The Pulpmovies Trailer Park

A suburban housewife in 1972 is abandoned by her husband, and goes out to find herself in the middle of the sexual revolution. Looking for love and adventure, she is dragged through the worlds of nudist colonies, hippies, modelling, prostitution, bisexuality, and bohemia, becoming a Candide of the 1970s and finding liberation along the way.

Viva is a sumptuously visual commentary on the icons of the Playboy-era sexual revolution, and a tribute to the best of exploitation cinema, from Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Suburban Roulette to Randy Metzger’s Camille 2000.

Viva is screening at the Raindance Film Festival on Friday 5th October.

The Trailer

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The unexpected death of Bruce Lee, a worldwide phenomenon and established movie star, came at the zenith of his popularity. Having already shot scenes for his upcoming movie Game of Death, studio heads decided to complete the film by launching a search for his replacement attracting hopefuls from all around the world.

Finishing the Game is an uproarious, poignant, unpredictable and action-packed re-imagining of that casting process for Lee’s replacement and examines the leaps and bounds Asians have taken in media representation - or have they?

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Based upon an idea that had been brewing for nearly thirty years The Last Blast is the story of Hell- well at least the story of a girl called Hel. Helenka lives in a suburb of Berne, Switzerland but she may as well be living on the edge of her own nightmares. Her Mother is a hopeless junkie and lives with a lowlife dealer. Helenka’s father has not been on the scene for a long time and now lives somewhere in the Southwest of the United States. Many a time Helenka has wondered what it would be like to escape from her life and join her father, but that has always proved to be an impossible pipe dream.

Helenka is in trouble, and not with her Mother. Besides pissing off the local nazi’s, whose friendly get together she spoils with a mixture of petrol, a lighter and load of rotting meat, nothing else seems to be going her way. School is about to kick her out, not least because she found the Principle’s poetry recital hilarious, her suspicions that her boyfriend is screwing her best friend are about to come to fruition, and in general her world seems to be closing in rapidly. The moment of truth tragically explodes when her Mother chases the dragon one too many times and Helenka finds herself with a bag full of drug money that can finally pay for her escape to the States and a showdown with her Dad.

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New York, New York. The U.S. military draft is back. You have thirty days to report . . .

Day Zero follows the lives of three best friends in New York City who have thirty days to come to terms with their fate - the draft is back and they’ve been called to serve.

Dixon, Rifkin and Feller grew up together in New York. Living very different lives in the same city, their childhood friendship still binds them. Rifkin (Chris Klein) is a married lawyer whose career is on the rise. He’s just made partner and is looking for any loop hole to get out of serving. Now “just isn’t a good time” for him. Feller (Elijah Wood) is working on his second novel. The first was a smash success, but his draft notice paralyzes him, causing severe writer’s block. Instead he draws up his list of “Top 10 things to do before I serve” Dixon (Jon Bernthal) drives a cab, lives a solitary life and is proud and ready to serve - until he meets someone and finally has something to lose. Over thirty days, they will find their relationships tested as they confront long held beliefs about life, death, courage and love.

Day Zero is screening at the Raindance Film Festival on Friday October 5th.

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Richard Pimentel (Ron Livingston) begins his life as a fighter, and his life’s work becomes a process of fighting for the rights of others.

Rising up from a childhood in a dysfunctional family, armed with a talent for public speaking and a winning personality, the young man makes his way to a Northwestern college, confident that he will ace his try-out for his idol Dr. Ben Padrow (Hector Elizondo), the coach of the winningest team in the history of the College Bowl.

But Dr. Padrow shatters his dream when he rejects him. Richard’s immediate reaction is to enlist in the army for a tour of duty in Vietnam. During combat, the young recruit loses his hearing to a bomb blast, and has to deal with this newfound disability on his return to civilian life in Oregon.

Richard discovers that his disability and the struggle to transcend it is a defining moment in his fight for what he believes in. When he tries to help his friends, vets like himself and others with disabilities, to get work in an environment that treats them with pity at best and disdain as a matter of course, he realizes that he can make a difference. The friends who make up his close-knit clique are: Art Honneyman (Michael Sheen), a student wheel chair user with cerebral palsy who uses his rapier wit to deflect the prejudice that greets his disturbing appearance; Mike Stoltz (Yul Vázquez), a fellow veteran with a lot of rage and nowhere to put it; and then there is Christine (Melissa George), the passionate libertine who strokes Richard’s ego and initiates him into the world of free love.

Together, the friends experience the currents of those turbulent times, and the wild, joyful energy of winning through confrontation and humour. Without his hearing Richard is all the more prepared to listen to the message deep within himself, and to carry that message to the thousands of people whose lives are improved by the movement he helps to organize.

Music Within opens in select cinemas in the US on October 26th.

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A history of world terrorist movement as told through the story of the enigmatic figure Jacques Verges

Communist, anti-colonialist, right-wing extremist? What convictions guide the moral mind of Jacques Vergès? Barbet Schroeder takes us down history’s darkest paths in his attempt to illuminate the mystery behind this enigmatic figure.

As a young lawyer during the Algerian war, Vergès espoused the anti-colonialist cause and defended Djamila Bouhired, ‘la Pasionaria,’ who bore her country’s hopes for freedom on her shoulders and was sentenced to death for planting bombs in cafes. He obtained her release, married her and had two children with her.

Then suddenly, at the height of an illustrious career, Vergès disappeared without trace for eight years. He re-emerged from his mysterious absence, taking on the defense of terrorists of all kinds, from Magdalena Kopp and Anis Naccache to Carlos the Jackal. He represented historical monsters such as Nazi lieutenant Klaus Barbie. From the lawyer’s inflammatory and provocative cases to his controversial terrorist links, Barbet Schroeder follows the winding trail left by this ‘devil’s advocate,’ as he forges his unique path in law and politics.

Schroeder explores and questions the history of ‘blind terrorism’ through his penetrating investigation of this compelling man and leads us towards shocking revelations that expose long-hidden links in history.

Terror’s Advocate (L’Avocat de la Terreur) opens in select cinemas in the US on October 12th, 2007.

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When lovers Anna and Mara discover Anis, a young Moroccan, has snuck into the boot of their car as they return to Italy, their first instinct is to turn him away. Acting as a figure of compassion, Anna has second thoughts and chooses to smuggle him into the country and into their home. She even finds him a job at her family’s shoe factory, where Mara also works, on the assembly line. These acts of kindness cause of a bitter divide between the two women, instigated by Mara, who feels alienated by their new guest.

Adding to the issues raised by Anis’ presence, is Anna’s mother’s resentment towards her daughter’s lesbian relationship. As Anna and Mara slowly grow apart they individually turn to Anis for friendship and closeness. This three way relationship escalates into a situation that will change their lives forever.

Riparo (Shelter) is screening at this years Raindance Film Festival on Saturday.

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José Antonio Gutierrez was one of the 300,000 soldiers sent by US Armed Forces to war in Iraq. A few hours after the war began, his picture was broadcast all over the world: he was the first American soldier to be killed in the war. He was there as a so-called ‘green-card soldier’ — one of approximately 32,000, fighting in the ranks of the US Armed Forces for a foreign country.

The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez (Das Kurze Leben des José Antonio Gutierrez) is available on DVD now.

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Found at Twitch

Karitas is a single mother of four who desperately tries to make ends meet. Fighting a loosing battle with her ex-husband for custody over her three daughters, she’s oblivious to what’s going on with her twelve year old son Gudmund, a victim of brutal bullying at school and who’s life is on the fast track to destruction.

Gudmund’s only friend in the world is Marinó, a schizophrenic in his fourties, who lives with his mother in the same apartment building. When Marinó realizes that his mother has secretly been dating a stranger, Marinó starts to loose grip on reality.

Gardar is an underworld enforcer who makes a mess at work and as a result his twin brother Georg is beaten up. Exiled both from the underworld and his family, Gardar has to make a fresh start in life. He decides to seek out his son Gudmund whom he has never seen but the straight and narrow is a tough path to follow.

Children (Börn) is the independent first part of twin features by Ragnar Bragason and Vesturport exploring the roles of children and parents and will be screening at London’s Raindance Film Festival on 26th September.

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During a suicide attack on an airport, the hand grenade of ‘M’, one of three terrorists, malfunctions and he is captured. Exposed to maltreatment in prison he slowly loses his grip on reality, as he is forced to confront his ideological convictions.

Prisoner/Terrorist (Yûheisha - terorisuto) is not concerned with recreating the true life details of the attack or with Okamoto’s subsequent incarceration. Neither is it interested in condoning or condemning his actions. Instead he tackles the immensely emotive subject of terrorism through a more abstract, existentialist framework. Attempting to analyse the internal world of imagination and doctrine of a man driven to extreme acts through his slavish belief in political dogma, and how this world threatens to collapse under solitary confinement as he pays for his crimes. A hugely provocative and ambitious work, Prisoner/Terrorist is guaranteed to provoke a great deal of controversy and debate.

Prisoner/Terrorist is screening at London’s Raindance Film Festival on 6th and 7th October.

The Trailer

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