Underrated ESSENTIALS

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A Song of Love / Un chant d'amour
(1950, France, 26 mins)
Dir. Jean Genet

The only film ever made by French writer Jean Genet. A story about two inmates in adjacent cells who crave each other's touch. Was initially banned but now considered a foundational gay film.

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Bad Hair / Pelo malo
(2013, Venezuela, 93 mins)
Dir. Mariana Rondón.

A coming-of-age film about a young boy who desperately wants to get rid of his ‘pelo malo’ (a Spanish term referring to Afro-textured curls). His constant primping vexes his mother who perceives his vanity as a result of budding homosexuality and tries to shame him into becoming macho. Set in Caracas (where it was released to some controversy), Bad Hair peers into a wider world of racism, homophobia, and other everyday violences in Latin American culture.
Free only in USA, but a VPN may help.
Available for rent on Vimeo.

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Christmas at Moose Factory
(1971, First Nations Canada, 13 mins)
Dir. Alanis Obomsawin

An animated story told through drawings and voice-over narration by Cree children. Presents a glimpse into how Christmastime rituals are being absorbed by indigenous communities. Directorial debut of indigenous filmmaking pioneer Alanis Obomsawin.

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Desert Coffee
(2017, USA, 53 mins)
Dir. Mikael Lypinski

An intimate documentary portrait of Slab City, 'the last free place in America'. Somewhere in the ungoverned part of California's Sonoran desert, a community of squatters gather at Rob's improvised caravan-cafe for free coffee and wifi.

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Dimensions of Dialogue /
Možnosti dialogu
(1983, Czechoslovakia, 12 mins)
Dir. Jan Švankmajer

A stop-motion, surrealist film about the way we communicate. Unsettling but in a good way.

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Invalid Throne
(2018, Thailand, 9 mins)
Dir. Jakrawal Nilthamrong

A 9-minute experimental short about a filmmaker’s refusal to let the state turn his childhood home into a gold mine.

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Mammas
(2013, USA, 3-min episodes)
Dir. Isabella Rossellini

Co-produced by screen legend Isabella Rosselini and the Sundance Institute, Mammas is 10-episode series exploring the maternal instincts of creatures (hamsters, toads, spiders, fish, you name it). Each video is no longer than three minutes but manages to be an unexpectedly informative and gleeful celebration of wild motherhood.

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The Mother
(2012, Thailand 15 mins)
Dir. Pimpaka Towira.

A short film about a mother at her daughter's funeral. Shot in one 15-min long take.

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Our Daily Bread
(2005, Austria & Germany, 92 mins)
Dir. Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Content warning: scenes of animal processing and animal death. A wordless and unflinching behind-the-scenes look into the extractive excesses of modern food industries. Our Daily Bread refuses conventional voice-over narration and opts instead to reproduce the mechanical humming, buzzing, and churning of the factories’ high-tech inner workings. By now, you probably have guessed that pulling back the curtain on how the (rich) world eats can be too confronting to digest.

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Plastic Bag
(2009, USA, 18 mins)
Dir. Ramin Bahrani

An 18-minute epic about a lost plastic bag on a lonely existential journey to find its owner who had so thoughtlessly discarded it. Sorrowfully narrated by Werner Herzog, one of the most influential directors in German film history.

Plastic China (shortened version)
(2016, China, 26 mins)
Dir. Wang Jiuliang

A documentary featuring a young migrant girl whose home is the last point of China’s plastic waste importing economy. When it aired, the film made waves in China and abroad; filmmaker Wang Jiuliang has talked about the guilt and anger felt by domestic and international audiences after watching it.Rent the full-length version on Vimeo.

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Pleasure of Love in Iran /
Plaisir d'Amour en Iran
(1976, France, 6 mins)
Dir. Agnes Varda

Relatively unknown short film by Varda about two lovers-- an Iranian man and a French woman-- roaming the Shah Mosque in Isfahan.

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Santa Sangre / Holy Blood
(1989, Mexico & Italy, 124 mins)
Dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky

Often described as 'psychomagic realism'. A young boy grows up in a circus and one day witnesses his mother’s arms being severed. The trauma forces him to live in an asylum until he is a grown man, all the while believing he is an eagle. When he finally reunites with his mother, now a leader of a cult, he becomes ‘her arms’ and commits murders with/for her.
USA access only. A VPN may help.

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Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square
(1998, Canada, 30 mins)
Dir. Wang Shuibo

Self-animated short about growing up in late 20th century China by Wang who spent his youth in the People's Liberation Army and Red Guards.

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