The Light Bulb Conspiracy

Είδος: Ντοκιμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: Spanish,French, English, German
Υπότιτλοι: Ελληνικά
Χρονολογία: 2010, Spain / France.
Σκηνοθεσία: C. Dannoritzer
Διάρκεια: 52'


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825163/




Planned Obsolescence is the deliberate shortening of product life spans to guarantee consumer demand.As a magazine for advertisers succinctly puts it: The article that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business – and a tragedy for the modern growth society which relies on an ever-accelerating cycle of production, consumption and throwing away.
The Light Bulb Conspiracy combines investigative research and rare archive footage to trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutting edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers.
This film travels to France, Germany, Spain and the US to find witnesses of a business practice which has become the basis of the modern economy, and brings back disquieting pictures from Africa where discarded electronics are piling up in huge cemeteries for electronic waste.

Top Documentary Films

The Wave (1981)

Είδος: Ταινία
Γλώσσα: English
Υπότιτλοι: -
Χρονολογία: 1981, US
Σκηνοθεσία: A. Grasshoff
Διάρκεια: 44'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083316/

In 1967, at the Cubberley High School in Palo Alto, California, World History teacher Ron Jones was asked about the Holocaust by a student. "Could it happen here?". According to the press release accompanying the latest retelling of the events that followed, "Jones came up with an unusual answer. He decided to have a two week experiment in dictatorship. His idea was to explain fascism to his class through a game, nothing more. He never intended what resulted, where his class would be turned into a Fascist environment. Where students gave up their freedom for the prospect of being superior to their neighbors. 

According to the original author of 'The Wave', Mr. Ron Jones, the story is no fiction. He describes how the story took place in 1967 at the Cubberley High School. The school which closed in 1979 was located in Palo Alto, California. Apart from Jones' own recollections, not much documentation exists about the experiment. Brief mention of the events can be found in the "The Cubberley Catamount" which was the Cubberley High School student newspaper.

On his website, Mr. Jones responds as follows to the many questions surrounding his story: "I'm not proud of The Wave but I can't escape it! It is like a calling that just gets louder! For me The Wave is a story of ghosts. What we can be. The allure of good and evil. Choices. I'm sorry, but in the end I can't answer your questions about The Wave."

Norman Lear, an American film maker, made a television adaptation of Jones' original story, simply called 'The Wave'. The movie is described by the publishers as follows:
"A thought-provoking dramatization of an actual classroom experiment on individualism vs. conformity in which a high school teacher formed his own "Reich" (called "The Wave") to show why the German people could so willingly embrace Nazism. This unflinching yet sensitive 1981 Emmy Award-winner raises critical questions: When does dedication to a group cross the line from loyalty to fanaticism? Does power corrupt? What is the nature of propaganda and mass persuasion? Can something like the Nazi Holocaust happen again? Grades 7-12. Color. 46 minutes."

The Wave wins the 1981 Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program and the 1981 Peabody Award.

Source

La belle Verte

Είδος: Κωμωδία
Γλώσσα: Γαλλικά
Υπότιτλοι: Ελληνικά & English
Χρονολογία: 1996, Fr 

Σκηνοθεσία: C. Serreau
Διάρκεια: 90'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115650/






Once again I am struck by the original talent of Coline Serreau, who shows in "la Belle Verte", in a very simple and yet beautifully profound way, all the insane sides of humanity. Very much unlike her later film "Chaos" (2001) ,the choice of style and expression for "La Belle Verte" is a very undemanding form of comedy, which gives the movie an altogether very light tone, totally free of complexions and not at all inviting to intellectual debate. She simply points to the almost ridiculously obvious differences between a life of beauty and respect of life and one of disease, stress and egoic battle. Interesting is off course also to see the director herself in the leading part. Merci Madame! 

-Henrik Ajax

Born into this (Bukowski)

Είδος: Ντοκιμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: English
Υπότιτλοι: Ελληνικά
Χρονολογία: 2003, US
Σκηνοθεσία: J. Dullaghan
Διάρκεια: 115'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0342150/












This is an extraordinary documentary, capturing Bukowski in the 1970's and 1980's mostly, telling the story of his incredible life and alternatively capturing private moments that define him as well as defy his reputation. The film uses interviews of those that lived with him and knew him to portray a man that waded through an interpersonal sewer of a life, only to conquer the literary world on his own terms and make a decent living from it to boot. It's the story of a man, a writer, who just lived life as it presented itself to him. He had an unflinching ability to face the realities of his life with charm, wisdom, and a determination that even he would not be able to recognize. Whether he spoke of his upbringing, his drinking, his laziness, his unattractiveness, his women, and especially about love, death and sex, he remained steadfast in his cynicism laced with humor, much like the comic artist Robert Crumb. Most of the highlights in the film occur when Bukowski is either conversing or reading his own work. He reads his own work in a world weary tone of voice that possesses a cadence that seems to say he's tired of it all. Just then though, he hits us with another gem, another truth about ourselves and the world around us. If you like Bukowski, see this at all costs.

Author: CitizenCaine from Las Vegas, Nevada

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

Είδος: Ταινία
Γλώσσα: English
Υπότιτλοι: Αγγλικά
Χρονολογία: 1968, US

Σκηνοθεσία: Robert Ellis Miller
Διάρκεια: 124'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063050/

Author: lilybear5923 from CA

A story of one man's isolation from others by the fact of being a deaf-mute individual with apparently only one true friend (another deaf-mute whom he love's like a brother). In spite of this physical disability he becomes an important part of all the other characters involved by being a confidant and sounding board for their lives. His patience and quiet concern and attention allows them to sort through their own motives and problems and come to an understanding of them.

Unfortunately because of this disability he remains isolated from being able to take comfort from them when he needs it most. The HEART of the story. To be able to give so much and yet still be denied the love and understanding of the very people you have helped so much.

A wonderful and introspective movie about feelings and motivations. View it if you can. 

Waste Land

Είδος: Ντοκιμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: Portuguese, English
Υπότιτλοι: English
Χρονολογία: 2010, Brasil / U.K.
Σκηνοθεσία: L. Walker, K. Harley
Διάρκεια: 99'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1268204/

An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters who live and work in the garbage quoting Machiavelli and showing us how to recycle ourselves. 

Persepolis

Είδος: Ταινία κινουμένων σχεδίων
Γλώσσα: Γαλλικά
Υπότιτλοι: Ελληνικά
Χρονολογία: 2007, Fr 

Σκηνοθεσία: V. Paronnaud, M. Satrapi
Διάρκεια: 96'

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808417/

Η αυτοβιογραφία της Marjane Satrapi από την ομώνυμη εικονογραφημένη δουλειά της. Η ενηλικίωση της στο Ιράν και στην Ευρώπη και ο δύσκολος δρόμος προς την προσωπική ελευθερία. Δοσμένα με χιούμορ, ευφυΐα, αυτοσαρκασμό και χωρίς συμβιβασμούς.

Author:Graham Inglis from Paris, France

I came out of this movie feeling as if I knew Marjane Satrapi. The way in which the story is told is fantastic - it really is as if you're reading her journal. As she grows up from being a young girl to an adult, at each age the story is told with a corresponding maturity, and highlighting things which seem like very personal memories. As a young girl, the stories she is told are very black and white, and as she gets older the complexity increases, which is exactly what you would expect. Although there is lots of political activity, she makes fun of herself and highlights her own shortcomings as much as she highlights the repressive elements in her homeland. By telling of her own experiences it really is extremely easy to see how so much of it is common to a whole generation of Iranians. Her love of her family and her country came across very strongly, and you really felt as if she had laid herself bare. A moving and entertaining movie as much as it is educational about post-1979 Iran.