Luis Buñuel’s “Viridiana” Returns in New 4K Restoration at Film Forum

Posted on October 18, 2025 by admin

Janus Films will release a new 4K restoration of Luis Buñuel’s Palme d’Or-winning classic Viridiana (1961), opening November 14 for a one-week engagement at Film Forum in New York City.

Banned in Franco-era Spain and condemned by the Vatican upon release, Viridiana remains one of cinema’s most provocative works. The film follows a novice nun (Silvia Pinal) whose idealistic faith collides with corruption and hypocrisy when she moves in with her uncle, played by Fernando Rey, in a narrative that skewers religious dogma and human weakness.

Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 1961 Cannes Film Festival, the film has long been regarded as one of Buñuel’s masterpieces. Co-written with Julio Alejandro and photographed by José F. Aguayo, the restoration showcases the film’s bold imagery and subversive wit for a new generation of audiences.

Viridiana runs November 14 to 20, 2025, exclusively at Film Forum.

‘Bouchra’ Directors Orian Barki & Meriem Bennani Spotlighted at NYFF and on New York Magazine Cover

Posted on October 9, 2025 by admin

Filmmakers Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani are having a standout festival moment with their feature Bouchra, which continues to draw acclaim at the New York Film Festival (NYFF) following its U.S. premiere in the Currents section.

The film’s warm reception comes alongside the duo’s appearance on the print cover of New York Magazine’s Look Book, released October 1. The feature highlights their creative partnership behind Bouchra, an 85-minute narrative exploring memory, artistic paralysis, and identity through the story of a Moroccan filmmaker in New York.

Produced by 2 Lizards, the film was financed by Fondazione Prada and executive produced by Hi Production. It marks a new chapter for Barki and Bennani, whose acclaimed animated series 2 Lizards premiered on Instagram in 2020 and was later added to the MoMA and Whitney Museum collections.

Bouchra follows its titular character as a phone call with her mother in Casablanca stirs buried memories and creative renewal. Told across Moroccan Arabic, French, and English, the film examines the intersections of family, migration, and the creative process.

The production team includes Cécile Winckler, Octavia Peissel, Ella Bishop, Pau Suris, with John Michael Boling and Jason Coombs serving as creative producers.

“She Loved Blossoms More”: Yannis Veslemes Blends Sci-Fi, Horror and Dark Comedy in Surreal Tale of Grief

Posted on September 24, 2025 by admin

Dark Sky Films and Yellow Veil Pictures will release Yannis Veslemes’ She Loved Blossoms More on VOD and digital platforms October 3.

The film, which premiered at Tribeca, follows three brothers who construct a time machine to bring their late mother back to life. Their efforts spiral out of control when their unstable father reappears, sending them into a surreal blend of past and present.

Described as a mix of science fiction, body horror, and dark comedy, the film stars Panos Papadopoulos, Julio Giorgos Katsis, Aris Balis, and Dominique Pinon.

Veslemes co-wrote the script with Dimitris Emmanouilidis and directed.

New Clip: Eugène Green’s The Tree of Knowledge Premieres Tonight at Fantastic Fest 2025

Posted on September 18, 2025 by admin

In biblical terms, the “Tree of Knowledge” represents the beginning of free will. For filmmaker Eugène Green, it serves as a metaphor for spiritual awakening in The Tree of Knowledge, which premieres tonight at Fantastic Fest 2025.

The story centers on Gaspard (Rui Pedro Silva), a teenager ensnared by the Ogre, a man who has made a pact with the Devil and uses him to attract tourists, transforming them into animals before killing them. Gaspard escapes with a donkey and a dog and encounters the spirit of Queen Maria I of Portugal, while the Ogre sets off in pursuit.

Green, born in New York and based in France, is known for Toutes les Nuits and a body of films often shown at major festivals including Cannes, Locarno, and Berlin.

Japan Society to Spotlight Shiguéhiko Hasumi With October Film Series in New York

Posted on September 17, 2025 by admin

Japan Society will present Shiguéhiko Hasumi: Another History of the Movie in America and Japan, a ten-day retrospective honoring Japan’s most influential living film scholar, running October 9–18, 2025.

Curated by Hasumi, a longtime critic, theorist, and mentor to directors including Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Shinji Aoyama, the program explores the intersections of American and Japanese cinema through a personal lens. Highlights include Michael Mann’s Collateral, Makoto Sato’s 1992 documentary Living on the River Agano, and a rare pairing of shorts by Kurosawa and Aoyama.

The series will also feature Richard Fleischer’s The Boston Strangler, Robert Aldrich’s …All the Marbles, and Mikio Naruse’s Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro. Locarno winner Sho Miyake will attend the second weekend, presenting his 2022 boxing drama Small, Slow But Steady and participating in a closing-night discussion on Hasumi’s critical legacy.

Hasumi, celebrated for his groundbreaking writings on Yasujiro Ozu and John Ford, was President of the University of Tokyo from 1997 to 2001. His work has shaped generations of filmmakers and critics, influencing both Japanese and international cinema.

Marion Cotillard Leads Hadžihalilović’s Surreal Drama The Ice Tower

Posted on August 30, 2025 by admin

Acclaimed French filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović (Innocence, Evolution, Earwig) returns with her fourth feature, The Ice Tower, which is set to open in theaters on October 3, 2025. The film stars Marion Cotillard, Clara Pacini, August Diehl, and Gaspar Noé.

Co-written with Geoff Cox, The Ice Tower premiered earlier this year at the Berlin Film Festival. The project reunites Hadžihalilović with Cotillard, who also starred in her 2004 debut feature Innocence. Known for her surreal and unsettling narratives, the director brings her distinctive style to another collaboration with long-time creative partner Noé, with whom she co-founded the production company Les Cinémas de la Zone in the early 1990s.

Hadžihalilović’s work has previously received recognition at international festivals including San Sebastián, Toronto, and Cannes. The Ice Tower continues her exploration of atmospheric, psychological storytelling, blending elements of fantasy and existential unease.

The film will be released in U.S. theaters on October 3.

Tetsuya Mariko’s “Dear Stranger” Sets International Premiere at Busan Film Festival

Posted on August 30, 2025 by admin

Busan International Film Festival has set the international premiere of Dear Stranger, the latest feature from Japanese director Tetsuya Mariko (Destruction Babies), for its 2025 edition in the “A Window on Asian Cinema” program.

Starring Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car) and Gwei Lun-Mei (Girlfriend, Boyfriend), the Japan-Taiwan-U.S. co-production was filmed entirely in New York and follows a couple whose lives fracture after the disappearance of their young son forces them to confront buried secrets.

The film reunites Mariko with top collaborators, including cinematographer Yasuyuki Sasaki (Asako I & II), editor Matthieu Laclau (A Touch of Sin), and Grammy-winning musician Jim O’Rourke. The project was shot with a multilingual cast and crew across English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and sign language.

Mariko, who won Locarno’s Best Emerging Director Award for Destruction Babies, shifts his focus from violent social critiques to an intimate immigrant drama exploring identity, family, and loss.

Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague Premieres at Cannes, First Trailer Released

Posted on May 17, 2025 by admin

Richard Linklater’s latest film, Nouvelle Vague, premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, marking the director’s first French-language feature. Shot in black and white and entirely in French, the film is a dramatized account of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s landmark 1960 film Breathless.

Nouvelle Vague reconstructs the early days of the French New Wave through the lens of Godard’s directorial process, using a cast of mostly new French actors to mirror the spirit of the movement. Guillaume Marbeck plays Godard in his feature debut, alongside Zoey Deutch as Jean Seberg and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo. Additional cast members include Paolo Luka Noé, Alix Bénézech, and Jade Phan-Gia.

The film is co-written by Linklater with Vince Palmo, Michèle Halberstadt, Laetitia Masson, and Holly Gent, with cinematography by David Chambille. International sales are being handled by Goodfellas. The project follows Linklater’s other recent 2025 release, Blue Moon, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.

The teaser trailer, now released, offers a stylized preview of Nouvelle Vague, combining footage with a French voiceover listing key elements of the story: “A pretty boy. A pretty girl. Paris 1959. A gym. A director. A camera…”

The film is expected to be released in theaters on October 8.

Watch the teaser trailer for Nouvelle Vague below:

Dag Johan Haugerud’s Sex Opens at Film Forum

Posted on May 14, 2025 by admin

The 2024 Norwegian drama Sex, directed by Dag Johan Haugerud, will have its U.S. theatrical premiere on Friday, June 13 at Film Forum in New York. The film is the second in Haugerud’s Love–Sex–Dreams: The Oslo Trilogy, a series of standalone features examining nontraditional forms of intimacy and emotional honesty in modern relationships.

Set in Oslo, Sex follows two male-identified colleagues—both in heterosexual marriages—as they confront aspects of their sexuality and identity that challenge traditional gender roles and relationship norms. One man discloses a recent sexual encounter with another man, while the other wrestles with recurring dreams involving David Bowie and questions of gender fluidity. The narrative focuses on their efforts to communicate these experiences with their wives, exploring themes of vulnerability, trust, and the complexity of love within the framework of monogamous relationships.

The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival, where it received the Europa Cinemas Label Award for Best European Film in the Panorama section. Haugerud, also an acclaimed novelist, is known for using restrained storytelling to depict nuanced emotional and social dynamics.

Sex is the second installment in The Oslo Trilogy. The first film, Love, opens at Film Forum on Friday, May 16, with Haugerud scheduled to appear for post-screening Q&As on Friday, May 16 (7:45 PM) and Saturday, May 17 (5:15 PM). The final film in the trilogy, Dreams, which won the Golden Bear at the 2025 Berlinale, is slated to open at Film Forum on Friday, September 12.

Each of the trilogy’s films is self-contained and can be viewed independently, though they are thematically linked by their exploration of intimacy, desire, and identity in contemporary Norwegian society.

Jia Zhangke’s “Caught by the Tides” Opens in Theaters Nationwide

Posted on May 13, 2025 by admin

Caught by the Tides, the latest film from acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke, is now playing in New York and will open in theaters nationwide this weekend.

The film spans more than two decades of footage, blending archival and newly shot material to tell a love story set against the backdrop of modern China’s societal changes. Zhao Tao stars in the leading role, with the film tracing her journey through shifting landscapes and turbulent times.

Jia, known for works such as Platform, Still Life, A Touch of Sin, and Ash Is Purest White, continues his exploration of contemporary Chinese life with a focus on personal and collective memory.

Caught by the Tides has screened at major international festivals, including Cannes, Toronto, New York Film Festival, BFI London, AFI Fest, and Rotterdam. It has received praise from a range of critics, described as “a masterpiece” (New York Magazine), “deeply touching” (The New York Times), and “carefully crafted to break your heart” (Rolling Stone).

Watch the trailer below.