TIE: A Selection of Shorts

TIE , the International Experimental Cinema Exposition, is a traveling program of experimental films curated by Christopher May that seeks t...

Le Quattro Volte (The Four Times) A Film by Michelangelo Frammartino (2010)

It's quite a magical transfiguration how the smoke that fills the frame in the opening shot of Michelangelo Frammartino's Le Quattro...

Red Desert (Deserto Rosso) A Film by Michelangelo Antonioni (1964)

When Monica Vitti first appears in frame in Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert , her figure looks surreal against the pale, corroded in...

The Sheltering Sky (1990) A Film by Bernardo Bertolucci

( Disclaimer: This is an essay I wrote for a class I take called Exoticism in Literature and Art. It was not a critical piece per se, and th...

Eclipse (L'Eclisse) A Film by Michelangelo Antonioni (1962)

I have a troubling relationship with Michelangelo Antonioni's loose early 60's trilogy (the other two being L'Avventura (1960) ...

Amarcord (1973) A Film by Federico Fellini

To watch Federico Fellini's Amarcord is to step inside someone else's mind as they flip through old photo albums from their youth. ...

Irreversible and Salo (2002/1975) Films by Gaspar Noé and Pier Paolo Pasolini

French Director Gaspar Noé specializes in dishing out horrible experiences. Even if you consider yourself to be an especially audacious spec...

Black Sunday: The Mask of Satan (La maschera del demonio) A Film by Mario Bava (1960)

The iconic symbols of Italian Gothic horror films have somewhat made their way, not always knowingly, into the film world's collective c...

Umberto D. (1952) A Film by Vittorio De Sica

"A dog is a man's best friend" is a sentiment that has never been portrayed more aptly than it is in Vittorio De Sica's Um...

And the Ship Sails On (E la nave va) A Film by Federico Fellini (1984)

Many have said Federico Fellini approached lunacy in the latter half of his career, but these have often been self-defensive critical stabs ...

La Strada (1954) A Film by Federico Fellini

In a century of cinema that has certainly seen its share of decadent personal visions, few reach the radical extremes of Italian icon Federi...