Category Archives: Independent Film

Woodpecker: A Film by Rouzbeh Rashidi

by Cimaxion

Rouzbeh Rashidi is an Iranian filmmaker living in Dublin, Ireland. This film is a portrait of a day in the life of a man who works at a convenience store. Rashidi doesn’t want to show you the things you might want to see in a person’s normal day. He is interested in minute and detailed impressions. He focuses closely on things and lets them speak for themselves. The film conveys an unsettling mystery through its calm observation and beautiful black and white photography.  One of the most interesting things about this film for me is simply how happy the film’s subject looks while he is working.

The filmmaker has a website.

Blinky – Science Fiction Film by Ruairi Robinson

by Cimaxion | 1 Comment

This short science fiction film about a robot playmate/servant by Ruairi Robinson is disturbing because it forces the viewer to be shocked by what happens to a repellent leading character. Personally, I cannot watch the film without silently cheering the little robot on.  In fact, more robots should be programmed just like him.

Downtown 81 – A Film Starring Jean Michel Basquiat

by Cimaxion

Mature Content:

This is a 1980 film starring American artist Jean Michel Basquiat. It follows him around and through the downtown New York art and music scene, presenting real people and events in a barely fictionalized semi-documentary. It’s a fascinating look into the world of 1980 New York and the quickly rising star painter who was to pass away in 1988. It’s a glimpse of a New York just a few years before it was bombed by The Gap.  It was directed by Edo Bertoglio.

You can stare straight into the open face of Basquiat and find more mystery than Banksy could conjure with a black velvet cloak, top hat and a mask.