, be individual and even provocative. The most important characteristic of this bohemian scene was one’s per- sonal style. But this certainly wasn’t something that could be bought off the peg in the GDR. In this parallel universe it was up to you to create your own individual image – with your own hands. This film tells the story of the desires, the passion and the dreams that were tried and tested, lived and performed in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.

Pitch People(en)

The art of the "pitch" and its role in society, as told by many of the pitch industry's greatest salesmen, including Arnold Morris, Sandy Mason, Lester Morris, Wally Nash and Ed McMahon as well as a look at the Popeil family.

Coco Chanel vs Elsa Schiaparelli(fr)

In the 1920s, the rivalry between fashion icon Gabrielle Chanel and her stylistic rival Elsa Schiaparelli gave rise to innovations in haute couture.

Toypunks(en)

Toypunks is a documentary film series covering the converging world of Japanese toys, fashion and punk rock. Exploring the birth of the designer vinyl explosion from its roots in character culture and punk music, Toypunks takes you in-depth with Japanese fashion icon, Hikaru Iwanaga, creator of the worlds first designer toy. Frank Kozik, Hiddy Kinoshita of Secret Base, Balzac, Three Tides Tattoo and more are interviewed highlighting profound cross-cultural connections between todays top creative talents in toys and fashion.

X-Rated: The Ads They Couldn't Show(en)

Every year, thousands of commercials are made that never reach our TV screens, deemed too shocking to see. In order to make it onto the screen, they must clear all manner of obstacles, from fussy clients to obsessive regulators and restrictive rights issues. X-Rated takes a look at these outlawed pieces of advertising, revealing the most explicit, controversial and shocking ads never seen. These are ads that break all manner of taboos, from sex, violence, blasphemy, homosexuality, animal cruelty, rapping pensioners, swearing children, suicidal toys and naked athletes to Kylie in her undies on a bucking bronco. Amongst the contributors are advertising executives, producers and censors. The programme also takes a look at the embarrassing world of western celebrities in Japanese ads.

Anna Piaggi: Fashion Visionary(it)

The world of fashion, between the end of the Sixties and the beginning of the Noughties, had a key character that embodied its spirit and told the tale: journalist Anna Piaggi, living witness of that contamination between art, society and culture that changed fashion and sanctioned its success on a global scale. The daughter of a manager for La Rinascente (Milan's iconic high-end shopping mall whose foundation goes back to 1865), Karl Lagerfeld's muse, "a poet with her clothes" in the words of Bill Cunningham, her life is retraced through interviews with designers (Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Stephen Jones, Manolo Blahnik, and more) together with archival images from four decades of fashion history.

Les Fleurs(en)

A nude woman relaxing on a bed to Minnie Riperton's song Les Fleurs is exited by its chorus. Director Saam Farahmand heats up the body hair debate.

For Girls Only!(en)

Information that girls ostensibly should know.

Tales from the Royal Wardrobe(en)

Today, few people's clothes attract as much attention as the royal family, but this is not a modern-day paparazzi-inspired obsession. Historian Dr. Lucy Worsley, Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, reveals that it has always been this way. Exploring the royal wardrobes of our kings and queens over the last four hundred years, Lucy shows this isn't just a public fascination, but an important and powerful message from the monarchs. From Elizabeth I to the present Queen Elizabeth II, Lucy explains how the royal wardrobe's significance goes far beyond the cut and color of the clothing. Royal fashion is, and has always been, regarded as a very personal statement to reflect their power over the reign. Most kings and queens have carefully choreographed every aspect of their wardrobe; for those who have not, there have sometimes been calamitous consequences. As much today as in the past, royal fashion is as much about politics as it is about elegant attire.

Dries(de)

For the first time fashion designer Dries Van Noten allows a filmmaker to accompany him in his creative process and rich home life. For an entire year Reiner Holzemer documents the precise steps that Dries takes to conceive of four collections, the rich fabrics, embroidery and prints exclusive to his designs. As well as the emblematic fashion shows that bring his collections to the world and have become cult “must sees” at Paris Fashion Week. This film offers an insight into the life, mind and creative heart of a master fashion designer who, for more than 25 years, has remained independent in a landscape of fashion consolidation and globalization.

Behind the Screens, Hollywood Goes Hypercommercial(en)

Hollywood movies are rapidly becoming vehicles for the ulterior marketing and advertising motives of studios and their owners, rather than entertainment in their own right. Behind the Screens explores this trend toward "hypercommercialism" through phenomena such as product placement, tie-ins, merchandising and cross-promotions. It combines multiple examples taken directly from the movies with incisive interviews provided by film scholars, cultural critics, political economists, and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Behind the Screens presents an accessible argument designed for school and college-age audiences-- precisely the demographic most prized by both Hollywood studios and advertisers alike. It features examples drawn from movies such as Wayne's World, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, Summer of Sam, and Toy Story.

The Codes of Gender(en)

Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.

The Year Of Punk(en)

The summer of the Jubilee in 1977 was mentally dominated by another national anthem - "God Save the Queen" by The Sex Pistols. That same summer was also the summer of punk. Janet Street Porter Reviews The Year Of Punk, Featuring Early Classic Footage Of The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Siouxsie And Others.