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Monthly Screenings

Carte Blanche Vivian Ostrovsky

A selection of films curated by Vivian Ostrovsky

News from Home

Dir.: Chantal Akerman
| 85 minutes

In 1977, Chantal Akerman returns to New York. Urban scenes are combined with the reading of letters from her mother that gradually reveal Akerman’s need to detach herself from her roots while raising questions about the physical meaning of “home.”

Knife + Heart

Dir.: Yann Gonzalez
| 100 minutes

In late 1970s Paris, Anne, a gay porn producer, sets out to make her most ambitious film, but when the lead actor is murdered, her life takes an overwhelming turn. A campy slasher exploring the dark sides of passion.

From the East

Dir.: Chantal Akerman
| 107 minutes

In her 1993 documentary, Chantal Akerman travels through post-Cold War Eastern Europe. From East Germany to Russia—life is portrayed through prolonged camera movements and a fascinating sequence of gazes.

The Real Estate

Dir.: Måns Månsson, Axel Petersén
| 88 minutes

After years of revelry, sixty-eight-year old Nojet returns to Stockholm where she’s inherited an apartment building. Discovering that black-market crooks have taken over the seventh floor, she wages war against them.

Ambiguous Places

Dir.: Akira Ikeda
| 93 minutes

Konoko wakes up on a beach with an insect stuck to her head and sets off to find a barber who will remove it. What appears to be a quiet town turns into a surreal fantasy. A bewildering Japanese comedy where Kafka meets Kaurismaki not too far from Kyoto.

Sorry Angel

Dir.: Christophe Honoré
| 132 minutes

Jacques, a French writer with AIDS, falls in love with young Arthur: this is Jacques’s last love and Arthur’s first. Christophe Honoré’s new film is an exciting and touching work featuring outstanding lead performances.

No Home Movie

Dir.: Chantal Akerman
| 115 minutes

Celebrated director Chantal Akerman, who died in late 2015, creates a painfully poignant documentary of the final months in her mother’s life and bares the profound and complex mother-daughter relationship.

Dogman

Dir.: Matteo Garrone
| 95 minutes

Marcello runs a dog boarding facility, but another job leads him to a dangerous relationship with a violent former boxer. Matteo Garrone’s (Gomorra) new film is about an eternal victim who wants to change his fate. Best Actor Award at Cannes.

Djon Africa

Dir.: João Miller Guerra, Filipa Reis
| 95 minutes

Miguel travels to Cape Verde in search of the father he never knew. This quest turns into a bizarre odyssey. Questions of identity and belonging are set against the magnificent landscapes of this African archipelago of volcanic islands.  

Readers

Dir.: James Benning
| 108 minutes

Several people read from a wide range of books. They read - not aloud, but to themselves -  as viewers "read" them.‎ This new film by avant garde pioneer James Benning evokes  humanity and mystery and draws this everyday action into the light.

My Twentieth Century

Az én XX. századom
| 105 minutes

A surreal film combining historical events and the story of twins separated at birth. Twenty years later, they meet on the Orient Express: one, a wealthy woman; the other, an anarchist. A restored copy of the Caméra d'Or winner, Cannes, 1989.

Theatre of War

Dir.: Lola Arias
| 73 minutes

In 1982, Argentina and Britain fought over the Falkland Islands. 1000 soldiers were killed. Thirty-five years later, Lola Arias brings six veterans, three from each side, together in an attempt to recreate their experiences on film.

The Silk and the Flame

Dir.: Jordan Schiele
| 87 minutes

Yao visits his disabled parents in the village where he was born to celebrate the New Year. Had things been different, he might have announced his homosexuality. A delicate documentary about the struggle between identity and tradition. 

Ex-Shaman

Dir.: Luiz Bolognesi
| 80 minutes

An isolated tribe from Amazonia has been encroached by modernity since 1969. In the midst of this new world, an ex-shaman who was forced into Christianity struggles to cure the suffering people of his village, and faces the wrath of the forest spirits, who are upset he has abandoned them.

Isle of Dogs

Dir.: Wes Anderson
| 101 minutes

When all the dogs in a Japanese city are banished, Atari sets out to find his pet, an odyssey that will determine the fate of the entire region. Cinema master Wes Anderson’s entrancing animated film opened the most recent Berlinale.

Leto

Dir.: Kirill Serebrennikov
| 126 minutes

A musical drama that traces Soviet musician Viktor Tsoy’s attempts to make it to the top while facing cultural and personal challenges. Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s film recently premiered at Cannes.

South

Dir.: Chantal Akerman
| 71 minutes

In 1998, Jasper, Texas, three white men commit the abhorrent murder of a black man. The crime leads Chantal Akerman to Jasper where she speaks to locals about previous crimes and the rise of white supremacist movements. 

To the Ends of the World

Dir.: Guillaume Nicloux
| 103 minutes

1945, Indochina. French soldier Robert Tassen survives a massacre where his brother is killed. But his plans for revenge are swayed when he meets a local girl. Guillaume Nicloux’s new film, starring Gaspard Ulliel and Gérard Depardieu.

The Cranes Are Flying

Dir.: Mikhail Kalatozov
| 95 minutes

With her fiancé on the battlefront, Veronika must go on with her routine and wait for a sign of life as WWII rages on. A digitally-restored print of Mikhail Kalatozov’s Soviet masterpiece, winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or in 1958.

The Trial

Dir.: Maria Augusta Ramos
| 139 minutes

The Trial offers a fascinating look at the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female President. The film portrays the “judicial political” trial, focusing on the President’s Defense Team which struggles against a Congress riddled with corruption.

Down There

Dir.: Chantal Akerman
| 78 minutes

In 2005, Chantal Akerman arrived in Tel Aviv with her camera. For a month, she films neighboring windows from her apartment, and reads excerpts aloud from her journal including notes on Judaism, film, and her family.

Happy as Lazzaro

Dir.: Alice Rohrwacher
| 125 minutes

Lazzaro is a laborer on the Marchesa de Luna’s tobacco plantation. When her son Tancredi visits the fields, he is captivated by Lazzaro’s sincerity and kindness. Alice Rohrwacher’s (The Wonders) new, critically-acclaimed film.

Autour de Jeanne Dielman

Dir.: Sami Frey
| 70 minutes

Autour de Jeanne Dielman allows intrigued viewers a rare peak into the ‘making of’ process of a most audacious film. One gets a good sense of the working relationship between seasoned actress Delphine Seyrig and the young Chantal Akerman, then only twenty-five-years of age.

Dead Souls

Dir.: Wang Bing
| 496 minutes

Chinese director Wang Bing confronts us with survivors of Chinese labor camps in which suspect “extreme rightists” were imprisoned by Mao’s regime and left to die. An eight-hour monumental work praised by critics at Cannes. Screened in two parts.