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The Sad Cafe brings to life the gritty world where cause and effect, life and death, love and hatred play out a delicate balance. A place where unrequited love is the driving force behind closing ourselves off from the world, and is the cause of unrelenting bitterness to the happiness that was taken from us, the happiness we long for. The Sad Cafe is, at its core, a love story…a romance tragic in all aspects. A testimony to the pain people endure in their pursuit for love and companionship. “…intense and impressive … a compelling story of love and crime… [with]…crackling moments of gore and action…” Ain’t It Cool News “…must be seen … a dynamic action thriller from visionary young director Bennie Woodell…” Wildside Cinema
Allan is a married father of three whose sex life takes another hit when his wife can no longer take the pill. He soon finds himself with an appointment for a vasectomy and a nagging identity crisis. Although he is by all reasonable accounts a good, responsible man, the thought of getting “fixed” drives him to lose himself to an action-packed midlife crisis along with his best friends. Allan will refuse to grow up anymore.
When Thomas Archer’s happy & successful life is all but ruined following a horrific attack he is presented with a perfect opportunity to exact physical revenge upon the man who caused all his grief. However the immediate consequences of his actions and inactions are much more complicated than he imagined.
Raised suckling poison arrows among the sparring Iga ninja factions, Mumon (Satoshi Ohno, of idol group Arashi) is a carefree 16th-century mercenary. When the ninja council makes a power play to defeat the young Nobukatsu Oda struggling to step into his father’s warlord shoes as they expand rule across the country, Mumon jumps into the fray to satisfy his new bride Okuni’s (Satomi Ishihara of Shin Godzilla, Attack on Titan) demand that he make good on his promises of wealth. Yet Mumon soon finds what is worth fighting for beyond money or nation. A longtime JAPAN CUTS favorite known for his offbeat dramas, Yoshihiro Nakamura (Fish Story, Golden Slumber) takes on the jidaigeki epic with his signature sense of play featuring a jazzy soundtrack and fantastical ninja tricks. -JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film
King T’Challa returns home from America to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country’s new leader. However, T’Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne by factions within his own country as well as without. Using powers reserved to Wakandan kings, T’Challa assumes the Black Panther mantel to join with girlfriend Nakia, the queen-mother, his princess-kid sister, members of the Dora Milaje (the Wakandan ‘special forces’) and an American secret agent, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.
“Expendables” meets the “A-Team” in this full throttle action film, where a group of skilled mercenaries find themselves betrayed by the US government and are forced to fight their way out of an ambush by a new, and lethal team of human droids.
When a mysterious drifter reluctantly takes a job with a roadside haunted house, he quickly discovers that the attractions locked up in the basement are far more dangerous than plastic skeletons in rubber chains. Together with a mixed-up young woman in search for her lost nephew, and a host of liquored-up, live-remote radio deejays, Jerrod will have to solve the mystery of an ancient Egyptian amulet and face the wrath of the Angel of Death before he can be free of his curse: Necrophobia.
Cassidy is a senior at a NYC college and he’s trying to balance the demands of school, his role as big brother to Jessica, a freshman at the same school and his role as best buddy to horn-dog Mike with his emerging feelings of attraction to men. This is further complicated by a string of co-ed murders on campus for which his sister fits the victim profile.
Lu Jin is a handsome, wealthy hotel executive whose drive for perfection is matched only by his taste for fine cuisine. When he checks into the Rosebud, he’s dissatisfied with everything he sees and is ready to take action… until flamboyant female sous chef Gu Shengnan creates the perfectionist what may be a perfect meal. Now, these bitter rivals find themselves brought together in the kitchen in this light-hearted romantic comedy, infused with fun and flavors to create a delicious dish that foodies around the world wouldn’t dare to miss.
“In the Shadows” slithers through underworld Berlin in grand style. En route to a twisty finale, German writer-director Thomas Arslan keeps his audience glued to the increasingly desperate actions of Trojan, a thirtysomething career criminal whose latest job slowly catches up with him.
A chain reaction of confrontations and romantic encounters occurs when college friends reunite for one’s wedding.
Trace Adkins (The Lincoln Lawyer), Ron Perlman (TV’s “Sons of Anarchy”) and Brendan Penny (Ring Of Fire) star in this gritty and riveting re-imagining of the classic Western saga. Raised by powerful cattle baron Judge Henry (Perlman), South, aka “The Virginian” (Adkins), lives his life as a ranch enforcer with bravery and steely determination. When a big-city writer (Penny) raises questions about the fierce treatment of rustlers, South is quick to defend the brutal realities of the “Code of the West.” But as he looks deeper into the latest string of rustling and finds his convictions questioned by a pretty new schoolteacher (Victoria Pratt, Mutant X), South begins to wonder if the Judge had ulterior motives in raising him to a life of bloodshed and violence in this explosive, action-loaded epic on the open range.
Entirely shot on green screen, Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been reinvented by director Kit Monkman (The Knife That Killed Me) in an exciting new film adaptation. Starring Mark Rowley, (The Last Kingdom, Luther). Monkman’s unique adaptation successfully bridges the gap between theatre and film to create a wholly new type of imaginative space. This radical new adaptation puts the audience’s engagement with the story centre-stage, amplifying the theatrical context of the original and creating truly innovative and thrilling cinematic vistas, whilst maintaining the language and themes of Shakespeare’s original play. Using background matte painting and computer modelling to generate the world in which the action plays out, the green screen allows Monkman to create his vision of a multi-tiered globe in which the characters play out their various fates.
A man develops an attraction to the daughter of his father’s fiancee.
n the history of Romanian cinema, Sergiu Nicolaescu’s name stands for “prolific, highly commercial and professional”. At the age of 80, the director launched his latest production, which is also his second comedy in a long row of action and historic films. “Poker” is a cinema adaptation of Adrian Lustig’s theatre play with the same name, and focuses on four male friends, representatives for the social canvas: a doctor without a moral conscience, an unscrupulous politician, a chief of the local mafia, and a businessman who made a fortune in America. Made by MediaPro Pictures, ‘Poker’ looks at immorality and intrigues in politics, hinting at the fact that contemporary Romania is a day to day jungle where strings are pulled by those in power, so everything turns into a poker round, where those who have the right aces in their sleeve can win.
Steven Seagal stars in this gritty, no-holds barred action film as an elite ex-cop with a gambling problem and a mountain of debt. When a mysterious man offers to clear his debts in exchange for the assassination of the city’s most notorious gangsters, he make s decision that will change his life – forever.
Him and her. A husband and a wife staying in a cozy hotel where you can come for just a couple of days with a risk to get stuck forever. It is so easy to get trapped in the daily routine. Indeed, nothing is more permanent than the temporary. Their time is like a flat circle. He has his phone calls and business meetings. She is wrapped in her dreams and doubts. All reactions are predictable, all conversations are learnt by heart. An endless LP record of life keeps playing again and again repeating itself. But a few things can break this tune, like a scratch on the record, a crack on a wine glass, a sudden glance or a meeting with a stranger. And then you know: tomorrow will come soon. Any moment something can go wrong, throw you off course, and force you to make a choice.
Shotgun Jimmy is a nasty piece of work. Ripping off drug dealers, killing policemen, he’d decapitate his own grandmother for a sack full of loot. Schizophrenic, psychopathic, his only friend is Mary the Shotgun – his trusty, reliable pump-action. But during a violent road-rage incident, something goes horribly wrong and Jimmy finds himself chained in shackles in a dark, grimy dungeon where he ponders over a deeply buried secret past… Tomas Sorescu’s been a bad man. He likes his whiskey. And brandy. Vodka, rum or gin? Hell, he’ll drink petrol if it isn’t nailed down. Only now he’s done a rather silly thing. He’s crashed his car – and killed his wife and little girl in the process. Tomas feels pretty bad about the situation. So bad, in fact, he needs another drink. But then it gets worse as a tall, powerful, gas-mask wearing figure pulls Tomas from the wreckage and introduces him to a special place… Sophie Scott is a successful career journalist in the sleepy village of Ramsbottom.
The Little Ponderosa Zoo is preparing for their annual fundraiser festival that keeps the zoo afloat. The Freeman family, Jack, Judy, and their young daughter, Charlie opened the zoo years earlier after sharing their own home with the many animals they had rescued through the years With the help of Mr. Baker, their dependable zookeeper, the zoo has always been a huge hit with the small town. But, one day, the local bank owner discovers some dusty old documents in the basement of his bank that show that the zoo is sitting on a gold mine and, with the help of the town Mayor, and the Mayor s bumbling nephew, they immediately devise a devious plan to get the gold for themselves. The greedy trio see the annual festival as the perfect opportunity to put their dangerous plan into action and close the zoo forever and get their hands on the gold!
Produced by Turkey’s biggest animation studio, Anima Istanbul, The Bad Cat is an animated epic for young adults featuring the unforgettably bad cat, Shero and his foul mouthed gang in action. As animals inhabiting streets Shero and his friends are after what anyone else in their notoriously sleazy Istanbul neighborhood wants: debauchery with girls, food and the occasional drinking binge. This ordinary looking day will prove otherwise as their paths cross with humans, things get a little out of hand in hilarious, harsh and unexpected ways. The Bad Cat is an animated 3D feature film that strikes into our heads the epitome of what a bad cat who’s deprived of love and barbeque is capable of. The story involves a sleazy, sexed up cat Shero, discovers he is the father of a bastard son.
Disaster strikes when a criminal mastermind reveals the identities of all active undercover agents in Britain. The secret service can now rely on only one man — Johnny English. Currently teaching at a minor prep school, Johnny springs back into action to find the mysterious hacker. For this mission to succeed, he’ll need all of his skills — what few he has — as the man with yesterday’s analogue methods faces off against tomorrow’s digital technology.
A lurid fantasy of wounded flesh and accursed lives that entwine and separate in a building run by a landlord (Simon Yam), who seeks to find a particular type of tenant for the property he inherits from his relatives. Driven by his desire of peeping into the darkest aspects of human nature, what he sees through the eyes of the omnipresent cameras ain’t pretty… but it gives him the wry, abject satisfaction of a dark god lording over and leering at the souls of the damned, his imagination hungering toward them.
After a failed suicide attempt, a young man coping with loss and depression, submits to a series of trials that fine-tune human emotions, but his unique reaction to the tests send him on a journey that transcends both physical and perceived reality.
A vigilante with a mysterious past becomes a one-man army in a crime-infested town as he takes the law into his own hands, at the same time protecting a young mother and her daughter. He sets his sights on a local kingpin, setting up an action-packed and fateful confrontation.
In search of some adventure in their safe and peaceful valley, the five dinosaur friends make a hideaway. From there, they spot two thieves in action, stealing an egg from one of their broods. They chase them down and manage to recover the egg without its parents noticing, but in the process, accidentally create an opening into the valley, allowing two dreaded Sharptooths in. Everyone must fight them off together to preserve their peaceful way of life. Written by Cynan Rees
‘The Shadow of the Sun’ draws upon Derek Jarman’s interest with alchemical processes as a metaphor for reprocessing Super-8 film. Jarman once described film’s union of light and matter as “an alchemical conjunction” and experimented throughout his career with creating dream symbolism through the superimposition of image and action. Originally called English Apocalypse, the film’s final title is derived from a 17th Century alchemical text that used the phrase as a synonym for the philosopher’s stone – the highly sought substance that turns base metals into gold and silver. The film was intended as a step toward the idea of an ambient video, that like its musical counterpart, was designed to enhance an environment.
Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, “Rashomon” is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife.
“100 Years” is the David vs. Goliath story of Elouise Cobell, a petite, Native American Warrior who filed the largest class action lawsuit ever filed against the United States Government and won a $3.4 billion settlement for 300,000 Native Americans whose mineral-rich lands were mismanaged by the Department of the Interior.
Shot mainly in South East London, it’s about Micky Mason, a skilled manual worker who, since the Crash, can find nothing but menial zero hours jobs. He takes a course of action that is completely out of character, but it’s the only way he can see of keeping his family together. It is about surviving, but it’s not all anguish and despair – it’s also warm and tender, and funny. It’s about people finding their way through. It’s about Micky Mason; a man out there, right now, doing his best.
Ajin is a live-action adaptation of a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gamon Sakurai. Kei Nagai dies in a car accident, but realises he is a type of immortal known as Ajin (demi-human). Hunted by humans, Ajin is eventually found by the government and used as a subject in cruel experiments. He finds fellow demi-humans along the way as he escapes and goes on the run.
“If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?” CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, an icon of modernity; the National Library of Russia, a kingdom of thoughts; Halden Prison, the world’s most humane prison; the Salk Institute, an institute for breakthrough science; the Oslo Opera House, a futuristic symbiosis of art and life; and the Centre Pompidou, a modern culture machine. CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE explores how each of these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.
Gritty independent action/thriller set in Manchester, UK starring Michael L. Knight.
German American artist Eva Hesse (1936 – 1970) created her innovative art in latex and fiberglass in the whirling aesthetic vortex of 1960s New York. Her flowing forms were in part a reaction to the rigid structures of then-popular minimalism, a male-dominated movement. Hesse’s complicated personal life encompassed not only a chaotic 1930s Germany, but also illness and the immigrant culture of New York in the 1940s. One of the twentieth century’s most intriguing artists, she finally receives her due in this film, an emotionally gripping journey with a gifted woman of great courage.
Disturbing the Peace follows a group of former enemy combatants – Israeli soldiers from the most elite units, and Palestinian fighters, many of whom served years in prison – who have come together to challenge the status quo and and say “enough”. The film traces their transformational journeys from soldiers committed to armed battle to non-violent peace activists. It is a story of the human potential unleashed when we stop participating in a story that no longer serves us, and with the power of our convictions take action to create a new possibility.
The Don of Dons is a forced love story with murderous pulp action. Mr. Brown, a man that is pushed beyond his limits must find a mythical figure only known as the Mad Sam. If he fails, the gangsters that have kidnapped the love of his life will kill her. Accompanied by his wild friend Esteban, the two must race against time to find a man that may or may not exist.
Little Rebekah is fascinated by the man her neighbors call Jesus and she wants to hear all he has to say. But her mother, Sarah, wants Rebekah to keep her distance from the man some call Master and others label a heretic. Sarah has heard rumors that some factions wish to harm Jesus of Nazareth. But Rebekah is persistent, and one day she brings Jesus home to meet her mother and grandfather – a simple act that will forever change all their lives.
Rocket science meets the auto industry as “APEX” follows a thread that starts in the design studios and R&D labs where these “fighter jets of the street” are created, and leads to a perilous racetrack in Germany where drivers can reach new heights of speed and performance — if they dare. Equal parts human drama and speed, “APEX” follows Swedish entrepreneur Christian von Koenigsegg, a lifelong sports car enthusiast on a personal quest to build a “mega” car whose golden ratio defies all expectations for a hypercar’s velocity and power, while competing against the biggest names in motorsports for space on the world stage. With insights from top engineers and designers, “APEX” pulls back the curtain on the top-secret development facilities at Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren and Pagani, where awe-inspiring hypercars are imagined and built, and puts you inches from the action, as top drivers shake down the latest hypercars, flat-out on some of the world’s greatest racetracks.
The first World War rages on when a group of American soldiers find a mysterious artifact that can summon the ancient evil of the Krampus. After the men are killed in action, the artifact is sent to the commanding officer’s widow who is a teacher at a small-town orphanage. The orphans accidentally summon the Krampus and the teacher, and her pupils are forced to battle this ancient evil.
