Category Archives: Black And White

“The Girl With The Needle” From Director Magnus von Horn Sets Release

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girl-with-the-needleMUBI is set to release THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE, an unflinching portrait of a desperate young woman in the aftermath of WWI struggling to find love and a sense of morality. THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE made its World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film most recently won European Film Awards for best production design for Jagna Dobesz and best original score for Frederikke Hoffmeier (Puce Mary), with cinematography by Michael Dymek (A Real Pain, EO). The film was written by Magnus von Horn and Line Langebeck, who also produced.

Inspired by a true story and directed by Magnus von Horn, Variety’s 2025 ‘Director to Watch’ (The Here After, Sweat) THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE follows Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne – Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland and Isabella Eklöf’s Holiday), a young factory worker, as she is struggling to survive in post WW1 Copenhagen. When she finds herself unemployed, abandoned and pregnant, she meets Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), a charismatic woman running an underground adoption agency, helping mothers to find foster homes for their unwanted children. With nowhere else to turn, Karoline takes on the role of a wet-nurse. A strong connection is formed between the two women, but Karoline’s world shatters when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work.

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Michelangelo Antonioni’s First Masterpiece, IL GRIDO

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IL-GRIDOIL GRIDO (1957), the widely underseen early masterwork by Italian auteur Michelangelo Antonioni, will run at Film Forum in a new 4K restoration from Friday, November 8 through Thursday, November 14.

Deserted by the mother of his child, Aldo, a factory worker (played by Hollywood tough guy Steve Cochran) wanders through the Po Valley in search of solace and connection. His romantic prospects—including a gas-station owner (Dorian Gray), a sex worker (Lyn Shaw), and an old girlfriend (Betsy Blair, Oscar nominee for the prior year’s Marty and Mrs. Gene Kelly)—fizzle out into alienation and despair.

Made three years before his international breakthrough L’avventura, this rare departure from exploring affluent society is among Antonioni’s most politically trenchant films and a raw expression of anguish that remains one of Italian cinema’s great underappreciated gems. Strikingly composed with atmospheric photography by the great Gianni Di Venanzo, IL GRIDO reveals a director in the process of discovering his artistic signature.

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, from the screenplay by Michelangelo Antonioni, Elio Bartolini and Ennio De Concini, the film stars Steve Cochran, Alida Valli, Betsy Blair, and Dorian Gray.

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Film Forum Set To Premiere Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border”

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green-borderWinner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, “Green Border” immediately drew controversy from the Polish government for its depiction of the European migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border.

Shot in stark black-and-white, this riveting thriller explores the intractable conflict from multiple perspectives: a Syrian family fleeing ISIS caught between cruel border guards in both countries; young guards instructed to brutally reject the migrants; and activists who, at great risk, aid the refugees.

Holland (three-time Academy Award® nominee for Angry Harvest, Europa Europa, and In Darkness) brings an unflinching eye and deep compassion to this blistering critique of a humanitarian calamity that continues to unfold.

The Museum of the Moving Image will present a series of films by Agnieszka Holland from June 7–21, 2024.

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