We finally proudly present: The poster and the first official trailer starring Isabel Allende, Armin Müller-Stahl, Wiebke Reed and a dancing Arafat. Soundtrack by Dekadenz 2000 (check out their MP3s!)

"Spoilers? Here's a spoiler... you will die alone."

Triumph the insult comic dog takes on Star Wars geeks waiting to see Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones.

starterupsteve has a really funny clip from "The Conan O'Brien Show". Don't miss it!

Anthony Hopkins is working on an interesting Slipstream project as well!

a movie by Niko von Glasow

Deutsche Version

Cologne-Ehrenfeld, 10th of November 1944. Fourteen people, among them eight teenagers, are openly hanged by the Gestapo. The youngest one of them is fourteen years old. The US-Army is only 70 miles away from the city, but the nazis are still mercyless against any kind of resistance. The "best people" of the Gestapo follow the trails of a teenage group called Edelweisspirates. They wear the alpine plant as a symbol on their jackets. The Edelweisspirates are an unorganized subculture active in all mayor cities of Nazi-Germany. By intuition they resist. They fight the Hitler Youth in the backyards of bombed out buildings and hide Jews and deserters. A small group from Cologne goes even further. With the help of Hans Steinbrück who has escaped from a concentation camp, they plan to blow up the Gestapo-headquarter. "Bomber Hans", as he is known among his friends in the criminal underworld, convinces the young people that they have to do more against the regime than hiding escapees like himself. The plan never happens. Bomber Hans and the Edelweisspirates get arrested and tortured before they are hanged in public to scare off other members of the resistance. The Edelweisspirates have not been recognized as members of the resistance by the german gouvernment until two different parties started researching the history of the Cologne chapter. Even though the state of Israel honoured them in 1972 already, they were still considered criminals beyond the end of the 20th century. Germany didn’t seem to question the files of the Gestapo.

Director Niko von Glasow and his wife have worked ten years on their unusual movie which fictionalizes the events without compromising. The incredible realism they achieved has not been seen yet in a german movie. Surviving Edelweisspirates like Jean Jülich (78 years old) confess, the movie shows what really happened in an appropiate way. Jülich, who is also the narrator of the movie, has published his autobiography in 2003. The movie is based on his teenage life, even though the 17 years old main character, played by russian teenstar Ivan Stebunov, is called Karl. A fictional compromise. Next to him is his younger brother Peter (Simon Taal), a member of the Hitler Youth who becomes an Edelweisspirate instead later on. Karl is in love with Cilly (Anna Thalbach). She has two kids from Karls older brother Otto who died in the field before marrying Cilly. But Cily falls in love with Bomber Hans (Bela B. Felsenheimer). Hans manages to get hold of weapons and ammunition. He convinces the Edelweisspirates that there is nobody left to take some action. The Gestapo makes it move and Cilly gets arrested. The uneven lovers, Karl and Bomber Hans, try to rescue her, but they fail. The Gestapo is waiting for them already. The group gets arrested. Before their public hanging they are tortured over and over. Only Karl survives by sacrificing his younger brother and making a deal with the Gestapo.

"The Edelweisspirates were the punks of the nazi era", director von Glasow promoted the movie. He found an amazing cast of young amateurs and veterans willing to go through the intense filming in St. Petersburg. The cast includes german filmstar Anna Thalbach and the grand old belgium actor Jan Decleir as the chief of the Gestapo. Bomber Hans is played by Bela B. Felsenheimer, drummer of Germanys favourite punkband Die Ärzte, who has also become a serious actor. So, what else do you need to promote this film in Germany? "Edelweisspiraten", distributed by Cinemavault from Canada, has been sold all over the world already: Thailand, Canada, Belgium, Spain- but nobody in Germany dares to touch the movie. Even after it’s european premiere on the last day of last years Berlinale Festival, Niko von Glasow is still fighting for the movie to be released in his own country. With "The Downfall" (2004) receiving an Oscar-nomination, "Edelweisspirates" isn’t even mentioned in the German media at all. While Hitler, the ultimate villain, is still getting a lot of attention, nobody wants to talk about the underdogs who stood up against the Third Reich. Since "Edelweisspirates" negates the german myth that resistance was impossible during the Third Reich, it challenges the generation of 1944 like no other german movie did yet. But one Sophie Scholl is enough for the history books. There isn’t much room for those who were a little more radical than the innocent heroic virgin Sophie Scholl and the members of the famous "White Rose". The actions of the Edelweisspirates, which Germany still considered to be criminals until a short time ago, prove that more than ten thousand teenagers, young men and women, were actively fighting the system on a day-to-base.

The NS-Documentationcenter is also researching the story of the Edelweisspirates from Cologne where a lot of former members are still alive. They released a package including a cd, a dvd and a book called "Es war in Schanghai" ("It happened in Shanghai", 15 euros at nsdok.de) The cd has old songs by the Edelweisspirates interpreted by contemporary bands from Cologne, an interesting mix of new sounds and dream-like lyrics about the desire to travel the world. A great documentary by Rainer B. Ott and Hacky Hagemeyer shows old pirates and young musicians working on the material and providing an inside look at a forgotten subculture worth having a look at.

Check the english section at edelweisspiraten.com

"Total Runtime: 46mins Language: English Directed by Agnes Varda (1968)

Click to the right for a free download (381.44 MB, AVI)

This riveting documentary, “Black Panthers - Huey!”, directed by French filmmaker Agnes Varda transports you to the pivotal Free Huey rally held on February 17th, 1968 (Newton’s birthday), at Oakland Auditorium in Alameda, California. Newton, the charismatic young college student who, along with Bobby Seale, created the Black Panther Party, had been jailed for allegedly killing a police officer. His arrest–widely believed at the time to be a setup–galvanized Party support throughout the nation and led to a boom in Party membership, bringing a new level of public attention to the Panthers’ cause. Over 5,000 people attended the rally, which featured Party leaders and guest speakers including Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, James Forman, Bob Avakian, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown and Ron Dellums. Through stark un-editorialized footage, this documentary chronicles the speakers outlining the Party’s platform goals, their strategies for freeing Newton from jail and more. B&W, 31 minutes.

Plus: BLACK PANTHER NEWSREEL (USA, 1968): The California Newsreel was an underground alternative to the commercial broadcast media of the 1960’s. This unique clip provides a chilling look at the California racial environment of 1968, including demonstration scenes outside the Alameda County Jail. A rare in-jail interview with Huey P. Newton, is featured, with Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale also offering perspectives on the Panthers and what they perceive as police brutality on the black community. Essential viewing for anyone interested in American or Afro-American history, these two pieces provide an entertaining and educational look at a turbulent, incendiary time. France, 1968, B&W, 15 minutes."

Tajen from Ubu.com

Black Panther Party Research Project!

a documentary by Katharina Klewinghaus (English language, produced by Totho, Spring 2007)

I'm currently working on this great project which will come out in 2007 as a dvd-package including a book with lots of bonus-interviews.

SCREEN TERROR - Homepage

"The beats were the major turning point in twentieth century artistic, literary, and cinematic practice. Further, from the mid '40s onwards, they explored new ideas and new ways of living - embracing a politics that was queer, anti-nuclear, ecological, and libertarian. Beat cinema ranges from the classics of the underground to bio-pics and documentaries, from adaptations of beat literature to the most gleefully absurd exploitation b-movies. Some of these films seek to find an authentic voice, others attempt to jump on a cult bandwagon, most of these films are rarely - if ever - screened, and all demand to be viewed if only to give an insight into the massive influence of the beats on global culture over the last sixty years."

From an essay by Jack Sargeant over at that excellent site Senses of Cinema.

"The engaging documentary ‘Born Into This’ peers beyond the myth of lovably cantankerous counter-culture author-hero Charles Bukowski.

'When you get the shit kicked out of you long enough...you’ll have the tendency to say what you really mean,' states Charles Bukowski in the engaging new documentary 'Bukowski: Born Into This.' That terse observation hints at the brutality of Bukowski’s childhood, when his father would beat him with a razor strop. It also affords a context in which to view his famously stripped-down, no-nonsense literature, charged with autobiographical detail, an urgent, acerbic world-view and that balls-to-the-wall take on booze, sex, poverty and the daily grind.

The documentary marks the filmmaking debut of John Dullaghan. The former advertising copywriter felt such a kinship with Bukowski that he devoted seven years to making what is, at heart, a loving tribute to a writer, his craft and, above all, the idea of living and dying by one’s own creed. 'Born Into This' manages to peer beyond the Bukowski Myth to arrive at something far more layered and fascinating."

From a review at LA ALTERNATIVE PRESS

Torrent (AVI DivX- 772 MB)

Yes, we have a video-copy! The lost movie by Bruce Bickford and Frank Zappa. No, nobody has written a review on the internet yet!

You hate animation? Fine! Fuck Wallace and the dog. Forget about "Alice"! Forget about animation in general! This is different! This is the Master of Clay Animation at his very best!

The movie is only 51 minutes and we will screen the legendary "Crossfire"-show with Frank Zappa (1986) and other fun stuff before that. Only the diehard will remain and they will love it!

Mr. Bickford - The details

Bruce Bickford Homepage

I scanned the original video-cover big version (front & back) for all the collectors out there. It has all the credits and some bla-bla by Zappa.

"In this corporate-sponsored cartoon, Martian dissidents learn that oil and competition are the two things that make America great." They should show this cartoon by Vic Haboush again...

Free download at archive.org!

The home of Vic Haboush

A reader of Spreeblick found this short BBC-video of a funeral Monty Python style. Fuck, everyone should get a memorial service like this.

"Perhaps the most elusive ribbon of film in the history of cinema is 'Frankenstein.' Not the 1931 masterpiece with Boris Karloff, but the first screen adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel, produced in 1910 by Thomas Edison. Censored in its day and considered lost for decades, the film still exists in a private collection but is still a great distance from returning to the screen.

Few people realize that Thomas Edison, besides being the master American inventor, was also a pioneer film producer. In the years spanning the late 1890s into the 1910s, Edison maintained a studio in the Bronx, N.Y. (at the time it was rural and underpopulated, a far cry from its current urban status). Edison churned out scores of films, mostly one- and two-reelers which played in nickelodeons around the world. (...) 'Frankenstein' was a fairly ambitious topic for an Edison film, chiefly because the films of that era rarely lasted more than two reels and the Mary Shelley novel offered a complex array of moral and philosophical quandaries in addition to the celebrated plot of regenerated life. The 15-minute production that eventually came together under the direction of James Searle Dawley focuses on Victor Frankenstein's return from university and his attempt to create a man from the dead. The deep philosophical questions raised in the source text about this unlikely act of science were kept out of the screenplay. From a long article at Film Threat

Charles Ogle played The Monster and Augustus Phillips played The Doctor.

More at Filmbuffonline.com

The film was available for a short time on a DVD by GRAVEYARD RECORDS. Thanks to our japanese friends we were able to get a copy.

IMDB.com

Often billed as the worst movie ever made, and not entirely undeserving of the title, this is a masterpiece of Ed Wood's making. Download your copy here!

archive.org has hundreds of feature films, music and other things up there. Mostly classic stuff like Hemp for Victory (1942) or Killers From Space (1954) for example. Also get that classic flick Reefer Madness, "THE archetypal sensationalized anti-drug movie"

Alex is really looking forward to this one!

He's running around the shop wearing his new batsuit already...

Some people are obviously wasting a lot of time to produce strange fanfilms like this one!

Well, don't know, I think the previews look really good. Have a look...

-I, Robot - Exclusive Web Featurette
-I, Robot - Trailers
-I, Robot - Homepage

-Asimov's Laws of Robotics

Unbelievable artwork of Toho's Sci-fi, Fantasy and War films . Over 800 posters from 1940 up to today!

Here's an interesting bit of forgotten history off comicbookressources.com.

"The embryonic superhero concept wasn't even ten years old when perhaps the most illustrious director of his day, Orson Welles, seriously considered doing a Batman picture and even got as far as production designs, an early draft of a script and some casting photographs featuring various friends and colleagues in prototypes of what would eventually become the finished costumes. (...) The real treat for me was the casting notes and confirmation letters from the actors themselves such as George Raft signing up for Two-Face (after Bogart turned it down), James Cagney as The Riddler, Basil Rathbone as The Joker and Welles' former lover Marlene Dietrich as a very exotic Catwoman with the same salubrious past Miller gave the character forty years later in "Batman: Year One." Robin was completely absent from the picture, but the casting of Batman himself was the main reason the picture stalled and was consigned to the history books. Welles wanted to cast himself in the roles of both Batman and Bruce Wayne, but the studio wanted to go with a more traditional leading man like Gregory Peck. Peck agreed and was reportedly even shot in a makeshift costume for the part during a break between filming "The Yearling" and the classic "Duel in the Sun."

Full story by Mark Millar at comicbookressources.com.

Retrocrush found this short film from 1934 which was part of Disney's Silly Symphonies series and is included on the Platinum Edition DVD of "Snow White and The Seven Dwarves"