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MY KING
Directed by Maïwenn
YEAR 14
FILM 12
Admitted to a rehabilitation center after a serious ski accident, Tony (Emmanuelle Bercot) becomes dependent on the medical staff and pain relievers while looking back on a turbulent relationship she experienced with megalomaniac Georgio (Vincent Cassel). Who is this man that she loved so deeply, and how did she allow herself to submit to this suffocating and destructive passion? For Tony, the physical work of healing may finally set her free.
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THE ARDENNES
Directed by Robin Pront
YEAR 15
FILM 2
Brothers Dave and Kenneth are reunited on Kenneth's release after four years in prison following a failed home invasion. While Kenneth is anxious to dive headfirst into the drug-centered existence that ensnared him in the first place, both Dave and Kenneth's erstwhile girlfriend, Sylvie, have adopted clean lifestyles. Drugs, crime and the bonds of brotherhood create this dark crime thriller journey in THE ARDENNES.
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Upcoming Releases Our film catalog
Directed by Robin Pront
Directed by Yang Zhang
Directed by Elmo Nüganen
Directed by Boo Junfeng
Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
THE ARDENNES
Directed by Robin Pront
YEAR 15
FILM 2
Brothers Dave and Kenneth are reunited on Kenneth's release after four years in prison following a failed home invasion. While Kenneth is anxious to dive headfirst into the drug-centered existence that ensnared him in the first place, both Dave and Kenneth's erstwhile girlfriend, Sylvie, have adopted clean lifestyles. Drugs, crime and the bonds of brotherhood create this dark crime thriller journey in THE ARDENNES.
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SOUL ON A STRING
Directed by Yang Zhang
YEAR 15
FILM 5
After discovering a sacred stone in the mouth of a deer, Taibei, a solitary Tibetan cowboy, embarks on a mission: to bring it back to the holy Mountain of Buddha's Handprint. Pursued by black market traders who seek the priceless artifact for themselves, as well as two brothers seeking vengeance for the long-ago death of their father, Taibei's journey will be a long and difficult one - even before it is thrown off course by strange, mystical events..
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1944
Directed by Elmo Nüganen
YEAR 15
FILM 5
The Battle of Tannenberg Line, second to Stalingrad, the bloodiest conflict on the Eastern Front. Volunteer infantry battalions from Denmark, East Prussia, Flanders, Holland, Norway and Wallonia within the Waffen-SS fight off Soviet Army's thrust at Germany. Half of the SS infantry consists of local Estonian conscripts motivated to resist the looming Soviet re-occupation of their small country. Motivated until they meet their brothers in the Soviet Army. Estonian men, deported by Stalin in 1939, now brought out of Siberian labour camps and returning home in enemy uniforms.
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APPRENTICE
Directed by Boo Junfeng
YEAR 15
FILM 6
Aiman is a 28-year-old Malay correctional officer who is recently transferred to the territory's top prison. He lives with his older sister Suhaila in a modest housing estate. At his new workplace, Aiman begins to take an interest in a 65-year-old sergeant named Rahim. Soon, it is revealed that the charismatic Rahim is actually the long-serving chief executioner of the prison. Rahim also takes notice of the principled and diligent Aiman. When Rahim's assistant suddenly quits, he asks Aiman to become his apprentice. Aiman tells Suhaila of his new job position, but Suhaila becomes upset, as their father was actually executed by Rahim. Aiman knew this all along. Can Aiman overcome his conscience and a haunted past to possibly take over as the next chief executioner?
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GLORY
Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov
YEAR 15
FILM 8
Tsanko Petrov, a railroad worker, finds millions of leva on the train tracks. He decides to turn the money over to the police, for which the state rewards him with a new wristwatch that soon stops working. Meanwhile, Julia Staikova, head of the PR department of the Ministry of Transport, loses Petrov's old watch, a family relic. Here starts his desperate struggle to recover both his old watch and his dignity.
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AFTER THE STORM
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
YEAR 15
FILM 9
Dwelling on his past glory as a prize-winning author, Ryota (Hiroshi Abe) wastes the money he makes as a private detective on gambling and can barely pay child support. After the death of his father, his aging mother (Kirin Kiki) and beautiful ex-wife (Yoko Make) seem to be moving on with their lives. Renewing contact with his initially distrusting family, Ryota struggles to take back control of his existence and to find a lasting place in the life of his young son (Taiyo Yoshizawa) - until a stormy summer night offers them a chance to truly bond again.
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A CALL GIRL
Directed by Damjan Kozole
Having grown up in small-town Slovenia, 23-year-old Alexandra embraces the excitement and anonymity of big city life when she moves to the capital. She styles herself as a call girl, planning to take advantage of everything the city has to offer. But her isolated existence - English studies and mortgage payments by day, call girl lifestyle by night - is shattered when one of her clients, a visiting politician, dies of a heart attack on her watch. Alexandra must suddenly confront fear, guilt, and desperation as she finds herself pursued by a band of local pimps, as well as the cops, hot on her trail. The old village life she had escaped from might now become her only refuge.
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A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES
Directed by Wiktor Ericsson
A Life in Dirty Movies is a love story about legendary sexploitation director Joe Sarno, "the Ingmar Bergman of 42nd Street," and his loyal wife and collaborator Peggy. The film follows the Sarnos for a year, as 88-year old Joe struggles to get a new film project off the ground - a female-centric softcore film that harkens back to the style of his heyday as a filmmaker in the 1960s. As audiences tag along for the eventful and often hilarious journey between wintery Manhattan and the couple's summer retreat in Sweden, the film's intimate perspective reveals a filmmaker on the verge of being rediscovered in his golden years. Intercut is a look back to the evolution of softcore films seen as racy in their day into unmistakable hardcore porn that all but put Sarno and his artform out of business. The film chronicles Sarno's significant place in film history as an erotic "auteur," whose ambitions as a filmmaker often surpassed the needs of the genre he helped define. A Life in Dirty Movies is a clever and sincere portrait of a unique couple who follow their passion in life - onscreen and off.
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AALTRA
Directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern
Rural neighbors who hate each other come to blows one day on a farm and get tangled up in an agricultural tractor, leaving them both paralyzed, wheelchair-bound, and simmering with spite. But rather than feel sorry for themselves, the embittered paraplegics decide to seek revenge against the tractor's manufacturer. They take to the road, redirecting their frustrations with their plights towards the people they meet on the way to Helsinki. Captured in sharp black-and-white Cinemascope photography that complements its exquisite Tati-like sight gags, Aaltra undermines conventional attitudes toward the disabled with its dry wit and acerbic, vengeful characters. Look for some recognizable cameos, including famous Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki.
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ADAM'S APPLES
Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen
Ivan is an insanely optimistic preacher who takes in convicts to help around the remote, rural church he ministers to. His current charges are a psychotic Saudi immigrant addicted to robbing gas stations and an alcoholic tennis pro convicted of sexual assault. His newest "helper" is Adam, a vicious neo-Nazi anxiously biding his time before he can return to hell-raising. Asked to set a goal for his stay, Adam sarcastically answers that he'd like to bake a cake. Ivan cheerfully takes that statement at face value and puts him in charge of the parish's pride and joy: the only apple tree in the vicinity. Grasping the extent of Ivan's crazed, preternatural determination to look on the bright side of everything - Adam immediately decides to shake him out of his rose-colored stupor.
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ALEXANDRA'S PROJECT
Directed by Rolf de Heer
It's Steve's (Gary Sweet) birthday and he's just been promoted at the office. In a good mood, he goes home to his family expecting to celebrate. Instead, he finds an empty suburban home and videotape labeled 'Play Me.' The tape begins with his loving wife (Helen Buday) providing birthday wishes and quickly segues, to his pleasant surprise, into a striptease. But surprise turns into shock when he sees a gun pointed at her head. As the tape plays, his seemingly ordinary life unravels into a nightmare of mind games and revenge. Along with two brilliant lead performances, acclaimed auteur Rolf de Heer brings to us his visionary new twist on the psychological thriller.
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AMADOR
Directed by Fernando Leon de Aranoa
Marcela, a young immigrant with financial troubles, finds a summer job looking after Amador, a bed-ridden elderly man whose family is away. She thinks her problems are solved, but Amador dies shortly thereafter, putting Marcela in a predicament. His death leaves her jobless, something she can't afford to let happen. Faced with a difficult moral dilemma, Marcela will prove that death can't always stop life.
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ANTONIA'S LINE (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Marleen Gorris
In the aftermath of WWII, strong-willed Antonia returns to her small hometown where she has inherited her mother's farm. Antonia, joined by her free-spirited artist daughter Danielle, ingratiate themselves with the town's tight-knit and eccentric community. As the years unfold, love and tragedy come to Antonia and Danielle and the pair foster a vibrant circle of strong, liberated women. Winner - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
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BOILING POINT (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Ono Masahiko is an unlucky gas station attendant who belongs to a losing junior baseball team. When the local yakuza threaten and capture his coach, he and a friend get more than they bargained for when they travel to Okinawa seeking revenge. This is the second feature film from renowned action auteur Takeshi â?oBeatâ? Kitano.
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FORGETTING THE GIRL (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Nate Taylor
Kevin, a charming photographer, meets a multitude of beautiful women through his studio, but can't seem to find one that will help him forget his traumatic past. Failure after failure, his quest soon spirals into madness.
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FRANCESCO (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Liliana Cavani
Based on Herman Hesse's Francis of Assisi, FRANCESCO depicts the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi and the rise of the Franciscan order that he founded. Following his death, Francis' devoted followers recall the saint's life and chart his transformation from the pampered son of an aristocrat into a selfless man of faith devoted wholly to a life of apostolic poverty. Directed by Italian auteur Liliana Cavani (The Night Porter), and starring Academy Award-nominees Mickey Rourke as Saint Francis of Assisi, and Helena Bonham Carter as Saint Claire, Francesco paints an intimate portrait of one of the most beloved, influential and complex figures in the history of religion and civilization.
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FULL MOON IN PARIS (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Eric Rohmer
One of Eric Rohmer's most renowned films, FULL MOON IN PARIS was originally released in 1984 to universal acclaim. Heralded as "a small masterpiece" and "the very best of Rohmer" by The New York Times, it is the story of Louise (Pascale Ogier), a young interior designer bored with her life in the sleepy suburbs with her live-in boyfriend Remi, an architect by trade and a homebody by nature. Eager to lead the life of an independent socialite in the city, Louise arranges to move back into her Paris apartment during the week. Balancing a steady boyfriend in the suburbs with a best friend, Octave (Fabrice Luchini), who makes plain his interest in her, and a bad boy musician who catches her eye at a party, eventually even the sophisticated and aloof Louise cannot untangle herself from the emotional realities of her various romantic encounters. Decades after first impressing critics and audiences alike, FULL MOON IN PARIS remains a modern, wry observation of youth and love.
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KAMIKAZE 89 (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Wolf Gremm
In his final acting role, legendary auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder (clad in an iconic leopard skin suit) stars as hardboiled detective Jansen. In a neon-drenched futuristic dystopia ruled by a multimedia conglomerate called The Combine, Jansen is sent on a labyrinthine investigation when their headquarters is threatened with mass destruction by a phantom bomber. This essential cult classic features an hypnotic electronic score by Tangerine Dream's Edward Froese as well as gleefully mind-bending production design.
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MOEBIUS (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Ki-duk Kim
The husband. The wife. Their son. The atmosphere at home is ice cold - the husband distracted by an affair with a young woman, the wife sick of her husband's debauchery, and the teenage son indifferent to them both. Overwhelmed with hatred, the wife attempts to remove from the husband the organ driving his desires; thwarted, she instead takes out the violent act on the son and then disappears into the night. At the hospital, the husband is distraught with guilt, severing his own manhood in solidarity and setting out to recover his son's happiness, sacrificed to his parents' conflict. Disfigured in such a radical way, the son slowly deviates from normal life, even falling for the husband's young mistress as the husband discovers strange and severe ways to help his son find pleasure again. With both husband and son damaged and living in grief, the wife returns as the family heads towards destruction even more horrific than before.
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ONCE WERE WARRIORS (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Lee Tamahori
Maori couple Jake and Beth Heke are deeply in love, but Jake's alcoholic-fueled rage turns into domestic violence that threatens to tear their family apart. As their home life grows increasingly dangerous, Beth must do all she can to protect their three children. Set against the backdrop of traditional tribal culture, this classic and contoversial 90's indie sleeper hit put New Zealand on the cinema map.
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THE BEST INTENTIONS (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Bille August
Swedish master Ingmar Bergman penned this loving tribute to his parent's epic romance. In 1909, poor, idealistic theology student Henrik Bergman falls in love with Anna Åkerbloom, the intelligent, educated daughter of a rich family in Uppsala. After their wedding Henrik becomes a priest in the north of Sweden. Urbane Anna can't stand living in the rural county and grows increasingly restless. She returns to Uppsala and the couple's love and commitment are put to the test.
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THE MARQUISE OF O... (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Eric Rohmer
Already an established filmmaker by the 1976 release of THE MARQUISE OF O, an adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist's classic short story, the film stands as Eric Rohmer's "dazzling testament to the civilizing effects of several different arts, witty, joyous and so beautiful to look at" (The New York Times). Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year, Rohmer's film is set in 1799 during the Russian invasion of Italy. A young widow, The Marquise (Edith Clever) lives with her parents; her father is the commander of a citadel embroiled in battle. With the fort overrun by Russians, the Marquise is abducted by a group of rowdy soldiers and nearly taken advantage of when the Russian commander Count F (Bruno Ganz) appears as if from nowhere to rescue her. Later, the Marquise realizes she is pregnant, though she cannot decipher how the circumstance came to be. The Marquise's scandalized parents banish her to their country estate, where she pens a letter to the newspaper announcing that she will marry the father, whomever he may be, should he only present himself. Rohmer masterfully adapts von Kleist's multi-layered story, creating "the aura of a neoclassical dream, a fading vision of the virtue of gentility" (The Chicago Reader).
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THE PILLOW BOOK (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Peter Greenaway
Beautiful to behold and impossible to forget, THE PILLOW BOOK is auteur Peter Greenaway's erotically-charged drama about love, death, revenge and the indelible nature of our earliest memories. Each year on her birthday, Nagiko (Vivian Wu) would became her father's canvas, as he painted the creation myth in elaborate, elegant calligraphy on her body. Years later, she continues the practice with a succession of lovers, including a bisexual translator (Ewan McGregor) who becomes a pawn in an escalating game of vengeance against her beloved father's exploitative publisher. Told in a series of chapters and featuring innovative cinematography and picture-in-picture techniques, Roger Ebert called THE PILLOW BOOK "a seductive and elegant story [that] stands outside the ordinary."
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THE QUIET EARTH (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Geoff Murphy
In this sci-fi cult classic, Zac Hobson, a mid-level scientist working on a global energy project, wakes up to a nightmare. After his project malfunctions, Zac discovers that he may be the last man on Earth. As he searches empty cities for other survivors, Zac's mental state begins to deteriorate - culminating in the film's iconic and hotly debated ending.
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THE TALL BLOND MAN WITH ONE BLACK SHOE (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Yves Robert
A frothy French farce, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe is a classic madcap comedy about espionage, surveillance and mistaken identity. When Francois (Pierre Richard), an unsuspecting violinist, is misidentified as a superspy by national intelligence, outrageous antics ensue. As everyone (including Mireille Darc, playing a knock-out henchwoman) falls over each other in their misguided attempts to discover the tall blond man's secrets, his best friend complicates matters even further when he overhears a salacious recording of Francois with his wife. The whole merry-go-round comes crashing to a halt in one final showdown, pitting spy versus supposed spy with hilarious results. Elegantly filmed and accompanied by a memorable score, The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe is one of the most seminal comedies of the 1970s.
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THEEB (BLU RAY)
Directed by Naji Abu Nowar
Nominated for the 2016 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1916, while war rages in the Ottoman Empire, Hussein raises his younger brother Theeb ("Wolf") in a traditional Bedouin community that is isolated by the vast, unforgiving desert. The brothers' quiet existence is suddenly interrupted when a British Army officer and his guide ask Hussein to escort them to a water well located along the old pilgrimage route to Mecca. So as not to dishonor his recently deceased father, Hussein agrees to lead them on the long and treacherous journey. The young, mischievous Theeb secretly chases after his brother, but the group soon find themselves trapped amidst threatening terrain riddled with Ottoman mercenaries, Arab revolutionaries, and outcast Bedouin raiders. Naji Abu Nowar's powerful and assured directorial debut, set in the land of Lawrence of Arabia, is a wondrous "Bedouin Western" about a boy who, in order to survive, must become a man and live up to the name his father gave him.
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UGLY, DIRTY AND BAD (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Ettore Scola
Acclaimed Italian auteur Ettore Scola pairs up with legendary actor Nino Manfredi in this irreverent Cannes-winning comedy. Giacinto (Manfredi), along with four generations of his sprawling, crooked clan, lives in a cramped, dilapidated home on the outskirts of Rome. When a work accident leaves him blind in one eye, the derelict Giacinto suddenly finds himself rolling in insurance money. Refusing to share the wealth, Giacinto's relatives concoct several harebrained plots in hopes of wrenching the riches away.
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VAMPIRE ECSTASY AND SIN YOU SINNERS Double Feature (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Joseph Sarno
Magic amulets and occult rituals link Vampire Ecstasy and Sin You Sinners, two seminal films from the master of psycho-sexual cinema, Joseph W. Sarno. Dripping with gothic atmosphere, Vampire Ecstasy (1973) is Sarno's mesmerizing foray into the horror genre. When a trio of beautiful young women journey to their ancestral home to claim an inheritance, they fall prey to a coven of witches' intent to reincarnate their deceased vampire leader. In the hypnotic noir Sin You Sinners (1963), a medallion forged in a voodoo ritual sustains an exotic dancer's youth and beauty. When her jealous daughter and employer hatch plots to steal the amulet for themselves, it sets off a chain of events ending in murder.Newly restored to High Definition from the original film elements and featuring liner notes by film scholar Tim Lucas, Sin You Sinners / Vampire Ecstasy is the first entry in a new series celebrating one of the most gifted pioneers of the sexploitation genre.
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VIOLENT COP (BLU-RAY)
Directed by Takeshi Kitano
In his explosive directorial debut Japanese renaissance man-cum-comedian-extraordinaire Takeshi â?oBeatâ? Kitano plays vicious rogue homicide Detective Azuma who takes on a sadistic crime syndicate only to discover widespread internal corruption in the police force. Facing criminal charges for his unorthodox â?oDirty Harryâ? type methods, Azuma finds himself caught in a web of betrayal and intrigue that sends him on a bloody trail of vengeance. But when his sister is kidnapped by a sadistic drug lord, Azuma's tactics escalate towards an apocalyptic climax.
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Get Social
THE ARDENNES is NOW PLAYING in #NYC at Village East Cinema and critics are raving! “ROUGH BEAUTY… LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF A GRISLY STORYBOOK” (The Village Voice), “A KICK ASS LITTLE NOIR” (Unseen Films), “CHILLY AND BROODING” (Ion Cinema), “DEFTLY MIXES HARD-CORE DRAMA WITH BITING BLACK HUMOR” (IndieWire)
THE ARDENNES, Belgium’s official submission for the 2017 Academy Awards, blends gritty kitchen-sink realism, forbidding noir and surprising, post-Coen Brothers humor into a tense, emotionally twisted thriller. Opens Friday, January 6 in #NYC at Village East Cinema
This month’s Film Club selection is MY KING, the acclaimed second feature from actress-turned-director Maïwenn. Starring
Vincent Cassel and Cannes Film Festival award-winning Best Actress Emmanuelle Bercot, the film was selected as a New York Times Critics’ Pick and StageBuddy praised it as “one of the sexiest films of the decade.”
Maïwenn established herself as a director to watch when her first film Polisse won the Jury Prize at Cannes. With MY KING she takes it to the next level. The compelling naturalism of this taut, tumultuous tale of amour fou appears effortless. The performances, mise-en-scène and screenwriting all come together as a unified voice baring its soul for the camera. In its dire quest for an elusive catharsis MY KING lunges for the emotional jugular. In the end, it reaches an even higher pinnacle: This may be one of the most refreshingly truthful cinematic treatises on the joy, pain and power of unbridled passion we have seen in ages.