Arthouse

  • Jean-Daniel Pollet – Tu imagines Robinson AKA Imagine Robinson Crusoe (1968)

    Jean-Daniel Pollet1961-1970ArthouseExperimentalFrance

    This utopian fable that takes place on an island in Greece, is freely inspired by Daniel Defoe’s novel and speaks above all about loneliness: the immense weakness of today’s man, confronted by his loneliness, is no longer that of the hero of the 18th century. Robinson Crusoe’s story is only seen as the fictional basis, which is surpassed to achieve something universal that time does not alter. The spectators are put in the condition of being interested above all in the writing of the images and not in Robinson’s story, since in general they know it.Read More »

  • Alberto Seixas Santos – Mal AKA Evil [+ Extras] (1999)

    1991-2000Alberto Seixas SantosArthouseDramaPortugal

    Quote:
    In “Evil”, the stories and lives of the characters intertwine as a web, where in the center we engage in the relationship of Cathy and Peter. Cathy is Irish, Catholic and from a very young age she’s attracted by the great struggle for social ideals holding a huge sense of justice, in the work with illegal immigrants. Has for Pedro an excessive love. Submissive-dependent, and is not aware of his changes over time. Peter is a respected lawyer who has set aside the ideals of youth. Its success is the result of involvement in “lobbying” economic and political. Obsessed with sex, it engages in assiduous and constant extra-marital relationships, consciously cheating Cathy, although still loving her.Read More »

  • Tariq Teguia – Thwara Zanj AKA Zanj Revolution AKA Revolution Zendj (2013)

    Tariq Teguia2011-2020AlgeriaArthousePolitics

    Quote:
    Ibn Battuta works as a journalist for an Algerian daily newspaper. While covering community clashes in Southern Algeria, he finds himself incidentally picking up the trail of long forgotten uprisings against the Abbasid Caliphate, back in 8th-9th century Iraq. For the purpose of his investigation he goes to Beirut, a city that used to embody the hopes and struggles of the Arab World…Read More »

  • Béla Tarr – Kárhozat AKA Damnation [5:3] (1988)

    Béla Tarr1981-1990ArthouseHungary

    Quote:
    Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr began his career making social realist domestic dramas, similar to the work of John Cassavetes. The feature before Damnation, Almanac of Fall, showed Tarr moving toward a more visually stylized form of filmmaking. With Damnation, the first of his collaborations with novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Tarr adopts a formally rigorous style, featuring long takes and slow tracking shots of the bleak landscape that surrounds the characters. Shot in black-and-white, Damnation tells the story of Karrer (Miklos B. Szekely), a depressed man in love with a married woman (Vali Kerekes) who sings at the local bar, Titanik. The singer has broken off their affair, despite her profession of love for him.Read More »

  • Carlos Casas – Cemetery (2019)

    2011-2020AdventureArthouseCarlos CasasFrance

    After a devastating earthquake, Nga, an old elephant and probably the last of its species, and Sanra, his mahout, are about to embark on a journey to find the mythical elephant’s graveyard. The group of poachers following them will die one after the other under mysterious circumstances and spells.Read More »

  • Vadim Kostrov – Leto AKA Summer (2021)

    2021-2030ArthouseRussiaVadim Kostrov

    Set in Nizhny Tagil, Russia, Summer journeys nostalgically through the warm middle-Ural summer with eight-year-old Vadim and his half-sister Christina. They enjoy evening festivities with their older teenage friends by the fire, go on mellow skateboard rides, and have a quiet daytime nap in the garden house. Caressed by the sun and the warmth of his relatives, hidden in the quiet tranquillity of the garden and far away from the cruelty of the outside world, Vadim enjoys his childhood days. Acting as a serene lullaby that mimics the movements of a gentle breeze, Summer provides warmth, joy and solace, offering hope and strength for the future.Read More »

  • Paul Haesaerts & Henri Storck – Rubens (1949)

    1941-1950ArthouseBelgiumDocumentaryHenri StorckPaul Haesaerts

    Cinema meets art critic. In this film commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Paul Haessaerts is responsible for ensuring that the screenplay (which he wrote together with Henri Storck) and the voice-over are intelligently informative. He provides a definition of Baroque, talks about the images’ composition, refers to Rubens’ life and makes a thematic analysis of his work, its evolution and it’s influence. The content is entirely in line with the demanding guidelines that André Bazin praised when explaining the education role of cinema. The form is innovative and inventive. The animation emphasizes the paintings’ key elements and structure and visualizes the composition. The split screen makes it possible to make comparative analyses of paintings and styles. Notwithstanding this textbook virtuosity Storck develops his own method, using the camera’s movements to enter into the drama of the painting. Tracking shots, exploring the painting, stopping at a detail, fragmentation, the closeness of the bodies and the faces. The first part of the film is analytical and biographical, the second part takes us, lyrically, into the paintings and into Rubens’ world “that the film recreates before our eyes” (Paul Davay). Both parts feature a very prominently present orchestral score.Read More »

  • Karzan Kardozi – I Want to Live (2015)

    2011-2020ArthouseDocumentaryIraqKarzan Kardozi

    I Want to Live is a documentary on the lives of Kurdish Refugees from Syria, living in refugee camps in Kurdistan. Shot on location, it is set against the Syrian civil war and the ISIS (Islamic State) attacks upon Kurdistan. Told through the eyes of a young boy, Shndar, living with Thalassemia disease, he searches for an immediate treatment as he ages without losing hope, leaving his home amid simmering ethnic and religious hatred to live the life of a refugee. The film tells stories of daily life on the camp and outside of it. More than being a film on the life of refugees, it is an intimate character study and gripping tale of innocent lost amides wars, a meditation on life, death, war, peace, and tolerance.Read More »

  • Alain Robbe-Grillet – Le jeu avec le feu AKA Playing with Fire [+ Commentary] (1975)

    Alain Robbe-Grillet1971-1980ArthouseEroticaFrance

    Philippe Noiret plays a rich, Parisian banker whose daughter, Carolina, is kidnapped by a ruthless organization. They threaten to have her abused by the sadistic clients of a brothel they run if Father doesn’t pay the ransom on time.Read More »

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