Berlinale: World Premiere of PUNKU by J.D. Fernández Molero

PUNKUPunku, the latest film by Peruvian Rotterdam Tiger Award-winning writer-director J.D. Fernández Molero [Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)], will have its world premiere in the Forum section of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, running from February 13 to 23, 2025. This one-of-a-kind, playfully genre-blending film was shot in 16mm, Super 8, and digital formats, and it will be screened on 35mm in its world premiere at the Berlinale.

Set deep in the Peruvian Amazon lowlands and the tropical city of Quillabamba in the Cusco region of Peru, Punku—which means “gateway” in Quechua—follows an unlikely pair on a foreboding journey that artfully threads together the fantasy and Surrealism of fairy tales with the harsh shadow of trauma in a shared search for belonging and safety.

Meshia, a Matsigenka Indigenous teenager, finds a young boy, Ivan, who vanished two years ago and was presumed dead. Determined to rescue him, she leads him on a journey upriver into the mountains toward the city for a surgery urgently needed to stop the infection that is progressively consuming his sight.
Continue reading

Share

2025 Sundance: Trailer And Poster Premiere For Thriller “The Things You Kill”

the-things-you-killDirected and written by Alireza Khatami, “The Things You Kill” stars Ekin Koç, Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, and Hazar Ergüçlü.

Khatami’s third feature is premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic competition, and is considered one of the year’s best entries.

The film follows Ali, a university professor who, haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance. As long-buried family secrets resurface, the police tighten their noose, and doubts begin eroding his conscience. Ali has no choice but to look into the abyss of his own soul.

Watch the intense trailer for “The Things You Kill” below:

Share

Japan’s Hottest Exports ONE OK ROCK Announces Detox North American 2025 Tour

one-ok-rocksBeloved both in their homeland of Japan and around the world, Fueled By Ramen’s ONE OK ROCK is gearing up for an electrifying return on the road with their highly anticipated DETOX NORTH AMERICAN 2025 TOUR. This tour marks the band’s most ambitious journey across the United States and Canada to date, with performances in numerous cities they’ll be visiting for the very first time, including three arena shows, which showcase the band’s growing fan base.

Produced by Live Nation, the 15-city tour will kick off in Vancouver and will visit major cities including two nights at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, a stop at the Prudential Center in Newark, and more before concluding in Minneapolis on June 7th. Joining them as special guests on all dates are pop-punk band Stand Atlantic.

In addition, ONE OK ROCK will donate a portion of the proceeds of their Los Angeles shows at The Greek Theatre to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. The LAFD Foundation provides vital equipment and funds critical programs to help the LAFD save lives and protect communities. The LAFD Foundation is actively seeking funds to equip LAFD members battling wildfires with equipment and supplies such as: Emergency Fire Shelters, Hydration Backpacks, and Wildland Brush Tools.
Continue reading

Share

Jean-Luc Godard’s “A Woman Is A Woman” At Film Forum

a-woman-is-a-womanA WOMAN IS A WOMAN, writer/director Jean-Luc Godard’s “subversive” color and Scope tribute to the Hollywood musical comedy, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Brialy, and the director’s then-wife and muse Anna Karina, will run at Film Forum from Friday, February 7 to Thursday, February 20, in a new 4K restoration being shown for the first time in the United States.

“I want to be in a musical with Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly… choreographed by Bob Fosse!” declares Karina, and she almost gets her wish in this first color, Scope, and partly studio-shot film by her then-husband, the second (following LE PETIT SOLDAT) of their seven and a half collaborations. Karina’s Angela — an afternoon dancer in the sleazy Zodiac Club – yearns for motherhood, but live-in boyfriend Brialy “isn’t ready yet,” while hanger-on Belmondo is more than happy to oblige.
Continue reading

Share

New Poster And Clip For “Universal Language” Released

universal-languageWith over 15 festival wins, “Universal Language” continues to capture the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide. Universal Language is also Canada’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the upcoming 97th Academy Awards. The film is eligible for all 2024 honors, having completed a one-week qualifying run earlier this year.

Directed by Matthew Rankin and co-written with Pirouz Nemati and Ila Firouzabadi, Universal Language marks Rankin’s second feature after the critically acclaimed The Twentieth Century (2019).

In a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg, the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother. Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection.

Share

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

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.

Share

Japan Society Announces First North American Retrospective on Kaizo Hayashi

Kaizo-Hayashi

To Sleep So as to Dream © Video Detective Agency

Japan Society Announces First North American Retrospective on Kaizo Hayashi, Independent Luminary of 80s and 90s Cinema

Japan Society has announced the first North American retrospective on director Kaizo Hayashi, one of the great luminaries of independent Japanese cinema in the 1980s and 1990s.

The world of Kaizo Hayashi is one of cinematic reverie and enchantment, whose reverence for film history—transposing genre and stylistic conventions from benshi and silent era serials to jidaigeki and hardboiled noir—results in one of the most imaginative and inspiring filmographies of the post-studio era. Invoking the mystery and intrigue of the moving image, amidst the flutter of celluloid frames, his cinema of the past brims with ingenuity and far-flung imagination, conjuring fantasies of what dreams may come.
Continue reading

Share

Queens-Based Festival of Cinema NYC 2024 Announces Film Lineup for Next Month’s Fest

festival-of-cinema-nycFestival of Cinema NYC returns to the Regal UA Midway in Forest Hills for the 8th edition of the popular Queens-based film festival, running from August 2-11. Additional venues this year include the Queens Public Library at Forest Hills, and Yant Tattoo Studios – the Official Filmmaker Lounge. This year the festival expands its programming with special presentations at the Queens Center Mall in Rego Park. The festival opens with Ivy Vale’s coming of age musical Out of My Comfort Zone and closes with the world premiere of Delfine Paolini’s A Wonderful Way with Dragons.

Additional world premieres among the feature film lineup include Laura Angiulli’s I Know You, Harrison Dillingham’s Mortimer, and Charles Caracciolo’s The Old Ballgame: The QBH Story. North American premieres include Andrey Getov’s Bo Nan Za, Francois Manceaux’s Encontro, Penny Zhou’s Hollywood Takeover: China’s Control in the Film Industry, Roman Balmakov’s No Farmers No Food: Will You Eat the Bugs?, Holger Borggrefe’s Once And For Real, and Jordi Torrent’s Third Week. The short films lineup adds an additional 12 world premieres and 2 North American premieres, as well.
Continue reading

Share

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

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.

Share

Eerie Trailer for Horror Film “Dancing Village: The Curse Begins” Released

Dancing-Village--The-Curse-Begins.jpgLionsgate has revealed an official US trailer for horror thriller from Indonesia titled Dancing Village: The Curse Begins,

It is Directed by Indonesian filmmaker Kimo Stamboel (Macabre, Headshot, The Queen of Black Magic). The screenplay for Dancing Village is by Lele Laila and is produced by Manoj Punjabi.

“The village still holds many mysteries”, says the film’s synopsis. “Piece by piece of mystery is revealed, including the terror of the most feared entity, namely, Badarawuhi.”

The movie stars Maudy Effrosina, Aulia Sarah, Jourdy Pranata, Ardit Erwandha, Moh Iqbal Sulaiman, Claresta Taufan Kusumarina, Aming Sugandhi, Dinda Kanyadewi, Pipien Putri, Zainal Abidin Zetta

Lionsgate is set to release “Dancing Village: The Curse Begins” in select US theaters on April 26, 2024.

Share
Page 1 of 2
1 2