Sunday Film Fest: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

Have you seen this whimsical guy? I am awfully fond of him. And part three is a recent(ish) release!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Sunday Film Fest: The Ancient Worlds - The Spartans

Do you have almost two and a half hours to watch Bettany Hughes being excited about Ancient Sparta, and particularly about the role of women in Spartan culture (cf. to the role of women in Athenian culture of course).

You should MAKE THAT TIME. I have watched this three times now and I can almost look past Bettany Hughes' breathiness it is so good.

 

Sunday Film Fest: Hoplites! Greeks at War

Do you like Ancient Greeks? Do you like vases? Do you like geekery with your animation?

May I interest you in this video. It's pretty great, brings back many memories of high school Classics classes (this is an animation of a black figure vase, in case you were wondering).

The guy who made this animation has made a bunch - this is the longest, the rest are usually less than a minute. You should watch some more now.

Sunday Film Fest: Montreal Swing Riot 2014 - invitational battle

Guys! I was super busy this past week between work and seeing people IRL. The sun has come out and everyone is shiny and amazing. I’m sitting in my office/sewing room with all the windows open, listening to the birds and podcasts of Australian public radio shows.

I’ve decided to revive this thing that I used to do where I tried to post a video each Sunday. To begin, then, here is fifteen minutes of a dance battle in Montreal between lindy hoppers (swing dancers) and a pretty amazing hip hop dance crew.

I only saw it because Katherine linked to to the video on twitter but I’ve watched about five times now and it’s re-ignited my desire to lindy hop.

Sunday Film Fest: Time for some Realness

Blog realness, film fest realness, executive realness. Does it feel soft?

This doco is ten kinds of amazing. The origin of voguing! The amazing people! The back stories! The bathos! I saw it in exactly this format (youtube vid) about a month ago and have been telling everyone about it and how they must see it. YOU MUST SEE IT.

 

SCP Sunday Film Fest: Waitangi Weekend

Waitangi Weekend! A weekend where we celebrate Nationhood and duping people into signing away their country by giving them a document to sign that only loosely approximates what it is supposed to mean.

In the 1970s, Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk decided he wanted to distance the negative connotations of the Treaty of Waitangi from New Zealand Nationhood (and recognise NZ's newly discovered multiculturalism) by renaming Waitangi Day. It would now be known as New Zealand Day. And the Queen came to celebrate New Zealand's Nationhood on the first (and only) New Zealand Day! How about that. Thanks Queenie!

New Zealand Day at Waitangi is a compilation of highlights from the televised New Zealand Day pageant. In the 1970s and right through to the 1980s, New Zealand television was the home of television variety hours. This pageant encapsulates the New Zealand obsession with variety. Also, stars Bruno Lawrence, the ubiquitous star of New Zealand film and television.

Enjoy! And have a great Waitangi weekend.

SCP Sunday Film Fest: The Six-Dollar Fifty Man

Things to like: that kid's weird face, his tracksuit, the broad Kiwi accents, the smoking Principal.

SCP Sunday Film Fest - Latcho Drom

So, this Sunday's video is not a Kiwi one at all, but rather a clip from Latcho Drom (1993). I've been sewing all day and listening to Tony Gatlif gypsy movie soundtracks. In my opinion, Latcho Drom is THE BEST hands down. I laugh in the face of Swing!

Watch this clip, and then go out and get the movie and watch the rest because it's fascinating and sad, and has beautiful music. And it's far more effective than Gypsy Weddings at romanticising a gypsy lifestyle. Really so much romanticisation.

SCP Sunday Film Festival - Rain

It's raining! And it's summer, which makes me think about Rain, a Christine Jeffs film from 2001 about coming of age and not-always-being-what-they-seem.

I watched this film for the first time in Melbourne, and it made me feel homesick. The kiwi bach scenes are too perfect, and the film effortlessly evokes the feeling of the endlessness of the summer holidays that I remember feeling as a child. When Shannon and I visited Kawhia Harbour this summer, the village there seemed to be stuck in the same kind of kiwi summer idyll. So, in conclusion, I like the atmosphere!

And also, hello! Rain.

 

SCP Sunday Film Fest – Holiday for Susan

Today, allow me to again show you one of my all time favourite NFU (National Film Unit) promotional films – Holiday For Susan. My main reason for loving this so much is the high kitsch values and retro sexism of the film and script, but also the way that the film encapsulates the high levels of optimism in and around New Zealand during the 1960s. Watch Susan as she discovers the delights of New Zealand with her bestie – and also finds love after some creepy random guy takes photos of her unasked on the plane.
Also: some of the best animated title sequences ever. I love the hearts that appear around Susan. OMG! Love!

SCP Sunday Film Fest - tiny dolls in tiny hatboxes

Today we're watching Hanlon:  In Defence of Minnie Dean (which I can't embed, unfortunately). Hanlon was pretty huge in the early 1980s, a homegrown drama based on the legal cases of one Alf Hanlon (played by That Guy from Farmer Ted) who worked in Dunedin and around Otago. However, the reason that I mostly love this is because I am fascinated by baby farming. There is bound to be one written already, but I think a Masters or PhD thesis on the topic of baby farming and women and attitudes and portrayals of women and (deep breath) narratives around baby farming would be fascinating to research, write and read. Tell me about one if you know of it.

Another reason to love this is the fact that they went to the trouble of including in the episode the little baby dolls in hatboxes that were sold as souvenir's at Minnie Dean's execution. Awesomely macabre.

You can read some newspaper articles on Minnie Dean and the Winton murders here, at the Nat Lib's Papers Past, here at NZHistory.net, and about Minnie Dean and the media here at Te Ara.