Mao’s Last Dancer

Billy Elliot

September 2000 •English

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Volver

March 2006 •Spanish

Three generations of women survive the east wind, fire, insanity, superstition and even death by means of goodness, lies and boundless vitality.

Man of Marble

February 1977 •Polish

A young Polish filmmaker sets out to find out what happened to Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer who became a propaganda hero in the 1950s but later fell out of favor and disappeared.

In Caliente

May 1935 •English

At a Mexican resort, a fast-talking magazine editor woos the dancer he's trashed in print.

Dancing Sweeties

July 1930 •English

Bill is a hot shot dancer who partners with Jazzbo, until he sees Molly at the dance. He enters the Waltz with Molly and wins first prize - and they wind up being married that same night. Now they are free of their parents nagging and their own bosses. 24 hours - no dancing as in-laws are visiting. 24 days - the Apartment is finished so off to the Hoffman's Parisian Dance Palace. Molly can only dance the Waltz and not the hot new jazz dance so she leaves and Bill follows. They are both unhappy, Bill has two left feet when it comes to romance.

Seven Samurai

April 1954 •Japanese

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Once on This Island

Invalid date •English

Adaptation of the Broadway musical. The story is set in the French Antilles in the Caribbean Sea and tells of a peasant girl who falls in love with an aristocrat. Against this backdrop, social class differences play out while the island gods wager a bet of what is stronger, love or death.

The Middle Ages

February 2022 •Spanish

A comedy during confinement? Probably so. A portrait of a little girl and her family during confinement? Apparently so. An absurd, Beckettian musical shot during confinement? Exactly, yes.

Center Stage: On Pointe

June 2016 •English

Jonathan Reeves is tasked with infusing more contemporary styles and modernism into the American Ballet Academy, and enlists his top choreographers Charlie, Cooper and Tommy to recruit dancers to compete at a camp where the winners will be selected to join the Academy. Bella Parker, who has always lived in the shadow of her hugely successful sister Kate, finally gets her chance to step into the limelight as one of the dancers recruited for the camp.

Devasuram

April 1993 •Malayalam

Neelakantan, heir to his father's fortunes, is an apparent menace to society. He once belittles a dancer but later they fall in love. Shekharan, an arch enemy, kidnaps his lover due to an old enmity.

Antonia's Line

September 1995 •Dutch

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

Brother of Sleep

September 1995 •German

In the beginning of the 19th century, Johannes Elias Alder is born in a small village in the Austrian mountains. While growing up he is considered strange by the other villagers and discovers his love of music, especially rebuilding and playing the organ at the village church. After experiencing an "acoustic wonder", his eye color changes and he can hear even the most subtle sounds.

The Jazz Singer

October 1927 •English

A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.

The Gold Rush

July 1925 •English

A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.

Paths of Glory

October 1957 •English

A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

Fleisch ist mein Gemüse

April 2008 •German

Melissa

January 1995 •English

Melissa follows her dream of becoming a dancer all the way to New York City but finds when she gets there that reaching her goal might cost more than she is willing to sacrifice. In dire need of money, she becomes an exotic dancer in a strip club where a sinister love triangle puts both her heart and her life in danger.

A Christmas Carol

December 2020 •English

The radical new take on Dickens’ classic seeks both to exhume the original story’s gritty commentary on social inequality and the corrupting influence of greed, and to breathe new life into the lyricism of the original text by setting its scenes to extraordinary tableaux of modern dance.

The Firebird

August 1952 •English

Italian singer Mario Vanni visits the Royal Opera in Stockholm and fall in love with ballet dancer Linda Corina.

Antonio Gramsci: The Days of Prison

February 1977 •Italian

Antonio Gramsci, sentenced to twenty years in prison by the fascist tribunals, relives the stages of his political career and private life.