Birthday:
02-17-1929
(96 years)
Birthplace:
Tocopilla, Chile
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, composer and writer with a large cult following. Best known for his avant-garde films, he has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation." His most notable works include El Topo (1970), The Holy Mountain (1973) and Santa Sangre (1989), all of which have had limited release but achieved popularity amongst various countercultural groups. He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence, and has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson and David Lynch. After a failed attempt to return to filmmaking with a film entitled King Shot starring Marilyn Manson and produced by David Lynch, Alejandro is set to return to cinema with the sequel to El Topo entitled Abel Cain sometime in late 2011 or 2012.
Jodorowsky is also a playwright and play director, having produced over one hundred plays, primarily in Mexico where he lived for much of his life. Alongside this he is also a writer, particularly of comic books - his The Incal even has been noted as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written - as well as books on his own theories about spirituality. Jodorowsky has been involved in the occult and various spiritual and religious groups, including Zen Buddhism and forms of Mexican shamanism, and has formulated his own spiritual system, which he has called "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism".
Description above from the Wikipedia article Alejandro Jodorowsky, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky (born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, composer and writer with a large cult following. Best known for his avant-garde films, he has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work which "is filled with violently surreal images and a hybrid blend of mysticism and religious provocation." His most notable works include El Topo (1970), The Holy Mountain (1973) and Santa Sangre (1989), all of which have had limited release but achieved popularity amongst various countercultural groups. He has cited the filmmaker Federico Fellini as his primary cinematic influence, and has been described as an influence on such figures as Marilyn Manson and David Lynch. After a failed attempt to return to filmmaking with a film entitled King Shot starring Marilyn Manson and produced by David Lynch, Alejandro is set to return to cinema with the sequel to El Topo entitled Abel Cain sometime in late 2011 or 2012.
Jodorowsky is also a playwright and play director, having produced over one hundred plays, primarily in Mexico where he lived for much of his life. Alongside this he is also a writer, particularly of comic books - his The Incal even has been noted as having a claim to be "the best comic book" ever written - as well as books on his own theories about spirituality. Jodorowsky has been involved in the occult and various spiritual and religious groups, including Zen Buddhism and forms of Mexican shamanism, and has formulated his own spiritual system, which he has called "psychomagic" and "psychoshamanism".
Description above from the Wikipedia article Alejandro Jodorowsky, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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The Holy Mountain
Act like The Alchemist
event1973 star_border 7.6
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The Alchemist assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.
El Topo
Act like El Topo
event1970 star_border 7.1
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El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man.
The Severed Heads
event1957 star_border 6.1
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A short mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a Parisian urchin who makes her living selling human heads. Lost for nearly 50 years, the movie was found in 2006 by the son of Ruth Michelly and Saul Gilbert when he found it in his mom's attic in Munich.
Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream
Act like Himself
event2006 star_border 6.3
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From 1970-1977, six low budget films shown at midnight transformed the way we make and watch films.
Jodorowsky's Phylosophycal Tales
Act like Alejandro
event1997
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These are initiation tales of A. Jodorowsky, tales and legends adapted from ancestral traditions, from all continents, and drawing their source from the heart of Jewish, African and Oriental traditions. Imagine real characters shot in Chinese shadow, encrusted in drawn sets. Add a 2D animation, bewitching music, and the unique voice of Alejandro. The result will be a mixture, where distant legends mix with mystery, poetry, and magic.
The Jodorowsky Constellation
Act like Self
event1994 star_border 6.2
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This documentary depicts the filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky talking about his life, his loves, his career as a filmmaker, graphic novelist, and workshop leader, and his eccentricities including tarot reader and theatrical director during The Panic Movement. Directed by Louis Mouchet, La Constellation Jodorowsky includes a lengthy on-camera interview with Jodorowsky in Spanish with subtitles. Marcel Marceau, Fernando Arrabal, Peter Gabriel, Jean "Moebius" Giraud, and Jean Pierre Vignau make appearances discussing their various projects with the director. In addition to the interview and film clips, Mouchet features some bizarre footage from Jodorowsky’s absurdist plays in which topless women splattered with paint writhe around the stage in a theatrical production meant to represent The Panic Movement, i.e., an artistic expression in which reason cannot fully express the human experience.
No Big Deal
Act like Pablo
event2003 star_border 4.6
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Three sons are sent on a journey to trace their father's checkered past.
La Voz Eterna
Act like Old Alejandro
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The final entry in Jodorowsky's autobiographical trilogy.
Musikanten
Act like Ludwig van Beethoven
event2006 star_border 7.5
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During research for a series focused on the greatest scientists of the past, a TV producer, following a hypnosis experiment, finds herself catapulted into the 19th century, participating in the last years of Ludwig Van Beethoven's life.
The Island
Act like Jodo
event2011 star_border 5
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In Paris, Sophie and Daneel make a solid couple. Nothing, it seems, can separate them - until the day when Sophie tells her partner she has organised a surprise trip to Bulgaria. Daneel refuses to go, but Sophie insists and soon discovers just why her soul mate was so reluctant to set foot in the country...
In Search of Moebius
Act like Himself
event2007 star_border 10
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Documentary about Frenchman Jean Giraud, one of the most influential comic strip illustrators and authors of all time and also one of the genre's best kept secrets. He achieved his greatest fame under the pseudonym/alter ego Moebius, and his artistic influence extends beyond Europe to the USA and Japan. Features interviews with Giraud himself, Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee, American comic book artists Jim Lee and Mike Mignolla and many others.
The Dance of Reality
Act like Old Alejandro
event2013 star_border 7.2
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“Having broken away from my illusory self, I was desperately seeking a path and a meaning to life.” This phrase perfectly sums up Alejandro Jodorowsky’s biographical project: reconstituting the incredible adventure of his life. Alejandro Jodorowsky was born in 1929 in Tocopilla, a coastal town on edge of the Chilean desert, where this film was shot. It was there where he discovered the fundamentals of reality, as he underwent an unhappy and alienated childhood as part of an uprooted family.
Jodorowsky's Dune
Act like Self
event2013 star_border 7.8
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Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) and his 1974 Quixotic attempt to adapt the seminal sci-fi novel Dune into a feature film. After spending 2 years and millions of dollars, the massive undertaking eventually fell apart, but the artists Jodorowsky assembled for the legendary project continued to work together. This group of artists, or his “warriors” as Jodorowsky named them, went on to define modern sci-fi cinema with such films as Alien, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Total Recall.
Ritual - A Psychomagic Story
Act like Fernando
event2013 star_border 4.9
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The fragile Lia suffers from a deep depression. Her relationship with her boyfriend Viktor is getting worse and worse and in the last desperate attempt to cure herself, Lia goes to visit her old aunt Agata in her creepy 18th century villa.
Arrabal, Panik Cineast
Act like Self
event2007
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Documentary about the filmmaker Fernando Arrabal.
NWR
Act like Self
event2012 star_border 7.3
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A documentary about Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, winner of the Best Director award at the Cannes Festival in 2011 for Drive. From his childhood to the shooting of his next movie, Only God Forgives, in Thailand, discover the whole career of a truly visionary filmmaker. With Ryan Gosling, Mads Mikkelsen, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Gaspar Noé, Peter Peter and Zlatko Buric.
Melodrama Sacramental
Act like Himself
event1965 star_border 5.9
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The Panic Movement performed theatrical events designed to be shocking, as a response to surrealism becoming petite bourgeoisie and to release destructive energies in search of peace and beauty. One four-hour performance known as Melodrama Sacramentral was staged in May 1965 at the Paris Festival of Free Expression. The "happening" starred Jodorowsky dressed in motorcyclist leather and featured him slitting the throats of two geese, taping two snakes to his chest and having himself stripped and whipped. Other scenes included a staged murder of a rabbi, a crucified chicken, a giant vagina giving birth to Jodorowsky, naked women covered in honey and the throwing of live turtles into the audience.
Tripping The Dark Fantastic
Act like Himself
event2022
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Showcasing a live performance at Earth Theatre, London in 2021 and interviews with the artists he has collaborated with from over 35 years of scoring horror, fantasy and genre films, TRIPPING THE DARK FANTASTIC is a stunning record of musician Simon Boswell’s career. An exciting trip through such classics as PHENOMENA, DEMONS 2, STAGE FRIGHT, SANTA SANGRE, PERDITA DURANGO, LORD OF ILLUSIONS, SHALLOW GRAVE, HARDWARE and many others, peppered with appearances by the likes of directors Dario Argento, Alejandro Jodorowsky, the concert features Simon with his 12 piece band, Caduta Massi, filmed by acclaimed DOP Vince Knight.
Psicotaxi
Act like Himself
event2002 star_border 4.3
top_panel_open
Fresnadillo wheel an impromptu consultation with Alejandro Jodorowsky, while driving in a taxi in the streets of Paris.
My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Act like Self
event2015 star_border 6.4
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A documentary directed by Winding Refn's wife, Liv Corfixen, and it follows the Danish-born filmmaker during the making of his 2013 film Only God Forgives.
The Family Forest
Act like Himself
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Epigenetics and psychogenealogy through a VERY personal experience.
Moebius Redux: A Life in Pictures
Act like Self
event2007 star_border 6.6
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French artist and author Jean Giraud is one of the most famous and influential comic strip illustrators and authors of all time. He achieved his greatest fame as Moebius - not so much a pseudonym as an alter ego. With his triple-split personality - Jean Giraud, Moebius, Gir - he succeeded in making his work accessible in popular comic strip series like Blueberry, in metaphysical fantasies like John Difool and, not least, to a broad public, with set designs for films such as The Fifth Element. In Moebius Redux - A Life in Pictures an exceptional artist tells his life's and work's story. Extraordinary views on Paris, Los Angeles and the Mexican desert build a visual link between his life and his artistic universe, accompanied by the electronic soundtrack composed by "Kraftwerk" legend Karl Bartos.
Alejandro Jodorowsky - Conversations on the Way of the Tarot
Act like himself
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Conversations on the Way of the Tarot follows a 2005 tour of Italian theaters. Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa start from the public reading of the Tarot, to heal" with their psychomagical advice and dispense ingenious tales that, through laughter, lead us toward deep reflection. For this is the atmosphere one breathes in the company of Jodorowsky, in the theater as well as in his home in Paris, where he tells us about himself in a long and intense interview-conversation. He talks to us about autobiographical memories, his relationship with other art forms and the Tarot de Marseille, which he personally helped restore, and about the profound and unique idea of Planetary Man, an idea that knowledge of the Tarot can help us develop. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Endless Poetry
Act like Old Alejandro
event2016 star_border 7.5
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A portrait of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s young adulthood, set in the 1940s and 50s, in the electric capital city of Santiago. There, he decides to become a poet and is introduced, by destiny, into the foremost bohemian and artistic circle of the time.
Alejandro Jodorowsky and the Seagulls
Act like Himself
event2016
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Alejandro Jodorowsky feeds a flock of seagulls.
Alejandro Jodorowsky's Social Psychomagic
Act like Himself
event2014
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A short documentary about Alejandro Jodorowsky's therapeutic practice of psychomagic.
Anticlimax
event1969 star_border 5.3
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The Mexican Gelsen Gas side by side with Alexandro Jodorowsky (Fando y Lis, El Topo, The Holy Mountain and others) appeared as a theater director, artist and poet, had an idea about staging haiku's that would reflect the sexually-charged and politically streaming time. Early in the film finds a man buried a few rolls of film in the desert.
Forget Everything You Have Ever Seen: The World of Santa Sangre
Act like Himself
event2011 star_border 7
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After his dream project DUNE fell apart, visionary filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky took a break from cinema, only to return over a decade later with his most triumphant work: SANTA SANGRE.
Jean Cocteau: Lies and Truths
Act like Self
event1997
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This documentary consists mainly of archive interviews of Jean Cocteau, and it features interesting contributions by Jean Marais and especially Jean-Luc Godard, who discusses Cocteau's foray into cinema. The film documents all the artistic media explored by a man who defined himself, first and foremost, as a poet.
La colorina
Act like Self
event2008
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Portrait of the Chilean poet Stella Díaz Varín (1926 -2006), who was called “La colorina” because of her red hair. Anarchist, communist, agitator, boxer, grandmother, alcoholic — the first punk in history, as it were. Based on accounts of fellow-travelers.
He! Viva Dada
Act like Self
event1965
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Report from the second free expression festival organized at the American Cultural Center, Boulevard Raspail, in May 1965. The shows, all happenings inspired by ""théâtre panique/ the panic theater", includes Fernando Arrabal, Roland Topor and Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Born Without
event2008
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'Born Without' is a documentary about severely handicapped Mexican actor and musician Jose Flores. "Born without arms and other limbs, Jose supports his large family by playing the harmonica throughout Mexico. In the face of adversity, he shows great courage and spiritual strength. This is a film with multiple layers. It is about sharing, daring and being grateful for what we have. It is also an exploration of social values, some of them controversial. Many of Jose's choices have been strongly criticized by his family and people around him. As a result, this is also a film about self discovery: a way to explore what we judge ... and what we choose to accept and forgive."
Helicopter
Act like Himself
event2024 star_border 0.5
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To heal the wounds of his family and spirit, Director Ari Gold goes on an epic two year journey to complete a "Psychomagic assignment" given to him by filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.
A Conversation with Alejandro Jodorowsky
event2007
top_panel_open
This six minute interview with director Alejandro Jodorowsky can be found on the release of EL TOPO, his 1970 cult classic that many consider to be a masterpiece.
Alejandro Jodorowsky: Interview at ICA London December 2002
event2003
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The footage is recorder in ICA, London, in December 2002 and features Jodorowsky on-stage after the screening of "Santa Sangre".
Fando and Lis
Act like Puppeteer (uncredited)
event1970 star_border 6.8
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Fando and his partially paralyzed lover Lis search for the mythical city of Tar. Based on Jodorowsky's memories of a play by surrealist Fernando Arrabal.
Psychomagic: A Healing Art
Act like Himself
event2019 star_border 6
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Explores the therapeutic work of director Alejandro Jodorowsky, showing by means of real acts, what Psychomagic is, its principle, how it is practiced, and how it is applied in life. Jodorowsky works directly with real, suffering people who are eager to solve their problems.
Blink Jodorowsky
Act like Himself
event2002
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One in a series of projects by Simon Boswell, an audio-visual installation of portraits extracted from news footage, looped to last forever, and individually scored with their own soundtracks.
Fake News
Act like Mysterious man
event2021 star_border 4
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After stealing a gaming console from migrants, Sébastien tries to sell it to Patrick, a good guy. So far, nothing too serious. But when a rapper straight out of jail, a TV host willing to do anything to go viral and click traffickers get involved... Sébastien and Patrick become France’s most wanted bad guys.
A Ship of Madness: Deeper and Higher with Pazucus
Act like Self
event2021
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With free eyes, an open heart, good friends and a handful of luck, Gurcius Gewdner revisits some of his adventures of the past five years, survives the relentless Russian winter and asks the following question: How far can an underground Brazilian film go?
Una hora con Alejandro Jodorowsky
Act like Self
event2007
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Part behind-the-scenes interview, part lecture. DVD included with Jodorowsky's book Los Evangelios para Sanar.
John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office
Act like Self
event2025
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John C. Lilly is the inventor of the isolation tank, as well as pioneer of studies in dolphin intelligence and support of psychedelics as a positive means for expanding consciousness. The storytelling will be supported by interviews with Lilly’s contemporaries and colleagues, as well as extensive archival records.
The Dick Cavett Show
Act like Self - Guest (1 ep.)
event1968 star_border 6.6
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The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
Le Cercle
Act like Self (1 ep.)
event2005
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As long as there is cinema, LE CERCLE will be there. It is the only television program of critical debates 100% devoted to cinema. Each week, it offers fiery, joyful and non-condescending jousts on the films on the bill; and invites with "Le questionnaire du CERCLE" directors to come and share their passion for cinema.
The Rainbow Thief
Director (1 ep.)
event1994 star_border 5.4
top_panel_open
A petty crook, in search of the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, hopes to cash in by befriending the heir to a huge fortune.
Santa Sangre
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1989 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his mother – the leader of a strange religious cult – and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.
Tusk
Director (1 ep.)
event1980 star_border 5.2
top_panel_open
An English girl and an Indian elephant, born on the same day, share a common destiny...
The Voice Thief
Story (1 ep.)
event2013 star_border 4.7
top_panel_open
When an opera singer loses her voice, her husband embarks on an odyssey through different underworlds to recover it through supernatural means.
The Incal
Story (1 ep.)
top_panel_open
Centers on intergalactic private eye John Difool, who gets caught up in a grand space opera after happening on a mystical artifact called the Incal. Along with a ragtag crew, Difool must go on a journey to save the universe.
Drive
Thanks (1 ep.)
event2011 star_border 7.6
top_panel_open
Driver is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he's been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene and her young son, Benicio. When Irene's husband gets out of jail, he enlists Driver's help in a million-dollar heist. The job goes horribly wrong, and Driver must risk his life to protect Irene and Benicio from the vengeful masterminds behind the robbery.
Bouncer
Story (1 ep.)
top_panel_open
Based on the comic book/graphic novel by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
Apolinar
Producer (1 ep.)
event1972 star_border 5
top_panel_open
Tancredo, a poor man, is in love with a rich girl, who does not return his feelings. One day when she is bathing in a river, a flood sweeps her away and Tancredo is unable to save her. Mad with grief, he steals the sun. The gods call Apolinar to restore light to the earth, but he is obstructed by the magician of darkness, until by means of a telescope he is able to send a bag of light to Tancredo, now grown old. Tancredo goes to the seashore and opens the bag of light as an offering to his beloved, whereupon the sun returns to the earth.
Kaena: The Prophecy
Dialogue (1 ep.)
event2003 star_border 5.9
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Compelled by a mysterious force, Kaena, a rebellious, high-spirited teenage girl will defy the High Priest and her people's ancestral beliefs to take the perilous journey through the Axis and discover what dark secrets lie beyond the clouds.
Pubertinaje
Producer (1 ep.)
event1978 star_border 5
top_panel_open
Three episodes: 1) "A Christmas dinner" where the family members fantasize about being somewhere else. The fetishist father wants to put on feminine clothes. The son longs for another transvestite adventure. The daughter yearns to be a singer and destroy the saints of the church with her voice. The youngest son wants to stab everyone dead. 2) "Game of mirrors". Two young classmates kiss on a picnic, but the girl's brother accuses the couple of being immoral. Bizarre things develop. 3) "Tetrahedron". A very fat man faces his girlfriend's longing for love.
Doggiewoggiez! Poochiewoochiez!
Original Story (1 ep.)
event2012 star_border 6.2
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Those krazed VHS-hunting pupz from Everything Is Terrible! (everyone’s favorite found footage chop shoppe) are back with their third inner-eye-opening feature, containing a feat never before attempted in either human or canine history. EIT! asks but two simple questions, “What if we make a movie composed ENTIRELY out of dog-related found footage?” and ‘'What if this magickal movie, made up of thousands of other dog movies, is also a remake of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1973 masterpiece The Holy Mountain?” Well, let’s stop asking dumb rhetorical questions because this never-ending spiral of World-Pup winning, sunglasses-wearing, murder-solving, skateboarding pooches is real! No Bonez about it, this is it! Are you dog enough to go fetch it? ARFFFFFF!
The Source Family
Thanks (1 ep.)
event2013 star_border 6.1
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A feature documentary film set in Hollywood, examining a radical experiment in '70s utopian living. The Source Family were the darlings of the Sunset Strip until their communal living, outsider ideals and spiritual leader Father Yod's 13 wives became an issue with local authorities. They fled to Hawaii, leading to their dramatic demise.
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