Basel Tattoo 2014 (2014)

The Man Whose Mind Exploded

In this "beautifully intimate and utterly unique piece of cinema", Toby Amies crosses the line between filmmaker and carer, trying to cope with the strange and hilarious world view of the fragile eccentric, Drako Zarharzar. A love story. Drako Oho Zaraharzar can remember modeling for Salvador Dali and hanging out with The Stones. But he can’t remember yesterday. Following a severe head injury, Drako Zaraharzar suffers from terrible memory loss, he can access memories from before his accident, but can’t imprint new ones. As he puts it, “the recording machine in my head doesn’t work”. Consequently, and as an antidote to depression he chose to live “completely in the now” according to the bizarre mottoes delivered to him whilst in a coma.

La folie du tatouage

Plot unavailable

Prey for Rock & Roll

In late 1980s Los Angeles, Jacki and her all-girl punk rock band, Clam Dandy, are trying to make it big. On the verge of turning 40, Jacki decides that if the band's one last shot at the big time is unsuccessful, she will give up her dreams of stardom.

The Tattooist

Rooster Teeth’s Geoff Ramsey explores the subculture of tattoos and takes a crash course from a master tattoo artist.

The Suburbans

The Suburbans, a one-hit-wonder new wave band from the '80s, reunite at their bassist's wedding, where a promising young record executive sees the ensemble perform. When she encourages them to launch a revival, the group must weigh their dreams of fame and fortune against the reality of their relatively quiet domestic lives.

Basel Tattoo 2022

Plot unavailable

The Way of the Ink

Horitoshi Sensei is one of the last accomplished masters of irezumi, the art of traditional Japanese tattoo. Pascal is a young French journalist specialized in tattoo who discovered Horitoshi’s designs in a magazine and felt in love with them. Although he does not have much money, Pascal decided to go to Tokyo to have all his back tattooed by Horitoshi. When the film starts, he is at his fourth trip, but his tattoo is far from being finished. Pascal is our guide in this travel to discover irezumi.

Basel Tattoo 2023

Plot unavailable

Basel Tattoo 2017

Plot unavailable

Basel Tattoo 2016

Basel Tattoo 2016

Basel Tattoo 2013

Plot unavailable

Far From Paradise

Kim is a hitman who commits a serious mistake and is about to be executed by the criminal organization he works for. His only chance to escape punishment is to assassinate the peasant leader Bel. She is his sister and the only person in the world that he truly loves.

Lava

Deborah makes a living by drawing the skin of her clients. One night, her housemate invites her boyfriend and friend to their house. Sitting in the armchair, they consume the series of the moment, Gain of Clones, until, suddenly, the signal is cut off and the screen is dyed red while subliminal images float. No one remembers what happened the last two minutes. The answer will be in the enigmatic presence of giant cats that will later invade the city.

Fake Tattoos

Theo spends his 18th birthday alone, getting drunk at a brutal punk rock show. There, he meets Mag, a marginal teenager who invites him to spend the night at her place. A love story unfolds between them, but Theo has to move at the end of the summer in a small town, far away from a painful past.

Inferno of Torture

Japan nineteenth century. High demand for tattooed geisha generates an entire industry for their "production". Europeans pay more for tattooed beauties. Against this background, and considering the gorgeous tattooed women develop the history of confrontation between two highly skilled masters of tattoo.

Three Summer Days

Little by little, a relationship develops between Gem, a teenager fascinated by tattoos, and his best friend that goes beyond just friendship.

Zoom

A multi-dimensional interface between a comic book artist, a novelist, and a film director. Each lives in a separate reality but authors a story about one of the others.

Frontier Fury

In this western, a decent Indian agent loses his job and his good name after someone steals the government money he was to deliver to a tribe. Because he cannot bear to see the people starve over the long winter, he begins searching for the robbers. He does so by looking for the unusual coins that had been included in the payroll.

Shot Caller

A newly-released prison gangster is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.

Anarchy Parlor

Six young college hopefuls vacationing and partying in Lithuania get more than they bargained for when they unwittingly get caught up in a maniacal tattoo artist's fiendish side business.

Second Nature

Everything is not as it seems for a man who recovers from a plane crash in which his family is killed. After plastic surgery and rehabilitation, he determines that he worked for a secret agency for which he was an assassin. His former boss puts him back to work to assassinate a political leader, but when he proves unable to pull the trigger, it is he who becomes the target for assassins. As he avoids capture, the story unfolds about his true past and the reason why he has a tattoo of "chilly willy" inside his lip.

An Adolescent

Incredibly indolent cop Tomokawa spends his time making fun of his mentally challenged friend Sukemasa, riding his bike all over the city and sleeping with married women. But his whole world changes when he meets Yoko.

Calendar Girl

Three young men go on an end of the summer trip to Hollywood, California. Their quest: to fulfill the fantasy of meeting Marilyn Monroe.

Heat Wave

Rin Jyoshima lost her father to death-by-gambling; years later, she's grown up in the Kosugi household and has fallen victim to gambling herself.

Tattoo, The First Adventure Of Pepe Carvalho

A man's body turns up on a Barcelona beach with a message tattooed on his arm: "I was born to revolutionize hell". Detective Pepe Carvalho is put in charge of the case, taking him from the back streets of Barcelona to the Amsterdam canals, with no effect whatsoever on his peculiar investigation methods.

Die Ontwaking

Abel is preparing for a special gift to himself on his 50th Birthday. He wants to find himself a new face, that of a beautiful young woman. Ella Nesser is the attractive, but inexperienced murder detective, in charge of the case to track down the serial killer who has been praying on the city's young woman. When Abel develops an obsession with not only her face, but also her tattooed skin - the Hunter becomes the Hunted.

Sissy-Boy Slap-Party

Sailors in repose on an island paradise seemingly have no worries of war or danger — until a playful gesture is interpreted as an act of wilful aggression. Soon, the innocent act of slight slapping becomes a relentless and unforgiving orgy of open-palmed face-smacking.

Mask of Death

While attempting to flee from the FBI, the criminal Frank Dallio kills Detective McKenna's wife, Rachel. McKenna himself is shot in the face by the professional killer Lyle Mason, who dies in a car crash shortly thereafter. The FBI persuades McKenna to undergo facial surgery and take the place of Lyle Mason in order to find Dallio and a valuable microchip.

Gamblers: The Dragon Tattoo

The second part of the Gamblers series.

Teresa's Tattoo

Mathematician Teresa just wanted to study during the College spring break. But her friends, who want her to live a little, drag her out to parties. The next thing she knows, she has been drugged, kidnapped, made a redhead, tattooed, and wearing leather?!? Her captors seem to be the most inept crooks ever. They seem to have a plan, if only she could figure out why it involves her.

Down Under

A black comedy set during the aftermath of the Cronulla riots, it is the story of two carloads of hotheads from both sides of the fight destined to collide.

The Expendables

Barney Ross leads a band of highly skilled mercenaries including knife enthusiast Lee Christmas, a martial arts expert Yin Yang, heavy weapons specialist Hale Caesar, demolitionist Toll Road, and a loose-cannon sniper Gunner Jensen. When the group is commissioned by the mysterious Mr. Church to assassinate the dictator of a small South American island, Barney and Lee visit the remote locale to scout out their opposition and discover the true nature of the conflict engulfing the city.

Eastern Promises

A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.

Praxis

Praxis peels away the layers of narrative even as Brian, the film's axis, struggles to create his true self. Brian, a writer on the verge of a breakdown, is aided by Joe and an Elusive Woman as he sifts through the fragments of his persona to discover his true core. Fighting against fear and the indifference of society - aptly symbolized by the medical establishment - his quest reflects the classical mythos of Proteus and the human search for meaning in the universe.

Operation Petticoat

A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a damaged sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.

A Taste of Ink

Vincent, still of tender age, has already tattooed most of his body and hoarsened his voice with his post-hardcore band – his way of venting his frustrations and desires. Ever since his mother died, he shares his time between Porte de Clignancourt and Bastille, between a piercer job he is unhappy with and his fishmonger father, Hervé, who is trying to start a new life with a younger woman named Julia. Vincent is initially appalled by the woman, with whom his father has ‘betrayed’ his mother, but the more they get to know each other, the more he becomes intrigued by the beautiful and empathetic woman. Unlike his father, she shows interest in him, even attending one of his gigs. What starts out as a potential way of reconciling with his father soon implodes.

Dude, Where's My Car?

Two stoners wake up after a night of partying and cannot remember where they parked their car.

The Banger Sisters

In the late '60s, the self-proclaimed belles of the rock 'n' roll ball, rocked the worlds of every music legend whose pants they could take off -- and they have the pictures to prove it. But it's been more than two decades since the Banger Sisters earned their nickname -- or even laid eyes on each other. Their reunion is the collision of two women's worlds; one who's living in the past, and one who's hiding from it. Together they learn to live in the moment.