counter-culture

70 movies and shows

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Fri, 25 Sep 2020

What was supposed to be a peaceful protest turned into a violent clash with the police. What followed was one of the most notorious trials in history.

A successful mod photographer in London whose world is bounded by fashion, pop music, marijuana, and easy sex, feels his life is boring and despairing. But in the course of a single day he unknowingly captures a death on film.

One Hundred Steps

Fri, 01 Sep 2000

Peppino Impastato is a quick-witted lad growing up in 1970s Sicily. Despite hailing from a family with Mafia ties and living just one hundred steps from the house of local boss Tano Badalamenti, Peppino decides to expose the Mafia by using a pirate radio station to broadcast his political pronouncements in the form of ironic humour.

Zabriskie Point

Thu, 26 Mar 1970

Anthropology student Daria, who's helping a property developer build a village in the Los Angeles desert, and dropout Mark, who's wanted by the authorities for allegedly killing a policeman during a student riot, accidentally encounter each other in Death Valley and soon begin an unrestrained romance.

Crumb

Sat, 10 Sep 1994

This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin', Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man's subconscious mind.

Howl

Thu, 26 Aug 2010

It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society's reaction (the obscenity trial), and mind-expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.

Chicago 10

Fri, 29 Feb 2008

Archival footage, animation and music are used to look back at the eight anti-war protesters who were put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future

Thu, 04 Apr 1985

While trying to expose corruption and greed, television reporter Edison Carter discovers that his employer, Network 23, has created a new form of subliminal advertising (termed "blip-verts") that can be fatal to certain viewers.

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

Mon, 11 Jun 2018

The extraordinary life story of science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) who, in spite of remaining for many years on the sidelines of the mainstream literature, managed to be recognized as one of the most remarkable US writers of all time, due to the relevance of her work and her commitment to the human condition.

1991: The Year Punk Broke

Thu, 19 Nov 1992

David Markey's documentary of life on the road with Sonic Youth and Nirvana during their tour of Europe in late 1991. Also featuring live performances by Dinosaur Jr, Babes in Toyland, The Ramones and Gumball.

End of the Road

Tue, 10 Feb 1970

Moments after receiving his graduate diploma, Jacob waits at a train station. The future lies ahead, but life abruptly intervenes. Images flash in Jacob's mind: of war, injustice, assassination, protest, the entire spectrum of 1960s angst and anger - sending Jacob into a catatonic state. What follows during his bizarre rehab and its aftermath will be another form of madness.

Mondo Hollywood

Fri, 30 Jun 1967

Long considered a cult classic, "Mondo Hollywood" captures the underside of Hollywood by documenting a moment in time (1965-67), when an inquisitive trust in the unknown was paramount, hope for the future was tangible and life was worth living on the fringe. An interior monologue narrative approach is used throughout the film, where each principal person shown not only decided on what they wanted to be filmed doing, but also narrated their own scenes. The film opens with Gypsy Boots (the original hippie vegan - desert hopping blender salesman), and stripper Jennie Lee, working out 'Watusi-style' beneath the 'Hollywood' sign -- leading into the 'sustainable community' insight of Lewis Beach Marvin III, the S&H Green Stamp heir, who lived in a $10 a month garage while owning a mountain retreat in Malibu.

The Revolutionary

Wed, 15 Jul 1970

"A", a member of a student protest organization, becomes disenchanted by his group's inability to effect real change. Emboldened to pursue more radical methods by the older, experienced leftist organizer Despard, "A" unwittingly becomes party to a labor strike that turns violent. Ultimately held responsible by the authorities for the fracas, "A" allies himself with terrorist Leonard, who intends to avenge those jailed in the protest.

The Howl

Fri, 01 May 1970

A young bride escapes her wedding ceremony with a stranger and together they set off on an epic journey though increasingly bizarre lands. They encounter talking animals and mournful exhibitionists, converse with a discoursing rock, journey through a surrealist's psychedelic hotel, instigate a prison riot, escape from naked cannibals living in a tree and battle a wind-up midget dictator!

The Psychedelic Experience

Sat, 23 Jan 1965

Experimental movie, where a man comes home and experiences LSD. His kaleidoscopic visions follow, with readings inspired by the Tibethan Book of the Dead.

An Amazing Time: A Conversation About End of the Road

Wed, 10 Oct 2012

In the summer of 1968, a group of people assembled in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. They were making a film of John Barth's 1958 novel The End of the Road.

Yippie

Tue, 31 Dec 1968

The Youth International Party, whose members were commonly called Yippies, was a radically youth-oriented and countercultural revolutionary group opposed to war and the status quo of American culture. Known for using theatrics and humor to advocate social change, several Yippies were notably on trial as the Chicago 7. Primarily consisting of footage from the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago which sparked massive demonstrations that were met by violence and hysteria caused by the police. This film also includes found newsreel footage as well as Pigasus - the pig the Yippies advanced as a candidate for President of the United States.

Night Lunch

Tue, 09 Dec 1975

This is Poe and Král's first effort, shot on small-gauge stock, before their more well-known endeavor The Blank Generation (1976) came to be. A "DIY" portrait of the New York music scene, the film is a patchwork of footage of numerous rock acts performing live, at venues like Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the dive bars of Greenwich Village and, of course, CBGB.

Getting Wasted

Tue, 01 Jan 1980

An uptight military school gets a dose of hippie-infused rebellion when a group of students gather in support of the 1960s uprising going on around them. When a few students decide to bring the more liberal, artsy side of the revolution onto campus, they face opposition from much of the school's staff.

Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family

Sun, 11 Apr 1971

The title of this Canadian documentary may have some relation to Canadian Marshall McLuhan's theories. It combines interview with famous U.S. militants of the '60s, such as Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, with reenactments of their Chicago trials (i.e., the "Chicago Eight," etc.). Other figures of cultural interest from the time, including Alan Ginsberg and Buckminster Fuller, are interviewed or featured. The filmmaker indicates his belief that powerful forces in the U.S. government worked together to suppress American radicals. This view, widely disbelieved at the time, has since been confirmed.