Michael Snow

Michael Snow

Michael Snow was considered one of Canada's most important artists, and one of the world's leading experimental filmmakers. His wide-ranging and multidisciplinary oeuvre explored the possibilities inherent in different mediums and genres, and encompassed film and video, painting, sculpture, photography, writing, and music. Snow's practice comprised a thorough investigation into the nature of perception. While Snow early established himself as a successful painter and musician in his native Toronto, it was his 1962 move to New York City that marked the beginning of his rise to international prominence. He entered into a long-lasting and fruitful dialogue with downtown Manhattan's artistic avant garde, exchanging ideas with figures such as Yvonne Rainer, Philip Glass, Sol LeWitt, and Richard Foreman, and developing of some of his most ambitious and influential works to date. His 1964 film New York Eye and Ear Control documents his growing involvement with the burgeoning free jazz movement, and the soundtrack boasts a lineup that includes Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, and Sonny Murray. Snow would continue to pursue improvised music, both on his own and in ensembles such as Toronto's CCMC. The generation and reception of sound in the broader sense emerged as one of his main concerns, reflected in performance and tape works that share qualities with contemporaneous experiments by composers like Steve Reich. At the same time, Snow made alliances within the underground film scene centered around Jonas Mekas' Filmmakers' Cinematheque, an experience that encouraged him to find ways to transfer his concerns with music and photography into the realm of the moving image. He assisted Hollis Frampton on films such as Nostalgia(1971), and it was legendary director Ken Jacobs whose loan of equipment helped Snow create his most famous and influential work, the groundbreaking 1967 film Wavelength. Wavelength, which notoriously includes a 45-minute camera zoom within a fixed frame, remains one of the most studied and admired works of structuralist filmmaking. Other of Snow's films of this period, including Back and Forth (1969) and La Région Centrale (1971) similarly explored the mechanics of filmmaking to simultaneously investigate the functional processes of cinema and of thinking itself. In the 1970s and 1980s, Snow, responding to a growing institutional commitment to his work, experimented more with large-scale installations, including public sculptures such as Flightstop (1979) and The Audience (1988-89). In recent years, he focused on the specific nature and potential of digital media, yielding works like the video-film *Corpus Callosum (2002). Regardless of artistic genre, Snow consistently engaged in an analytical discourse on the nature of consciousness and experience, language and temporality. He died on January 5th, 2023.

  • Title: Michael Snow
  • Popularity: 0.654
  • Known For: Directing
  • Birthday: 1929-12-10
  • Place of Birth: Toronto, Canada
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: 마이클 스노우
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Michael Snow Movies

  • 1968
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    Snowblind

    Snowblind

    4.8 1968 HD

    "Homage to Michael Snow's environmental sculpture 'Blind.' The film proposes analogies, in imitation of three historic montage styles, for three...

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  • 1969
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    Seminar

    Seminar

    1 1969 HD

    An unreleased diary film shot during the Fairleigh-Dickinson Artist Seminar simultaneous to the production of Back and Forth by Michael Snow.

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  • 1996
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    Michael Snow Up Close

    Michael Snow Up Close

    6 1996 HD

    MICHAEL SNOW UP CLOSE was produced on the occasion of The Michael Snow Project, a major, career-spanning, multi-venue retrospective of the artist....

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  • 1985
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    Home Movies 1971-81

    Home Movies 1971-81

    1 1985 HD

    Home movies shot on Super 8mm by W+B Hein over 10 years.

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  • 1972
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    Dream Life

    Dream Life

    4 1972 HD

    Two twenty-something women dream of the ideal man and slowly realize that reality is very different from their fantasies.

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  • 1971
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    Hapax Legomena I: Nostalgia

    Hapax Legomena I: Nostalgia

    6.4 1971 HD

    Michael Snow narrates a series of Hollis Frampton's photographs (speaking as Frampton, in the first person)—as each picture catches fire on a...

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  • 1974
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    ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen

    ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen

    7.9 1974 HD

    Various unrelated vignettes, often juxtaposing sound and image.

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  • 2011
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    Michael Snow Portrait

    Michael Snow Portrait

    1 2011 HD

    Hand processed 35mm portrait of Michael Snow.

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  • 2019
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    L’œil omnidirectionnel de Michael Snow

    L’œil omnidirectionnel de Michael Snow

    1 2019 HD

    This is the sound recording of the interview that Michael Snow, filmmaker, sculptor, photographer and visual artist, gave to Gérard Courant...

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  • 1965
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    Short Shave

    Short Shave

    1 1965 HD

    "Vanity. Had a beard. Appearance (looks). Looking. Disappearance act. Hand-made fades and zooms but camera made shave. Camerazor. Handsome. Tired....

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  • 1983
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    Snow Business

    Snow Business

    1 1983 HD

    Interview and profile of experimental filmmaker Michael Snow from 1983. Includes extracts from 'Back and Forth', 'Wavelength', 'La Region Central',...

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  • 1987
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    I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art

    I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art

    5 1987 HD

    This is an interesting little documentary about the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, which was apparently one of the global hotbeds of...

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  • 2016
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    Portrait of Snow

    Portrait of Snow

    1 2016 HD

    A serendipitous encounter with a younger artist gives legendary Canadian art icon Michael Snow the opportunity to reflect on his life and career.

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  • 2013
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    Snow In Vienna

    Snow In Vienna

    1 2013 HD

    World renowned artist and filmmaker Michael Snow continues to push the boundaries of yet another field, music. The avant-garde greats mastery of...

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  • 1997
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    Birth of a Nation

    Birth of a Nation

    6.3 1997 HD

    Filmmaker Jonas Mekas films 160 underground film people over four decades.

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  • 1978
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    Cinématon

    Cinématon

    4.3 1978 HD

    Cinématon is a 156-hour long experimental film by French director Gérard Courant. It was the longest film ever released until 2011....

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  • 2011
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    Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

    Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film

    6.7 2011 HD

    Experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov traces the course of experimental film in America, taking the very personal point of view of someone who grew up...

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  • 1978
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    Grand Opera: An Historical Romance

    Grand Opera: An Historical Romance

    8 1978 HD

    Grand Opera marks a stock-taking of Benning's work and his life, presenting a personal and artistic autobiography woven together with a series of...

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  • 1966
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    Manual of Arms

    Manual of Arms

    5 1966 HD

    In this "fourteen-part drill for the camera," Frampton created a portrait gallery of his art-world friends engaging in a variety of ordinary...

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  • 1967
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    Bill's Hat

    Bill's Hat

    1 1967 HD

    "The whole film are non-art portraits of people in which they do what they want with this hat – and therefore, act or stand in front of my...

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  • 1968
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    A Lecture

    A Lecture

    1 1968 HD

    This performance piece by filmmaker Hollis Frampton, recorded in 1968 in New York City, features the voice of artist Michael Snow. Frampton would...

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  • 1963
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    Toronto Jazz

    Toronto Jazz

    6 1963 HD

    Toronto is regarded as the third largest jazz centre in North America. This film features a cross-section of jazz bands of that city: the Lenny Breau...

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  • 2013
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    Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

    Diaries, Notes, and Sketches

    7.4 2013 HD

    An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s.

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  • 1970
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    The Stone Age

    The Stone Age

    1 1970 HD

    "The question is, it is either going to be a stoned age or a new Stone Age" - Louis Brigante

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  • 1979
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    Cinématon V

    Cinématon V

    1 1979 HD

    Reel 5 of Gérard Courant's on-going Cinematon series.

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  • 2016
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    EXPRMNTL

    EXPRMNTL

    1 2016 HD

    Knokke, Belgium. A small mundane coastal town, home to the beau-monde. To compete with Venice and Cannes, the posh casino hosts the second...

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  • 1979
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    Cinématon n°44 : Michael Snow

    Cinématon n°44 : Michael Snow

    1 1979 HD

    Portrait of Michael Snow

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  • 1971
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    La Région Centrale

    La Région Centrale

    7.1 1971 HD

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  • 1974
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    ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen

    ‘Rameau’s Nephew’ by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen

    7.9 1974 HD

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  • 1967
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    Wavelength

    Wavelength

    5.3 1967 HD

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  • 2002
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    *Corpus Callosum

    *Corpus Callosum

    5.4 2002 HD

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  • 1976
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    Breakfast (Table-Top Dolly)

    Breakfast (Table-Top Dolly)

    4.4 1976 HD

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  • 2000
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    Prelude

    Prelude

    4.5 2000 HD

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  • 1982
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    So Is This

    So Is This

    7.4 1982 HD

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  • 1969
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    Back and Forth

    Back and Forth

    6.9 1969 HD

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  • 1981
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    Presents

    Presents

    6.3 1981 HD

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  • 2006
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    Reverberlin

    Reverberlin

    1 2006 HD

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  • 1970
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    A Casing Shelved

    A Casing Shelved

    1 1970 HD

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  • 1964
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    New York Eye and Ear Control

    New York Eye and Ear Control

    6.1 1964 HD

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  • 1991
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    To Lavoisier, Who Died in the Reign of Terror

    To Lavoisier, Who Died in the Reign of Terror

    8.3 1991 HD

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  • 2000
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    Preludes

    Preludes

    1 2000 HD

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  • 2003
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    WVLNT

    WVLNT

    6.5 2003 HD

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  • 2005
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    Sshtoorrty

    Sshtoorrty

    4.9 2005 HD

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  • 1964
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    Little Walk

    Little Walk

    1 1964 HD

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  • 1969
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    One Second in Montreal

    One Second in Montreal

    5.5 1969 HD

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  • 2009
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    Puccini Conservato

    Puccini Conservato

    1 2009 HD

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  • 1969
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    Dripping Water

    Dripping Water

    3.2 1969 HD

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  • 1990
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    See You Later

    See You Later

    1 1990 HD

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  • 1967
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    Standard Time

    Standard Time

    5.5 1967 HD

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  • 1988
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    Seated Figures

    Seated Figures

    1 1988 HD

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  • 1970
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    Side Seat Paintings Slides Sound Film

    Side Seat Paintings Slides Sound Film

    1 1970 HD

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  • 2002
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    Solar Breath

    Solar Breath

    1 2002 HD

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  • 1956
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    A to Z

    A to Z

    4.5 1956 HD

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  • 1965
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    Short Shave

    Short Shave

    1 1965 HD

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  • 2001
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    The Living Room

    The Living Room

    5 2001 HD

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  • 2004
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    Triage

    Triage

    1 2004 HD

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  • 1967
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    Wavelength

    Wavelength

    5.3 1967 HD

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  • 1982
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    So Is This

    So Is This

    7.4 1982 HD

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  • 1967
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    Wavelength

    Wavelength

    5.3 1967 HD

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  • 1967
    imgMovies

    Wavelength

    Wavelength

    5.3 1967 HD

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  • 1967
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    Wavelength

    Wavelength

    5.3 1967 HD

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  • 1967
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    For Life, Against the War

    For Life, Against the War

    6 1967 HD

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  • 1971
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    La Région Centrale

    La Région Centrale

    7.1 1971 HD

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  • 2002
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    *Corpus Callosum

    *Corpus Callosum

    5.4 2002 HD

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  • 2002
    imgMovies

    *Corpus Callosum

    *Corpus Callosum

    5.4 2002 HD

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  • 2019
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    Cityscape

    Cityscape

    5.5 2019 HD

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  • 2019
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    Waivelength

    Waivelength

    1 2019 HD

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  • 2005
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    Sshtoorrty

    Sshtoorrty

    4.9 2005 HD

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  • 1974
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    Two Sides to Every Story

    Two Sides to Every Story

    10 1974 HD

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  • 1985
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    Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World

    Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World

    7.2 1985 HD

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  • 1971
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    La Région Centrale

    La Région Centrale

    7.1 1971 HD

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  • 1971
    imgMovies

    La Région Centrale

    La Région Centrale

    7.1 1971 HD

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  • 1983
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    Funnel Piano

    Funnel Piano

    1 1983 HD

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  • 1989
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    Cloister

    Cloister

    1 1989 HD

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