more movies like this


does anybody know? films that has 'educational' aspect, films that concerns the phenomenon of cinema, its evolution, means, ways of expressing, etc.

please?

reply

Visions of Light

http://imdb.com/title/tt0105764/

enjoy!

reply

I love Educational films on films

Liban Kheer

reply

Martin Scorsese done another documentary on Film, 'My Voyage To Italy', which is all about the evolution of Italian Cinema, Rossellini, Neo-Realist, Fellini, a lot of great information,

reply

There was a great series on PBS several years ago called "American Cinema" that covered a lot of the same ground. I have no idea about its availability on home video, though.

A couple of other recommendations along these lines: the TV series "The Directors" on the Reelz Channel and a movie called A Decade Under The Influence, both of which are available on DVD.


"Look out, honey, 'cause I'm usin' technology."

reply

Besides what has been mentioned already I would also suggest:

Kingdom of Shadows - A good introduction to the very artful silent horror films of the teens and twenties. (Available on DVD as part of the Kino American Silent Horror Collection)

Film Before Film - An excellent documentary on all of the strange devices that led up to motion pictures. (Look for the old Kino VHS)

Cinema Europe - An exceptional informative 6 Hour series on European silent films. Amazing stuff! (Image DVD)

A Decade Under the Influence - A solid documentary on the films of the 70s with a slightly diffferent emphasis than Easy Riders... (Docu-rama DVD)

Easy Riders Raging Bulls - A good documentary on the American films of the 70s with a teensy bit more emphasis on the sleazy side of the fence. (Available on DVD)

The American Nightmare - A look at the intensification of horror imagery and subject matter in the 1970s. In its way this documentary gets even closer to the meaning of the 70s than the 2 official docs on 70s film.

There are more but these are a good beginning.

reply

Thanks for the great list. I will be glad to get more doc's of the same type.

reply

I've seen most of the ones mentioned on this board and Visions of Light is by far the best. Even if this subject didn't interest you, Visions of Light is really well made, fascinating and educational.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean..neither tarnished nor afraid..

reply

This film was part of a series called "Century of Cinema" initiated by the BFI (British Film Institute). The brief was that movie-producing nations should make documentaries chronicling their own cinema history for 1995 to celebrate '100 Years of Cinema'. I saw nearly all of them on TV week after week on the doco channel and some of them played at local film festivals. The movies were:

A Personal Journey Through the Movies with Martin Scorsese
India, and the show must go on - Mrinal Sen
Japan, 100 Years of Japanese Cinema - Oshima Nagisa
New Zealand, Cinema of Unease - Sam Neill
S. Korea, Korean Cinema on the Road - Jang Sun-Woo
UK, Typically British - Stephen Frears
France, 2 x 50 Years of French Cinema - Anne-Marie Miéville & Jean-Luc Godard
Germany, Night of the Filmmakers - Edgar Reitz
Poland, 100 Years of Polish Cinema - Pawel Lozinski
China, Yang + Yin: Gender in Chinese Cinema - Stanley Kwan
Ireland, Irish Cinema: Ourselves Alone? - Donald Tylor Black
Russia, The Russian Idea - Sergej Selyanov
Latin America, Cinema of Tears Nelson - Pereira dos Santos
Scandinavia, I am Curious, Film - Stig Björkman
Australia, 40,000 Years of Dreaming - George Miller

reply

"The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing" is another interesting one.

There was an amazing 3 or 4 part miniseries on film scores that I have an episode of on VHS in the basement somewhere. Don't know what the correct title of this is but if anyone knows, any help would be greatly appreciated. It examined music's place in cinema and there was a great sequence about the music of Morricone's role in Leone's western movies. If anyone finds this, you are a very lucky man!

reply



Los Angeles Plays Itself

reply

Paul Merton did a nice 3 part documentary on the birth of Hollywood.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959896/

Worth watching for his enthusiasm on the subject, but probably covers a lot of the same material found elsewhere

reply

Anyone who loves film must watch the 15 hour series "The Story of Film: An Odyssey" (2011) by Mark Cousins. Nevermind the comments by most posters on IMDB about his Irish accent being irritating, he knows his subject very well and is very passionate about it.

By the way... Star Wars prequels suck!!

reply

Apologies, if these have been mentioned before but...

Hearts of Darkness 1991

Overnight 2003

Stanley Kubrick a life in pictures 2001

Behind the Planet of the Apes 1998

American Movie 1999

Burden of Dreams 1982

The People vs George Lucas 2010

Visions of light 1992

The perverts guide to cinema 2006

reply

Hey, just wanted to mention a few more and my personal reasons for including them,

A Magnificent Obsession: The Story of Z-Channel - This is the story of one man's obsession with film and his struggle to keep LA's once successful 'Z-Channel' afloat. The film has a personal bent and a great montage towards the end.

The Battle Over Citizen Kane - One of the great 'movies about movies' documentaries. Chronicles the rise and fall of both William Randolph Hurst and Orson Welles and their tumultuous relationship.

Seduced and Abandoned - This is a recent HBO documentary following Alec Baldwin and the always fascinating James Toback as they try and find backing for their new project "Last Tango in Tikrit" whilst in the middle of the Cannes film festival. It drifts away from the 'hardships of finding financing' into a deeper discussion of what attracts people to the movies.

Baadassss Cinema - This is an hour long documentary about the emergence and disappearance of 'Blaxploitation' cinema of the 1970's. This is one of my favorite genres and this has interviews with some of the key players in that period.

Machete Maidens Unleashed! and Not Quite Hollywood - Filmmaker Mark Hartley dives deep into two obscure and fascinating cultures of movie-dom past. In 'Maidens' he explores the world of Filipino genre filmmaking. In 'Not Quite Hollywood' he puts a similar microscope onto the exploitation movies that emerged from Australia. These are both insightful and funny and give a peek at some great forgotten gems of the past. If you like these, also keep an eye out for Hartleys upcoming documentary, 'Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story of Cannon Films.'

Great Directors - Available on Netflix Instant, this interviews ten directors, in depth, about their films and process. Some notable talent includes: David Lynch, Catherine Breillat, John Sayles and Bernardo Bertolucci.

Films of Fury - A fairly comprehensive and lightweight documentary about the Wuxia or Kung Fu genre.

"Most directors make films with their eyes; I make films with my testicles"
- Alejandro Jodorowsky

reply