• Yanjin Yang – Xiao jie AKA Narrow Street AKA The Alley (1981)

    1981-1990AsianChinaDramaYanjin Yang

    Synopsis
    Narrow Street is the story of two youths: Xia, an easygoing, good-humored mechanic, and Yu, who is rather shy and delicate. They first meet in the late sixties, during the chaotic days of the Cultural Revolution in China. The chaos and desperation around them strengthens their friendship, but one day Xia discovers that his friend actually a girl. Yu then tells him her story – the sufferings of her family, why she had to disguise herself. When Xia tries to find a wig for her, he is badly beaten, and by the time he leaves the hospital, Yu has disappeared. The film is a powerful condemnation of the political radicalism of the Cultural Revolution and shows how ordinary people were victimized during a decade of turmoil.Read More »

  • Hayao Miyazaki – Mononoke-hime AKA Princess Mononoke (1997)

    1991-2000AdventureAnimationHayao MiyazakiJapan

    Synopsis:
    Ashitaka is infected with an incurable disease by a possessed boar/god. He is to die unless he can find a cure to rid the curse from his body. It seems that his only hope is to travel to the far east. When he arrives to get help from the deer god, he finds himself in the middle of a battle between the animal inhabitants of the forest and an iron mining town that is exploiting and killing the forest. Leading the forest animals in the battle is a human raised by wolves, Princess Mononoke.Read More »

  • Hayao Miyazaki – Majo no takkyûbin AKA Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

    1981-1990AnimationAsianHayao MiyazakiJapan

    Quote:
    A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.Read More »

  • Jennifer Baichwal – Act of God (2009)

    2001-2010ArthouseCanadaDocumentaryJennifer Baichwal

    Is being hit by lightning a random natural occurrence or a predestined event? Accidents, chance, fate and the elusive quest to make sense out of tragedy underpin director Jennifer Baichwal’s captivating new work, an elegant cinematic meditation on the metaphysical effects of being struck by lightning. To explore these profound questions, she sought out riveting personal stories around the world–from a former CIA assassin and a French storm chaser, to writer Paul Auster and improvisational musician Fred Frith. The philosophical anchor of the film, Auster witnessed his friend get struck dead by lightning as a teenager, and has been wrestling with its import on destiny ever since. In a neurological experiment, Frith improvises with his guitar to demonstrate the ubiquity of electricity in our bodies and the universe. Visually dazzling and aurally seductive, Act of God singularly captures the harsh beauty of the skies and the lives of those who have been forever touched by their fury.Read More »

  • Pola Beck – Am Himmel der Tag AKA Breaking Horizons (2012) (HD)

    2011-2020DramaGermanyPola Beck

    “Emotionally and artistically, this is a definite highlight of the competition…” ~TiFF Romania

    Synopsis:
    Lara doesn’t know what she wants. At twenty-five, she’s about to finish her degree in architecture, but it doesn’t interest her anymore. She spends her nights going out late with her friend Nora, but hasn’t enjoyed that for a while either. She wants to change her life, but she doesn’t know how. After a wild night out dancing, Lara finds herself pregnant. Confused and hesitant at first, she throws herself into the adventure: becoming a mother. But the experience takes a painful turn. Lara miscarries in her sixth month. Fearing the loss of her newfound feeling of purpose, Lara continues to carry the baby and acts as if she is still pregnant…Read More »

  • Carl Theodor Dreyer – Vampyr [Masters of Cinema 2K] (1932)

    1931-1940Carl Theodor DreyerClassicsGermanyHorrorWeimar Republic cinema

    Traveler Allan Gray arrives in the village of Courtempierre and takes lodgings in a small inn. Gray has a great interest in the supernatural, particularly vampires. He’s barely settled in when he feels a sinister force descending upon him. In the night an old man enters his room to tell him ‘she must not die’. One of the old man’s daughters, Leone, has been bitten by a vampire. In order to break the curse, Gray and Leone’s sister Gisele must find the original vampire and drive a stake through her heart.Read More »

  • Kô Nakahira – Mikkai AKA The Assignation (1959)

    1951-1960DramaJapanKô NakahiraThriller

    This well-paced, effective drama by director Ko Nakahira eloquently decries the foibles of adultery by looking at a worst possible scenario. Young Kikuko (Yoko Katsuragi) is married to an older university professor and because of the age difference as well as several other factors, she is bored with the marriage and falls for one of his students, Yuichiro (Seiji Miyaguchi). The two manage to sneak off for stolen moments together and on one of those occasions in the park, they both witness a murder. Shocked by what they saw, the student insists that they immediately go to the police to testify against the killer. But this is Japan, after all, and the adulterous wife knows that losing face by losing her marriage over her infidelity is much worse than the need to identify a killer. Unfortunately for him, the student never quite sees it her way.
    ~ Eleanor Mannikka, RoviRead More »

  • Kan Mukai – Esa AKA The Bite AKA The Pimp (1966)

    Drama1961-1970EroticaJapanKan Mukai

    Koichi is a gigolo who is paid by a madame to seduce and have sex with various women while she and her clients secretly watch. He doesn’t like what he’s doing, but he needs the money to take care of his seriously ill mother. One day he’s given the assignment to seduce a pretty waitress and they wind up falling in love. Koichi tells his madame that is going to quit, but she has other plans for him.Read More »

  • Radley Metzger – Score (1974)

    1971-1980ComedyEroticaRadley MetzgerUSA

    A tale of a happily married swinging couple (Claire Wilbur and Gerald Grant), who make a bet that they can seduce a couple of naive newlyweds (Lynn Lowry and Cal Culver) during a weekend get-together at their luxury villa on the Riviera.

    An erotic classic, populated with strikingly beautiful people who are into free love, dressing up and the fine art of seduction. Now presented for the first time in the Uncut, Uncensored version. Adults only.Read More »

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