Sleeping Beauty, also titled in English as The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods, is a fairy tale about a princess cursed by an evil fairy to sleep for a hundred years before being awakened by a handsome prince. A good fairy, knowing the princess would be frightened if alone when she wakes, uses her wand to put every living person and animal in the palace and forest asleep, to waken when the princess does.
Gloria is a 1980 American neo-noir crime thriller film written and directed by John Cassavetes. It tells the story of a gangster's girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have. It stars Gena Rowlands, Julie Carmen, Buck Henry, and John Adames.
"Bluebeard" is a French folktale, the most famous surviving version of which was written by Charles Perrault and first published by Barbin in Paris in 1697 in Histoires ou contes du temps passé. The tale tells the story of a wealthy man in the habit of murdering his wives and the attempts of the present one to avoid the fate of her predecessors. "The White Dove", "The Robber Bridegroom" and "Fitcher's Bird" are tales similar to "Bluebeard". The notoriety of the tale is such that Merriam-Webster gives the word "Bluebeard" the definition of "a man who marries and kills one wife after another". The verb "bluebearding" has even appeared as a way to describe the crime of either killing a series of women, or seducing and abandoning a series of women.
"The Little Match Girl" is a literary fairy tale by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story, about a dying child's dreams and hope, was first published in 1845. It has been adapted to various media, including animated, live-action, and VR films as well as television musicals.
Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones.
Books of Blood is a series of six horror fiction anthologies collecting original stories written by British author, playwright, and filmmaker Clive Barker in 1984 and 1985. Known primarily for writing stage plays beforehand, Barker gained a wider audience and fanbase through this anthology series, leading to a successful career as a novelist. Originally presented as six volumes, the anthologies were subsequently re-published in two omnibus editions containing three volumes each. Each volume contains four, five or six stories. The Volume 1–3 omnibus contained a foreword by Barker's fellow Liverpudlian horror writer Ramsey Campbell. Author Stephen King praised Books of Blood, leading to a quote from him appearing on the first US edition of the book: "I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker."
Deconstructing Harry is a 1997 American black comedy film written, directed by, and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside an ensemble cast including Caroline Aaron, Kirstie Alley, Bob Balaban, Richard Benjamin, Eric Bogosian, Billy Crystal, and Judy Davis as well as Jennifer Garner in her feature film debut. The film tells the story of a successful writer named Harry Block, played by Allen, who draws inspiration from people he knows in real life, and from events that happen to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.
Bliss is a Canadian-produced, half-hour dramatic television series, produced by Montreal-based Galafilm and Toronto-based Back Alley Films, an anthology of women's erotica. The series ran from 2002 to 2004.
Thumbelina is a literary novel bedtime story fairy tale written by the famous Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Travelling Companion" in the second instalment of Fairy Tales Told for Children. Thumbelina is about a tiny girl and her adventures with marriage-minded toads, moles, and cockchafers. She successfully avoids their intentions before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size.
Stories of Lost Souls is an anthology film starring Josh Hartnett, Hugh Jackman, Keira Knightley, Cate Blanchett, James Gandolfini, Paul Bettany, Illeana Douglas and directed by eight different directors including Deborra-Lee Furness and Mark Palansky.
References to the New York City Subway in popular culture are prevalent, as it is a common element in many New Yorkers' lives.
Dutchman is a play written by African-American playwright Amiri Baraka, then known as LeRoi Jones. Dutchman was first presented at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York City, in March 1964 co-produced by Rita Fredricks. The play won an Obie Award; it shared this distinction with Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro. Baraka's stage play was made into a film in 1967, starring Shirley Knight and Al Freeman Jr. Dutchman was the last play produced by Baraka under his birth name, LeRoi Jones. At the time, he was in the process of divorcing his Jewish wife, Hettie Jones, and embracing Black nationalism. Dutchman may be described as a political allegory depicting black and white relations during the time Baraka wrote it.
Story of a Love Affair is a 1950 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Massimo Girotti and Lucia Bosè. Despite some neorealist background, the film was not fully compliant with the contemporary Italian neorealist style both in its story and image, featuring upper-class characters portrayed by professional actors. Ferdinando Sarmi was, however, a fashion designer rather than a professional actor. Its story was inspired by the James M. Cain novel The Postman Always Rings Twice. In the film, the camera pans the same street corner in Ferrara, the director's native city, that appears in his film Beyond the Clouds forty-five years later. In 1951, the film won the Nastro d'Argento Silver Ribbon Award for Best Original Score and the Special Silver Ribbon for human and stylistic values. Story of a Love Affair was Antonioni's first full-length feature film.
The Thief Akikazu Inoue is a manga by Osamu Tezuka, and also the name of one of his books in Kodansha's line of "Osamu Tezuka Manga Complete Works" books containing a collection of Tezuka's short stories. The stories included in this book are "The Record of Peter Kürten", "Sensual Nights", "Lord Iechika Mogami", "Lay of the Rhine", and "The Thief Akikazu Inoue".
Beyond the Clouds is a 1995 Italian-French-German romance film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, with contributions by Wim Wenders, and starring John Malkovich, Sophie Marceau, Vincent Perez, Irène Jacob, and Jean Reno. The film consists of four stories of romantic love and illusion told from the perspective of a wandering film director. In the first story, two beautiful young lovers are unable to consummate their passion because the young man desires impossible perfection. In the second story, the director makes love to a young woman who reveals that she murdered her father. In the third story, a man makes an effort to appease both his wife and his mistress. In the fourth story, a young man is infatuated with a girl who is about to enter a convent. This was the final feature-length film by Antonioni before his death in 2007.
Rachel Getting Married is a 2008 American drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, and Debra Winger. The film premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2008, opened in Canada's Toronto International Film Festival on September 6 and released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3. Hathaway received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the film.
Where God Left His Shoes is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Salvatore Stabile and starring John Leguizamo, Leonor Varela, David Castro, Samantha M. Rose, Jerry Ferrara, and Manny Pérez. It premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, and was given a limited release in the United States by IFC Films on December 12, 2008. The title of the film is an old Italian saying that Stabile's father used to say about good places.
Hour of the Star is a Brazilian film directed by Suzana Amaral and released in 1985. The film is an adaptation of a book by Clarice Lispector with the same name. In 1986, the actress Marcélia Cartaxo won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival, for her role as Macabea. It was selected as the Brazilian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 59th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
Jenny Lumet is an American actress and screenwriter. She is the daughter of director Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of Lena Horne. Lumet is perhaps most known for writing the original screenplay of the 2008 Jonathan Demme film Rachel Getting Married.
Le Crime ne paie pas is a 1962 French drama portmanteau film directed and partly written by Gérard Oury. It consists of four separate episodes, each with its own cast and writers but sharing common themes of beautiful women, jealousy, revenge and death.
