The Stars Look Down

Venerable

May 2022 •English

Devastated by a recent loss, Jayne's perseverance is tested by her nuisance husband as she attempts to complete her jigsaw, but as pieces start disappearing she must solve a far more complex puzzle; one she may not like the answer to.

Norwegian Dream

March 2023 •Polish

Robert moves from the Polish countryside to work on a fish processing factory on the coast of Norway. There he falls in love with Ivar who is openly gay and a member of the workers union. Robert is hiding his sexual orientation from the other Polish immigrant workers. When Ivar helps the Polish to start a strike for better working conditions at the factory, Robert has to choose between money or love.

The Big Operator

August 1959 •English

A power-mad union boss resorts to murder to eliminate witnesses scheduled to testify against him. The eclectic cast includes Mickey Rooney, Mamie Van Doren, Mel Torme, Jay North, Vampira, Charles Chaplin Jr., Jackie Coogan and Norman Grabowski.

The Silent Village

September 1943 •English

The true story of the massacre of a small Czech village by the Nazis is retold as if it happened in Wales.

President

January 1937 •Hindi

Badi Bahen aka President is a 1937 Hindi social romantic drama film (the Bengali version was called Didi and starred several different actors). The story according to the credit roll of the film is "A tale of love and greater love" developed on an idea by M. M. Begg. It was a love triangle with a social content that highlighted the conditions of the mill workers. It was also the first film to show a liberated educated woman managing her own factory

Aliento

September 2019 •Spanish

The Night Before the Strike

March 1990 •Korean

There are 200 miserably impoverished people working in the Dongseong Metalworks Factory. Ju Wan-ik is introduced to the forging team as a new member of the team and they all go drinking together to welcome him.

Bitter Cherry

December 1983 •English

Set in an open prison, where a former trade union activist subjects his more passive cell mate to an incessant barrage of union mumbo-jumbo.

Blind Shaft

February 2003 •Chinese

Two Chinese miners, who make money by killing fellow miners and then extorting money from the mine owner to keep quiet about the "accident", happen upon their latest victim. But one of them begins to have second thoughts.

57 Lawson

September 2016 •English

Set in a social housing estate in central Sydney, 57 Lawson preserves the disparate voices of the tenants at a time when these communities are becoming increasingly marginalised by the city around them. A patient observation of the daily lives of the area’s inhabitants over the course of one evening, 57 Lawson is a hybrid drama-documentary film about a specific place at a specific time.

Koyaanisqatsi

April 1983 •English

Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.

Normality

January 2014 •Norwegian

Normality is a human state of good intentions, empathy, caring and wanting to do the best for those we love and the world at large.

Strawberry and Chocolate

December 1993 •Spanish

Set in 1979, following a young Communist man's relationship with a gay Catholic writer, exploring tolerance, inclusion, homophobia and challenging its Cuban audience with great humour. Based on the short story by Cuban writer Senel Paz.

The Shanghai Drama

September 1938 •French

A Russian emigrant sings in a Shanghai nightclub under the assumed name of Kay Murphy. All she dreams of is a peaceful life with her daughter Vera. But this is only a pipe dream as she has been forced by her former lover Ivan to work for a secret criminal organization, "The Black Dragon". Vera, who studies in a Hong Kong boarding-school, knows nothing about her mother's past. When Ivan, who is also Vera's father, resurfaces and blackmails Kay, the young woman is determined to fight back...

Kunku

February 1937 •Marathi

Neera (Apte) is trapped into marrying an old widower Kakasaheb (Date). He is a progressive lawyer with a son and daughter of Neera's age. Neera refuses to consummate the union claiming that while suffering can be borne, injustice cannot. Neera faces many hurdles including her mother-in-law and a lascivious stepson Pandit (Nene).

Char Adhyay

January 1997 •Bengali

Set in the Bengali Renaissance of the 1930s and 1940s. A group of young intellectuals get embroiled in the struggle for Indian independence, sometimes at the expense of their personal lives.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

December 2008 •English

A representative of an alien race that went through drastic evolution to survive its own climate change, Klaatu comes to Earth to assess whether humanity can prevent the environmental damage they have inflicted on their own planet. When barred from speaking to the United Nations, he decides humankind shall be exterminated so the planet can survive.

The Heart of the Earth

March 2007 •Spanish

Tensions mount in an Andalusia mining town between local Spanish workers and their British employers.

Girls in My Hometown

January 1991 •Korean

Girls in my Hometown, released in 1991, is a melodrama dealing with individualism and sacrifice. A young girl has a friend who has just come back from abroad, bringing with her foreign fashions and foreign ideas. When the solider to whom the friend was engaged becomes blinded in an accident, she decides to put herself first, neglecting her duties to her fiancé and the community she lives in.

Here Is Your Life

December 1966 •Swedish

A working class teenager comes of age in 1910s rural Sweden, moving through a series of jobs and romances that gradually shape his future.