El Tigre Saltó y Mató, Pero Morirá…Morirá…. (1973) by Santiago Álvarez Román with music by Víctor Jara y Violeta Parra

Santiago Álvarez Román (March 18, 1919– May 20, 1998) was a Cuban filmmaker. He wrote and directed many documentaries about Cuban and American culture. His "nervous montage" technique of using "found materials," such as Hollywood movie clips, cartoons, and photographs, is considered a precursor to the modern video clip.
El Tigre Saltó y Mató, Pero Morirá…Morirá…(The Tiger Jumped and Killed but It Will Die, It Will Die...) is a documentary film directed by Santiago Alvarez Roman depicting the injustices committed in Chile during the 1970's under the fascist dictatorsip of General Augusto Pinochet. It features music by Chilean folk singers, Violeta Parra and Victor Jara. Shortly after the Chilean coup of 11 September 1973, Jara was arrested, tortured and ultimately shot to death with 44 bullet shots by machine gun fire. His body was later thrown out into the street of a shanty town in Santiago. The contrast between the themes of his songs, on love, peace and social justice and the brutal way in which he was murdered transformed Jara into a symbol of struggle for human rights and justice across Latin America.

Alvarez studied in the United States but in the mid-1940s returned to Cuba, where he worked as a music archivist in a television station and participated in Communist Party activities. After the Cuban Revolution he became a founding member of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and directed its weekly Latin American Newsreel.

One of his most famous works, the short Now (1964) about racial discrimination in the USA, mixed news photographs and musical clips featuring singer/actress Lena Horne. Other well-known works included the anti-imprerialist satire LBJ (1968) and 79 Springs (1969), a poetic tribute to Ho Chi Minh. In 1968, he collaborated with Octavio Getino and Fernando E. Solanas (members of Grupo Cine Liberación) on the four-hour documentary Hora de los hornos, about foreign imperialism in South America. Among the other subjects he explored in his film were the musical and cultural scene in Latin America and the dictatorships which gripped the region.

He died of Parkinson's disease in Havana on May 20, 1998 and was buried there in the Colon Cemetery.

References: www.wikipedia.com

Director: Santiago Álvarez.
Producer: Sergio San Pedro.
Sound: Juan Demóstenes.
Editor: Gloria Argüelles.
Music: Víctor Jara and Violeta Parra.
Graphics: Adalberto Hernández and Santiago Peñate.
Trucas: Jorge Pucheaux and Eusebio Ortiz.
35mm. Black and White. 16 mins. 1973.

Unidentified man and Santiago Alvarez Roman

(to the left of Fidel Castro)

Luis Buñuel documentary from French TV series, Cinéastes de Notre Temps (1964)

The French documentary series, Cinéastes de Notre Temps aired this episode on April 4, 1964 which focuses on the early career of exiled surrealist filmmaker, Luis Bunuel.

Approx. 37:25

Budo: The Art of Killing (1978) by Hisao Masuda

Budo: The Art of Killing is an award winning 1978 Japanese martial arts documentary created and produced by Hisao Masuda and financed by The Arthur Davis Company. Considered a cult classic, the film is a compilation of various Japanese martial art demonstrations by several famous Japanese instructors such as Gozo Shioda, Taizaburo Nakamura and Teruo Hayashi.
Martial arts featured in the film include: Karate, Aikido, Kendo, Sumo, and Judo among others. The only modern Japanese martial art not to be featured in the film is Kyudo.
Budo: The Art of Killing is a compilation of various gendai budō each demonstrated by famous Japanese martial artists from the late 1970s. The film treats its subject matter with deep respect and demonstrates a great reverence for both Budō and Japanese culture in general. The film begins with Hayashi Kunishiro reenacting seppuku, the ritualistic form of suicide practiced by Japanese samurai during Feudal Japan. This is followed by a demonstration of yabusame and footage of a samurai cavalry battle. The narrator then explains the connection between Budō and its universal symbol—the nihonto. After a demonstration of the effectiveness of the Japanese sword, the audience is shown the techniques developed by Okinawan farmers to combat the sword. Karate-do master Teruo Hayashi then demonstrates Okinawan weapon techniques. The film moves along with further footage of karate-do including makiwara training by Fujimoto (including the infamous shot of him striking a locomotive and chopping a beer bottle) and a demonstration of the nunchaku by Satoru Suzuki, a weapon made famous by Bruce Lee. The film moves to footage of traditional Judo training such as mat rolls, pole-hopping, bunny-hops, and practice of hip throws using rubber bands tied around trees. The film moves on to discuss naginata-do, a budō popular with female martial art practitioners in Japan. Aikido is then demonstrated by Gozo Shioda, the founder of Yoshinkan aikido interspersed with shots of leaves falling into a brook. To emphasize the film's theme of "mind and body are one in Budo" the viewer is shown Shinto practitioners fire walking. The film then shows training in a sumo stable with rikishi Takamiyama, where the training shown is both tough and cruel. Scenes of young people practicing kobudo on the beach follow the sumo demonstration as the narrator discusses the succession of Budō to younger generations. The film explains the importance of kata with Teruo Hayashi demonstrating more karate-do kumite. The narrator explains, "... karate training can be both severe and cruel, yet a sword can take away a life with one swing." The film shifts its focus to sword arts with demonstrations of iaido, tameshigiri and kendo by Shuji Matsushita and Tomoo Koide as the narrator discusses the fear instilled by the Japanese sword. The "limitless" connection between Zen Buddhism and Budō is discussed with Shuji Matsushita on the receiving end of a strike from an abbot's kyosaku while in zazen. This is followed by a highlight of the film in which Taizaburo Nakamura demonstrating various sword cuts including a shot filmed in slo-motion showing the shocking speed in which a blade can behead a man (1/100 of a second). Continuing with a focus on the sword, the film shows the art of traditional nihonto forging by swordsmith Amada Akitsugu, considered a national living treasure in Japan. Budo: The Art of Killing concludes with scenes of Noh as the narrator explains, "As long as the universal truths of heaven, the earth and man remain, the spirit of Budo shall endure."

Hisao Masuda had no luck trying to find financing for Budo: Art of Killing in his native Japan until he came across Arthur Davis, an American film exhibitor who ran a distribution company in Tokyo. Davis stated he funded the film out of the respect and gratitude he felt towards Japan. The Art of Killing won first prize at the 1978 Miami International Film Festival, but did not find an American distribution deal until 1981, when it was acquired by Crown International Pictures and received a limited release in 1982 under the title Budo. The film eventually got a VHS release through Prism Entertainment which helped build its cult status among Japanese martial arts practitioners and aficionados. The film was eventually remastered and released on DVD in 2005 by Synapse Films.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budo:_The_Art_of_Killing

Ken Russell's, The Devils (1971), feature + trailer & Hell on Earth - The Desecration & Resurrection of "The Devils" (2004)

Traces the history and controversy surrounding the film The DEVILS, Ken Russell's notorious 1971 film of alleged 'demonic possession' in 17th century France. Features interviews with Ken Russell, who talks openly about his battles with studios, censors and critics; actors Vanessa Redgrave, Dudley Sutton, Murray Melvin, Georgina Hale, Imogen Claire, Doremy Vernon, Judith Paris, Selena Gilbert, and Izabella Telezinska; extra in the film Lee Fyles; critics Alexander Walker and Nigel Floyd; composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies; producer Roy Baird; editor Michael Bradsell; director of photography David Watkin; Peter Malone, President, The World Catholic Association for Communication; BBFC examiner Ken Perry; and Father Gene Phillips, Consultant Legion of Decency, and Attorney General's Commission of Motion Pictures. The documentary also, for the first time, shows the censored sequences that were cut from the finished film.

An online petition has been created to send to Warner Brothers to convince them to release a restored uncut DVD edition of the "the Devils".

http://www.petitiononline.com/Grandier/

Antonio Gaudi (1961, BBC documentary) by Ken Russell

Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (born 3 July 1927), known as Ken Russell, is an English film director. He is known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his controversial style. He has been criticized as being overly obsessed with sexuality and the church. His subject matter is often about famous composers, or based on other works of art which he adapts loosely. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he did creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.
He is best known for his Oscar-winning film Women in Love (1969), The Devils (1971), The Who's Tommy (1975), and the sci-fi film Altered States (1980).



Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet (25 June 1852–10 June 1926) – in English, normally referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí^[3][4][5] – was a Catalan architect who belonged to the Modernist style (Art Nouveau) movement and was famous for his unique and highly individualistic designs.

Photograph of Antoni Gaudi (1878) by Pau Audouard.

For more information on Ken Russell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Russell

For more information on Antonio Gaudi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudi

Las Hurdes (A.K.A.- Land Without Bread, Uncompromised Land, and Tierra Sin Pan) (English & French version w/Spanish subtitles) (1932) by Luis Bunuel

Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan (1932), (English language: Land Without Bread or Unpromised Land) is a 27-minute-long documentary film directed by Luis Buñuel and co-produced by Buñuel and Ramon Acin. The narration was written by Buñuel, Rafael Sanchez Ventura, and Pierre Unik, with cinematography by Eli Lotar.

The film focuses on the Las Hurdes region of Spain, the mountainous area around the town La Alberca, and the intense poverty of its occupants. Buñuel, who made the film after reading the ethnographic study Las Jurdes: étude de géographie humaine (1927) by Maurice Legendre, took a Surrealist approach to the notion of the anthropological expedition. The result was a travelogue in which the narrator’s extreme (indeed, exaggerated) descriptions of human misery of Las Hurdes contrasts with his flat and disinterested manner.

Although some film scholars describe it as a documentary, Land Without Bread is in fact, according to film studies scholar Jeffrey Ruoff, an early (some might say prescient) parody of the barely invented genre of documentary filmmaking.

The film was originally silent, though Buñuel himself narrated when it was first shown. A French narration by actor Abel Jacquin was added in Paris in 1935. Buñuel used extracts of Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 4 for the music.

Buñuel slaughtered at least two animals to make Las Hurdes. He ordered an ailing donkey to be covered with honey so he could film it being stung to death by bees. Similarly, his crew shot a mountain goat and threw its carcass from a cliff for another sequence.

The film was banned in Spain from 1933 to 1936.

There is a Spanish-language dubbed version spoken by Francisco Rabal.

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Without_Bread

Below is the English dubbed version followed by the French dubbed version with Spanish subs. Enjoy!

Blood of the Beasts (1949) (dubbed in English) by Georges Franju

Blood of the Beasts (Le Sang des bêtes) is a 1949 short French documentary film written and directed by Georges Franju. Blood of the Beasts was Franju's first film and is narrated by Georges Hubert and Nicole Ladmiral. Franju's film contrasts peaceful scenes of Parisian suburbia with scenes from a slaughterhouse. The film documents the slaughtering of a horse, sheep, and calves; once the horse is stunned by a pistol, it is bled and butchered. The film is narrated without emotive language.

Franju states that he wasn't interested on the subject of slaughterhouses when he decided to make the film, but the location around the building was the Ourcq Canal allowing him to make a documentary film. Franju stated by using a documentary film format, he was able to use both locations as lyrical counterpoints and "to explain it as a realist while remaining a surrealist by displacing the object in another context. In this new setting, the object rediscovers its quality as an object".
Blood of the Beasts was made as a black and white film as an aesthetic. Franju states "If it were in colour, it'd be repulsive... the sensation people get would be physical one."

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Sang_des_b%C3%AAtes

Giger's Necronomicon (1975) by H.R. Giger and J.J. Wittmer

A very rare documentary on the Swiss surrealist painter, sculptor, and set designer, Hans Rudolf "Ruedi" Giger (pronounced /ˈɡiːɡər/, born in Chur, Grisons Canton, Switzerland, February 5, 1940. The documentary which features an amazing soundtrack is directed by H.R. Giger and J.J. Wittmer and was produced in 1975 and was released only in Japan. More on Giger: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.R._Giger