The Beneficiary

boysetsfire - 20th Anniv... boysetsfire Live DVD Set

I Cannot Tell You How I ... Su Friedrich has taken up the camera again in her ongoing quest to film the battleground of family life. Her mother Lore--who played the lead in The Ties That Bind (1984), a film about her experiences growing up in Germany during the Second World War--plays the lead again, this time kicking and protesting against being moved at the age of 94 from her home in Chicago to an “independent living” facility in New York. Friedrich and her two siblings fill out the supporting roles, cajoling, comforting, and freaking out.

Christmas with Cookie In the year 3978 global warming has made a desert of the North Pole. Santa and Mrs. Claus battle angry skeletons who didn't get what they wanted for Christmas. Evil aliens try to take over the world and a giant abominable snow man wants Santa for his next meal.

Calgon An autoerotic odyssey in three or more parts, starring Barbi Benton and a box of soap.

Profile The editor of a magazine falls in love with the publisher's daughter. The only trouble is that the publisher's wife quite fancies him as well. Then he's accused of embezzling funds.

Wagah Each night the only border crossing between India and Pakistan on a 1000km stretch becomes the sight of an extraordinary event. Thousands of people gather to witness the ritual closing of the border, after which the masses get as close as possible to the gate to greet their former neighbors. This "festival" is therefore on the one hand a celebration of the partition, but on the other hand also the only connecting element. What do the terms separation, home and proximity mean to the people on both sides?

Dawn and Dusk 16mm, colour, silent.

Spider 16mm, colour, silent.

Pear Tree Super8, colour, silent.

Gyrischachen - von Snden... A high-rise apartment built in the 1960s provides housing for 2500 people from 42 nations. Separated from the city by a river and bounded by towering sandstone cliffs, everyone attempts to live and survive in their own way. Foreigners who have a go at being Swiss, and Swiss who observe with scepticism. They meet in the corner shop run by an Iraqi living in exile, send their kids to a children’s club managed by a missionary, and old drinking mates meet regularly over a beer in the neighbourhood’s only bar. Despite all the differences, they are rather proud of the fact that they come from here.