The Giraffe

The Satin Woman

July 1927 •English

Dorothy Reid -- who before her marriage to ill-fated screen idol Wallace Reid was better known as Dorothy Davenport -- was both producer and star of Satin Woman. After the death of her husband from drug abuse in 1923, Davenport dedicated herself to helping others avoid the pitfalls of modern life by turning out a series of cautionary film fables. In Satin Woman, she endeavored to warn society women not to neglect their families for the sake of fads, foibles, and handsome younger men.

Cool Young

September 2011 •Chinese

"Cool Young" tells the story of the emotional life of employees in a grey area of Chinese society.

Amsterdam

November 2010 •French

Nocturne in Black

May 2016 •Arabic

In a war-ravaged Syrian neighborhood, a musician struggles to rebuild his piano after it is destroyed by terrorists.

Waltz with Bashir

June 2008 •Hebrew

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

The Trial

December 1962 •English

Josef K wakes up in the morning and finds the police in his room. They tell him that he is on trial but nobody tells him what he is accused of. In order to find out about the reason for this accusation and to protest his innocence, he tries to look behind the façade of the judicial system. But since this remains fruitless, there seems to be no chance for him to escape from this nightmare.

Paradise Now

September 2005 •English

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Breaking the Waves

July 1996 •Danish

In a small and conservative Scottish village, a woman's paralytic husband convinces her to have extramarital intercourse so she can tell him about it and give him a reason for living.

Blindness

May 2008 •English

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

Drive In

March 2024 •Italian

Takva: A Man's Fear of God

December 2006 •Turkish

Humble and introvert Muharrem lives in a solitary and meager existence of a prayer and sexual abstinence adhering strictly to the most severe Islamic doctrines.His extraordinary devotion attracts the attention of the leader of a rich and powerful Istanbul religious group and he offers him an administrative post as a rent collector for their numerous properties. Muharrem's new job throws him into the modern outside world he has successfully avoided for so long. He soon witnesses conflict attitude toward alcohol consumption and goodwill.He notices that he himself has become proud, domineering and even dishonest.To make matters worse, Muharrem's inner peace is unnerved by the tormenting image of seductive woman who tempts him in his dreams,both night and day.With the balance of his devotion now upset,his fear of God begins to eat away at his senses.

G.I. Jane

August 1997 •English

In response to political pressure from Senator Lillian DeHaven, the U.S. Navy begins a program that would allow for the eventual integration of women into its combat services. The program begins with a single trial candidate, Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, who is chosen specifically for her femininity. O'Neil enters the grueling Navy SEAL training program under the command of Master Chief John James Urgayle, who unfairly pushes O'Neil until her determination wins his respect.

Madonnas

February 2007 •German

A portrait of Rita, who claims that her mother was never a mother for her. Rita gives birth to her own five children and forces her mother to take the role of a mother.

Bicycle Thieves

July 1948 •Italian

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

Dark Horse

May 2005 •Danish

A young man spurs romance and helps his friend and himself go through the struggles of their ordinary life in Denmark.

Lady Windermere's Fan

September 1985 •English

Lord Windermere appears to all - including to his young wife Margaret - as the perfect husband. But their happy marriage is placed at risk when Lord Windermere starts spending his afternoons with an adventuress who is working her way through London's high society, Mrs. Erlynne. Worse, Windermere gives her big sums of money. To crown it all he asks his wife to invite the detestable woman to her own birthday party. Upset and outraged, the puritan Lady Windermere decides to leave her husband and goes to Lord Robert Darlington, who has been courting her for some time. Unfortunately she leaves her fan - the one Robert offered her for her birthday - in Robert's house...

American Gangster

November 2007 •English

Following the death of his employer and mentor, Bumpy Johnson, Frank Lucas establishes himself as the number one importer of heroin in the Harlem district of Manhattan. He does so by buying heroin directly from the source in South East Asia and he comes up with a unique way of importing the drugs into the United States. Partly based on a true story.

It's Winter

February 2006 •Persian

Unemotional, restrained cinematographic poem, situated in a wintry and poor suburb of Tehran. A man is dismissed and his lack of prospects for the future make him decide to seek his happiness abroad. He leaves his wife and child behind and for a long time nothing is heard of him. Then a stranger turns up, a car mechanic looking for a job. The attractive single mother can’t resist his attentions. Very subtly, a struggle ensues that reflects that of a whole generation of young doubting Iranians who may want to leave the country, but hardly know how to start.

The Best of Youth

June 2003 •Italian

After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lives of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family take different directions, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.

Cotton Wool

October 2017 •English

A single mother suffers a devastating stroke leaving her teenage daughter and 7-year-old son to care for her, testing the family's strength to hold things together as their roles are reversed.