Kiyoshi Kurosawa, one of Japan’s most unique auteurs, builds a fascinatingly disorienting and quietly apocalyptic tale of alienated twenty- somethings in this haunting 2003 drama Bright Future. This was Kurosawa’s first feature to be selected for the prestigious Cannes film festival and marked a departure from his previous famed J-horror masterpieces such as Pulse and Cure. Enigmatic Mamoru (Tadanobu …

Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in the 100th annual Koshien, Japan's wildly popular national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include U.S. baseball star Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. But for Coach Mizutani and his players, cleaning the grounds and greeting their guests are equally important as honing their baseball skills. In director Ema Ryan Yamazaki's …

In her debut film, director Qiong Wang builds a riveting portrait of her family reckoning with the lasting impact of China's one-child policy. After giving birth to two daughters, Qiong's parents were desperate for a boy. When they learned that they were pregnant with a third daughter, the couple embarked on a path that would affect their family for generations to come. Filming for more than seven …

Frances Ha is called Cristina in this Chilean generational comedy produced by Salma Hayek and directed by Gonzalo Maza, screenwriter of A Fantastic Woman and Gloria. Maza is renowned as one of the great screenwriters of Latin American cinema. Cristina and Susana have been best friends since high school. But now, at over 30 years of age, they are getting a wake-up call. Cristina has just gone through …

A FIERCE GREEN FIRE: The Battle For a Living Planet is the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement - grassroots and global activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate change. From halting dams in the Grand Canyon to battling 20,000 tons of toxic waste at Love Canal; from Greenpeace saving the whales to Chico Mendes and the rubbertappers saving the Amazon; from climate …

Jan Svankmajer’s Faust is a rendering of the infamous Dr. Faustus fable of temptation and damnation. Borrowing freely from both Marlowe and Goethe and ancient folktales and timeless myths, the story follows a lonely Czech businessman who sells his soul to the devil in return for 24 years of self-indulgence. A visually fantastic combination of live-action, claymation, puppet theatre, stop-motion …

Accompanied by her lover, Suzanna (Charlotte Gainsbourg), 40, views a Riviera beach house for her family's summer vacation. This day, this break in her routine, in this new house, will mark a turning point in her life. Based on the Marguerite Duras play of the same name, Suzanna Andler is the portrait of a woman trapped in her marriage to a wealthy, unfaithful businessman in the 1960s. She must choose …

Gustav Stickley is one of the most recognizable names in American furniture. A visionary designer, he was the key driving force in bringing the Arts and Crafts movement to America in the early 1900s. His furniture work included what has become known as the Mission Style. Herb Stratford's new documentary offers an unprecedented look at his life and works as told through interviews, archival materials, …

Two master filmmakers, Abba Kiarostami (A Taste of Cherry) and Jafar Panahi (The Circle, Taxi) team up as writer and director, respectively, on Crimson Gold, a subtle tragedy on class conflict in modern Iran. Hussein (Hossain Emadeddin, a real-life pizza delivery man who has schizophrenia) is a lumbering war veteran swollen by cortisone (for war-induced pain) and reduced to delivering pizzas at night. …

Pierre will stop at nothing to save himself and begins to entertain the most outrageous customer requests. Hortense mounts a strong opposition, aided by Véra and Rose. Along the way, Rose finally discovers the truth about her mother…and her own past.

Hortense wants to terminate Angéle’s pregnancy, but the other women band together to allow her to keep the baby. Believing her mother to have died at The Paradise, Rose seduces Pierre in an attempt to gain her freedom. But soon Pierre’s wife arrives at the brothel to confront her husband’s mistress, thinking it is Véra.

Angéle’s fiancée, Brise Caboche, is desperate to obtain her freedom and blackmails Hortense, who has no choice but to ask her brother for money. However, he is not immediately willing to help a sister who shows public disdain for him. Meanwhile, Rose confides in Véra how she plans to escape The Paradise: seducing Pierre.

Pierre continues to use The Paradise to serve his own purposes, inviting many wealthy clients on his own accord. Hortense is furious and attempts to spite him by keeping the ladies locked in their rooms. Rose, always in search of information about her mother, presses Hortense, who reveals her mother’s true identity.

Hortense must defend against the machinations of Pierre, who wants to leverage the Paradise for his own gains. A police investigation is launched in response to Véra’s claims and two girls are arrested. One day, Rose finds a photo of her mother in the house archives, and it is suggested that her mother and Hortense once shared a close personal relationship.

Hortense’s detestable brother Pierre, recently arrived in France, quickly resolves the strike organized by the ladies of The Paradise. But the calm in the storm is only temporary. Now back to work, Rose finds herself struggling to adjust to her new life. Meanwhile, Véra notices that Angéle is wearing jewelry that had previously belonged to her late lover. Suspicious, she goes to the police to … More

Forced into service at The Paradise, Rose manages to escape before being tracked down by the police. After one of the girls is assaulted, Véra organizes a strike in protest, causing a strain on the brothel’s finances. In response, Hortense decides to sell Rose’s chastity to the highest bidder. As things are heating up, Hortense’s despised brother, Pierre Gaillac, arrives from the colonies to … More

Paris, 1871. Vera, the star attraction of the The Paradise luxury brothel, is about to finally leave the institution to become the live-in mistress of the Baron Du Plessis. However, The Paradise owes money to a dangerous debt collector named Lupin, and its madam, Hortense Gaillac, is willing to resort to absolutely anything to keep her. Meanwhile Rose, a pretty young woman engaged to be married, arrives … More