Opening the 1976 Quinzaine, Nagisa Ôshima’s widely-banned and barrier-breaking classic no doubt remains one of the most controversial films of all time. A provocative depiction of disturbing sexual obsession, and, equally, an incendiary (if overshadowed!) critique of Japanese society.
A socialist trailblazer, Lina Wertmüller began her career as assistant to Fellini, whose influence permeates her neorealist debut. Scored by Ennio Morricone and shot by the DP of 8½ , this mesmerizing drama delves into the trials of small-town Italian life. Bask in the glory of this new restoration.
Pelin Esmer’s third film (yet her first work of pure fiction) movingly looks at the hidden tragedies that ordinary people face in their lives. In this meditative melodrama about an incongruous couple overcoming their trauma, Esmer patiently explores the emotions of individuals isolated from society.
With an Academy Award–nominated screenplay written by no less than Marguerite Duras, Alain Resnais’ French New Wave landmark is a painfully intimate mosaic of memories of love and suffering. Rendered through a startling, jagged flashback structure, this is one of the most beautiful films ever made.
A new environment can be invigorating. Kurosawa’s existential drama feels like a breath of fresh air yet it still retains the sticky feel of horror. Starring J-pop star and actor Atsuko Maeda (Before We Vanish), the film explores the dark underside of cultural tourism in our age of reality TV.
Sofía Quirós’ debut feature is a rich coming-of-age fable set on the coast of Costa Rica, realizing a serene naturalism through its mysterious and magical soundscape. Ubeda conjures striking performances out of nonprofessional actors, especially the revelatory 13-year-old Smachleen Gutiérrez.
If you thought De Palma and Rivette would never mix well, you need to see this. Deliciously playful about art and money, Jon Jost’s film oozes with ‘80s charm as its nonchalant protagonists try to fall in love. We’re proud to present this seminal American indie in a gorgeous, brand new restoration.
Well-known for his avant-garde shorts, experimental (and mononymous!) Indonesian filmmaker Edwin expands his scope with this IFFR prizewinner: a darkly comic chronicle of a Chinese woman adrift in Indonesia, structured in vignettes then arranged in patterns and parallels.
Financed by John and Yoko (!), The Holy Mountain is an incendiary, surrealist, sacrilegious satire that outraged Cannes in 1973. Infused with tarot imagery, alchemical mysticism, and countercultural freakery, it’s a lucid dream that lodges itself directly in the subconscious—and there it stays.
Exploring Zambia’s little-known culture of “witch camps,” this debut feature is a masterful combination of comedy, tragedy, magic, and dazzling visuals. A portrait of a defiant young girl and an acerbic criticism of women’s oppression and corruption through tourism, media, and societal superstition.
García is an simple man with an uneventful life, until he is on the verge of obtaining the one thing he most desires. Complications ensue in this whimsical journey, part comedy, part thriller-gangster film, which takes many routes to follow its endearing characters and its absurdist plot.
This short film from Sweden is filled with the Scandi signature of uneasy, slightly odd comedies. With a skewed house cracking their northern balance (which might be emblematic for their own wobbly relationship), the characters of Seeds of the Fall find their routine shaken, for better or worse.
Craving a little spice in your life? Then you might try immersion in this riotous “pink musical,” directed by legendary pinku eiga director Shinji Imaoka and shot by none other than Wong Kar-wai’s fabled DP Christopher Doyle. Get ready for sex, sea creatures, reincarnation, and European synth-pop!
In a beautiful act of collective creation, Eric Baudelaire shares the director’s chair with twenty schoolchildren in Un film dramatique. The result? A kaleidoscope of spontaneous self-representation, an ode to both subjectivity and collaboration movingly exploring the possibilities of cinema.
Lost for years then rediscovered in 2004, the history of Hugo Santiago’s debut and its magical genre fluidity (is it an avant-garde crime thriller, a political sci-fi?) are the stuff of legend. Co-written by Jorge Luis Borges, who said it “may well be the first example of a new fantastic genre.”
The quintessential “acid western,” Jodorowsky’s notorious underground film takes a gonzo odyssey into the heady realms of genre, myth and spirituality, fusing Eastern and Western ideas in the quest for enlightenment. A controversially unhinged cowboy freak-out from the mad prophet of radical cinema.
Tanzanian-American director Ekwa Msangi’s debut insightfully describes the experience of immigration with a personal yet universal approach too little seen in film. Set in New York, this tender family drama delighted critics in Sundance this year and features star-making turns from its three leads.
Deconstructing the titular philosophical essay, this visceral masterpiece from Indian experimental filmmaker Amit Dutta reflects on perception and how we subsequently conceive meaning. The captivating, idiosyncratic animations by Ayswarya S Dutta spectacularly connect an eclectic medley of ideas.
The film that unveiled one of cinema’s great stars to the world—Liv Ullmann—would also be the final feature from the pioneering Edith Carlmar, Norway’s first woman director. Aged only 20, Liv simply lights up the screen, exuding sensuality, power, abandon…and something dark and a little threatening.
In what would become Akerman’s final film, the great director returns home to visit her aging mother. Echoing the evocative portrait of female domesticity of her second feature, Jeanne Dielman, this masterpiece of intimacy is a profound reflection on family history and mother-daughter relations.
An elaborate choreography, shot in one single take, provides the frame for an incidental slice of humanity in action: a snapshot of a street corner in Vietnam. This atmospheric, award-winning short film is a spiritual rumination on life and the accidents that shape it, anchored in the everyday.
Chile’s resident surrealist broke all of cinema’s rules with his provocative debut. Somewhere between a dystopian, desert enlightenment quest and a stoned 1960s art happening—all shot in sublime high-contrast B&W—the cult classic was banned in Mexico, causing a literal riot on its 1968 premiere.
The feature debut by rising talent Carlos Segundo is this visually daring work of science fiction featuring an out-of-the-ordinary female lead. An enthralling, immersive exploration of loss, grief, and memory that’s tinged with humor, Slits reflects on our inability to grasp reality at its fullest.
Peter Strickland’s love affair with ASMR emerged with In Fabric and has only grown since. Seductively asking who is looking at whom, this eerily hypnotic short blends voyeurism, hair washing and dance as it dives into the strange, sensual pleasures of sonic textures—grab your headphones and succumb.
Produced by Jean-Luc Godard, who also plays a supporting role, this 16mm short by French master Éric Rohmer jumps between the interiors of Paris’ 1950s apartments—with a glimpse of the Cahiers du Cinéma offices!—and its charming boulevards. Featuring cameos by Claude Chabrol and François Truffaut.
In this award-winning drama, Turkish director Pelin Esmer takes us on a poetic journey into the lives of her characters, who have little in common but a shared sense of life’s struggles. A subtle yet vivid storyteller, Esmer explores our need for human connection and the urge to escape through art.
The astonishing first film by Marta Mateus resonates with a fierce desire to tell stories of her people and her nation in a way few filmmakers dare. As one generation encounters another, Mateus asks if the political change of the past can inspire those in the present to transform the future.
Capturing the vitality of Brazil’s transgender community, as well as the dangers and discriminations its members face, Alice Riff’s respectfully observational documentary follows four trans activists in their daily life. A refreshing collective portrait that is both insightful and political.
Reha Erdem’s festival darling has quite the electric premise, finely capturing a family man overwhelmed by this new circumstance he finds himself in—a sudden windfall of money that leads only to ethical quandary, a crisis of conscience, and mounting paranoia.
Directed by French writer Marguerite Duras—who penned, among other films, Resnais’ Hiroshima mon amour—this Paris-set drama is a follow-up to her iconic, utterly enchanting India Song. A fervid letter to anonymous love and desire, featuring the voices of Duras and protégé Benoît Jacquot.
