This is an excerpt from the 60-minute film commissioned for Conrad Cummings's opera of the same title, which was produced by Ridge Theater and staged at La Mama, NYC, in June, 1992.
Social & External
The people behind it
Inspired by Picasso's Guernica (1937), this film is fundamentally about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A troubled young man discovers a secret from his childhood when he returns home for a funeral.
People of Walmart follows Annie Bell Ball, a Smith College graduate forced back to her hometown of Elkhart after the 2008 financial crash. Trapped in a low-wage job at Walmart, her dignity crumbles when a photo of her working becomes an internet meme. Humiliated and unable to escape, Annie spirals into despair, clinging to YouTube for comfort. What begins as a story of survival descends into tragedy, ending in violence that echoes the fractured state of modern America.
Rosa, 15, lives in an oyster-farming family. As her gravely ill father nears death, the support of Adel, her childhood friend, forges a new bond between them. In this fragile in-between, Rosa moves forward and falters…
It's love at first sight for the Boy, but obstacles— namely shyness, and the temerity of other suitors— place themselves in the way of his love. Unknowingly, the Boy and the young woman of his fancy both stay at the home of mutual friends— But all is not well, as robbers lurk outside the house.
Awakening on the floor of a destroyed suburban bedroom, we discover a global invasion has begun and we are not alone in the house.
Lucille, an introverted eleven year old girl, live with her parents, who are caretakers of the swimming pool in which they stay. Because of the weirdness of this place, which looks like a flying saucer, an awful anguish comes out of Lucille's mind. The "unidentified frightening object" of her confusion would happen to be even more obsessing than all fears of childhood.
The Lonely Island spoofs Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire in this visual rap album set in the Bash Brothers' 1980s heyday.
A soldier escapes from a World War II concentration camp. Once he gets out, he finds himself on an unknown planet in an unknown future controlled by a homicidal alien race.
On the eve of deportation, a refugee hacker fights for a chance at the American dream after he is betrayed by a politician using him to sway public opinion.
When Tatiana's friends find her catatonic, they decide to gather the group of friends to try to help her. Between mystical and medical approaches, they realize that to wake Tatiana up they must call Arthur, her ex-boyfriend. When he arrives, he manages to snap her out of the trance, but not in the way they expected.
This delightful short is a world away from Tomomatsu's later works. It's a lovely story, told well. The reason that I tracked it down is because I'm quite a fan of Alice Sailor's music. She fronts new wave band Amaryllis and I was curious to see her acting. She has frequently supplied theme songs and other music to several of Tomomatsu's films. Indeed, the most disturbing sequence in this movie is accompanied by a psychotic Amaryllis track, 'Haha', and the closing piece is another Amaryllis song, 'Usagi'. This rip comes from the 'Eat The Schoolgirl' DVD, where it was one of the extras. Having just watched the main feature from that disc, I can say with some certainty that I found this tale far more enjoyable.
Follow Hot Feet as he break dances around the world and outer space, breaking his way into everyone's heart! Based on the video game BREAK DANCE created by Steve Beck and published in 1984 by Epyx. This Break Dance cartoon was made in 1985 with an Apple II computer and custom "moviemation" software developed by Steve Beck and his team at Beck-Tech in Berkeley
I always left that memory buried deep in my mind. Until one day she came back as a movie.
Audiences went wild for Bartlett Sher’s dynamic production, which found fresh and surprising ways to bring Rossini’s effervescent comedy closer to them than ever before. The stellar cast leapt to the challenge with irresistible energy and bravura vocalism. Juan Diego Flórez is Count Almaviva, who fires off showstopping coloratura as he woos Joyce DiDonato’s spirited Rosina—with assistance from Peter Mattei as the one and only Figaro, Seville’s beloved barber and man-about-town.
It is a rare opera indeed that calls for one soprano diva and no fewer than six tenors. Mary Zimmerman’s fanciful production of Rossini’s drama, designed by Richard Hudson and with choreography by Graciela Daniele, provides the perfect setting for superstar Renée Fleming’s captivating performance of the title role. A beautiful but evil sorceress in the times of the Crusades, Armida sets out to regain the love of the Frankish knight Rinaldo (Lawrence Brownlee) by putting her magical spells on him. She at first succeeds to draw him into her web of sorcery, but ultimately divine intervention—and his fellow soldiers—free Rinaldo from his enchantment—much to the vengeful fury of Armida and her demons.
A man trying to get home to his dog becomes stuck in a time loop that forces him to relive a deadly run-in with a cop.
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Aspiring small-town musician Chito is determined to make it big. When a clip of him performing one of his songs goes viral, he seizes the opportunity and pushes to carve out a place for himself in the new wave of Mexican-American music... and ultimately gets caught in a game more dangerous than anticipated.
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
Mal emerges from the shadows of a mystical forest onto a dark coastline where she crosses paths with Dizzy.
A talented young singer and aspiring songwriter’s Christian faith and family ties are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom in GRACE UNPLUGGED, a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success.
XOXO follows six strangers whose lives collide in one frenetic, dream-chasing, hopelessly romantic night.
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her friends at school, keeping her double life a secret. But soon rumours spread and Miriam becomes the subject of vicious online attacks and unwanted attention. Miriam fights back: she talks to the media, saying her new line of work empowers her as a feminist. But her confident stand has unintended consequences. Miriam is shunned by her conservative family and her colleagues in the adult film world. One impulsive decision has quickly spiralled out of control - and Miriam's problems are just beginning.
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
When seventeen-year-old Hannah stumbles upon a website about Thinspiration--an online community devoted to anorexia as a life choice--she becomes an obsessive follower of the site founder, ButterflyAna. By the time Hannah's family realizes what is happening and get Hannah the help she needs, the disease has fully taken hold and Hannah is refusing to eat. Will this family be able to exorcise the demon of anorexia from their lives?
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
When the beloved cellist of a world-renowned string quartet is diagnosed with a life threatening illness, the group's future suddenly hangs in the balance as suppressed emotions, competing egos and uncontrollable passions threaten to derail years of friendship and collaboration. As they are about to play their 25th anniversary concert — quite possibly their last — only their intimate bond and the power of music can preserve their legacy.
When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.
After a failed bank robbery, two heavily armed men hold the Los Angeles Police Department at bay for 44 minutes.
