Depraved. Decadent. Damned. Another progenitor of the cult 1970s Italian Nazisploitation genre (alongside Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter) Tinto Brass’s Salon Kitty is a true story transformed into outrageously transgressive erotica. Featuring the legend of European cinema, Helmut Berger.
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni were a dream couple for comedy hits in the 60s, but with their director, the legendary Vittorio De Sica, they were equally skilled at drama. Just witness this grand historical romance, full of visuals and carried along on a swooning Mancini score!
A nostalgic coming-of-age tale, this crucial film of the New Taiwanese Cinema was the first to bring the movement to the commercial forefront. Co-written by Hou Hsiao-hsien, the film explores prominent social issues surrounding Taiwanese identity as its story of juvenile delinquency unfolds.
Hou Hsiao-hsien closes his triumphant coming-of-age trilogy with the underrated Dust in the Wind, a sublime story of first love set in ’70s Taiwan. With increasing formal precision, Hou masterfully explores the tension between tradition and transition, rural life and an urbanized Taipei.
The first Armenian feature directed by a woman, Maria Saakyan’s bold debut is a mesmerizing journey weaving village life and reveries into a swirling vision reminiscent of Tarkovsky. Saakyan’s life was tragically cut short, but this new restoration beautifully showcases her extraordinary vision.
The penultimate feature from Renoir, which he considered to be his saddest film, is a darkly humorous WW2 tale, co-written by Guy Lefrance, who brought his experiences in a German POW camp to the page. A quasi-sequel to Grand Illusion, Jean-Pierre Cassel stars in this beautiful and humanist story.
Jean Renoir’s second film is a splendid adaptation of Zola’s novel, starring his then-partner, Catherine Hessling, in the eccentric titular role. Influenced by Von Stroheim and German Expressionism, Nana is an ambitious and detailed silent drama, blending a somber mood with frequent visual comedy.
One film, one incredible shot. Marcell Iványi won the Palme d’Or for this short that shows the emotional and conceptual power of a moving camera. It opens with a mystery, and as the camera turns, tension builds, expanding to an epic scope and culminating in a finale that takes your breath away.
The bold second feature by Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau) is a modern melodrama of fierce feminine resistance. In a tremendous, powerful performance, the great Sonia Braga stars as a woman who refuses to back down in the face of a changing Brazilian society. An engrossing, brilliantly told film.
Based on texts by nativist writer Huang Chun-ming, this omnibus shaped the united political voice of the New Taiwanese Cinema’s early stages. With Taiwan’s self-identity crisis at the forefront of all three parts, the film is titled after vital filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien’s delicate segment.
Semi-autobiographical and spanning two decades, this early masterpiece from Hou Hsiao-hsien perfectly combines the historical drama and the coming-of-age story. A superb family saga, the film was an early international success for the filmmaker, winning the FIPRESCI prize at the 1986 Berlinale.
A delicate portrait of a rare film collection and the man who has dedicated his life to preserving it, this delightful documentary is a must-see for film lovers. Saving Brinton also wonderfully showcases some of those movies (including ones by Georges Méliès!) and the community that they unite.
Marguerite Duras further subverts and reimagines cinematic form with her fervid letter to anonymous love and desire. A film is in the making while another unravels: two voices (Duras and Benoît Jacquot), lost in contemporary solitude, resonate while a camera wanders the empty streets of Paris.
Affonso Uchôa’s follow-up to the great Araby, which he co-directed, is a fierce indictment of police violence. His new film catches up with a displaced victim and listens to his story—a lived, personal experience—with profound compassion. A devastating finale evokes resistance in the face of death.
We’re thrilled to present, right after its Venice world premiere, the new film by Mati Diop! Shot in her Paris studio during lockdown and based on recordings of her grandmother, Diop ingeniously created a melodramatic home movie that playfully blends themes of womanhood, transmission, and freedom.
Marking the beginning of the New Taiwanese Cinema, this four-legged anthology film is an impressive illustration of the perceptive realism that would mark its successors. Directed by four rookie filmmakers, seminal director Edward Yang’s contribution is a sensitive portrayal of teenage femininity.
The New Taiwanese Cinema of the 1980s revitalized the nation’s cinematic landscape at a time of political transformation. We begin our retrospective with a classic from preeminent director Edward Yang (Yi Yi) , an enigmatic puzzle that refracts the changing society and culture of ’80s Taipei.
A single day in the New York Times’ obituary writers’ room, Vanessa Gould’s deftly structured Obit is a journey into one of the world’s most fascinating professions. Moving beyond curiosity for writing craft, the film hints at the philosophical questions about mortality that concern us all.
Opening our focus on Marguerite Duras’ hypnotic cinema is her radical, enclosed melodrama with Delphine Seyrig and Gérard Depardieu. Fixating on one heartbreaking conversation—as an outdoor music permeates the room—Duras creates a one-of-a-kind, visceral experience about the anguish of love.
It’s a pleasure to witness Damien Manivel’s cinema blossom with each new film. Earning him Best Director in Locarno, this graceful ode to trailblazing choreographer Isadora Duncan nests a delicate evocation of grief, artistic inspiration and womanhood. An exquisite encounter between dance and film.
How best to describe the seductive figure of this visceral, vérité portrait? Like the film itself, the audaciously bawdy queer poet Marcelo Diorio is full of provocation, tackling the boldest, most taboo of topics—like sex, incest, and death—with his wildly explicit sense of humor. The cheek of it!
Hugely successful at the box office both domestically and overseas, this buddy epic sees director Rajkumar Hirani mix slapstick with coming-of-age drama while dissecting the many sides of modern bromance. A big time entertainer, featuring some of Bollywood’s most accomplished song-and-dance scenes!
Before The Handmaiden and Oldboy, this murder mystery set within the DMZ was the international breakout of Korean maestro Park Chan-wook. A departure from his usual nihilism, Joint Security Area is a politically charged, yet humanist, whodunit enriched by the director’s thrilling flourishes.
A fantastical tribute to the iconic musician, this playful portrait takes us on Gainsbourg’s journey from Occupied France to Jamaica, and, in all of the years between, his infamous relationships with Bambou, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Birkin. Winner of the César Award for Best First Feature Film.
Premiering in Cannes, Xavier Dolan’s heartfelt new film sees the return of the beloved director before the camera. This sparkling drama is the story of a friendship between men from different classes that is challenged by the possibility of separation—and attraction. A director Q&A follows the film.
Carefully observing the harvest of agave and its production into liquor, this enthralling documentary looks at the plant and its place in Mexican culture. Following multiple families and their history, the film uses animation and archival footage to investigate its fascinating botanical subject.
A coming-of-age journey with a dose of magical realism, this documentary from Mo Scarpelli challenges stereotypes about childhood outside of the West. Emboldened by the beautiful relationship between subject and director, Anbessa strikes a delicate balance between topicality and formal adventure.
The invincible nature of modern-day LGBT+ communities is at the heart of this powerful observational doc. Filmed guerrilla-style in the run-up to the election of Brazil’s current president Jair Bolsonaro, Indianara raises urgent questions about the imminent future of those living in the margins.
The second feature from Palestinian director Muayad Alayan is a taut yet naturalistic Jerusalem-set drama about the spiraling consequences of a high-stakes affair. As the personal inevitably turns political, Alayan boldly unveils how the imbalance of power seeps through to an avoidable conclusion.
Set in his hometown of Fenyang, Jia Zhangke’s eccentric hybrid short stars the director’s veteran actors playing fictional versions of themselves. A frenzied job search leads to a comic exploration of the bizarre, novel relationship between China’s cultural traditions and free-reign capitalism.
