Explosive Political Cinema of the 1960s

Explosive Political Cinema of the 1960s

10 Episodes

The filmmakers of the 1960s spoke truth to power with ferocious parables, subversive jokes, and documentary realism, unleashing a tide of political cinema that aimed to change the world.

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Explosive Political Cinema of the 1960s

10 Episodes

  • Introducing Explosive Political Cinema of the 1960s
    11:55
    Introducing Explosive Political Cinema of the 1960s
    Episode 1

    Introducing Explosive Political Cinema of the 1960s

    Episode 1

  • Vagabond
    1:46:31
    Vagabond
    Episode 2

    Vagabond

    Episode 2

    Directed by Agnès Varda • 1985 • France
    Starring Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Méril, Stéphane Freiss

    Sandrine Bonnaire won the Best Actress César for her portrayal of the defiant young drifter Mona, found frozen to death in a ditch at the beginning of VAGABOND. Agnès Varda pieces together Mona’s sto...

  • Z
    2:07:12
    Z
    Episode 3

    Z

    Episode 3

    Directed by Costa-Gavras • 1969 • Algeria, France
    Starring Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Irene Papas

    A pulse-pounding political thriller, Greek expatriate director Costa-Gavras’s Z was one of the cinematic sensations of the late sixties, and remains among the most vital dispatches from t...

  • The Joke
    1:21:02
    The Joke
    Episode 4

    The Joke

    Episode 4

    Directed by Jaromil Jireš • 1969 • Czechoslovakia

    Jaromil Jireš's brilliant adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel tells the fragmentary tale of a man expelled from the Communist Party because of a political joke. After "rehabilitation" in the mines and a stint in prison, he hatches a revenge plot...

  • A Report on the Party and Guests
    1:10:35
    A Report on the Party and Guests
    Episode 5

    A Report on the Party and Guests

    Episode 5

    Directed by Jan Němec • 1966 • Czechoslovakia

    In Jan Němec's surreal fable, a picnic is rudely transformed into a lesson in political hierarchy when a handful of mysterious authority figures show up. This allegory about oppression and conformity was banned in its home country but became an inter...

  • Weekend
    1:44:07
    Weekend
    Episode 6

    Weekend

    Episode 6

    Directed by Jean-Luc Godard • 1967 • France
    Starring Mireille Darc, Jean Yanne

    This scathing late-sixties satire from Jean-Luc Godard is one of cinema’s great anarchic works. Determined to collect an inheritance from a dying relative, a bourgeois couple travel across the French countryside while...

  • Shame
    1:43:13
    Shame
    Episode 7

    Shame

    Episode 7

    Directed by Ingmar Bergman • 1968 • Sweden
    Starring Liv Ullmann, Max von Sydow

    Directed by Ingmar Bergman, SHAME (SKAMMEN) is at once an examination of the violent legacy of World War II and a scathing response to the escalation of the conflict in Vietnam. Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann star as m...

  • Salvatore Giuliano
    2:04:19
    Salvatore Giuliano
    Episode 8

    Salvatore Giuliano

    Episode 8

    Directed by Francesco Rosi • 1962 • Italy

    July 5, 1950--Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano's bullet-riddled corpse is found facedown in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, a handgun and rifle by his side. Local and international press descend upon the scene, hoping to crack open the true story behind ...

  • Harakiri
    2:12:51
    Harakiri
    Episode 9

    Harakiri

    Episode 9

    Directed by Masaki Kobayashi • 1962 • Japan
    Starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Rentaro Mikuni, Akira Ishihama

    Following the collapse of his clan, an unemployed samurai (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the manor of Lord Iyi, begging to be allowed to commit ritual suicide on the property. Iyi’s clansmen, belie...

  • Hands over the City
    1:40:57
    Hands over the City
    Episode 10

    Hands over the City

    Episode 10

    Directed by Francesco Rosi • 1963 • Italy
    Starring Rod Steiger, Salvo Randone, Guido Alberti

    Rod Steiger is ferocious as a scheming land developer in Francesco Rosi’s HANDS OVER THE CITY, a blistering work of social realism and the winner of the 1963 Venice Film Festival Golden Lion. This expose...

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