Quote:
Hana Doda, still a girl, escapes from her destiny of being wife and servant which is imposed on the women in the inhospitable mountains in Albania. She appeals to the old law of the Kanun and swears her eternal virginity thus becoming a “sworn virgin”. She turns into a man, takes up a rifle and becomes Mark, Mark Doda. It is in exchange for this sacrifice that Hana is allowed to be considered at the same level as other men. Her battle does not only mean that she must rebel against what destiny has been writing on her body for centuries, but she must also reject, in name of this rebellion, every form of love. A refusal that becomes her prison. After more than ten years spent in solitude in the mountains as a man, she becomes brutish and she transforms to survive the hardship, the cold and misery, until something returns to awaken her again… Hana decides to change life and painstakingly regain her body.Read More »
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Laura Bispuri – Vergine giurata AKA Sworn Virgin (2015)
2011-2020DramaItalyLaura Bispuri -
Valeriy Todorovskiy – Podmoskovnye Vechera AKA Katya Ismailova (1994)
1991-2000DramaRussiaValeriy TodorovskiyQuote:
A wife finds her life transformed after a torrid affair in this story of murder. Katia is a rather dull young woman who types manuscripts for Irina, her husband’s mother and successful writer of romance novels. Katia’s husband is a real momma’s boy. They go to Irina’s summer house to work. There Katia encounters the intense and sexy Serguei who creates passionate longings with in her. Overcome she and Serguei engage in vigorous love-making upon a windowsill where Irina sees them. Irina has a weak heart. Quiet Katia, having rediscovered the joys of sex, changes and becomes more assertive and flighty. Serguei quickly loses interest in her. Strange and deadly things begin happening at the summer house which calls the attention of a judge who is extremely familiar with Irina’s writing. ~ Sandra Brennan, RoviRead More » -
Mia Hansen-Løve – L’avenir AKA Things to Come (2016)
2011-2020DramaFranceMia Hansen-LøveQuote:
Nathalie teaches philosophy at a high school in Paris. She is passionate about her job and particularly enjoys passing on the pleasure of thinking. Married with two children, she divides her time between her family, former students and her very possessive mother. One day, Nathalie’s husband announces he is leaving her for another woman. With freedom thrust upon her, Nathalie must reinvent her life.Read More » -
Werner Herzog – Salt and Fire (2016)
2011-2020FranceThrillerWerner HerzogTwo ecologists (played by Veronica Ferres and Gael Garcia Bernal) are sent to South America as part of a U.N. investigation into an ecological disaster. They are quickly kidnapped by the villainous CEO (played by Michael Shannon) of a large company held responsible for the ecological disaster. But when a supervolcano nearby begins to show signs of erupting, they must unite to avoid a disaster.
Salt and Fire is a 2016 internationally co-produced thriller film directed by Werner Herzog. It had its premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival. It was selected to be screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. – wikiRead More »
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Chris Marker – Le fond de l’air est rouge AKA A Grin Without a Cat [Marker’s 1993 re-edit] (1977)
1971-1980Chris MarkerDocumentaryFranceThe Films of May '68Synopsis:
French essay film focusing on global political turmoil in the 1960s and ’70s, particularly the rise of the New Left in France and the development of socialist movements in Latin America.Read More » -
Manoel de Oliveira – Acto da Primavera AKA Rite of Spring (1963)
1961-1970ArthouseExperimentalManoel de OliveiraPortugalQuote:
Oliveira returned to the center of Portugal’s film scene in the 1960s with Acto da Primavera (Rite of spring; 1963), a work that marks a significant change in the director’s trajectory and that initiates some of the cinematic strategies that he would develop more fully in later films. In Acto da Primavera, Oliveira offers a version of a popular representation of the Passion of Christ, enacted by members of a rural community in northern Portugal, derived from the Auto da Paixão de Jesus Cristo (1559), by Francisco Vaz de Guimarães. He came across the annual Easter drama in the small town of Curalha when he was looking for locations for “O Pão,” and he was so taken by it that he wanted to return and register it on film.Read More » -
Sergio Corbucci – Totò, Peppino e la dolce vita (1961)
1961-1970ClassicsComedyItalySergio CorbucciPlot (Babelfish translation):
Antonio goes to Rome, the great city center of the ” dolce vita”, with the money collected from the fellow countrymen, in order to spend them on a project: To construct a freeway for the home town. But the countrymen do not have more news and they send Peppino to search for him. But when Peppino meet Antonio he is also dragged into metropolian habits and the sweet roman life, between beautiful actresses, cocaine exchanged for borotalco (?) and orgies. The town folks impatiently await news… Read More » -
Miguel Gonçalves Mendes – José e Pilar (2010)
2001-2010DocumentaryMiguel Gonçalves MendesPortugalRomance“The Elephant’s Journey”, in which Saramago narrates the adventures and antics of an elephant transported from the court of King John III of Portugal to that of the Austrian Archduke Maximillian, is the starting point of José and Pilar.
It shows us their day to day life in Lanzarote, at home and on work trips around
the globe. José and Pilar is a surprising portrayal of an author throughout the
creative process and of the relationship of a couple dedicated to changing the
world, or at least trying to make it a better place.Read More » -
Jun Ichikawa – Tony Takitani (2004)
2011-2020ArthouseAsianJapanJun Ichikawa
Alone and self-sufficient since childhood, Tony shuns emotions as illogical and immature. After finding his true vocation as a technical illustrator, he becomes fascinated with Eiko, whom he marries. His life changes, he feels vibrantly alive, and for the first time, he understands and fears loneliness. But when Eiko’s all consuming obsession for designer clothes ends in tragedy, Tony finds himself alone again, sitting in his wife’s closet, gazing at her treasured couture pieces, the whispering ghosts of her soul. Finally, Tony places an ad in the paper searching for a woman who fits Eiko’s measurements perfectly.Read More »







