Fantasy

A Buddhist priest becomes also a magician, dedicating himself to the protection of life wherever it’s needed, whereupon he finds himself in direct service of the Queen. Political intrigue tightens around him as it is increasingly assumed that he harbors ulterior motives. Set in Japan’s Nara Era (710 – 794 A.D.), the story is loosely based on Mikado (Empress) Koken-Shotoku and Dokyo, a Yamabushi (mountain warrior monk who practices a rugged, intense form of Vajrayana Buddhism founded by his master, Do-en).Read More »

Synopsis:
A story of “La Pasta”, a renowned prima donna, and her extraordinary rival.Read More »

Scripted and directed by the writer of The Blood on Satan’s Claw, this eerie folklorish tale is set in 19th‑century Ireland amid an isolated rural community where poverty and superstition are rife. Maura (Mary Ryan), an introverted farm girl suspected of witchcraft, discovers a mystical world of the imagination through ‘a wild, ungodly man’ – the mysterious wanderer Scarf Michael (Mick Lally).

Billed on release as the first Irish feature film in half a century, but hardly seen in the past 40 years, this uniquely dreamlike directorial feature debut is presented in an acclaimed new 2K restoration by the Irish Film Institute.Read More »

This was produced, directed, and written by Çetin Inanç, the protege of Yilmaz Atadeniz (who gave world the Kilink films.) Inanc went on to produce a whole ton of Turkish films, both craptacularly awesome superhero fair like this, and more modern stuff that includes violent action films.Read More »

Quote:
One time you find yourself in a park, on a bench, looking into space, and for a second you forget which country you are in, whether it’s morning or evening; you are pierced by a pang of loneliness, your heart becomes light and sad, what is important separates out from all the noise of the world, and the slipping, sliding shadows fill with meaning profound… Words come to mind…

“South. Border” is my present to myself, a little window to the house I will never be able to build, a house of silver and light.Read More »

Quote:
In ancient Kerala, where Tantra/Maya held sway, Thevan, a novice singer from a caste of folk singers (Paanan), narrowly escapes from slavers and finds himself lost. While fleeing, he stumbles upon an eerie household in the middle of a forest with a seemingly benevolent master and his servant. The master welcomes him, but it soon becomes clear that he is a malevolent goblin from folklore known as Chaathan, who has taken on the master’s identity. The creature from darkness ensnares anyone who enters the house as its lifelong servants. The story delves into whether Thevan and the current first servant can break free from the goblin’s control.Read More »

Synopsis: Daniel and Clara are on a vacation in Italy. In the form of the mysterious “Sandman” Coppola, a figure from Daniel’s childhood, returns to haunt him, while he succumbs to an obsessive love with an enigmatic woman of strange beauty: Olympia, who might be far more than she first appears to be…Read More »

Shanks is not so much a movie as an hallucinatory experience. World-renowned mime Marcel Marceau plays a dual role as a mute puppeteer and an eccentric inventor. The inventor dies, passing along his secrets for reviving corpses to the puppeteer. With the help of an enigmatic little girl, Marceau activates several dead bodies and goes on a robbery spree. Costarring with Marceau are fellow mime artists Tsilla Chelton and Phillipe Clay. Shanks had cult potential, but was released with a surprisingly lackluster ad campaign–all the more surprising in that the film was directed by that master huckster William Castle (whose last film this was).Read More »

Quote:
In the 19th century, a fortress is under siege from the Turkish Army. While the attack is going on, the town’s people are in the theatre, watching a play based on the life of notorious tall tale teller Baron Munchausen.

The real Baron Munchausen arrives at the theatre and claims not only to have started the war, but also to be able to save the town from the siege. He encounters only mockery from an incredulous townsfolk who dismiss the Baron and his stories.Read More »