2010s

Synopsis:
A village on the border between Galicia and Portugal, hidden deep in the woods, a world out of time. Documentary moments of everyday life stand alongside dramatized scenes acted by the villagers working in the fields, sitting in the pub, singing traditional songs in the local dialect and telling old tales. Scenes of their own lives are interwoven with quotes from the play „O bosque” (The Woods) by the Galician writer Marinhas del Valle, a parable about the Franco dictatorship. When a fire breaks out in the woods, there are growing signs of an impending apocalypse. Arraianos is a film about remembering and the disappearance of a way of life.Read More »

Sara, the daughter of Oliver and Julia suddenly disappears. Days pass by without any news about the girl. But one morning, the family receives a letter from someone who claims to have retained Sara and wants to talk with them that night.Read More »

It’s summertime in Athens and Nikos, a 30-year-old broke musician, is taking care of a luxurious villa in the suburbs that belongs to a friend of his. Between poolside cocktails and fooling around with the dog that he is meant to take care of, Nikos has a plan. Still unable to get over his recent break-up with Sofia, he figures this is a unique opportunity to get some much-needed answers and he invites her over for the weekend. Sofia delightfully accepts not knowing, of course, that Nikos’ plans are not as innocent as they seem. Nikos locks himself up in the house with Sofia and refuses to let her leave until she provides some rationale for the break-up, turning their alleged carefree holiday into a mess of games, fights, laughs and introspection. Is Nikos ever going to get the answers he was looking for? Is Sofia ever going to be able to explain why they broke up? Afterlov is a funny, poignant and scathing post-love story between two people who refuse to grow up.Read More »

Godard. Fuller. Rivette. Endfield. Tarr. In his celebrated career as a film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum has undertaken wide-ranging dialogues with many of the most daring and important auteurs of our time. Cinematic Encounters collects more than forty years of interviews that embrace Rosenbaum’s vision of film criticism as a collaboration involving multiple voices. Rosenbaum accompanies Orson Welles on a journey back to Heart of Darkness , the unmade film meant to be Welles’s Hollywood debut. Jacques Tati addresses the primacy of décor and soundtrack in his comedic masterpiece PlayTime, while Jim Jarmusch explains the influence of real and Hollywoodized Native Americans in Dead Man. By arranging the chapters chronologically, Rosenbaum invites readers to pursue thematic threads as if the discussions were dialogues between separate interviews. The result is a rare gathering of filmmakers trading thoughts on art and process, on great works and false starts, and on actors and intimate moments.Read More »

Synopsis:
The story of Saartjes Baartman, a Black domestic who, in 1808, left Southern Africa, then ruled by Dutch settlers, for Europe, following her boss Hendrick Caesar , hoping to find fame and fortune there. Once in London her master turned manager does nothing but exhibit her as a freak in a phony and humiliating carnival show. After a series of troubles caused by their act, Caesar, Saartje and their new friend, bear-tamer Réaux, head for Paris where once again, and against her will, she has to mimic savagery and expose her body, first in carnivals, then in the aristocratic salons of Paris, later on among the libertines and finally in brothels where she ends up being a prostitute. Read More »

Quote:
Anthem tells the story of Luke (Monaghan) a teenager who foresees the death of his new best friend Stan (MacNicoll), the most popular guy in school. When this premonition becomes reality, Luke must deal with the trials and tribulations of being dubbed “The Prophet of Death” and being titled a freak by the entire town. It doesn’t help that he’s fallen in love with Faith (List) who just happens to be Stan’s girl or that he’s on the outs with his childhood best friend Fang (Grayson Gabriel) or that the premonitions just keep coming – In a story that expertly navigates that often rocky, at times inspiring road to adulthood, Anthem authentically balances the teenage experience of confusion, anxiety and rage with those exceptional moments of clarity, self discovery and human connection. Hormonal, funny, exhilarating and wise, Anthem slyly explores the need to belong, the isolation of youth and the powerful brew of fear truth and noise that plays inside us all.Read More »

‘Feeling Good,’ was originally one of the vignettes included in the director’s anthology feature ‘As Long as You’ve Got Your Health,’ but was later replaced with another short when Etaix was given the opportunity to re-work and re-release that film. In this comical misadventure, a man (Pierre Etaix) attempts to enjoy a camping trip out in the peaceful wilderness — but, as one might expect, he runs into a few issues, leading to a series of silly accidents. Eventually the man is forced into a satirically larger-than-life camping ground (fenced off like a prison) where he meets more bizarre characters and attempts to escape.Read More »

94-year-old Concepcion has been suffering from nervous breakdown for the past 50 years. She chooses to live alone and is haunted by random memories of the past: a memory of a nation and other life’s mysteries. Now, she faces a new period in her life as she slowly loses the capacity to remember.Read More »

Lucia is a young woman who works as a seamstress in a factory and lives with her father in an old house in Santiago, Chile. The film occurs in December 2006 during the weeks that take place from the ex-dictator Pinochet’s funeral to Christmas. Through the simple observation of Lucia’s daily life, the spectator is allowed access into a hidden and neglected world of a generation of Chileans striving to recover from the military dictatorship.Read More »