FAVORITE ESSAY FILMS

A friend asked me to recommend some essay films. I'm not sure what essay films are, but I decided to make a list of these favorite films. Some of them are essay films. Some of them are fiction films of which some parts are like essay films. Some of them are just strange documentaries.

1.BRUTALITY IN STONE (1961, Alexander Kluge + Peter Schamoni, West Germany)
http://www.ubu.com/film/kluge.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053679/

2.BUD-DHA-KALA (2005, Thanapol Virulhakul, Thailand)

3.BUNTOC EULOGY (1995, Marlon Fuentes, Philippines)

4.CINEMA DREAM, TOKYO DREAM (1995, Kiju Yoshida, Japan)

5.COLOURS ON THE STREETS (2009, Weerapong Wimuktalop, Thailand, 62 min)

6.DAGUERRÉOTYPES (1976, Agnès Varda, France)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071384/

7.DANGER (DIRECTOR'S CUT) (2008, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Thailand)

8.DHAMMA (เย...ธัมมา...) (2002, Watthana Rujirojsakul, 22 min)

9.DIAL H-I-S-T-O-R-Y (1998, Johan Grimonprez)
http://www.ubu.com/film/grimonprez_dial.html

10.DIRTY PICTURES (2007, John Smith, Israel/UK)

11.DREAMWATCH FOR ANYONE WHO IS BELIEVED TO VIOLATE GOOD MORALITY (งานเฝ้าระวังความฝันของบุคคลที่น่าเชื่อว่าฝักใฝ่การทำลายศีลธรรมอันดีของประชาชน) (2007, Manussak Dokmai, Thailand)

12.FROM THE EAST (1993, Chantal Akerman, Belgium)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106642/

13.FROM THE JOURNALS OF JEAN SEBERG (1995, Mark Rappaport, USA)

14.GHOSTS (2005, Anocha Suwichakornpong, Thailand)

15.THE HALFMOON FILES (2007, Philip Scheffner, Germany)

16.ID SWISS: EPISODE "MIXED UP" (1999, Nadia Farès, Switzerland)

17.IMAGES OF THE ABSENCE (1998, German Kral, Argentina)

18.THE INVISIBLE FRAME (2009, Cynthia Beatt, Germany)

19.ISLE OF FLOWERS (1990, Jorge Furtado, Brazil)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4stjz_ilha-das-flores-sub-eng_news

20.JLG/JLG (1994, Jean-Luc Godard, France)

21.JUST A SECOND: THE KHONG LEGEND (2003, Santiphap Inkong-ngam, Thailand)

22.LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS (1972, Werner Herzog, West Germany)

23.LAND WITHOUT BREAD (1937, Luis Buñuel, Spain)

24.THE LAST BOLSHEVIK (1993, Chris Marker, France)

25.LETTER TO A CHILD (2008, Vlado Skafar, Slovenia)

26.LISTENER'S TALE (2007, Arghya Basu, India)

27.LOCOMOTION IN WATER (2005, Hanna Shell, USA)
http://web.mit.edu/~hrshell/www/experimentsonfilm/essay.html

28.LOGIC: MADAME GUMJAI CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING (2009, Chalida Uabumrungjit, Thailand)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_uQwq87gCM

29.LONDON (1994, Patrick Keillor, UK)

30.LUCEBERT, TIME AND FAREWELL (1994, Johan van der Keuken, Netherlands)

31.MADAME WATER (1993, Jean Rouch, France/Netherlands)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107476/

32.THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929, Dziga Vertov, USSR)

33.MY WHITE BABY (2008, Akosua Adoma Owusu, Ghana)
http://blog.mtviggy.com/2010/04/19/movie-review-my-white-baby/

34.MY WINNIPEGE (2007, Guy Maddin, Canada)

35.NATIONAL ANTHEM (เพลงชาติไทย) (2008, Chai Chaiyachit, Thailand, 22 min)

36.NIGHT AND FOG (1955, Alain Resnais, France)

37.NOTES FOR AN AFRICAN ORESTES (1970, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066163/

38.NOW LET US PRAISE AMERICAN LEFTISTS (2000, Paul Chan, USA)
You can watch other films by Paul Chan here:
http://www.ubu.com/film/chan.html

39.1/3 OF THE EYES (2004, Olivier Zabat, France)

40.OPPORTUNITIES (2005, Nitipong Thinthupthai, Thailand)

41.ORCHESTRA (2008, Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Thailand)

42.OWN (2009, Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa, Thailand)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kUq0wD6M0A

43.PALMS (1993, Artur Aristakisyan, Russia)

44.PERFUMED NIGHTMARE (1977, Kidlat Tahimik, Philippines)

45.RECONSIDERING "THE NEW INDUSTRIAL PARKS NEAR IRVINE, CALIFORNIA" BY LEWIS BALTZ, 1974 (2009, Mario Pfeiffer, USA)

46.SHERMAN'S MARCH (1985, Ross McElwee, USA)

47.SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE (1973, Guy Debord, France)
http://www.ubu.com/film/debord_spectacle.html

48.SOMETHING MORE THAN NIGHT (2003, Daniel Eisenberg, USA)

49.TO INFINITY AND BEYOND (ลอยฟ้า) (2004, Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Thailand 10 min)

50.TRAIN OF SHADOWS (1996, José Luis Guerin, Spain)

51.24 CITY (2008, Jia Zhangke, China)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103963/plotsummary

52.TWO WORLDS IN ONE WORLD (ทวิภพในเอกภพ) (2004, Prap Boonpan, Thailand, 18 min)

53.VIDEOGRAMS OF A REVOLUTION (1992, Harun Farocki + Andrei Ujica, Romania/Germany)

54.VILLAGE PEOPLE RADIO SHOW (2007, Amir Muhammad, Malaysia)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0949861/

55.A VIRUS IN THE CITY (2008, Cedric Venail, France)

56.WE (1969, Artavazd Peleshian, USSR)
http://www.virtual-circuit.org/art_cinema/Pelechian/Pelechian/we.html

57.THE WET SEASON (2008, Brigid McCaffrey + Ben Russell, Suriname)

58.YEARS WHEN I WAS A CHILD OUTSIDE (2008, John Torres, Philippines)


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ESSAY FILM WISH LIST

Some films below can be watched online, but I haven't had time to watch them yet.

I got to know most of these films via the article ESSAY QUESTIONS by Paul Arthur in Film Comment magazine, Jan/Feb 2003.

1.BEIRUT OUTTAKES (2007, Peggy Ahwesh, Lebanon)
http://www.ubu.com/film/ahwesh_beirut.html

2.THE BRIDGE (1928, Joris Ivens, Netherlands)
http://www.ubu.com/film/ivens_bridge.html

3.THE BODY BEAUTIFUL (1991, Ngozi Onwurah, UK)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180563/

4.FAR FROM POLAND (1984, Jill Godmilow, USA, 106 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162318/

5.FRANCE/TOUR/DETOUR/DEUX/ENFANTS (1977, Jean-Luc Godard + Anne-Marie Miéville, France)
http://www.ubu.com/film/godard_mielville.html

6.JOURNEYS FROM BERLIN (1980, Yvonne Rainer)
http://www.ubu.com/film/rainer_journeys.html

7.SHOOT FOR THE CONTENTS (1991, Trinh T. Minh-ha, USA)
http://www.ubu.com/film/minh_shoot.html

8.SONATA FOR HITLER (1979, Alexander Sokurov, USSR)
http://www.ubu.com/film/sokurov_sonata.html

9.SONIC OUTLAWS (1995, Craig Baldwin, USA)
http://www.ubu.com/film/baldwin_sonic.html

10.VITAL STATISTICS OF A CITIZEN, SIMPLY OBTAINED (1977, Martha Rosler)
http://www.ubu.com/film/rosler_vital.html