2001-2010

Four men attempt to fool around as much as they can before their wives return from a 14-hour Buddhism trip to Thailand.Read More »

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Created for an innovative museum exhibition in Barcelona and Paris that paired the works of Víctor Erice and Abbas Kiarostami, Correspondences is composed of ten “filmed letters” between the two great filmmakers. As in their other films, children, imagination, and the creative process take center stage; in one, the young grandchildren of the painter from Erice’s The Quince Tree Sun show off their own unique styles, while in another nine-year-olds in a rural Spanish classroom watch Kiarostami’s Where Is the Friend’s Home? Kiarostami follows an “escaped quince” from the Spanish film to a neighborhood in Iran in one sequence, and plays with artistic perspective in another. “Modern messages in a bottle” (Miguel Marias), these not-so-simple video letters recognize no international stamps or borders, only the artistic and personal links between individuals.Read More »

This is the story of Mei, a young woman on a trip from East to West after her escape from her provincial Chinese village. Beginning in Chongqing and a disastrous factory job, Mei soon heads out for London and a marriage to an older man where her entrapment begins anew.Read More »

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Julie (Anaïs Demoustier) is eager to make a start in the job market. But she finds herself taking a succession of soul-destroying jobs (the film is especially brittle in its look at the ostensibly hip and ‘human’ PR world) and tangling with a series of wildly unsuitable men. Taking part in a role-playing charade for a job interview, she meets a freewheeling young actor (Pio Marmaï), who shows her another way to live life, outside the nine-to-five rut. The couple hit it off and head for an idyllic existence away from the system, only for reality to catch them unawares.Read More »

A man suspects his wife of being unfaithful, but he’s not prepared for what her confession will do to him.Read More »

Julien lives alone with his cat. He dreams of Marie, and a few minutes later, he sees her on the street and makes a date. He asks her to move in with him, and she does. Her boyfriend is dead, the rest of her past a mystery. Although they quickly seem to fall in love, she sometimes pulls away suddenly from Julien, is distant, and spends the night in a hotel. She also dreads something imminent and warns Julien that if he missteps, he will lose her and all memory of her. Julien responds by digging into her past: what explains her remodeling an upstairs garret room, her nightly dreams, her fears? What can Julien, now desperately in love, do when he learns why? Can either rescue the other?Read More »

Misaki’s husband Ken’ichi dies in a car accident soon after their marriage. He had managed the Sunrise Villa apartments, which his parents have managed after his death. A psychic claims to have received word from Ken’ichi’s spirit that he wants the apartments to be kept running responsibly.Read More »

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n April 24, 2004, Kawase Naomi had a son, Mitsuki. Following Japanese tradition, she gave birth on a tatami mat, assisted by a midwife and surrounded by all her family. As soon as the umbilical cord was cut, she tools up her camera and films every day her child and her ninety-year-old grandmother. With this highly emotionally affecting «docu-diary» the filmmaker continues to reflect on the world around her, her origins and the future. Although she initially wanted to describe only the life she carried within her for nine months, Kawase Naomi eventually extended the scope of her film to include Mitsuki’s interaction with those around him. By deliberately breaking with any notion of linear temporarily, she creates, with gentleness but also with harshness and violence, a pendulum like movement between moments, past and present feelings. Read More »

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A journey through Italian landscapes as seen through the windows of several long-distance express trains.Read More »