Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed (1979)

Visions of Europe

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Sicko

A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States who's main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people’s lives. "The more people you deny health insurance the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America.

Drugs Are Like That

[…] Though the highs and lows of human experience are all here, it's often the gimcrack set design and fashion chops in these vintage clunkers that really wow – the pot-holder sweater vests, ponytails decorated with yarn, hippies with crumb-catching moustaches, banana-seat bikes and a hard rain of Quaaludes and amphetamines to illustrate the dangers of drug addiction. It is hard to believe anyone would buy the goofball cause-and-effect of that pill-popper's weather pattern in "Drugs Are Like That". Co-produced by the Miami Junior League and narrated by Anita Bryant in this cheery little hand-slapper, a kid stealing cookies from a cookie jar is implied to be headed down a bad road to Bowery bum rolls and LSD parties. (from: http://clatl.com/atlanta/av-geeks-greatest-hits-lessons-learned/Content?oid=1268313)

Ruurdt

In 2023, there were an estimated 30.6 thousand homeless people. This number continues to rise at an alarming rate. One of them is the headstrong Ruurdt. He has difficulty getting help and cannot adapt well to our society. He is now also in danger of losing the houseboat that was assigned to him. 'Ruurdt' is an intimate portrait of a man on the fringes of our society.

Welfare

WELFARE shows the nature and complexity of the welfare system in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused children, and the elderly. These issues are presented in a context where welfare workers as well as clients struggle to cope with and interpret the laws and regulations that govern their work and life.

16 Acres

The dramatic inside story of the monumental collision of interests at Ground Zero in the decade after 9/11.

LSD: Insight or Insanity?

Documentary about the potentially dangerous and unpredictable drug LSD. Various experts discuss how LSD is made and the hazards involved in using it while avid users explain why they enjoy taking it.

Juvenile Court

JUVENILE COURT shows the complex variety of cases before the Memphis Juvenile Court: foster home placement, drug abuse, armed robbery, child abuse, and sexual offenses. The sequences illustrate such issues as community protection vs. the desire for rehabilitation, the range and the limits of the choices available to the court, the psychology of the offender, and the constitutional and procedural questions involved in administering a juvenile court.

A Good American

A Good American tells the story of the best code-breaker the USA ever had and how he and a small team within NSA created a surveillance tool that could pick up any electronic signal on earth, filter it for targets and render results in real-time while keeping the privacy as demanded by the US constitution.

Dude, Where's My Bus?

Filmmaker Gio Petti takes an in-depth look at the city's troublesome transit system in his documentary, Dude, Where's My Bus?. His nearly 2 year-long independent investigation delves into the frustrations of daily commuters in Ottawa and more deeply explores the systemic issues plaguing OC Transpo and their effects on the community. Beginning in the South End Suburbs of Ottawa, Dude, Where's My Bus? peels back layers leading to a broader investigation into issues plaguing the once model transit system. From late buses in neglected areas of the city, sprawl and the greenbelt, to the ever more controversial Confederation Line and the P3 system that built it, Petti aims to explore the impact of policy missteps and broken promises on Ottawa's transit users, with an optimistic look to the future.

One Got Fat

This bicycle-safety film shows children what can happen when bicycles are driven carelessly and recklessly.

The Spanish Flu: The Invisible Enemy

In April 1918, a disease of unknown origin swept across the five continents. In 18 months, millions of lives that had not been taken by the war were swept away by a virus that would cause the worst pandemic in history: the Spanish flu.

A Laugh will save us

The documentary explore the intersection between humor, satire, and religion, analyzing how they mutually influence each other. Through interviews with comedians, artists, and scholars, we will discover irreverent jokes, clever parodies, and bold caricatures that challenge religious dogmas, exploring the power of comedy within the context of religions and opening new perspectives on cultural dynamics.

The High Wall

Film produced for a coalition of public service groups to combat racial and ethnic hatred. The narrative follows an emotionally insecure Chicago teenager whose bigoted thinking leads him to violence. Explores how prejudices are passed like "a contagious disease" from parent to child, teacher to pupils, and youth to youth, and suggests strategies for breaking the cycle.

The Unofficial Dan Quayle Video

The Unofficial Dan Quayle Video is a humorous collection of Quayle’s speeches, press conferences and interviews given during his term as Vice President. See Dan Quayle on the golf course (how does he compare to other famous V.P.’s, such as Ford and Agnew?), watch him squirm as he is interviewed by grade school children, see him in action at a ceremony at NASA, examine his technique in “throwing out his garbage.” The Unofficial Dan Quayle Video will be hilarious to Democrats and Republicans alike.

Brazil

Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.

Good Bye, Lenin!

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.

Citizen X

Based on the true story of a Russian serial killer who, over many years, claimed victim to over 50 people. His victims were mostly under the age of 17. In what was then a communists state, the police investigations were hampered by bureaucracy, incompetence and those in power. The story is told from the viewpoint of the detective in charge of the case.

Operation Grandma

Mivtza Savta ("Operation Grandma") is a satirical Israeli comedy about three very different brothers trying to get around many obstacles to bury their grandmother on her kibbutz. The story takes place in Israel, in the fictional kibbutz "Asisim".

Article 99

Dr. Richard Sturgess leads a team of compassionate doctors at a veteran's hospital. Along with Drs. Morgan, Handleman and Van Dorn, he fights to deliver adequate care to needy veterans in the face of funding cuts and a corrupt administration. To succeed, the staff may have to bend the rules and circumvent the villainous "Article 99," a bureaucratic loophole that prevents veterans from receiving the benefits they deserve.

Ikiru

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the ultimate choice as they finalize arrangements for a black market abortion.

Born Innocent

A constant runaway is given over to the care of the state and finds herself in a remand centre for girls. She is soon caught between the uncaring bureaucracy, the sometimes brutal treatment from her peers and her own abusive family, and only one care worker sees her potential to rise above her tragic circumstances.

Norwegian Building Blocks

A young couple decides to build their dream house, but run into numerous complications in the process. Everything from useless carpenters to building control gets in their way. Norwegian comedian Rolv Wesenlund plays 7 different roles in this movie.

L.627

In Paris, Lulu, a passionate policeman, works with the faith of a rookie, despite the sclerotic bureaucracy and the incompetence or negligence of some of his colleagues. In his new position as a narcotics inspector, he tries to keep his sanity as he witnesses the worst of the human condition.

The Story of Qiu Ju

When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qiu Ju, a peasant woman, despite her pregnancy, travels to a nearby town, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats and find justice.

The Last Runway 2, Commando Yaguareté

Betty Jara reassembles the Yaguareté Commandos to exchange an imprisoned criminal for one of her own agents. A risky operation becomes even more so when she realizes they are not just fighting a drug ring but the highest spheres of power.

Death of a Bureaucrat

A young man attempts to fight the system in an entertaining account of bureaucracy amok and the tyranny of red tape. Restored by the Academy Film Archive and the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos in 2019.

How to Apply for a Sexual Position

Reverse Cowgirl. Rusty Trombone. The Wheelbarrow. Go inside the government office responsible for creating sexual positions as one woman pitches the position she hopes will take the world by storm.

The Trial

Joseph K. awakes one morning, to find two strange men in his room, telling him he has been arrested. Joseph is not told what he is charged with, and despite being "arrested," is allowed to remain free and go to work. But despite the strange nature of his arrest, Joseph soon learns that his trial, however odd, is very real, and tries desperately to spare himself from the court's judgement.

Facing Mecca

Pensioner Roli comes to Fareed's assistance when the Syrian refugee is faced with the burial of his Muslim wife. Together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds beautifully simple answer.

Why

Giuseppe Di Noi, an Italian surveyor living in Switzerland, gets arrested at the border while going back to Italy with his family for a vacation. But can someone tell the man why?

Men Up

In Morriston Hospital in Swansea in 1994 a group of ordinary middle-aged Welsh men stepped into the unknown by taking part in the world's first medical trials for the drug that became Viagra.

The Stationmaster Is on Fire - The Movie, That Is!

The stationmaster is trying to prevent his station from being closed. The train isn't coming and he has to explain to the waiting trainpassengers why it's late, while other people is trying to get the station for their use; for example the italians, who want to make a pizzeria out of it.

The Inspector

The screen's most comically inept detective wreaks havoc on the boulevards of Paris as he, with the help of his sidekick Deux Deux, wages a single-minded (and narrow-sighted) battle for justice. Initially presented as theatrical attractions, the cartoons gained a much greater audience when they were broadcast as part of the Pink Panther animated television series.

Duck and Cover

An instructional short aimed at school-aged children of the early 1950s that combines animation and live-action footage with voice-over narration to explain what to do to increase their chances of surviving the blast from an atomic bomb.

The Whip

A full-time carer plots a daring heist from the Houses of Parliament, in a bid to thwart devastating welfare reforms known as Independence Credit.

Lieutenant Kizhe

A copying error by a military scribe turns the Russian words "the lieutenants, however" into what looks like "lieutenant Kizhe". The Tsar reads the error, and wants to meet this (non-existent) lieutenant. The courtiers, eager to avoid the wrath of the temperamental Tsar, create a Kizhe to serve as their royal scapegoat.

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The Burning Hell

Pastor Estus W. Pirkle preaches about hell, where all non-Christians will suffer eternal torment. He's also visited by two self-professed “Christians” who don't believe in hell.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

A fisheries expert is approached by a consultant to help realize a sheik's vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert and embarks on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible possible.

Good Burger 2

Dexter Reed is down on his luck after another one of his inventions fails. Ed welcomes Dex back to Good Burger with open arms and gives him his old job back. With a new crew working at Good Burger, Dex devises a plan to get back on his feet but unfortunately puts the fate of Good Burger at risk once again.