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Majorité opprimée (2010)
Great look at gender issues
First off, this short film is not in any way a comedy. It is a commentary on gender inequalities. It does this by swapping the traditional male and female roles. It starts off showing things such as men getting leered at by women, getting catcalls, and women running topless while men have to cover up. This escalates when (spoiler!) the main character eventually gets sexually assaulted by a group of women. It then shows what happens at the police station and his interaction with his girlfriend/wife. I found this to be a really great way of showing men especially what women have to go through on a daily basis. I've heard all of this before of course, but as a man, seeing how it would be if the tables were turned was extremely uncomfortable in a very good way. I think it's important for people to see this film. It's been making the rounds on US social media sites so I can only hope it has at least a small amount of positive impact on gender equality issues.
Robot (1963)
Odd little piece for AT&T
This is an odd short that Jim Henson did for AT&T for their Inpro seminar in 1963. This was a seminar discussing the relatively new world of data communications and the interactions of man and technology. It has recently been discovered in the AT&T archives and digitized. It can be found online and is worth a view. The robot, who is the only character portrayed, bears a striking resemblance to Kermit the Frog. I believe it is voiced by Henson. It goes on at length about how great robots are and how they don't really need humans. This has amusing results at the end but I won't spoil it here. Apparently the robot was originally used in a short film for a German food fair in 1961 and was used in other Henson productions after this. A pretty amusing and odd short from early in Henson's career.
Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders (2010)
Brilliant pilot
This is a great pilot for a show that I really hope gets further funding. Its goal is to cover world music with 15 to 20 minute long segments that focus on the musicians and the people who produce and support them. The pilot has three sections all of which I found fascinating.
First is "A Man Like Putin" which goes to Russia to cover modern Russian propaganda music. The song "A Man Like Putin" has topped the charts in Russia and glorifies Vladimir Putin, former president and current (as of 2010) prime minister of Russia. Members of the all woman band are interviewed as well as the writer of the song and the producer. There is also an interview with an outspoken radio personality who is a critic of Putin and the song.
The second segment, "Black President" goes to Lagos, Nigeria to explore the music of Seun Kuti, the son of Fela Kuti who was a legendary afrobeat pioneer. The interviewer goes to Seun's home where a large practice session with his band takes place. They also travel to a large night club where Seun performs. A history of Fela's music and political ideology is presented as well.
The third segment is titled "Oh, Kazakhstan" and covers the problems that were created with Erran Baron Cohen's spoof Kazakh national anthem for the Borat movie. A famous Kazakh violin virtuoso named Marat Bisengaliev challenged Baron Cohen to write a serious symphony based on Kazakh themes to make amends for his perceived insults. Baron Cohen proceeds to do this and the reporter is present for the first performance in Kazakhstan.
The show ends with a performance by Portuguese fado singer Mariza.