“Pleasures of the flesh and pains of the soul potently combine in AROUSED BY GYMNOPEDIES.” —Variety
A modern take on the “Roman Porno” genre from director Isao Yukisada, AROUSED BY GYMNOPEDIES is an “engaging and ultimately touching portrait of love, loneliness and loss of youth” (Variety).
Ceramic artist Tokiko takes teenage runaway Haruka as her lover and apprentice, but their relationship soon becomes overcome by infidelity and abuse. Produced as part of Nikkatsu's Roman Porno Reboot series, WHITE LILY is directed by Hideo Nakata, the master behind such J-horror classics as Ringu and Dark Water.
“A feverish op-art dream that turns on us at every corner.” —Slant Magazine
An outrageous, rabble-rousing contribution to the Roman Porno redux series, ANTIPORNO is an expectation-defying, antic study in blighted eroticism, damaged psyches, and shifting power dynamics, set against outlandishly theatrical backdrops; “a feverish op-art dream that turns on us at every corner.” (Slant Magazine)
“Dramatic, eventful and moving.” —Eastern Kicks
A tribute to Noboru Tanaka’s classic Roman Porno film Night of the Felines, DAWN OF THE FELINES is a modern and unflinching update to the genre famously created by the Nikkatsu film studio in the 1970s, offering a portrait of women living on the edge of society while negotiating their agency, connection, and dignity.
“One of the most thoughtful, truthful and tactful depictions of the pandemic ever put to screen.” —The Wrap
From acclaimed director Lou Ye (Suzhou River, Summer Palace), AN UNFINISHED FILM combines fiction and documentary footage to create “an utterly unique and very important movie about Covid, the crisis that affected all of us.” (The Guardian).
“[A] taut, haunting character study.” —RogerEbert.com
Executive produced by Naomi Osaka and co-produced by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Leonardo van Dijl's NYTimes Critic's Pick, JULIE KEEPS QUIET, is a "tense, absorbing movie of silences and absences... a gripping study in dysfunction and repression." (The Guardian)
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“Deeply personal and thoughtfully political.” —The New York Times
Sixteen years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, an entire generation still grapples with the lifelong impact of having their childhood redefined by tragedy. New Orleans filmmaker Edward Buckles Jr., who was 13 years old during Katrina and its initial aftermath, spent seven years documenting the stories of his peers who survived the storm as children, using his community’s tradition of oral storytelling to open a door for healing and to capture the strength and spirit of his city.
“Novel and atmospheric...marks [Emma] Benestan out as a talented auteur.” —Filmuforia
The only woman working on the cattle ranch, 22-year-old Nejma trains to win the annual bull race competition. News of a violent bull on the loose terrifies the community, young men are being murdered and the beast is nowhere to be seen. The sophomore feature of French filmmaker Emma Benestan, ANIMALE is “a brutal disorienting horror fable burning with feminine anger,” (AWFJ.org), and a thrilling entry into the body-horror subgenre.
“Riveting. Astounding and cleverly structured… complete with Lynchian echoes of Twin Peaks. ” —The Hollywood Reporter
A seemingly divine premonition leads Norwegian sisters Kari and May to buy an apartment in the small Swedish town of Gullspång. To their surprise, the seller looks remarkably similar to their older sister Astrid, who committed suicide thirty years earlier. What’s even more odd is that this doppelgänger used to go by “Lita,” the same nickname as their deceased sister.
“[A] moving drama...structured magnificently.” — NYTimes Critic's Pick
Unfolding as a meditation on loss — of time, identity, and familial closeness never fully grasped — Great Absence is a “delicately devastating” (Variety) award-winning drama from rising star director Kei Chikaura that navigates the fragile terrain of memory, estrangement, and the quiet devastations of aging.
“A fascinating examination of the human condition.” —International Cinephile Society
In the Swiss Alps, seamstress Claudine (Jeanne Balibar) has a risqué arrangement at the local hotel. In exchange for a tip, the concierge provides her with intel on any bachelors visiting for brief stays, whom she then pursues for sexual trysts. After repeat chance encounters with an attractive German photographer, an unlikely connection is formed.
“Moving and funny...[a] fantastic blend of reality and fiction.” —Eastern Kicks
Executive produced by Adam McKay, Alan Cumming and Joel Kim Booster, ASOG is “essential viewing as queer cinema, as political cinema and as climate cinema.” (Eastern Kicks) Director Seán Devlin reiterates the importance of resistance and companionship in a world of environmental, economic and social precarity.