The Mystery of the Sleeping Death(1914)

A(ja)

Roughly chronological, from 3/96 to 11/96, with a coda in spring of 1997: inside compounds of Aum Shinrikyo, a Buddhist sect led by Shoko Asahara. (Members confessed to a murderous sarin attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995.) We see what they eat, where they sleep, and how they respond to media scrutiny, on-going trials, the shrinking of their fortunes, and the criticism of society. Central focus is placed on Hiroshi Araki, a young man who finds himself elevated to chief spokesman for Aum after its leaders are arrested. Araki faces extreme hostility from the Japanese public, who find it hard to believe that most followers of the cult had no idea of the attacks and even harder to understand why these followers remain devoted to the religion, if not the violence.

A(en)

A young alcoholic ambient musician locks himself in his apartment on a dangerous seven day bender as he attempts to finish his upcoming album.

Black Site(en)

A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching and dire consequences.

Freedom(fr)

Inspired by the true events of one of France's most notorious non-violent robbers, Bruno Sulak, in the 1980s. He led multiple heists, then captured public attention for his many daring escapes from police custody...always to reunite with his beloved lover and accomplice Annie, becoming both France's Public Enemy #1 and an icon of Freedom.

Stay With Us(fr)

Gad Elmaleh decides to leave New York and move back to Paris, to get baptized and become a Catholic. Despite his attempt to hide the truth from his Jewish family, Gad's parents discover their son's unconditional love for the Virgin Mary – and for them, it’s a nightmare! Determined to bring Gad back to reason and to his Jewishness, they turn his conversion into a battlefield - as Gad tries to make them understand by any means necessary that his sincere beliefs do not change his identity and the love he has for his family.

Rodan(ja)

Mining engineer Shigeru investigates the disappearance and death of his fellow coworkers when prehistoric nymphs are discovered emerging from the mines. After an attack on the local village, Shigeru heads deeper into the mines only to make a more horrifying discovery in the form a prehistoric flying creature. Soon a second monster appears as the two converge in Fukuoka.

Shark Side of the Moon(en)

Decades ago, the USSR developed unkillable sharks and launched them to the moon. Today, a team of American astronauts will endure the fight of their lives.

Gone Mom: The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos(en)

Jennifer Dulos, the wealthy, Connecticut mother-of-five who mysteriously vanished.

National Family(es)

Don Poli, the patriarch of a family embedded in politics, faces the change of party in his state - after a hundred years in power - losing all his privileges. Humiliated and angry, he threatens to disinherit his family and leave to rebuild his life. This forces his children (Kippy, Ramses and Belén) to take extreme measures to ensure their future, causing everything that could go wrong to turn out worse.

Amaran(ta)

A heroic true story of Major Mukund Varadarajan, an Indian Army officer who displayed extraordinary bravery during a counterterrorism mission in Kashmir’s Shopian district. The film captures his courage in protecting his nation and the devotion of his wife Indhu Rebecaa Varghese.

Midnight(ko)

A serial killer ruthlessly hunts down a deaf woman through the streets of South Korea after she witnesses his brutal crime.

The Black Book(en)

After his son is wrongly accused of kidnapping, a deacon who has just lost his wife takes matters into his own hands and fights a crooked police gang to clear him.

Hunt(ko)

After a high-ranking North Korean official requests asylum, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park Pyong-ho and Domestic Unit chief Kim Jung-do are tasked with uncovering a North Korean spy, known as Donglim, who is deeply embedded within their agency. When the spy begins leaking top secret intel that could jeopardize national security, the two units are each assigned to investigate each other.

Vicious Fun(en)

Joel, a caustic 1980s film critic for a national horror magazine, finds himself unwittingly trapped in a self-help group for serial killers. With no other choice, Joel attempts to blend in with his homicidal surroundings or risk becoming the next victim.

Brian and Charles(en)

An endearing outlier, Brian lives alone in a Welsh valley, inventing oddball contraptions that seldom work. After finding a discarded mannequin head, Brian gets an idea. Three days, a washing machine, and sundry spare parts later, he’s invented Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and proves a charming, cheeky companion. Before long, however, Charles also develops autonomy. Intrigued by the wider world — or whatever lies beyond the cottage where Brian has hidden him away — Charles craves adventure.

Zone 414(en)

In the near future on a colony of state-of-the-art robots, a private investigator is hired by the colony's creator to bring his missing daughter home.

Trunk - Locked In(de)

28-year-old medicine student Malina wakes up disoriented in a locked trunk and realizes, to her horror, that she is missing more than just her memory of what happened. With her phone as the only link to the outside world, the intelligent young woman wages a desperate fight for survival while the vehicle races relentlessly toward a terrible secret.

Cosmic Chaos(en)

Battles in virtual reality, survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a Soviet spaceship giving a distress signal - Fantastic stories created with advanced special effects and passion.

Trinity Seven: Heaven's Library & Crimson Lord(ja)

The series focuses on the adventures of Arata Kasuga, a high school student, who is targeted by Lilith, a teacher at a mystical school. Given three choices in an effort to help save the breakdown phenomenon of the world by evil forces and while attempting to solve the mystery of his beloved cousin and childhood friend, Hijiri, who disappeared to a difference space.

Joe Bell(en)

The true story of a small town, working class father who embarks on a solo walk across the U.S. to crusade against bullying after his son is tormented in high school for being gay.

The Car Thief(ru)

Two friends are engaged in theft of cars in order to extort money from their owners. The next stealing runs smoothly. The owner of the car agrees to pay, but puts forward an unexpected condition ...

The Reason Why(en)

A meditation on My Lai.

Sugar Babies(en)

Kieran is making hard cash from a con he's recently developed: blackmailing married men out of a few hundred quid by claiming to be only 15 when he sleeps with them. It's not long before he ropes his boyfriend, Jamie, in for the ride but his first job goes terribly wrong. The couple are at odds and tension builds to an explosive point where Kieran confesses to having never loved Jamie to begin with. But when Kieran is arrested for a crime he did not commit and Jamie runs over to check if the police found the cash-stash, Jamie finds hidden evidence that Kieran really did care all along.

Opening Night(en)

A teenage boy navigates the final minutes before his first theater stage performance, which includes experiencing his first kiss. Despite his rising anxiety, he shares a romantic moment with a classmate.

The Tree and the Cat(uk)

Away from people, animals, forests and fields stood a very tall tree. It did not need anyone, it was completely indifferent to everyone. Once a cat wanted to learn the style of life of the tree, which has allowed her to stay near it, so that she could take over its attitude to everything around. But eventually the cat affects the tree as well...

One Afternoon(zh)

A strict father and his two boys share a calm life in a creaky old home. One summer moment changes everything for the brothers.

Mom's Celestial Robe of Feathers(ja)

"There are many things that I don't like. The traffic jam on the way to Naha, my debt-ridden father, my best friend's boyfriend, milk, and my hometown, Shioya-wan. Why did my beautiful mother marry my father?" Ruri tried to escape from these thoughts as she faced an uncertain future. Then, one day, she learns of her mother's past, but…

Where Darkness Lies(en)

After making the toughest decision in his life, Jamie gets trapped in a labyrinth of pain and regret, where he is forced to relive the moment that haunts him most.

Jean Fell in Love(fr)

Jean, 18 years old, is the prodigy heeler of his village rugby club. While his team is defending its title, he falls madly in love with Ayoub, a player from the opposing team. The brotherly relationship he has with his teammates turns out to be more fragile than he thought.

Hot(he)

A rumor spreads through a small desert town that a girl has been raped. A respected veteran tries to stop the girl's cousin, a soldier in vacation, from taking the law into his own hands.

The Fringes(en)

In a corporate world void of human interaction, Ennis has lost her ability to relate to others. When the company fires her and forces her into a crowded tenement building, Ennis must overcome her fear of human connection to begin again.

Hair(fr)

Philippe, about thirty, discovers that he is becoming bald. For this backward adolescent musician, the loss of his hair is a real disaster. When he asks his dermatologist how much time he has left, this one tells him that only his father detains the answer to this question.

Sun in My Mouth(en)

A young man confesses his sexual past to an unseen phone sex operator. He reflects on his sexual identity as we follow him on a solitary excursion to a beach.

Fairytale of London Town(en)

Coming Home(en)

The Night Before(en)

At any age, awaiting surgery can be a traumatizing experience, but at just 12 years old, young Danny Cole - a veteran to hospital stays - is trying to cope with this latest procedure as best he can.

Kisses to Kevin(en)

Kevin and Sam meet for a hookup but what if they stay together a little bit longer?

RE-Artists(en)

"Memory Revival" pianist Frederick confronts the "Memory Eraser" in a soul-wrenching duet that forces them both to reckon with memories of their childhood they had long-since forgotten.

Summer Romance(ja)

This delightful short is a world away from Tomomatsu's later works. It's a lovely story, told well. The reason that I tracked it down is because I'm quite a fan of Alice Sailor's music. She fronts new wave band Amaryllis and I was curious to see her acting. She has frequently supplied theme songs and other music to several of Tomomatsu's films. Indeed, the most disturbing sequence in this movie is accompanied by a psychotic Amaryllis track, 'Haha', and the closing piece is another Amaryllis song, 'Usagi'. This rip comes from the 'Eat The Schoolgirl' DVD, where it was one of the extras. Having just watched the main feature from that disc, I can say with some certainty that I found this tale far more enjoyable.

Porch(en)

Andrew 'Dew' Schofield has spent his entire life taking care of others; his children, his granddaughter, and even his wife after she got sick. Now that his kids are grown and his wife has passed, Dew finds himself living alone in his familiar little suburb, with only his memories. When his granddaughter comes to visit inbetween apartments, they will both face the deeprooted loneliness they've spent so long trying to bury.