Vowellet - An Essay by Sarah Vowell

Hannas baby(sv)

All for One(fr)

In a closed locker room, rugby players perform the last pre-match rituals. Warming up their souls and bodies, all tense in anticipation of the fight.

Die Todeszeche(de)

The Colour of His Hair(en)

Based on an unrealized film script written in 1964 for The Homosexual Law Reform Society, a British organisation that campaigned for the decriminalization of homosexual relations between men, "The Colour Of His Hair" merges drama and documentary into a meditation on queer life before and after the partial legalization of homosexuality in 1967.

Princess Ball Gown(tr)

Wedding rituals grounded on non-verbal social agreements represent the perception of society in general. Wedding dress is a symbolic part of these rituals. The process that a wedding dress has went through can be considered as an embodiment of the formation of women identity in society. Like most of the women, wedding dressmakers also dream of being a princess once they wear their wedding dress. On the other hand, dressmakers are certainly aware of the fact that they promote the already existing image of women in society because of their job. While they also recognise the truth is way different.

Children of Silence(fr)

This film looks at the world of children with hearing loss and the importance of early diagnosis. With its straightforward, rigorous cinematic style and intimate approach to the subject, the film focuses on the human rather than the technical side of the problem of hearing impairment.

Loucura e Cultura(pt)

Documentary with fragments and records about the boundaries between art and counterculture, based on a debate held at the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, in October 1968.

Ôrí(pt)

A look at the Brazilian black movement between 1977 and 1988, going by the relationship between Brazil and Africa.

Silversun Pickups: Behind Better Nature(en)

A story about friendship, independence and the making of a record. Silversun Pickups deconstruct the making of their latest record “Better Nature” while starting their own record label.

A Good Night in the Ghetto(en)

Kamaiyah, a rapper from East Oakland takes you on a trip in her world the only way she knows how.

Féria(fr)

A Sunday fair with hunger in the air, in a lost Galician village under the black umbrellas of a pitiless rain...

La Rose et le Barrage(fr)

A parallel montage of the construction of a dam in Galicia and the architecture of a small Roman-style church.

Weegee's New York(en)

The best known, "Weegee's New York" (1948), presents a surprisingly lyrical view of the city without a hint of crime or murder. Already this film gives evidence, here very restrained, of Weegee's interest in technical tricks: blur, speeded up or slowed-down film, a lens that makes the city's streets curve as if cars are driving over a rainbow. - The New York Times

Visibles(es)

Society has created a stereotype of the LGTBQ collective in which its members are young people who are fashionable, who have money, who have a lot of fun and who never pass the age of forty. But where are the older ones? When they reach that age, do they evaporate? This documentary makes visible a little-discussed topic: old age.

Around the End of the World(fr)

A short silent documentary on the making of the 1931 Abel Gance directed film, "La Fin du Monde".

High Cities of Bone(pt)

Karlon, born in Pedreira dos Húngaros (a slum in the outskirts of Lisbon) and a pioneer of Cape Verdean creole rap, runs away from the housing project to which he had been relocated.

The Devil's Bridge(ky)

Life in a Kyrgyz aul (village) in the mountains connected to the rest of the world by a cable bridge, and the teenage boys who are constructing the rope of the bridge. A rope bridge which the locals call “The devil’s bridge” forms part of each and every event which takes place in a small village lost in the mountains of the Kyrgyz Republic. A platform driven by a huge winch which they have to pull with their own strength to cross the torrent is their only link with the outside world. But the director of the documentary wondered something else: “Does this bridge unite or does it actually separate?” Through the mist and over the thrashing waters, the inhabitants of the area glide along their ropes. A film, in the director’s own words, about ordinary people who live in an extraordinary place.

John Heroux: Gulf War Fighter Pilot(en)

In 1991, John Heroux served in Operation Desert Storm, piloting one of forty F16 Fighter Planes sent in to target large manufacturing facilities deep inside Iraq. Looking back on these missions, John explains that pilots, himself included, felt no pride at causing destruction, but did have pride in serving their country and completing their tasks. This is his story.

Hiroshima: A Mother's Prayer(ja)

The horrors of war and the devastating effects of the atomic bomb.

Cars Without a Home(cs)

Jan Schmidt and Pavel Juráček turn their attention to the problem of Czechoslovakia's unloved cars in this whimsical documentary short.

Murder, She Baked: A Plum Pudding Mystery(en)

A young bakeshop owner’s holiday season takes a surprising turn when she finds a body at a local Christmas tree lot and winds up involved in a dangerous murder investigation. With colorful characters popping up as suspects, shady business practices uncovered at the tree lot and holiday romance in the air, the young baker-turned-sleuth must race against time to track down the killer and save the Christmas season.

The Rat Catcher(en)

In an English village, a reporter and a mechanic listen to a ratcatcher explain his clever plan to outwit his prey.

Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard(fr)

In the third and final episode of the trilogy, Fantômas imposes a head tax on the rich, threatening to kill those who do not comply.

Murder, She Baked: A Deadly Recipe(en)

Bakery owner Hannah Swensen just can't keep her hands out of the batter when murder stirs things up in Lake Eden, Minnesota, leaving the sheriff dead, a deputy accused, and a killer on the loose.

Truth or Dare(en)

Eight college friends head to a "Haunted Rental" in a remote town for Halloween weekend. There, they play the game rumored to have caused the deaths of seven teenagers decades earlier, Truth or Dare. What starts out as vodka induced fun, quickly turns serious when the dares become sickeningly dangerous and the truths threaten to tear the group apart. When players attempt to refuse the increasingly challenging tasks, they're met with deadly consequences, quickly discovering: you must do the dare, or the dare does you. As the death toll mounts, the remaining players must race against the clock to outrun, outsmart and outlast the simple game of Truth or Dare.

John(en)

A day in the life of John Lennon, alive and well in modern-day New York City. The former Beatle squabbles with a security guard, commiserates with his best friend over lunch, and upsets a bully.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part II: Eternal(ja)

As the young girls have discovered the truth about the cruel fate of a magical girl, one magical girl after another is destroyed. Throughout it all, there is one magical girl who continues to fight alone - Homura Akemi. Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part II: Eternal is a retelling of the second half of the TV anime series.

Badhaai Ho(hi)

A 25-year-old man tries to suppress his embarrassment when his mother announces that she is pregnant.

Test(en)

On his journey towards becoming a film director, Cole discovers an insight that flips his perspective on his way of living.

Murder, She Baked: A Peach Cobbler Mystery(en)

With The Cookie Jar, Hannah Swensen has a mouthwatering monopoly on the bakery business of Lake Eden, Minnesota. But when a rival store opens, and one of the owners is found shot to death in the store, Hannah is determined to prove that she wasn't the only one who had an axe to grind with the Quinn sisters. Somebody wasn't fooled by the Georgia Peaches and their sweet-as-pie act--and now it's up to Hannah to track down whoever had the right ingredients to whip up a murder.

Pickpockets(es)

An aspiring teen thieves learn what it takes to be successful pickpockets on the streets of Bogotá

The Garden of Sinners: A Study in Murder (Part 2)(ja)

February 1999. Both ceremonies disappeared before Mikiya Kuroiri. And a continuous hunting murder case that recurs to match it. Three years ago, he called himself a murderer. Mikiya vowed to continue believing. Mikiya begins investigating the murder case to prove the innocence of the ceremony. Meanwhile, Mikiya reunited with a senior high school senior, Sakuji Shirazumi, triggered by a drug case.

Copperman(it)

Despite his adult age, Anselmo behaves like a child and takes up the role of a superhero called "Copperman."

The Gallows Act II(en)

When Auna Rue transfers to a prestigious new acting school, she encounters a malevolent spirit after participating in a viral challenge.

Rituals(en)

Five doctors go camping in the remote woods of Northern Ontario. When their boots are stolen they begin to suspect they are being stalked.

Nastya and Egor(ru)

The main characters of the film are members of the group "Nastya" Nastya Poleva and Yegor Belkin. The half-hour half-documentary tape included footage taken by Balabanov in 1985-1990. In addition to the main characters, the documentary footage captured many prominent figures of Sverdlovsk rock club, in particular Vyacheslav Butusov, Leonid Porokhnyu, and local actors.

Men(en)

The chronicles of a degenerate man who loves to masturbate, and his corporate disabled friend.

The Tattoo(fr)

An art dealer wants to buy a Modigliani, which is tattooed on the back of an old soldier.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times(it)

After the death of their grandfather, two sisters inherit their family castle, which is said to be haunted by the Red Queen, whom legend says claims seven lives every hundred years. When a mysterious woman in a red cloak starts targeting their circle of friends, the sisters begin to suspect there might be some truth to the legend.

Kathleen Madigan: Madigan Again(en)

Kathleen Madigan drops in on Detroit to deliver material derived from time spent with her Irish Catholic Midwest family, eating random pills out of her mother's purse, touring Afghanistan, and her love of John Denver and the Lunesta butterfly.