Advanced search

A program of five films on love and sex from the Japanese underground of the experimental cinema, assembled by avant-garde cineaste Takahiko Iimura, and shown at the American Cinematheque from January 19 to 25, 1967.

Friends, family and colleagues pay tribute to Robert Downey at the annual irreverent after dinner event produced by the American Cinematheque.

A look at Alfred Hitchcock's films. The Master of Suspense himself, who is interviewed extensively here, shares stories including his deep-seated fear of policemen, elaborates on the difference between shock and suspense, defines the meaning of "MacGuffin," and discusses his use of storyboarding in designing a film. Clips from many of his greatest films (including "North by Northwest", "Shadow of a Doubt", "The Birds", and the legendary shower scene from "Psycho") illustrate his points, often to Hitchcock's own voice-over observations, with narrator Cliff Robertson offering other critical insights.

"Dreams of the Hydra" showcases the life-and-death struggles among hydras and micro-crustaceans, captured in mesmerizing detail under a microscope, demonstrating the timeless dance, while immortalizing the primal struggle for survival and combining Dr. Seuss's creativity with natural brutality. It captures the intense hunt of hydras for crustaceans in a droplet. This microscopic glimpse reveals the relentless predator-prey dynamic, echoing broader ecosystems. Dreams of the Hydra" was the winner of the Flicker Los Angeles Annual Film Festival "Attack of the Fifty Foot Reels" and premiered at the American Cinemateque's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, CA. It went on tour in the USA and Canada with the Echo Park Film Center's Film Mobile Cinema, and was included in The Secret World of Human Science EPISODE II, shown at the the Steve Allen Theatre. It was also chosen and included in the "Best of Attack: best of over seven years of shows" DVD. This film is a meditation on the violence of the natural world. Dr. Seuss creatures play out dramas of life and death in this world in a thimble of water. This film was captured on a Canon 1014XLS Super 8 film camera on Tri-X b/w Super 8 film, through 40x dark field microscope. Shot, produced and edited by Angelica Sarkisyan. Directed by Leigh Goldstein. Hydras are freshwater predators, one of the simplest animals. Their prey are minute crustacea. Hydras are the only animal that do not age; they are immortal in the sense that they do not die of old age. In some scenes you can see the Hydra forming a bud, asexual reproduction by self-cloning. Hydras are also hermaphroditic. The mouth is an opening at one end in the middle of all the tentacles, which are covered with poisonous stinging cells that paralyze their prey. The other end of the Hydra is a foot that can cling to a surface. Hydra and Daphnia can be found in any wild pond. Artemia are relatives of shrimp that have not changed much since 300 million years ago, before the dinosaurs; they live in brackish lakes.