“Our False Reality” and “The Lie We Live”: two recent short videos with a thematic connection. The first was produced by Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton of TruthstreamMedia.com and explores how those who seek power and control use technology to manipulate and engineer the masses right down to the perception of reality. The second film, produced by Spencer Cathcart, offers a brief but expansive overview of systems of control with a reminder of the positive potential of communications technology.
“When the Wind Blows” (1986) is a British apocalyptic drama directed by Jimmy Murakami based on the 1982 graphic novel of the same name by Raymond Biggs. Peggy Ashcroft and John Mills provide the voices of Hilda and James, an elderly couple whose previously happy and peaceful life in Sussex is shattered by nuclear war. The film is comparable to Grave of Fireflies in terms of themes and emotional impact and is notable for it’s soundtrack featuring David Bowie and Roger Waters and innovative animation technique combining hand-drawn images, live-action and stop-motion camera work.
Wheeler Dixon is an author, film historian and professor of film studies at the University of Nebraska. In the late 70s he wrote, produced and directed a series of mind-blowing psychotronic documentaries featuring narration often drifting off on unusual tangents. These films inspired contemporary experimental found footage artists such as Craig Baldwin and are precursors of countless independent conspiracy-related documentaries commonly found on YouTube today.
By Dan Colman
Source: Open Culture
In 2004, John Waters narrated Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea, a humorous documentary on the accidental lake created in the desert of Southern California. You can now find the film hosted on the YouTube channel of KQED, the public television outfit in San Francisco (where we’re getting heavy, heavy rains today). They lay the foundation for watching the film as follows:
Once known as the “California Riviera,” the Salton Sea is now considered one of America’s worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and birds by the thousands. Narrated by cult-movie legend John Waters, Plagues & Pleasures is an epic western tale of real estate ventures and failed boomtowns.
Find Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea listed in our collection, 200 Free Documentaries Online.
Dan Colman is the founder/editor of Open Culture. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus and share intelligent media with your friends. Or better yet, sign up for our daily email and get a daily dose of Open Culture in your inbox.
Though I don’t have cable and rarely watch network television online, there’s definitely programs and artists of enduring value I’ve discovered through television. One prime example is “Night Flight”, a carefully curated block of late night programming reminiscent of a YouTube channel for a counterculture blog (long before blogs and YouTube existed). It aired every Friday and Saturday at 11 pm on the USA Network and was probably the best source of fringe culture on air at the time (outside of local public access programs).
A typical Night Flight episode would consist of clips of varying length played nearly back to back separated only by short voice-over introductions. Though the content of each episode was often unpredictable and featured clips from varying sources, they sometimes had recurring themes which would appeal especially to college-age crowds (ie. drugs, punk rock, experimental films, etc). On a single episode one might see a short avant-garde student film followed by a stand-up comedy clip, a drug documentary and music videos (first aired on June 1981, Night Flight preceded MTV by two months). Shows also featured hilariously re-dubbed serials, profiles of comedians, musicians and video artists, archive footage, and cult movies such as Fantastic Planet, Reefer Madness, and Music of the Spheres.
Night Flight was created by Stuart Shapiro who, judging from his wiki page, has long had an eye for comedy and music/cult cinema. The show’s programing director was Stuart Samuels, author of the classic cult film book Midnight Movies (and director of the documentary based on it). Night Flight has an informative fan page (that’s unfortunately plagued by spammy ads) which provides the following info:
In July of 2001, DirecTV started airing Midnight Rider. Created by Night Flight originator Stuart Shapiro, Midnight Rider was similar to Night Flight but only shown on Pay-per-view partially because of its adult content. Midnight Rider was a 2 hour show featuring standup comics, animation and of course music videos and was narrated by Night Flight veteran, Pat Prescott. Apparently the show didn’t do too well because less than a year later, in June of 2002, their web site (www.midnightrider.tv) was gone and a Best Of Midnight Rider was being released to video stores.
Dailymotion members jeffdevil1 and philodrummond have kindly uploaded large chunks of Night Flight for our enjoyment (complete with cheesy commercials).
“Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees” (1991) is an experimental indie film written/produced/directed by and starring David Blair. The convoluted plot involving Mesopotamian bees, ghosts in the machine, cities of the dead, the Trinity site, the tower of Babel, and a Supranormal Film Society trying to capture footage of the dead is reminiscent of the visions of William S. Burroughs (who makes a cameo appearance in the film). According to wikipedia, Wax is the first independent feature film to have been edited on a digital non-linear system and the first film to have been re-formatted as hypertext and posted on the internet.
“Little Murders” (1971) is a dark comedy based on a play written by Jules Feiffer and was the first feature film directed by Alan Arkin. The plot centers on vivacious interior designer Patsy who falls in love with photographer Alfred after saving him from a beating, despite (or because of) his physical and emotional passivity. The film’s comedic elements stem from Patty’s attempts to break Alfred out of his shell and their opposite approaches in dealing with the insanity of the world around them. Little Murders is memorable for its over-the-top nihilistic conclusion and great performances by Elliot Gould, Marcia Rodd, Alan Arkin and Donald Sutherland (as a hippy priest officiating one of cinema’s funniest wedding scenes).
“Electrict Dragon 80,000 V” (2001) Is a hyperkinetic experimental film directed by Sogo Ishii, whose noise-punk band Mach 1.67 provided the soundtrack. Tadanobu Asano stars as Dragon Morrison, a reptile whisperer with the ability to channel electricity who confronts Thunderbolt Buddha, a TV repairman/vigilante with similar electric powers. Deciding there’s only room in the city for one electric powered superhero, they have an epic showdown on the rooftops of Tokyo. As Augustine Joyce, the YouTuber who uploaded the film accurately noted: “One of the most rocknroll movies of all times. Surreal, Bizarre and Unique… Seems this is a Cult Film.”
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