A Letter F

A personal letter from Poland.

Surprising links between borescopic imagery of an underground Cold War–era bunker and human laparoscopic footage lead this investigation of distance and death to hidden new depths, as a surgeon father in Ecuador and filmmaker son in Belgium connect during COVID-19. Empty cavities, inside the body and under the city, leave space to understand what matters most in life: time.

Part of a series of promotional films commissioned by Romania's National Tourism Office in the early 1970s with the aim of reconnecting diasporic communities with the country they left behind. In this case, the film is addressed to Jews who emigrated in the context of the Second World War or were sold by the Romanian state to the State of Israel starting in the 50s and settled in Israel and the USA - therefore, a target group made up of seniors, probably retired , possibly prosperous, eager to revisit the places of youth and willing to forget, temporarily, the traumas associated with them.

Paris is a monstrously inhuman cityscape, in which cars, buses, crowds, and unceasing noise combine to smother any decent and delicate human activity. People and flowers attempt to survive in a city that seems ready to explode from an over-heated mixture of traffic and noise.

Mihály, a retired foundryman has brought up his sons in a very disciplined and strict way, and as a result they have become a doctor, an engineer, and a teacher. However, his half orphan grandson, Misi, has been spoilt, and become skilled in nothing else really but riding his motorbike and going to parties. He has been involved in shady businesses a number of times already. Having experienced so many difficulties, privation and hardship in his own life and now seeing Misi's irresponsible lifestyle, the old man's bitterness is growing day by day.

A woman in Ecuador reads a letter from her Chinese friend, telling her about the city Guangzhou and its special African enclave Xiaobei.

This short film is Godard’s message to the people of Lausanne, specifically journalist and critic Freddy Buache, addressing his reasons why he will not make a film about their town’s 500th anniversary. Rather than cynical or defensive, Godard's bemused narration of the footage of Lausanne is imaginative and even playful, a rumination on cinema's possibilities.

Experimental work by Isao Yamada (Color, 8mm).

Experimental work by Isao Yamada (Color, 8mm).

Experimental work by Isao Yamada (Color, 8mm).

Experimental work by Isao Yamada (Color, 8mm).

Like all teenagers during the Great Patriotic war, Vasya was eager to go to the front. He enters diving school, but upon graduation, the guy is sent to help clear the lake of driftwood. Vasya, who dreams of the front, finds it difficult to get used to the “rear prose”...

Two sons from the beach refugee camp for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip decide to correspond with US President Barack Obama on his Facebook page. They ask him, as president of the United States, to intervene and lift the years-long blockade, inviting him and his wife to visit Gaza and watch the suffering of people there. But they don’t receive a response from him, deciding to use a small video camera to record a very angry video message addressed to Barack Obama from the campers

Letter from Tokyo is a documentary film that looks at art, culture and politics in Tokyo, Japan. Shot over three months during the summer of 2018, and with a particular focus on grass roots arts initiatives, the use of public space, and queer politics, the film provides a snapshot of Japan’s capital in the run up to the 2020 olympics.

One of the last Yiddish films made in Poland before the Nazi invasion, this film tells the story of a mother's persistent struggles to support her three children in pre-war World War II Polish Ukraine. After her family is pulled apart by severe poverty and the turmoil of war, she and her children make their way to New York and turn to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society for help.

After learning from his best friend Elena that Karla has a certain interest in him, Juan decides to approach Karla by writing a letter on Valentine's Day, unsure if Karla sees him as just a friend or something more.

Commissioned for S-AIR’s 2020 residency programme, Letter from Sapporo (2021) is a collage film offering a glimpse of daily life in the Japanese city of Sapporo. The film is the product of approximately 16 participants capturing material with their smartphones. Focusing on moments of stillness, intimacy, labour and humour, disparate material is wedded into a compelling and coherent whole by Quaintance’s subtle editing, original music and vivid sound design.

The true condition of the human being is to think with their hands.