Jean Epstein had a theory. The star of his theory was the machine -- an anti-hero, a character the audience loved to hate. Epstein recognized the machine as an extension of humans, who manipulate objects, but magnificently immortal. A filmmaker, Epstein cast the camera, his own personal extension, in

Clever, Hallucinatory, Intense, Machinistic, Manic, Surrealist film

The year was 1919, the locale was Soviet Russia, and the mood was positively revolutionary. Luckily for him, Dziga Vertov was on the right train, filming Soviet Chairman Mikhail Kalinin on a propaganda tour. As a young filmmaker and theoretician, Vertov was at the forefront of a roaring debate a

Collage, In-your-face, Intense, Kinetic, Pioneering, Social revolution, Soviet montage

If Britain had a blacklist during the Thatcher era, Ken Loach was on it. Pound the pavement though he might, he couldn't persuade anyone to fund his films. His made-for-TV documentaries met with steep resistance -- in fact, his depiction of the 1984 coal miners' strike was banned outright. Why? Loach

British documentary movement, Gritty, Industrial, Intense, Political, Sincere, Violent, Young british/kitchen sink/free cinema

When people look at Joan Chen, an irresistible urge to see her as the perfect china doll overcomes them, whether they are Chinese themselves or hail from the West. Chen's lifelong battle has been to act her way out of that porcelain persona, and to wrest the director's chair from the hands of those w

Intense, Pathos, Pioneering, Political, Sexy