Illuminated Texts (1982)

Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World

Lamentations: A Monument to the Dead World belongs to a 35-hour film cycle, The Book of All the Dead, which comprises the bulk of Toronto-based Bruce Elder’s filmmaking from 1975 to 1994. In ancient Egyptian culture, the Book of the Dead consisted of religious texts intended to help preserve the spirit of the departed in the afterlife — but in Elder’s reading, that comforting idea of continuity takes on a rather darker cast. Lamentations is comprised of a complex audio and visual patchwork: a philosophical meditation superimposed as text throughout the film; vignettes featuring a comical but disturbing Franz Liszt, a debate between Isaac Newton and George Berkeley, an angry, deranged man in an alley, and an arrogant psychiatrist; and a final search for salvation in the forests of British Columbia, the American Southwest, and Mexico’s Yucatan.

Brutal Ardour

Boy meets girl (or vice versa) and they predictably fall in love to follow the canons of the strictest convention.

Box

The execution was scheduled and the last meal consumed. The coolness of the poisons entering the blood system slowed the heart rate and sent him on the way to Judgement. He had paid for his crime with years on Death Row waiting for this moment and now he would pay for them again as the judgment continued..

Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective

Inhabit is a feature length documentary introducing permaculture: a design method that offers an ecological lens for solving issues related to agriculture, economics, governance, and on. The film presents a vast array of projects, concepts, and people, and it translates the diversity of permaculture into something that can be understood by an equally diverse audience. For those familiar, it will be a call to action and a glimpse into what's possible - what kind of projects and solutions are already underway. For those unfamiliar, it will be an introduction to a new way of being and a new way of relating to the Earth. For everyone, it will be a reminder that humans are capable of being planetary healing forces.

Pushover

A man's life is upended by increasingly threatening phone calls demanding he leave a review for a paperweight purchased online.

The Star of the Side Show

Her parents were humble peasants, and were fond of her when she was a baby, for they believed she would grow up to be a beautiful woman and make a good match. The trouble was that she didn't grow up. When she was nineteen she was no bigger than a child of six. Naturally they were overjoyed when an offer for their daughter's hand was made by another midget who lived in the same village. To their astonishment and anger, the girl refused to entertain it, declaring the husband she chose would have to be a man of whom she could be proud. Her home life was most unhappy after that, and the entire family rejoiced when a showman from the United States arrived and offered what seemed big money if she would join his "Congress of Freaks," which was quite an institution in America. And the girl went gladly.

Ms. Christmas Comes to Town

When Ms. Christmas, a shopping channel host, receives a terminal diagnosis, she heads on a multi-city excursion to spread Christmas cheer.

Letters from Wolf Street

A street in downtown Warsaw transforms into a kaleidoscopic portrait of Polish society. Behind the viewfinder is an Indian immigrant, who seeks to overcome the boundaries between himself and an anxiety-ridden country.

Stairway to Heaven

With his last breath Uu's friend entrusts him with the secret of how to go to the past. Uu is an engineer and doesn't believe in miracles, but the trick works. In the past there is a pleasant, eternal summer, long hair, girls and Jenkki chewing gum. In his real life, it is autumn, his friends are bitter, the girls are married and his father is seriously ill. At the end of the day, however, Uu has to decide in which time to live his life - in the summer of the past or in the autumn of the present.

The Rebellion of Lafras Verwey

Lafras Verwey (58) has worked as a clerk in the Civil Service in Pretoria for thirty years. By day he sorts files and whiles away the mundane hours writing grandiose propaganda speeches and drilling imaginary platoons in the washroom, but unbeknownst to his colleagues he is also a clandestine parcel courier for a secret organization that recruited his services to complete their covert mission.

Safe House

The civil war rages in the Central African Republic, Linn (35) leads a team of aid workers who are working tirelessly to save lives in a field hospital outside a massive refugee camp. When a Muslim man, persecuted and in mortal danger, seeks refuge, Linn faces a critical decision. A growing mob and Christian militia demand his handover. As the head of security, Linn must act quickly, brutally balancing the safety of her team with the value of a single life. Based on the true events that unfolded during 15 tense hours at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Bangui on Christmas Eve, 2013.

Grey Matter

When Chloe's grandmother gets diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she's forced to become a stay-at-home teenager overnight.

Lost Messages

Laura calls her boyfriend Fernando repeatedly to demand answers but he never picks up and it always goes to voicemail. Heartbroken, Laura returns to the park where they used to go jogging together.

Hello! Project DVD Magazine Vol.3

Various introductions corners, card games, quizes, 'Making Of', and concert 'Backstage Footage'.

Certified Mail

A new mother struggles with parenthood, adjusting to life with an imprisoned husband, and her own mental health.

Den nya tiden

A journey through contemporary Sweden to explore changes in the society over the past 20 years.

The River with No Bridge

A widow and her two sons, Seitaro and Koji, live in the small town of Komori, where Buraku people are forced to reside. The two boys are continuously harassed by their teachers and classmates through their childhood as a result of their Buraku heritage. In the midst of the 1918 Great Rice Riots in Osaka, Seitaro meets with Asako, the daughter of a rice shop owner, and falls in love with her. She too is of Buraku descent. At the same period, Hideaki, an old friend of the brothers returns to Komori, and he along with Koji and the townspeople create "Zenkoku Suiheisha", the National Levelers Association, an organization pledged to build a bridge over the river of discrimination, making all people equal in every way.

A Distant Place

A sheep farmer whose remote and quiet life is disturbed by the arrival of both his lover and his twin sister.