ComedyVulnerable before a reality that can suddenly be modified and become unpredictable, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line that divides civilization from brutality. A story about love deception, the return of the past, a tragedy, or even the violence contained in an everyday detail, appear themselves to push them towards the abyss, into the undeniable pleasure of losing control.
DramaJulie (Binoche) loses her composer husband and their child in a car crash and, though devastated, she tries to make a new start, away from her country house and a would-be lover. But she is haunted by the music that still surrounds her and by some unpleasant facts that she uncovers about her husband's life. Slowly Julie learns to live again, as music and the gift to create it prove to be a healing force.
DramaThe Hunt unfolds in a small provincial town in the days leading up to Christmas. Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), a forty year old divorcee, is finally getting his life under control. He's got himself a new girlfriend, a new job and is in the process of re-building his relationship with his teenage son, Marcus. But things soon start to unravel. Nothing significant, just a slight comment here, a random lie there. As the snow falls and the Christmas lights are lit, the lie spreads like an invisible virus. The shock and mistrust gets out of hand, and the small community suddenly finds itself in a collective state of hysteria, while Lucas fights a lonely fight for his life and dignity. The Hunt is a disturbing depiction of how a lie can quickly become truth, a modern tale of a witch-hunt, injustice, guilt and ultimately, forgiveness. A fable on how fragile a community can become when gossip, doubt and malice are allowed to flourish. It is a stirring portrait of a man struggling to exonerate himself
ThrillerWagner Moura is Captain Nascimento, commander-in-chief of Rio de Janeiro BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion), later promoted to sub-Secretary of Security for the State. After a disastrous operation on a prison riot, Nascimento gets caught in a bloody political dispute that involves not only government officials, but also deadly paramilitary groups known as the militias. Nascimento quickly emerges as victim of his own success in tackling Rio's drug gangs, he creates a vacuum filled by protection rackets supported by corrupt police. Dismantling the complex web of allegiances is a job made all the more dangerous by Nascimento's realisation that the very people that he should be able to rely on to support his mission could be his deadliest enemies. Adding to this professional challenge are his troubles at home, as Nascimento's ex-wife is now married to the newly elected State Representative, and his thirteen year old son is becoming increasingly estranged from his intense and emotio
ComedyA highly anticipated return to fiction feature filmmaking from Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire), Perfect Days takes the writer-director to Tokyo to tell a story celebrating the hidden joys and minutiae of Japanese culture. Winner of the Best Actor award at Cannes 2023, Kôji Yakusho (Babel, 13 Assassins) stars as Hirayama, a contemplative middle-aged man who lives a life of modesty and serenity, spending his days balancing his job as a dutiful caretaker of Tokyo's numerous public toilets with his passion for music, literature and photography. As we join him on his structured daily routine, a series of unexpected encounters gradually begin to reveal a hidden past that lies behind his otherwise content and harmonious life. Combining a refreshingly unstereotypical depiction of the Japanese capital with a soundtrack comprised of iconic hits from the 60s and 80s, this is a subtle, shimmering and ultimately life-affirming reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around u
DramaTwo years after his wife’s unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theatre festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), a taciturn young woman assigned by the festival to chauffeur him in his beloved red Saab 900. As the production’s premiere approaches, tensions mount amongst the cast and crew, not least between Yusuke and Koji Takatsuki, a handsome TV star who shares an unwelcome connection to Yusuke’s late wife. Forced to confront painful truths raised from his past, Yusuke begins, with the help of his driver, to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind.Adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car is a haunting road movie travelling a path of love, loss, acceptance, and peace. Winner of the Best Screenplay Award and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
DramaSummertime. A cruising spot for gay men seeking nameless sexual encounters, is tucked away on the shores of a picturesque secluded lake in rural France. Franck is an attractive young male who falls in love with Michel, a striking, extremely potent but lethally dangerous man. Franck has witnessed this first hand, but his desire for Michel knows no bounds, this is a relationship he must have – at any cost. STRANGER BY THE LAKE is a tense thriller set against the secluded back drop of, what becomes inevitably, the most dangerous lake in France.
DramaPeerless cook Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) has worked for the famous gourmet Dodin (Benoît Magimel) for the last 20 years. Bonding over a passion for gastronomy and mutual admiration, their relationship develops into romance and gives rise to delicious dishes that impress even the world's most illustrious chefs. But Eugenie is fond of her freedom and has never wanted to marry Dodin. So, he decides to do something he has never done before: cook for her. From acclaimed director Trần Anh Hùng The Taste of Things is a delectable feast for the senses and a stunningly beautiful romance that simmers with emotion.
RomanceLost souls reach out for human connection amid a glimmering Hong Kong in Wong Kar Wai’s hallucinatory, neon-soaked nocturne. Originally conceived as a segment of CHUNGKING EXPRESS only to spin off on its own woozy axis, FALLEN ANGELS plays like the dark, moody flip side of its predecessor as it charts the subtly interlacing fates of a handful of urban loners, including a coolly detached hit man (Leon Lai Ming) looking to go straight; his business partner (Michelle Reis), who secretly yearns for him; and a mute delinquent (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who wreaks mischief by night. Swinging between hard-boiled noir and slapstick lunacy with giddy abandon, the film is both a dizzying, dazzling city symphony and a poignant meditation on love, loss, and longing in a metropolis that never sleeps.
Action & AdventureIn modern-day Tokyo, three homeless people's lives are changed forever when they discover a baby girl at a garbage dump on Christmas Eve. As the New Year fast approaches, these three forgotten members of society band together to solve the mystery of the abandoned child and the fate of her parents. Along the way, encounters with seemingly unrelated events and people force them to confront their own haunted pasts, as they learn to face their future, together.
DramaIn Rome, at dawn, when everyone is sleeping, one man is awake. That man is Giulio Andreotti. He's awake because he has to work, write books, move in fashionable circles and, last but not least, pray. Calm, crafty and inscrutable, Andreotti is a synonym of power in Italy for over four decades. At the beginning of the Nineties, this impassive yet insinuating, ambiguous yet reassuring figure appears set to assume his seventh mandate as Prime Minister without arrogance and without humility. Approaching seventy, Andreotti is a gerontocrat who, with all the attributes of God, is afraid of no one and does not know the meaning of awe, since he is accustomed to seeing it stamped on the faces of all his interlocutors. His satisfaction is muted, impalpable. For him, satisfaction is power, with which he has a symbiotic relationship. Power the way he likes it. Unwavering and immutable, from the outset. He emerges unscathed from everything: electoral battles, terrorist massacres, slanderous accusati
DramaClass, cultural and sexual differences are explored in this romantic gay drama set in scorching, picturesque Tunisia. Tall, quiet Malik (Antonin Stahly), a 30-year-old Parisian architect, returns to his homeland after the death of his father. He's greeted warmly by his over-bearing, petulant mother (Italian icon Claudia Cardinale) and is immediately confronted with her expectation that he stay and get married. This now strange world of his youth, his mothers pressure and his barely hidden homosexuality set off anxiety attacks in Malik, who finally finds relief when he meets the darkly handsome handyman, Balil (Salim Kechiouche, Full Speed.) They begin a tentative relationship, but Islamic mores, a still class conscience society, and the ever-presence of his mother threaten their burgeoning love. A forbidden love story as well as a character study of people lost in rapidly changing cultures, Le Fil is an engaging, insightful and undeniably sexy drama.
DramaA cattle herder and his family who reside in the dunes of Timbuktu find their quiet lives - which are typically free of the Jihadists determined to control their faith - abruptly disturbed.
ThrillerBased on true events, Female Agents is a powerful, action packed World War II epic starring Sophie Marceau and Julie Depardieu. Set in spring 1944, a five-women commando unit parachutes into occupied France on a daring and dangerous mission to protect the secret of the D-Day landings and eliminate Colonel Heindrich, Head of German counter-intelligence. Their dangerous mission to change the war becomes a desperate fight for survival.
ClassicsAlejandro Jodorowsky is one of world cinema's most fabled iconoclasts. In 'The Holy Mountain', Jodorowsky plays The Alchemist, a guru who guides a troupe of pilgrims on a quest to ascend the Holy Mountain in search of spiritual enlightenment.
DramaShockingly explicit, blurring the lines between art and pornography, Catherine Breillat's critically acclaimed 'Romance' is one of the most controversial and notorious films of modern cinema. A young schoolteacher frustrated by the lack of intimacy shown by her boyfriend begins to look elsewhere for physical affection and embarks on a series of increasingly extreme sexual encounters.
ComedyNestled in the mountains somewhere between North Africa and the Middle East, the women of one village are on strike. Fed up of trekking miles every single day to the nearest well, newly wed Leila leads a campaign to force the men to share the duty of bringing water to the village. Overcoming the wrath of the village elders and an unexpected visit from an old flame, Leila brings the colourful local traditions face-to-face with the modern world. Fun, lively and unforgettable, this is an entertaining journey through the African mountains to the heart of one vibrant community.
DramaMysterious and deeply moving, Monster is a breathtaking piece of cinema from master director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Broker, Shoplifters). When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, single mother Saori knows that there is something wrong. Discovering that one of his teachers might be responsible, she storms into the school demanding answers. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, shocking truths begin to emerge. A timely tale of family, false impressions, and, ultimately, hope, Kore-eda's typically sensitive work features powerful performances by Ando Sakura, Tanaka Yuko and Nagayama Eita, and a sublime score from the Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
ComedyAntoine and Laurent, old friends, spend their vacation in Corsica with their respective daughters: seventeen-year-old Louna and eighteen-year-old Marie. One evening at the beach, Louna seduces Laurent. Louna is in love, but for Laurent it was nothing more than a momentary distraction. Without revealing her lover's name, Louna confides in her father, who tries by any means to discover who his daughter's lover is. How long will the secret be able to be kept hidden?
Foreign'The King’s Choice' is based on the true story of the three dramatic days in April 1940, where the King of Norway is presented with an unimaginable ultimatum from the invading German armed forces: surrender or die. With Nazi soldiers hunting them, the Royal Family is forced to flee from the capital. They decide to go their separate ways, without knowing if they’ll ever see each other again. After three days of desperately trying to evade the Germans, King Haakon makes his final decision - one that may cost the lives of him, his family and all of Norway.
DramaOn a deserted Russian Arctic island, two men work diligently at a small meteorological station. Their task is to take regular readings from their partly radioactive surroundings and relay this crucial data on to headquarters via radio - their only bridge to the outside world. For a seasoned pro like Sergei, a gruff man in his fifties, this job has become routine. During the years he has spent in extreme isolation, he has learned to take this task very seriously. His new work partner is the fresh-faced Pavel, a bright-eyed college graduate assigned to spend the summer at the station. The two men have little in common, with Pavel sticking to the company of his MP3 and video games to avoid the bullish, vaguely threatening presence of Sergei. The balance tips one day when Sergei leaves his post to go fishing for trout in a nearby lagoon. He has entrusted Pavel to do the readings and radio them through to headquarters as required. Inexperienced Pavel misses the appointed reading time and fa
ComedyNorth of France, Sainte-Gudule, 1977. Suzanne is the submissive, housebound wife of wealthy industrialist Robert Pujol, who oversees his umbrella factory with an iron fist and is equally tyrannical with his children and ‘trophy housewife’. When the workers go on strike and take Robert hostage, Suzanne steps in to manage the factory. To everyone’s surprise, she proves herself a competent and assertive woman of action. But when Robert returns from a restful cruise in top form, things get complicated...
HorrorArriving at their remote lakeside holiday home, a middle class family are alarmed by the unexpected arrival of two young men who soon begin to subject them to a twisted and horrifying ordeal of terror. With characteristic mastery, Haneke turns the conventions of the thriller genre upside down and directly challenges the expectations of his audience, forcing viewers to question the complacency with which they receive images of casual violence in contemporary cinema.
DramaAngel Deverell, a youthful, imaginative writer whose only flaw is her fascination with fantasy and romance. After she meets her publisher she has a stratospheric rise to fame. But with celebrity comes heartache and it’s not long before cracks begin to appear in Angel’s fantasy world... Angel learns you can fill your world with romance, but you can’t buy true love...
Action & AdventureThere have been many kung-fu movies set in the famed Shaolin Temple, but none have captured the monastery’s martial arts world quite like "The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin". Liu Chia-liang, a legendary director of the genre, made a star of his brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui in this look at anti-Ching Dynasty rebels and their revolt against the Manchus. Gordon Liu Chia-hui attains the ultimate knowledge of kung-fu by arduously mastering one chamber after another, eventually reaching the fabled 36th chamber. Armed with this knowledge, the monks engage in some of the most exciting battles ever staged in the history of martial arts movies. The film was Shaw Brothers’ number one hit of 1978, and won the Best Martial Arts Award at the 24th Asian Film Festival.
ComedyInspiring and uplifting, This feel good comedy delivers laughs and love in equal measures. Sick of the constant bickering between the men in their lives, a group of women in a tight-knit community decide to make a stand. To prevent all out conflict, the women take extreme steps to resolve the situation; whether it be hiring Ukranian strippers or faking a miracle in their own village, there is nothing they won't try. Bringing the village back together was never going to be easy but no-one could have imagined it would be this much fun. Hilarious and heartfelt, Where do we go now? is a vibrant tale of love, family and humanity.
ComedyLOL? It means "laughing out loud" in text language. It is also the name that Lola's friends have given her. However, when it is time to go back to school after summer break, Lola doesn't feel much like laughing. Arthur, her boyfriend, provokes her by telling her that he cheated on her over the summer. And her gang of pals is very gifted at complicating matters. Just like her mother, Anne, with whom life has become impossible, and not only because she has no idea what LOL means. That her parents have divorced is one thing, but that Anne treats her teenage daughter like a child, by lying to her about basic things - like the fact that she is still seeing her ex-partner on the sly, or that a cop is interested in her - is another. As for Anne, she wonders what on earth has happened to her sweet little daughter. From fusion to confusion, mother-daughter relationships simmer with love and plenty of LOL.
DramaA bourgeois middle-aged dentist named Veronica (MARIA ONETTO) drives alone on a dirt road, becomes distracted, and runs over something. Immediately she becomes disoriented, unmoored from her identity and reality, like a sleepwalker who’s actually awake. At first she thinks it was a dog, but as the weeks go on, she becomes obsessed with the possibility that she may have killed someone: a young boy whose body is found in a roadside canal. Veronica tries to piece together what happened while her family systematically erases any trace of the accident.
DramaTakumi and his daughter Hana live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi’s house; offering city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature. When two company representatives from Tokyo arrive in the village to hold a meeting, it becomes clear that the project will have a negative impact on the local water supply, causing unrest. The agency’s mismatched intentions endanger both the ecological balance of the nature plateau and their way of life, with an aftermath that affects Takumi’s life deeply.
ThrillerRichard is a typical cop who spends too much time on the job and isn't always there for his family. One day as he's preparing to spend some quality time with his young daughter he gets an urgent call and responds to it. His worst fears are brought to life when he returns home to find his daughter missing. Tragically, the girl's body is soon discovered, and thanks to the dedication of Richard's colleagues, a suspect is caught and convicted.
However, shortly after his incarceration the supposed killer manages to lure Richard into a secret correspondence. Wracked with guilt for his failure to save his daughter and filled with hatred for the man convicted of the crime Richard is initially resistant. But doubts begin to surface. Did they catch the right man? Or could a child murderer still be at large? Driven by his tortured conscience, and determined to find the truth, Richard launches his own secret investigation.
ComedyLife smiles at Dino Fabrizzi (Kad Merad), a cool forty-two-year old Italian. Not only is he the most successful salesman at the Maserati dealership in Nice but he has had a steady (and hot) relationship with Hélène, his girlfriend, who is beginning to contemplate marriage. To crown it all he is nearly certain to land a senior position at the dealership. But there is a tiny wee problem. The funny Italian is not Italian at all! His real name is Mourad and he is actually of Algerian origin. So, when to please his father (who does not know his son pretends to be Italian), he promises him to celebrate Ramadan he is bound to get into serious trouble...
Action & AdventureThe time of heavy swords and laws of blood revenge. The ruling family is torn apart by bitter rivalry. Prince Yaropolk is accused of accidentally murdering his brother. The responsibility for revenge falls upon Yaropolk’s younger half-brother Vladimir, who refuses to comply with the blood law. His refusal to kill will cost him everything he’s had. It takes more swords to uphold peace than to wage war.
DocumentaryFilm director Corinna Belz was granted extraordinary access to the studio of eminent German painter Gerhard Richter. The result is rare, immediate insight into the genesis of a series of his abstract paintings, from the first stroke of paint on canvas, through countless layers of over-painting, to an exhibition opening in New York. The perceptive feature-length documentary allows the viewer to become immersed in the quietly suspenseful cycle of an artistic process. Born in 1932, Gerhard Richter has been at the cutting edge of his field for five decades. His first 13 years were spent under the National Socialist regime, followed by 16 years of East German Communism and then a half century of what Richter has jokingly referred to as "Capitalist Realism". The artist remains fundamentally sceptical of all belief systems and ideologies. Throughout the film we are treated to Richter's pithy comments, which reveal not only wry humour but also hard-won insight into life and art. Filmmaker Cori
IndependentCapturing not only a raw, tender intimacy but also the growing claustrophobia and danger of a life in the shadows, this powerful, award-winning feature debut by LA-based Israeli director Michael Mayer is a compelling portrayal of love between barriers, and of a man facing insurmountable odds on his journey to experience it. Palestinian student Nimr's dreams of a better life abroad come into sharp focus when he meets Roy, an Israeli lawyer, and the two men fall in love. As the relationship deepens, Nimr is confronted with the harsh realities of a Palestinian society that refuses to accept him for his sexual identity, and an Israeli society that rejects him for his nationality. When a close friend is brutally murdered as a suspected collaborator, Nimr finds himself forced to choose between the life he thought he wanted, and his love for Roy.
DramaAn 18 year old girl called Joy has gone missing. Another girl called Helen is a few weeks away from leaving her care home. Helen is asked to ‘play’ Joy in a police reconstruction that will retrace Joy’s last known movements. Joy had everything. A loving family, a boyfriend, a bright future. Helen, parentless, has lived in institutions all her life and has never been close to anyone. Gradually Helen begins to immerse herself into the role, visiting the people and places that Joy knew; quietly and carefully insinuating her way into the lost girl’s life.
Drama"The Time That Remains" is a semi-autobiographical film, in four episodes, about a family, my family, from 1948 until recent times. The film is inspired by my father's private diaries, starting from when he was a resistance fighter in 1948, and by my mother's letters to family members who were forced to leave the country. Combined with my intimate memories of them and with them, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained and were labelled "Israeli-Arabs", living as a minority in their own homeland.
ForeignThe latest from cult filmmaker Bruce LaBruce (Hustler White) follows Dominic, a young man with a fetish... for himself: nothing turns him on more than his reflection. After discovering he has a secret twin - raised as a captive to a depraved priest in a remote monastery - the power of destiny brings together the two beautiful, identical brothers, who are soon embroiled in a blasphemous web of sex, revenge and redemption. A love letter to the psychosexual thrillers of the 1970s, LaBruce's anarchic comedy is full of his trademark punk provocations.
DramaDenmark’s Official Submission to the 2023 Academy Awards, Holy Spider is a gripping and darkly atmospheric crime thriller inspired by the true story of Iran’s most notorious serial killer. Set in the holy city of Mashhad, Ali Abbasi’s haunting latest feature follows journalist Rahimi (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) as she investigates a serial killer targeting sex workers. Labelled the ‘Spider Killer’, the man responsible for these murders is Saeed Hanaei (Mehdi Bajestani), who believes he is on a divine mission to cleanse the city of sinners. As Rahimi desperately tries to bring Saeed to justice, support for his actions begins to grow throughout Mashhad as many hail him as a hero on a religious quest. Led by a compelling performance from Ebrahimi, who won the Best Actress Award at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, this is a blistering critique of contemporary Iranian society from the director of the award-winning Border.
ForeignSophie Marceau's first screen performance as the fourteen year old school girl Vic won her international acclaim. Vic lives with her parents but she gets along much better with Poupette, her great-grandmother. Vic confides in the energetic old lady and shares all her joys and feelings with the very open-minded dowager while her parents muddle through the cross-purposes of their love life.
DramaAfter 23 years of dutiful service to the Valdes family, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) has come to regard herself as not only a maid but a family member. But her employers start to worry about her workload after Raquel repeatedly clashes with their teenage daughter, and they hire additional help. Frantic that her position is under threat, Raquel utilises ever more childish antics to sabotage each new employee. Brilliantly observed and featuring an award-winning performance from Catalina Saavedra, Sebastian Silvas acclaimed black comedy recalls the satirical genius of Luis Bunuel.
DramaAs Christmas approaches, Artur gathers his friends at his family's luxury villa. Away from the everyday responsibilities of home, the young men fill their days with idle chit-chat and afternoon naps, although nothing gives this boisterous bunch more pleasure than playing risqué pranks on one another - mischievously testing the limits of their supposed heterosexuality. But as the games continue, personal boundaries are slowly breached, and soon the innocent high jinks and easy atmosphere give way to growing unease. As with much of his work, director Marco Berger (Plan B, Taekwondo) takes great delight in amplifying the homoerotic undercurrents of male friendships, investing as much time exploring his characters' toned physiques as he does their inner thoughts. But while the sensory pleasures of Horseplay are immediate, at its heart lies a far more challenging critique of consent, sexual misconduct and toxic masculinity.
DramaMartina Gedeck, best known for her performance in the Academy Award-winning film 'The Lives of Others', stars in 'The Wall', a contemporary female Robinson Crusoe story. Based on Marlen Haushofer’s best-selling eponymous novel from the 1960s, the film is a highly original exploration of the experience of solitude and survival. Gedeck plays an unnamed Austrian woman who goes to a secluded Alpine hunting lodge with her cousin and the latter's husband who, shortly after their arrival, decide to visit the nearest village. When the couple do not return the next morning, the woman sets out for the village and discovers an invisible wall, behind which there appears to be no sign of life. The wall now separates her from the rest of the world. Left behind with a dog, a cat and a cow, she must try to survive alone in the forest. She keeps a record of her thoughts, her fears and the hardship she suffers, although it's unlikely anyone will ever read her outpourings. Martina Gedeck's outstanding
DramaUnited States 1926: The Dutch, 24-year-old Antonia Brico was a child when she and her parents immigrated to the United States. She dreams of becoming a conductor, but nobody takes her ambition seriously. Her piano teacher advices her against taking the entrance exam for the conservatory. Because she has little to lose, she returns to her motherland, where she begs the famous conductor Mengelberg to teach her conducting lessons. Mengelberg is not comfortable with the idea and sends her to Berlin where she, against all expectations, has a better chance as a woman to make it. Emotional strain threatens to overwhelm her, when the love of her life puts her in a difficult position. What choice will Antonia make?
IndependentDedicated police detective Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong) is assigned the case of a series of horrific murders in a rural Chinese town. As the investigation progresses, pressure from his superiors to find the suspected serial killer mounts, leading to a hasty arrest. But while his colleagues rush to celebrate, several clues push Ma Zhe deeper into a desperate investigation of his own - leading him into a dark world where mystery hangs over his every lead. A gripping crime thriller, Only the River Flows will take you on a journey into one man's obsession with finding the truth whatever it takes.
DramaEnrique Buchichios charming drama LEOS ROOM (EL CUARTO DEL LEO) stars Martin Rodriguez as Leo, a man on a journey of self-discovery. After his relationship with his girlfriend fizzles out Leo starts to question his sexuality; an issue complicated further by a chance encounter with an old school crush, Caro (Cecilia Cosero).
DramaThirty years ago, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov (Aleksei Guskov) was the celebrated conductor of the renowned Bolshoi Orchestra. But during the communist era, he was fired at the height of his fame. Demoted to the position of cleaner at the Bolshoi, he learns by chance that the Châtelet Theatre in Paris has invited the Orchestra to perform. In a moment of inspiration, Andrei intercepts the invitation and reunites his orchestra to perform in the place of the current Bolshoi Orchestra. He wants Anne-Marie Jacquet (Mélanie Laurent), a young virtuoso with a mysterious past, as the solo violinist to accompany his old Jewish and gypsy musicians. As the night of the performance approaches, tensions rise as the stakes grow higher. If Andrei succeeds in pulling of this grand deception, it will be the greatest triumph of his career.
DramaAcclaimed adaptation of the Marcel Pagnol novel, and Best Film BAFTA winner. City-dweller Jean moves his family to the Provence countryside in the 1920s to forge a new life as a farmer. But his proud, cocky neighbouring rival Le Papet schemes with his simple-minded nephew to acquire some nearby land ensuring the novice owner never discovers an all-important natural spring on the property. A wholly captivating, emotionally powerful and beautifully photographed classic epic of innocence, greed, envy and revenge.
ComedyA skinflint husband at last decides to be generous to his wife by offering her the gift of a country house. But he can’t refrain from doing it on the cheap and therefore chooses to work with a dubious real estate agent and bungling workmen, who soon turn his surprise into a nightmare.
ComedyOdette Toulemonde (Odette Everybody) has no objective reason to be happy, but she is. Balthazar Balsan has all it takes to be happy, but he’s not. Odette, in her awkward 40s, between her luscious hairdresser son and her teenage daughter stuck in puberty, works by day selling make-up in a department store and by night sewing feathers on costumes for the girls of Parisian cabarets. She dreams of thanking Balthazar Balsan, her favorite writer, for the optimism which she believes emanates from him. The wealthy and seductive writer is going to land in her life in a totally unexpected way. The story of a meeting between two unusual castaways who have nothing in common...
DramaLike Someone in Love, named after Ella Fitzgerald’s jazz standard, is a droll, elegant and playful film preoccupied with identities mistaken and assumed, laced with references to the films of Yasujirō Ozu. Akiko, a pretty and slightly distant sociology student works nights as a high-class escort. Instead of studying for her exams and meeting her grandmother, she reluctantly goes to the house of her latest client, the retired sociology professor Takashi. Next morning, she allows him to give her a ride to university where they cross paths with her volatile boyfriend, Noriaki who assumes that the kind old man is Akiko's grandfather. An odd role-playing routine begins, until the hoax is discovered.
DramaThe timeless story continues in the award-winning sequel to Jean De Florette. Jean's daughter Manon has grown up in to a beautiful and free-spirited young shepherdess on her father's Provence farm.But when she learns the tragic truth about her father's demise, Manon plots her revenge on the dim-witted Ugolin and the scheming Le Papet. A visual feast containing masterly performances leading to a heart-stopping and totally unexpected conclusion, Manon des Sources is regarded as one of the best French Films ever made.
ComedyCowboy and Indian’s plan to surprise Horse with a homemade birthday gift backfires when they accidentally destroy his house. To their dismay, no sooner have they built a new home when it is stolen from beneath their noses by a stealthy and cunning midnight assailant. Strange adventures ensue as the trio travel to the centre of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe where pointy headed (and dishonest!) creatures live. With panic a permanent feature of life in this papier mâché world, will Horse and his girlfriend ever be alone?
ComedyPulsating with the energy and wit of Almodovar, director Nacho G. Velilla’s debut is a pot of the best Spanish paella served piping hot and fresh. Javier Cámara (Talk to Her) stars as Chef Maxi, a culinary genius/drama queen with too much on his plate. As if keeping his chic restaurant in the black and wrangling with his wild staff aren’t enough, add in a steamy romance with a closeted soccer superstar, sexual competition from gal pal Alex (Lola Dueñas, “Volver”) and a tense reunion with his estranged children. A box-office smash in Spain and a festival favorite around the globe, this saucy comedy serves up a bellyful of laughs.
DramaA beautifully affecting love story that has rightly earned comparisons to Brokeback Mountain, Haim Tabakman's potent yet impeccably restrained tale has won awards and accolades at film festivals the world over. Aaron, a pillar in Jerusalem's Orthodox community is respected by friends and family. However, when he hires handsome runaway student Ezri to assist with his business, sexual tensions bristle and the pair cautiously embark on a love affair. Meanwhile, a neighbouring shopkeeper persists in seeing a man of her own choosing, even though she's been promised by her father to another. As forbidden truths come to the fore, these lovers are forced to either confront or relent in the face of a centuries old religious community, with startling results.
DramaTo Get to Heaven First You Have to Die marks director Djamshed Usmonov (Angel On the Right) out as one of the brightest talents of post-Soviet cinema. Sparer, bleaker and much more unsettling than his previous films it stars Khurched Golibekov as the sullen, wide-eyed Kamal, who has been married for a few months, but is unable to consummate his marriage. Learning that there is nothing physically wrong with him after visiting a doctor, Kamal sets off to town to find a woman. With his child-like, country-boy naivete, he struggles to meet anyone until a chance encounter on a bus. This accidental meeting takes him on a far more troubling and darker journey than he was counting on… Compared by critics to Krzysztof Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Love, Usmanov's absolutely sure-footed direction and storytelling make for a film that gently, gradually pulls the rug out from under our feet, in a classic example of less-is-more film-making.
DramaIn 1942, Belarus is in the hands of the Nazis and the local militia. Sushenya is taken from his house in the middle of the night by Burow and his sidekick Voitik, two partisan fighters hiding out in the hills and forest. Sushenya is the only one of four captured rail workers who has been allowed to live by the occupying Germans, after seemingly sabotaging the rail tracks. With the village and even his wife turned against him as a collaborator, Sushenya accepts his fate until the Germans show up and he is, perhaps, given a second chance, leaving room for doubt both on his betrayal and on the legitimacy of punishment by death. The three, and later two men, walk in the wood, exhausted, fleeing death from the Nazis whilst discussing and living with the moral dilemmas of treason, heroism, guilt and revenge. Shot in sumptuous long takes and vibrant colour, In the Fog ultimately questions the corruption of man’s very humanity in the context of war.
DramaRoberta is a young lesbian living in Santiago. Her girlfriend Javiera is a woman of the world, an actress, dancer and philosopher. Despite all of Roberta's best efforts to avoid it, she finds herself in an awkward situation when she has to introduce her new girlfriend to her conservative mother, Ana. When Roberta can think of no other way to put off the meeting, she comes up with a bright idea. She decides to go on a small sailboat for a trip with Javiera and Ana, leaving them nowhere to run! Awkwardness quickly turns to an alliance between the women thanks to the wine on board. Before long they are revealing secrets and really get to know one another. For all those who understand what it is really like to introduce your parents to your partner, A Map for Love is a fresh and exciting addition to the new wave of lesbian cinema.
DocumentaryEleven men and women born between the wars. Seemingly they have nothing in common except their homosexuality and growing up in a less open, more intolerant society. Now in their 60s and 70s, they tell their personal stories, either shared or alone, revealing often pioneering lives through seven decades of experience. Sébastien Lifshitz, director of Presque Rien and Wild Side, offers us eleven personal portraits of gay and lesbian life from an older generation who often remain invisible and unheard in a youth-obsessed society. Winner of the César Award for Best Documentary, and nominated for the BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award, it’s an affectionate but frank account that is in turn touching and amusing, offering an invaluable reminder of an overlooked area of our community at a time when we consider our own attitudes towards a growing elderly population.
RomanceAdrien, an attractive dancer whose career was shattered by a motorcycle accident, squanders his youth in idleness. His life changes when he meets Margot, who lives off scams and amorous manipulations.
