Film Under the Stars 2018

The mysterious and stunning family drama by actor and director Mathieu Amalric takes us to the inner world of a woman, wife and mother of two children, who is wandering real and imaginary memories. With Vicky Krieps in one of her best roles ever.

A budding childhood romance between Nora and Hae Sung, classmates at a primary school in Seoul, ends abruptly when Nora’s family emigrates to Canada. Many years later Nora, now a playwriting student in New York, notices that Hae Sung has been searching for her on social media… Cinematic debut by New York based playwright Celine Song.

United Nations, 1961: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe, and the U.S. State Department swings into action, sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from the CIA-backed coup. Director Johan Grimonprez explores a moment when jazz, colonialism, and espionage collided.

The delicate friendship between a boy and a girl in a remote Chinese valley deepens into a dreamlike allegory that blurs the lines between reality and the enchanting world of botany.

Gabrielė Urbonaitė’s 16mm feature debut is an intimate portrayal of the lives of millennials torn between modernity’s endless possibilities and Western Europe’s constant pressure to perform.

A programme of the best animated shorts from around the world, programmed to give you a thorough insight into the latest developments and trends in auteur animation, including many award-winners from some of the leading international festivals.

An incident at a state school in Anatolia thwarts a teacher’s dream of escaping his bleak life in a remote Turkish region.

Seventy-year-old Mahin lives alone in Tehran after her husband’s death and her daughter’s departure for Europe, until an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalise her love life. However, as Mahin opens herself up to a new romance, what begins as an unexpected encounter quickly evolves into an unpredictable, unforgettable evening.

Resistance in this program comes in many forms: we will learn about communities organizing to create a shared garden to fight food insecurity, we’ll see some rich ass kicked, and stand against social injustice, racism, sexism and animal abuse. With a dose of laughter too, because we need that in this crazy crazy world. – Allesia Gasparella

SOME STRINGS: found image & sound, 1901–2024 “the cinema of solidarity”, Sarah Wood; Ma’loul Celebrates its Destruction, Michel Khleifi; Your Father Was Born 100 Years Old, and So Was the Nakba, Razan Al Salah; Ours Is a Country of Words, Mathijs Poppe

After her critically acclaimed and multi-award-winning debut Beginning, Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili returns with another unique, visually captivating meditation on women trapped in the vicious cycle of patriarchy. Special Jury Prize in Venice.

Ukrainian intelligence services have intercepted thousands of phone calls Russian soldiers made from the battlefield in Ukraine to their families and friends in Russia, painting a stark picture of the cruelty of war in a dizzying emotional tension. Juxtaposed with images of the destruction caused by the invasion, the voices of the Russian soldiers – ranging from being filled with heroic illusions to complete disappointment and loss of reason, from looting to committing more horrible war crimes, from propaganda to doubt and disillusionment – expose the whole scope of the dehumanizing power.

A surprisingly frank, bittersweet drama of social and sexual mores in small-town America.

Directed by Ken Russell, the enfant terrible of British cinema, the movie adaptation of the scandalous bestseller by D. H. Lawrence, the film broke sexual taboos at the dawn of the sexual revolution. The movie made history as the first mainstream Western film to feature full-frontal male nudity.

Set against a backdrop of magnificent equine bodies, the master of French hardcore erotica delivers sultry shots of the European porn chic queen and Jean Rollin’s voluptuous muse. Vive Brigitte Lahaie!

Six Men Getting Sick, The Alphabet, The Grandmother, The Amputee (version1), The Amputee (version 2), The Cowboy and the Frenchman, Lumière and Company: Premonitions Following an Evil Deed

Staying in a motel with her daughter who suffers from a mysterious illness, the life of a highly stressed mother starts to feel like a downward spiral into anxiety, exacerbated by traumatic memories and surreal, dreamlike visions.

Focusing on a master impersonator for hire slipping seamlessly into any role demanded by his clients, Wenger’s directorial debut feature abounds in visual humour and unexpected plot twists.

A historical drama about witnessing and responsibility.

The Lesbian Alien Fisting Operetta on Venus, Lasse Långström; The Confession, Ursinae Vespéral; Genderfluid, La Fille Renne, Laure Giappiconi, Elisa Monteil; The Princess and the Peacock, Daniel Baker-Wells; The Third World After the Sun, Tiagx Vélez, Analú Laferal; Planetary Loss, Ceza Bularca

A widowed father grapples with a tricky ethical dilemma after being the sole witness to a serious, potentially life-threatening accident caused by his son.

In this sweeping romance set in Beirut, two star-crossed lovers face a decision whether or not to build a family and chart a track to happiness, despite the tragic fates ravaging contemporary Lebanon.

A lavish birthday party thrown by a ruthless Greek tycoon for his daughter exposes the dark underbelly of the super-rich.