Go Shibata - NN-891102 (1999)

This film's cryptic title refers to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (Nagasaki Nuclear 8 [August] 9 [the day] 11:02 [the time]). A 5-year-old boy survives the fateful blast and thinks that its sound has been captured on his father's tape recorder, only to become obsessed with reproducing it when the tape appears to be empty.

Thomas Heise - Eisenzeit (1992)

Synopsis
Documentary film on the memories of four children from Eisenhüttenstadt who were all born at the same time the Berlin wall was built.

Quote:
1991 stellte der DEFA-Autor Thomas Heise seinen Dokumentarfilm ‘Eisenzeit’ vor, der vier Jugendliche aus Eisenhüttenstadt porträtiert. Der Film zeigt quälend und schmerzlich, wie sie an den Schwierigkeiten mit Staat, Gesellschaft und Familie zerbrachen. Schon 1981 wurde die Idee zum Film geboren, konnte aber aus politischen Gründen nicht umgesetzt werden. Erst zehn Jahre später zeigte der Film die selbstzerstörerische Flucht dieser selbstdenkenden Jugendlichen in Drogen und Selbstmord.

Assaf Bernstein - Holy for Me aka Yonah Sidas: Moreh Derech (1995)

This spoof on tours, guides, and the "holy" sites of Israel concerns thirty year old Jonah Sidas, who had a typical  Jewish-Israeli upbringing; he was born and raised in Jaffa, graduated from high school and served as a paratrooper in the army. One day, Jonah donned the cross and black gown of the priesthood; now he guides pilgrims around Tel-Aviv, which he believes is a holy city for the Christian faith. Join Jonah and his unwitting group of tourists on an insane two-day tour of Tel-Aviv.

Jean-Luc Godard - For Ever Mozart (1996)

A grizzled film director sets out with several members of his household (including the fictitious granddaughter of Albert Camus) to stage a Musset play in embattled Sarajevo.

As these modern-day Quixotes proceed on their fool?s quest through the bloody chaos of Bosnia, Godard provides witty, wintry updates of earlier masterpieces, including Weekend (journey of bourgeois buffoons through an apocalyptic, neo-barbarian landscape), Les Carabiniers (absurdist war film with offhand atrocities), and Contempt (contentious filmmaking by the sea, with ranting producer, exasperated actress, and pornographic dialogue).

Álex de la Iglesia - Perdita Durango aka Dance With The Devil [Uncut] (1997)

Perdita Durango joins Romeo Delarosa, a Santeria black sorcerer and bank robber, and becomes his lover as they cross the Mexican border into Texas. Pursued by a dogged FBI agent, Romeo becomes involved in the shipment of a truckload of baby embryos to Las Vegas to be used for experimentation by a cosmetics firm, unaware that he has been betrayed by his cousin and all that awaits him at the other end is a trap. Along the way Romeo and Perdita take a whitebread teenage boy and girlfriend prisoner, intending to use them as human sacrifices in a Santeria ceremony.

Rémy Belvaux - C'est arrivé près de chez vous aka Man bites dog (1992)

Not that it was the first media-evil movie ever -- for that, you'd have to go back at least as far as Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole -- but it scooped Serial Mom, Natural Born Killers, To Die For, the endless spate of 1990s films whose directors suddenly noticed that methods of mass communication were inherently corrupt and corruptive. Even The Blair Witch Project owes a debt to Man Bites Dog's grainy mockumentary shaky-cam style. Like it or not -- and you'd be excused for not liking it -- this Belgian award-winner has probably influenced every subsequent media take-off from the sublime (Series 7) to the ridiculous (Ed TV).

Elia Suleiman - Segell Ikhtifa AKA Chronicle of a Disappearance (1997)

Deceptively simple and executed with a documentary feel, this drama represents a highly personal journey home for ex-patriot Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman. The film is divided into two sections. The first documents the paradoxical but sleepy existence in the Arab part of Nazareth. The second part takes a more political view of the city and in it, Suleiman takes a more active role. He has come to his former home in search of inspiration, but what he sees are many disturbing images of Arab people trapped in a cultural identity crisis, a point best illustrated by the plight of a young Arab woman who wants more independence than traditionally allowed in her part of town but cannot find it because of prejudiced residents on the Jewish side. -- Sandra Brennan

Srdjan Dragojevic - Lepa sela lepo gore AKA Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)

The plot, inspired by real life events that took place in the opening stages of the Bosnian War, tells a story about small group of Bosnian Serb soldiers trapped in a tunnel by a Bosnian Muslim force (it is based on an article written by Vanja Bulić). Through flashbacks that describe the pre-war lives of each trapped soldier, the film describes life in former Yugoslavia and tries to give an answer (though, from Serbian point of view) as to why former neighbours and friends "turned on each other".

Anand Patwardhan - Raam Ke Naam (1992)

Another highly provocative and extremely well made documentary from the director on religion fundamentalism, intolerance, communalism and cultural amnesia. A must see, given that the judicial decision on the Ayodhya issue was given just a few hours ago, following 61staggering  years of dispute, violence and loss of innocent lives.

Aleksandr Sokurov - Krug vtoroy AKA The Second Circle (1990)

A solitary figure trudges through the inclement weather of a vast, remote Siberian wilderness. An unyielding gust of wind brings the young man (Pyotr Aleksandrov) to his knees as he attempts to avert the caustic, sustained force of the snowstorm, momentarily obscuring him from view, erased from the harsh and desolate landscape. The stark, monochromatic image of the film then cuts to an ironically appropriate impersonal and nondescript official title sequence, as the premature sound of a knock on a door seemingly intrudes on the necessity to present information on the film's certification.

Vitali Kanevsky - Samostoyatelnaya zhizn aka An Independent Life (1992)

NOTE : NO ENGLISH SUBS, SPANISH DUB  !!!

on the road again...

This is the second installment of a three-part series of autobiographical films about the director's life. The first, which won various awards for its maker, was entitled Zamri Oumi Voskresni and was later retitled Zari, Umri, Vokresni ("Freeze-Die-Come to Life). At the end of that film, set at the conclusion of World War II, the young Valerka was striving hard to overcome the inertia of just getting by, along with his sometime friend Galiya.

Kar Wai Wong - Chung Hing sam lam AKA Chungking Express [+Extras] (1994)

The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express is one of the defining works of nineties cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works. Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.

Mike Leigh - Topsy-Turvy (1999)

The world of Gilbert and Sullivan comes to vivid life in director Mike Leigh’s extraordinary dramatization of the staging of the duo’s legendary 1885 comic opera The Mikado. Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner brilliantly inhabit the roles of the world-famous Victorian librettist and composer, who, along with their troupe of temperamental actors, must battle personal and professional demons while mounting this major production. A lushly produced epic about the harsh realities of creative expression, featuring bravura performances and Oscar-winning costume design and makeup, Topsy-Turvy is an unexpected period delight from one of contemporary cinema’s great artists.

Arnold Glassman - Visions of Light (1992)

Cameramen and women discuss the craft and art of cinematography and of the director of photography, illustrating their points with clips from 100 films, from Birth of a Nation to Do the Right Thing. Themes: the DP tells people where to look; changes in movies (the arrival of sound, color, and wide screens) required creative responses from DPs; and, these artisans constantly invent new equipment and try new things, with wonderful results. The narration takes us through the identifiable studio styles of the 30s, the emergence of noir, the New York look, and the impact of Europeans. Citizen Kane, The Conformist, and Gordon Willis get special attention.

Joon-ho Bong - Incoherence (1994)

Three strange people meet at a TV program discussing the problems in society. The members consist of a newspaper editor who steals other people's milk while jogging every morning; an elite attorney caught by a guard while relieving himself, dead drunk on the street; and a professor with a passion for pornographic magazines.

Andreas Dresen - Nachtgestalten AKA Nightshapes [+Extras] (1999)

The heroes of Andreas Dresen’s metropolitan elegy become dreamers when confronted by harsh reality. A farmer dreams of romantic love in a red light district; a homeless man and woman dream of finding a room for the night; and an aging businessman dreams of a big career, unaware that it is too late. All this happens on the night when the Pope arrives in Berlin! The film was shot in 47 night shifts and countless winter outdoor shoots, yet improvisation was always part of the action, such as the scene with actor Oliver Bassler, who was not forewarned he would be entering a sleazy hotel room.

Cédric Klapisch - Riens du tout AKA Little Nothings (1992)

Lepetit, an ambitious and determined man, is named the new CEO of a department store. His mission is to improve the store's financial position. He decides that the human factor will be his catchword and introduces new methods, which he also applied to himself. But tensions slowly arise between members of the staff. (IMDb)

Harun Farocki - Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik aka Workers Leaving the Factory (1995)

Workers Leaving the Factory - such was the title of the first cinema film ever shown in public. For 45 seconds, this stillexistant sequence depicts workers at the photographic products factory in Lyon owned by the brothers Louis and Auguste Lumière hurrying, closely packed, out of the shadows of the factory gates and into the afternoon sun. Only here, in departing, are the workers visible as a social group. But where are they going? To a meeting? To the barricades? Or simply home? These questions have preoccupied generations of documentary filmmakers.

Eric Rochant - Aux yeux du monde AKA In the Eyes of the World [+Extras] (1991)

Bruno's girlfriend, who lives in another town, doesn't believe he loves her. Therefore, he decides to prove his love by doing something "crazy" and ends up hijacking a school bus full of children at gunpoint to go see her.

Agnieszka Holland - Europa Europa (1990)

This drama was based on the true story of a young German Jew who survived the Holocaust by falling in with the Nazis. Solomon Perel (Marco Hofschneider) is the son of a Jewish shoe salesman coming of age in Germany during the rise of Adolf Hitler. In 1938, a group of Nazis attack Solomon’s family home; his sister is killed, and 13-year-old Solomon flees to Poland. Solomon winds up in an orphanage operated by Stalinist forces; when German forces storm Poland, Solomon’s fluent German allows him to join the Nazis as a translator, posing as Josef Peters, an ethnic German.