Daniel Spoerri was a Romanian-born Swiss visual artist and writer. Spoerri is best known for his "snare-pictures," a type of assemblage or object art, in which he captured a group of objects, such as the remains of meals eaten by individuals, including the plates, silverware, and glasses, all of which are fixed to the table or board, which is then displayed on a wall. He also is widely acclaimed for his book, Topographie Anécdotée* du Hasard, a literary analog to his snare-pictures, in which he mapped all the objects located on his table at a particular moment, describing each with his personal recollections evoked by the object.
Michael Haneke is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. His work often examines social issues and depicts the feelings of estrangement experienced by individuals in modern society. Haneke has made films in French, German, and English and has worked in television and theatre. He also teaches film direction at the Film Academy Vienna.
Au hasard Balthazar, also known as Balthazar, is a 1966 French tragedy film directed by Robert Bresson. Believed to be inspired by a passage from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868–69 novel The Idiot, the film follows a donkey as he is given to various owners, most of whom treat him callously.
The Benchwarmers is a 2006 American sports-comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Allen Covert and Nick Swardson, and produced by Adam Sandler and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Rob Schneider, David Spade, Jon Heder, Jon Lovitz, Craig Kilborn, Molly Sims, and Tim Meadows, with Swardson, Erinn Bartlett, Amaury Nolasco, Bill Romanowski, Sean Salisbury, Matt Weinberg, John Farley, Reggie Jackson, and Joe Gnoffo in supporting roles. It tells the story of three nerds and a billionaire forming a titular baseball team to take on Little League teams.
Caché, also known as Hidden, is a 2005 neo-noir psychological thriller film written and directed by Michael Haneke and starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche. The plot follows an upper-middle-class French couple, Georges (Auteuil) and Anne (Binoche), who are terrorised by anonymous tapes that appear on their front porch and seem to show the family is under surveillance. Clues in the videos point to Georges's childhood memories, and his resistance to his parents' adopting an Algerian orphan named Majid, who was sent away. The tapes lead him to the now-grown Majid.
Funny Games is a 1997 Austrian satirical psychological thriller film written and directed by Michael Haneke, and starring Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Mühe, and Arno Frisch. The plot involves two young men who hold a family hostage in their vacation home and torture them with sadistic games.
Happy Endings is a 2005 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Don Roos and starring Tom Arnold, Jesse Bradford, Bobby Cannavale, Steve Coogan, Laura Dern, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lisa Kudrow and Jason Ritter. The film's plot uses interconnected storylines to tell three stories of Los Angeles natives that center around love and family. This plot structure led to the coining of the term "hyperlink cinema", by Alissa Quart in her review of this film for the journal Film Comment.
Benny's Video is a 1992 psychological horror film directed by Michael Haneke and starring Arno Frisch, Angela Winkler, and Ulrich Mühe. Set in Vienna, it centers on Benny, a teenager who views much of his life as distilled through video images, and his well-to-do parents Anna and Georg, who enable Benny's focus on video cameras and images. The film won the FIPRESCI Award at the 1993 European Film Awards.
Last Chance Harvey is a 2008 American romantic drama film written and directed by Joel Hopkins. The screenplay focuses on two lonely people who tentatively forge a relationship during two days. Dustin Hoffman plays the title character, Harvey Shine, an American television commercial jingles composer who travels to England for his estranged daughter's wedding and promptly loses his job. Emma Thompson plays an airport hospitality worker with a jaundiced view of relationships.
The White Ribbon is a 2009 German-language mystery drama film, written and directed by Michael Haneke. Released in black-and-white, the film offers a dark depiction of society and family in a northern German village just before World War I. According to Haneke, The White Ribbon "is about the roots of evil. Whether it's religious or political terrorism, it's the same thing."
The Invention of Lying is a 2009 American romantic comedy fantasy film written and directed by comedian Ricky Gervais and writer Matthew Robinson in their directorial debuts. The film stars Gervais as the first human with the ability to lie in a world where people can only tell the truth. The cast also includes Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Jeffrey Tambor, Fionnula Flanagan, Rob Lowe, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tina Fey.
Ferdinand Ebner, was an Austrian elementary school teacher and philosopher. Together with Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, he is considered one of the most outstanding representatives of dialogical philosophy. Ebner's philosophy is about man existing in a I-Thou personal relationship with God and with others. His thought has similarities with the Christian existentialism of Gabriel Marcel. On the basis of the unity of I and Thou, which has in language, and in love its expressions, Ebner developed a religiously informed philosophy of language which led to his practical-ethical understanding of the Christian faith as the basis for the personal fulfillment and the whole social progress.
Christian Berger is an Austrian cinematographer. His 1985 film Raffl was entered into the 14th Moscow International Film Festival. He is mostly known for his work with Michael Haneke. In February 2010, Berger was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The White Ribbon at the 82nd Academy Awards. He also won the ASC Award for Best Cinematography for the same film.
360 is a 2011 drama thriller film directed by Fernando Meirelles and written by Peter Morgan as a loose adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's 1897 play Reigen. The film stars an ensemble cast of Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and other international actors. Following the stories of couples and their sexual encounters, 360 was selected to open the 2011 London Film Festival. Magnolia Pictures released the film on video on demand on 29 June 2012 and was released in United States theaters on 3 August 2012. The film reunited Weisz and director Meirelles, who worked together on The Constant Gardener.
The Yellow Sea is a 2010 South Korean action thriller film directed by Na Hong-jin and starring Ha Jung-woo and Kim Yoon-seok in the lead roles. This film marks the reunion of the director and the lead actors who also first collaborated for the 2008 film The Chaser, in which Ha Jung-woo played the antagonist and Kim Yoon-seok played the protagonist. In The Yellow Sea, Ha Jung-woo plays the protagonist while Kim Yoon-seok plays the antagonist.
Amour is a 2012 drama film written and directed by Michael Haneke, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert. The narrative focuses on an elderly couple, Anne and Georges, who are retired music teachers with a daughter who lives abroad. Anne has a stroke that paralyses the right side of her body. The film is an international co-production among the French, German, and Austrian companies Les Films du Losange, X-Filme Creative Pool, and Wega Film.
A Touch of Sin is a 2013 Chinese anthology thriller film written and directed by Jia Zhangke and starring Jiang Wu, Wang Baoqiang, Luo Lanshan, and Zhao Tao, Jia's wife and longtime collaborator. The film consists of four loosely interconnected tableaus set in vastly different geographical and social milieus across modern-day China, based on recent events while also drawing from wuxia stories and Chinese opera. The English title references A Touch of Zen. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, with Jia winning the award for Best Screenplay.
'71 is a 2014 British thriller film directed by Yann Demange and written by Gregory Burke. Set in Northern Ireland, it stars Jack O'Connell, Sean Harris, David Wilmot, Richard Dormer, Barry Keoghan, Paul Anderson and Charlie Murphy, and tells the fictional story of a British soldier who becomes separated from his unit during a riot in Belfast at the height of the Troubles in 1971. Filming began on location in Blackburn, Lancashire, in April 2013 and continued in Sheffield, Leeds and Liverpool. The film was funded by the British Film Institute, Film4, Creative Scotland and Screen Yorkshire, and had its premiere in the competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, held in February 2014, where it was particularly praised for O'Connell's performance and Demange's direction.
Jason Holliday was an American hustler and nightclub performer. He is the star of Shirley Clarke's 1967 documentary Portrait of Jason.
Give Me Liberty is a 2019 American comedy drama directed by Kirill Mikhanovsky. The film had its world premiere on the opening night of the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2019. The film was screened in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
