All Recommendations

Carol

Self-centered Solomon Lynch takes a journey through his past, present, and future. But it takes more than Christmas spirit to set things right in this story of hope, faith, and redemption.

Mr. Hayashi

Bruce Baillie's Mr. Hayashi might be thought of as a putative East Coast story transformed by a West Coast sensibility. The narrative, slight as it is, mounts a social critique of sorts, involving the difficulty the title character, a Japanese gardener, has finding work that pays adequately. But the beauty of Baillie's black-and-white photography, the misty lusciousness of the landscapes he chooses to photograph, and the powerful silence of Mr. Hayashi's figure within them make the viewer forget all about economics and ethnicity. The shots remind us of Sung scrolls of fields and mountain peaks, where the human figure is dwarfed in the middle distance. Rather than a study of unemployment, the film becomes a study of nested layers of stillness and serenity.

3 peonies

A brief, poetic 16mm film on a simple sculptural action. What becomes apparent is the humor possible in material interactions and the tender and sometimes melodramatic symbolism of cut flowers. What begins as a reverence for natural beauty ends up pointing towards the abstract expressionism and color field work of high modernism which, in many cases eschewed the banality of such 'natural' beauty. The collaged soundtrack suggests weightier concerns, gently insistent behind the flatness of the utilitarian sounds of ripping tape.

The Road

A woman who loses her loved ones in a road accident realises that it was orchestrated and decides to track down the person responsible for the tragedy.

ECDYSIS

Dusk or dawn, stuck in subconsciousness until we can’t separate between the true self and appearances. Is it even possible that we will be free from our own sake?

Stream

A worker is hunted by a sadistic killer during his lunch break, for the entertainment of online viewers. The directional debut of Jonty Ross, made as part of the 2022 edition of ‘Fresh Blood’.

9:30

Chan Kin Fai flies to Los Angeles from Singapore to forget the person he loves. But he ends up calling his love everyday at 9:30 Singapore time.

Before Divorce

Two men get married in secret and live together in the suburbs of Bangkok. Last day before their relationship ends, Today is just like an ordinary day.

Loop

After responding to a distress call, a police officer finds himself face to face with his greatest adversary... himself.

Skrot, hopp och kärlek

In the forests of Halland lies an old car workshop run by a dysfunctional raggar family.

Planche à Rainures

Produced by Sociéte A. Lumière and sons

Songs Overheard in the Shadows

Balanced on the edge of what is visible, everything comes from nothingness and returns to nothingness. Strands of consciousness trying to convene with each other. Forms of personal significance in a time of crisis, set free into random motion through chance operations. Recurring details point towards a center.

Forest

Short film built from photographs, sped up like a traditional stop motion and is meant to be an evocation of the English Eerie and Folk Horror.

Hendrie

Documentary on the legendary talk-radio comic legend Phil Hendrie, who influenced a legion of great comedic minds through his innovative and relatively short-lived, off-the-wall radio show.

Akko-chan's Got a Secret! – The Sea! The Specters!! The Summer Festival

Akko and her friends are on summer vacation, and what could be more of a summer event than a beach trip? A festival is occurring around the beach, and while everyone is enjoying the festivities, Taisho and his gang head to a supposedly cursed island. Does Akko have anything to do with it?

Tora-san's Promise

Tora-san returns to his family's home to attend an elementary school class reunion. After he embarrasses himself by getting drunk and insulting all his ex-classmates, he resumes his travels. In Kyushu he meets an outspoken 18-year-old girl who becomes enamored of Tora-san and follows him around. One of Tora-san's old friends is terminally ill and makes Tora-san promise him to marry his wife once he is gone.

Grade

The film follows the daily experiences and dreams of the residents of a specific type of seclusion of freedom in which the convicts assume the maintenance of the space, the control of their own activities and their security. With a multifaceted approach, it proposes a reflection on the creative potential of incarcerated people, the documentary genre itself and its truth.

Doctor Ojoya: Origins

Service

All Ted wants to do is pay for his shopping, but the shoddy self-service and eerily elusive shop workers have other, far more sinister, ideas. A twisted horror-comedy about just how dark a customer service nightmare can get.