Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death is a 1989 American comedy film directed by J. F. Lawton and starring Shannon Tweed and Bill Maher. The film sends up many pop culture motifs and societal trends, including feminism (and feminist movements' fragmentation around various issues), B movies (particularly Cannibal Holocaust), celebrities, major writers and political figures, centred around a spoof of Heart of Darkness. It was the first feature directed (under the pseudonym J. D. Athens) by screenwriter J. F. Lawton, who also authored Pretty Woman, Under Siege and its sequel, and television show V.I.P.

The U.S. government grows worried for the nation's avocado supply after some confrontations with the "Piranha" tribe of cannibal women, who live in the mysterious "Avocado Jungle" (westernmost outpost: San Bernardino) and ritually sacrifice and eat men. The government recruits Margo Hunt (Tweed), a professor of feminist studies at a local university ("Spritzer College"), to travel into the Avocado Jungle and make contact with the women to attempt to convince them to move to a reservation/condo in Malibu. Along the way, she and her travelling companions — male chauvinist guide Jim (Maher) and ditzy undergraduate Bunny (Karen Mistal) — meet a tribe of subservient men called the "Donnahew" (a reference to talk-show host Phil Donahue) and face dangers in their path.

Eventually, the trio (Margo, Bunny and Jim) meets the Piranha women, who have recently taken Dr. Kurtz (played by Adrienne Barbeau) as their "empress." Kurtz is Dr. Hunt's former colleague in feminist studies (the internationally famous author of Smart Women, Stupid Insensitive Men) and now her nemesis; she has joined the tribe of Piranha women with her own exploitative agenda. The two argue about the morality of sacrificing men and the exploitation of the Piranha women, and Bunny decides to join the tribe, her first sacrifice being Jim. Bunny cannot go through with the kill, however, and Dr. Hunt escapes, aided by the handsome, intelligent, and sensitive Jean-Pierre (Brett Stimely), who also was to be sacrificed.

Rogue Male (1976)

Peter O'Toole, John Standing, Alastair Sim and Harold Pinter in the 1976 political thriller set in Germany and England on the eve of World War II. Based on Geoffrey Household's novel.

Faces of Africa - Fela Kuti: The Father of Afrobeat

Fela Kuti, born as Olufela Ransome Kuti was a Nigerian music maestro and the pioneer of Afrobeat. "Faces of Africa" brings you the story of one of Africa's music legends and his influence through music.

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

A Bucket of Blood is a 1959 American black comedy horror film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Dick Miller and was set in beatnik culture. The film, produced on a $50,000 budget, was shot in five days and shares many of the low-budget filmmaking aesthetics commonly associated with Corman's work. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a dark comic satire about a dimwitted, impressionable young busboy at a Bohemian café who is acclaimed as a brilliant sculptor when he accidentally kills his landlady's cat and covers its body in clay to hide the evidence. When he is pressured to create similar work, he becomes murderous.

The Tulsa Lynching of 1921 (2000) | Black Wall Street | Definitive Documentary

“The Tulsa Lynching of 1921” documents what is probably the worst race riot in American history. Director Michael Wilkerson tells the harrowing story cleanly and very effectively, using a combination of recollections by now-elderly witnesses, commentary from historians, celebrity voice-over readings of contemporary accounts, and an impressive collection of black-and-white photographs and some film depicting the destruction of an entire black community." Variety Magazine

Immortal Egypt: The Road To The Pyramids

The Road to the Pyramids. Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher. Episode 1 of 4. Joann Fletcher explains how ancient Egypt's story fits together. In the first episode, she goes in search of the building blocks of Egyptian civilisation.

Synthetic Pleasures (1995)

Synthetic Pleasures (1995) is an exhilarating and disturbing exploration into the ways that human beings are using technology, from body piercing to bionics, to transform our environments, bodies and minds in search of pleasure that raises issues nobody today can afford to abort / retry / ignore.

Cream Farewell Concert as transmitted on BBC TV January 5th 1969 - RIP Ginger Baker

The drummer with Cream Ginger Baker died today, aged 80. This is the end to a remarkable life of creativity and adventure. This film is a documentary style presentation of the last gig Cream did from their original 2 1/2 year existence. The band would later reform in 2005 for a series of very well paid performances.

An eye opening docu-concert of the legendary band Cream, that I just had to share. Insights on the nuances of their musical process and ofcourse the elabourateness of their skill and their free flowing improvised form of Rock n Roll in their gig at Royal Albert Hall in 1969.

Pretty eye-opening if you want to dig deeper into one of the most influential trios in Rock n Roll music history especially if you're an aspiring musician. You'll see and understand the legendary band better. It's a brilliantly shot and executed docu-concert. Here's Cream and their awe inspiring, magnificent process! Enjoy! :)

This was one of those occasions which it can truly be said: those who were there, will never forget it. November 26th, 1968, at the Royal Albert Hall - it only seems like yesterday. And having looked at the film again, the concert really does seem as fresh and pulsating as it was then.

First, the musicians themselves. They above all others blew apart the myth that rock’n’roll was music for the simple-minded, by the simple-minded. Maybe Dylan and Lennon had showed that lyrics could encompass subtle philosophical and poetic ideas. But it was Baker, Bruce and Clapton demonstrated that harmonically and structurally what was dismissed as rock’n’roll could be every bit as complex as any contemporary, so-called classical, music. Each musicians had a deep respect for the other two, although on the surface envy, even hatred, drove them on. None was prepared to be outshone by the other two, and this intense rivalry gave their music-making a thrilling edge. It was dangerous and explosive and it jangled the nerves.

Second, I believe that what still gives the film its power is partly a result of the circumstances in which it was made. It’s easy to forget how primitive recording equipment was in 1968. It had only been a year I had seen the very first colour video recorder at the BBC, and editing videotape was at best hazardous. So what you see in the film, apart from the interview, was all ‘live’. There is not a single edit anywhere. You could have seen what you see immediately after the concert itself, sound and picture. Of course it’s rough; raw would be a better word. It’s often clumsy and just plain wrong. But I think is still has the extraordinary energy of the occasion. Although you would expect me to say this, I don’t think I’ve seen another recording of a concert in which the atmosphere is so exactly as it was on the night.

Two footnotes. Eric Clapton later told me that the main reason the group split up was because “the music was not honest”. I’ve always thought it was through sheer exhaustion. In their belief two-and-a-half year existence, Cream played over 300 gigs, travelling night after night here, Europe and in the States. No wonder there was a friction. And yes, Ginger Baker often thought Jack deliberately played played too loud so that Ginger could not hear himself. During the filming of Beware Mr Baker, Ginger admitted that he had quite frequently wanted to throttle Jack. “But hey,” he told me, “I loved the bastard.” And that was the due. Jack was held in awe, especially by Ginger and Eric. More importantly, he was also held in enormous affection by those knew him, including me, but especially Ginger and Eric.

Second, the film was originally commissioned by the BBC for its ‘Omnibus’ arts slot. In other words, Cream were then thought worthy of consideration alongside Debussy and Picasso. Today the BBC has more-or-less abandoned its archival responsibilities to the arts and mistaken laddism and silly women in fancy dress for culture. More fool them. And as for ‘Sky Arts’; Remembrance Sunday on the Anniversary of World War One in 2014, for instance, was ‘remembered’ by ‘An Evening with the Bee Gees’. - Tony Palmer

TRACKLIST:
1:55 Sunshine Of Your Love
6:53 Jack Bruce interview
11:44  Politician
17:20 Eric Clapton interview
21:48 White Room
25:44 Jam intro Spoonful
31:25 Spoonful (cover Willie Dixon)
34:44 Ginger Baker interview
39:40 Ginger Baker drums solo
46:20 Jack Bruce interview
48:36 I'm So Glad (cover  Skip James)
53:30 Anthony Burgess interview
53:00 Frank Zappa interview
53:33 We're Going Wrong

Menschen am Sonntag

This magical blend of documentary and fiction takes us back to a glorious summer Sunday in late-1920s Berlin where five young workers take a day off. While they enjoy freedoms undreamt of by their parents, sexual rivalry soon lends an edge to their flirtations. The backdrop to the film is the Weimar Republic, founded in 1919, and the urban cosmopolitanism of Berlin at the time, which would come to end in just a few years with the rise of the Nazis and the end of democracy.

The people portraying the characters were all amateurs belonging to a Berlin collective who, the opening credits inform us, had returned to their normal jobs by the time of the film’s release. They included a taxi driver, a record seller and a wine merchant. This revolutionary experiment in realism was the collective effort of several future Hollywood directors, including Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann.

The film "Menschen am Sonntag" portrays in a half-documentary style the life of young people in the metropolis of Berlin at the end of the 1920s. Four of the five leading actors stood in front of the camera for the first time. The young Christl Ehlers had played a major role in the fairy tale film Ms. Holle a year earlier. The film is worth seeing because of the authentic pictures from that time, from the station Zoo, the station Nikolassee, the Havel at the "large window" and Wannsee.The later Oscar winner Billy Wilder wrote the screenplay with Robert Siodmak after an idea of ​​Robert's brother Curt Siodmak: The Siodmak brothers also made a career in both German and American films, with Edgar G. Ulmer mainly shooting Hollywood films, whose history makes the film one of the first independent films and a forerunner of post-war neo-realism.

Menschen am Sonntag is a film by Robert Siodmak, Edgar G. Ulmer and Billy Wilder. It was produced by Moriz Seeler's production company "Filmstudio 1929" and was made in and around Berlin in 1929 and 1930. The premiere was on February 4, 1930. He is one of the late representatives of New Objectivity in film.

“40 Years on the Farm” documentary

"40 Years on the Farm" documentary from Randy Rudder on Vimeo.
This documentary chronicles the history of The Farm, America's oldest hippie commune, located in Summertown,Tennessee