sundance

In the year 2000

In 1910, a French artist Villemard painted 24 funny illustrations that forecasts what a 21st century Paris might look like.  In the year 2100, there will be people looking back at our predictions and laughing in the same way. [Via]

History of hip hop in four minute beat box

This impressive four minute video of French beat boxer EKLIPS covering the “history” of hip hop’s classic hits in a single take is blazing through the web. Relatedly, check out this cute 19 year old Canadian Chinese girl Sophia KiddBeatz who posts beat box tutorial videos on YouTube which are pretty popular. [Hat tip: Pooja!]

Celebrate the Earth with HOME, a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

HOME is a travel notebook, showing landscapes captured from a bird’s eye view above. This film calls for a new awareness, inviting the viewer to stop for a moment in order to look at our planet and realize how we treat her treasures and her beauty.

Directed by internationally renowned French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, produced by world famous director Luc Besson and narrated by five-time Academy Award® nominee Glenn Close, HOME aims to change the way people see the planet and their impact on it. Shot in high definition in 54 countries and 120 locations over 217 days, the unique and first-time ever all-aerial filming style highlights the Earth’s wonders as well as its wounds and provides a necessary perspective to approach the changing environment.

GARY, a short animated film

An animated French short by by Clément Soulmagnon, Yann Benedi, Sébastien Eballard & Quentin Chaillet with a kind of wonderful and magical story. Gary from Gary on Vimeo.

Science is Fiction, the films of Jean Painlevé

He may not have been the very first person to take a camera underwater, but Jean Painlevé was definitely the first to bring the life aquatic to cinema. Painlevé made over 200 short films in his lifetime, the first in 1927 (nearly 30 years before Jacques Cousteau’s SILENT WORLD) and last week Criterion released 27 [...]