Alejandro Jodorowsky

Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) and his 1974 Quixotic attempt to adapt the seminal sci-fi novel Dune into a feature film. After spending 2 …

Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) and his 1974 Quixotic attempt to adapt the seminal sci-fi novel Dune into a feature film. After spending 2 …

A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the heretical church of Santa Sangre ("Holy Blood"), and then commit suicide. Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his surviving and armless mother. Against his will, he "becomes her arms" and the two undertake a grisly campaign of murder and revenge.

Through Alejandro Jodorowsky's autobiographical lens, Endless Poetry narrates the years of the Chilean artist's youth during which he liberated himself from all of his former limitations, from his family, and was introduced into the foremost bohemian artistic circle of 1940s Chile where he met Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra… at the time promising young but unknown artists who would later become the titans of twentieth-century Hispanic literature. He grew inspired by the beauty of existence alongside these beings, exploring life together, authentically and freely. A tribute to Chile's artistic heritage, Endless Poetry is also an ode to the quest for beauty and inner truth, as a universal force capable of changing one's life forever, written by a man who has dedicated his life and career to creating spiritual and artistic awareness across the globe.

Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky (EL TOPO, SANTA SANGRE), this strange classic was "lost" for 30 years.
It tells the tale of two youths (Fando and his partially paralyzed lover Lis) who search through a destroyed world for the mythical city of Tar, where it is believed that all of one's wishes can come true. Instead, along the way, they are corrupted and driven mad. The film caused a riot upon its premiere at the 1968 Acapulco Film Festival.

A young man is confined in a mental hospital. Through a flashback we see that he was traumatized as a child, when he and his family were circus performers: he saw his father cut off the arms of his mother, a religious fanatic and leader of the heretical church of Santa Sangre ("Holy Blood") and then commit suicide. Back in the present, he escapes and rejoins his armless mother. Against his will, he "becomes her arms" and the two undertake a grisly campaign of murder and revenge.

El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man. El Topo (the mole) claims to be God, while dressed as a gunfighter in black, riding a horse through a spiritual, mystical landscape strewn with old Western movie, and ancient Eastern religious symbols. Bandits slaughtered a village on his path, so El Topo avenges the massacred, then forcibly takes their leader's woman Mara as his. El Topo's surreal way is bloody, sexual and self-reflective, musing of his own demons, as he tries to vanquish those he encounters.

Through Alejandro Jodorowsky's autobiographical lens, Endless Poetry narrates the years of the Chilean artist's youth during which he liberated himself from all of his former limitations, from his family, and was introduced into the foremost bohemian artistic circle of 1940s Chile where he met Enrique Lihn, Stella Díaz Varín, Nicanor Parra…

An eccentric prince decides one day to give up all his wealth and position and live his own life. His idea of living his own life, though, is to take up residence in the city's sewers. His dutiful servant, who happens to be a thief, accompanies him. Appeals to his rich uncle to do something about it fall on deaf ears – the uncle, who prefers the company of his Dalmatians to that of people, is as nutty as he is.

This documentary consists mainly of archive interviews of Jean Cocteau, and it features interesting contributions by Jean Marais and especially Jean-Luc Godard, who discusses Cocteau's foray into cinema. The film documents all the artistic media explored by a man who defined himself, first and foremost, as a poet.