Given his own limited abilities and the present danger of physical injury, filmmaker Nikita Diakur decides to teach his computer-generated avatar to do a backflip; what follows is priceless.
Nikita Diakur
Germany/France
2022
English
Featured in:
MODES 3
Whimsical, questioning and utterly absorbing, a collection of animated work delving into worlds of wonder, subversion, and Marxist mystery. These works are fun and some re-construct ideas of animation, paying homage to experimentalists who came before.
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La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
The Mad Dog of Europe
The story of an unmade screenplay from the writer of Citizen Kane. In 1932, Herman Mankiewicz wrote a film that foretold the persecution of the Jews and the war in Europe. But Hollywood wouldn't take the risk and The Mad Dog of Europe was never made.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
The Mortal Storm
In this explicitly anti-Nazi melodrama directed by Frank Borzage (Three Comrades) a year before the US entered the war, Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart fall in love as their friends and family fall prey to the rise of Hitler's Nazi party in Germany.
Three Comrades
Scripted by F Scott Fitzgerald, Three Comrades (1938) was the first US studio film to chronicle the rise of European fascism in the 30s. Three German veterans open up a repair shop and try to regain a normal life, but political extremists have other ideas.
Credits
Producer
Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron, Nikita Diakur
Screenwriter
Nikita Diakur
Cinematography
Gerhard Funk, María Guadalupe Anaya Alderete
ANIM
Nikita Diakur
Editor
Nikita Diakur
Original Music
avia.ai, thunderkamp
Director
Nikita Diakur
Nikita Diakur is a Russian-born filmmaker based in Germany. He is best known for his projects Ugly (2017) and Fest (2018), which have received critical acclaim at film festivals around the world. His signature style is dynamic computer simulation that embraces spontaneity, randomness, and error.