The Life of Oharu

Vivre Sa Vie

September 1962 •French

Twelve episodic tales in the life of a Parisian woman and her slow descent into prostitution.

Nostalgia

May 1983 •Russian

A Russian poet, Andrei and his interpreter, Eugenia travel to Italy to research the life of an 18th-century composer.

China Girl in Bangkok

January 2003 •Thai

Nop is a small time thief who gets a job from the local Chinese mafia in Bangkok. He and another guy have to pick up some girls from a small fishing port nearby who have been smuggled in from China to work in a Karaoke bar and deliver them to Bangkok. On the way back into town they are stopped at a police check point and the cops soon realize the people in the van are all illegal immigrants. He runs away with a girl who speaks some Thai named Liew who is coming to Thailand to pay back her family's debts. A chase leads to them nearly being captured and Nop is shot but they manage to escape and hide out in Pattaya for a few days. They have a relationship but Nop must hand over the girl to the mob no matter what. She does not want to work in the bar but is forced to. Nop does not agree...

Girl with a Pearl Earring

December 2003 •English

This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl With A Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.

Devil's Bride

September 2016 •Finnish

Anna’s story takes place on Åland Island in 1666, during the beginning of the most widespread and systematic witch-hunts in Scandinavian history. In all, 16 women were convicted of being in league with the devil, and seven of them were executed. For Judge Psilander, who has mastered the newest witch theories of the time, the trials are meant to cleanse the island of superstition, to have science and common sense prevail. The main character, the intelligent and stubborn Anna, gets an intimate view of the events, having just started working as a maid in the judge’s house. To Anna’s misfortune, she falls intensely in love with her friend Rakel’s husband Elias, but his infatuation with her quickly fades. A hurt and jealous Anna decides to get revenge and falsely reports Rakel to Judge Psilander. It’s only when Rakel is arrested, and things get out of hand, that Anna realizes the gravity of her doings.

Forms of Forgetting

June 2023 •Turkish

Nesrin and Erdem talk about their relationship, which they don’t remember in exactly the same way. Çevik’s visually stunning essay uses their conversations to forge a pensive treatise on what it means to forget, where word and image play an equal role.

A Mighty Heart

June 2007 •English

Based on Mariane Pearl's account of the terrifying and unforgettable story of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl's life and death.

She Walks by Night

October 1959 •German

Based on an actual post-war murder in Frankfurt, this standard docudrama by Rudolf Jugert is a serious treatment of the story as compared to the earlier, satirical film The Girl Rosemarie. The history of the case of Rosemarie, a hooker, and how she came to be strangled in her apartment is not completely clear. One of the suspects in the case was first charged, later acquitted, but never really free of an aura of culpability. British actress Belinda Lee plays the title role with her voice dubbed over in German.

Rendition

September 2007 •English

When an Egyptian terrorism suspect "disappears" on a flight from Africa to Washington DC, his American wife and a CIA analyst find themselves caught up in a struggle to secure his release from a secret detention facility somewhere outside the US.

Marquise

August 1997 •French

Marquise is a drama about the rise and fall of a beauteous actress. As cheerfully portrayed by Sophie Marceau, the eponymous heroine is an engagingly ribald, but perhaps rather too modern, character. She rises from an impoverished background to become a favourite of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and the mistress of the celebrated Racine, who wrote roles especially for her; but her fate, in the end, is a tragic one.

Burn After Reading

September 2008 •English

When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of gym employees, Linda and Chad, they see a chance to make enough money for Linda to have life-changing cosmetic surgery. Predictably, events whirl out of control for the duo, and those in their orbit.

Hoax

July 2005 •Portuguese

Years before she saw a man being swallowed by a wave, inside a swimming pool. With this event, time ceased to be linear, and in a split second her family disappeared, leaving only behind the traces of their presence. Through the window´s reflex she realises her face has changed - the face is longer and the hair; she has memories inside her head, that she doesn´t recognize. In another time, she returns to that place to try to confirm her memory.

Cassandra's Dream

October 2007 •English

The tale of two brothers with serious financial woes. When a third party proposes they turn to crime, things go bad and the two become enemies.

Man Push Cart

May 2006 •English

Every night while the city sleeps, Ahmad, a former Pakistani rock star turned immigrant, drags his heavy cart along the streets of New York. And every morning, he sells coffee and donuts to a city he cannot call his own. One day, however, the pattern of this harsh existence is broken by a glimmer of hope for a better life.

Kamalatho Naa Prayanam

June 2013 •Telugu

It is about a woman who is striving to get out of her job as a sex worker and the betrayal she faced from the person she loved after believing rumors about her private life.

Boys in the Trees

October 2016 •English

On Halloween 1997, two estranged teen skaters embark on a surreal journey through their memories, dreams and fears.

Hotel St. Pauli

March 1988 •Norwegian

Jor and Gerda is a loving couple that lives together in Copenhagen. Jor is trying to make a breakthrough as a writer, without any luck so far. His struggles have caused Gerda to provide for them by selling sexual favors on the street.

In the Realm of the Senses

September 1976 •Japanese

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.

Areia

October 2008 •Portuguese

Lights in the Dusk

February 2006 •Finnish

Outcast by his co-workers and living alone, Koistinen is a security guard who works the night shift in a luxury shopping mall in Helsinki. But when icy blonde Mirja approaches him, the lonely Koistinen falls helplessly for her, unaware she is manipulating him for her criminal boyfriend.