Spoiled Cécile, 17, spends her summer at the French Riviera with her rich, widower, playboy dad Raymond. A usually carefree atmosphere is challenged by the arrival of Anne, Cécile’s late mom’s friend, visits and brings changes to all.
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What happens when you mix Shakespearean tragedy, Roman decadence, and a heavy dose of 1970s excess? You get Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, a film that proves absolute power not only corrupts absolutely, but does so in the most spectacularly outrageous way possible.
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Viggo Mortensen’s sophomore directorial effort, The Dead Don’t Hurt, is a poignant and gritty exploration of love, resilience, and survival set against the unforgiving backdrop of the 1860s Western frontier. Combining a tragic love story and a nuanced depiction of the conflict between revenge and forgiveness, the film focuses on the lives of star-crossed lovers Vivienne Le Coudy and Holger Olsen.
Mortensen, who also stars in the film alongside Vicky Krieps, creates a narrative rich in character development and visual authenticity, making it a modern addition to the Western genre.
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Amid a global pandemic, an entrepreneur looks back on his life’s work owning and operating an idiosyncratic cinema in the forest of northern Ontario.
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Written and directed by Levan Akin, Crossing, opens as a moving exploration of identity, family, and the transformative power of personal journeys. Premiering in the Panorama section at the 2024 Berlinale and later showcased at the BFI Flare Film Festival, the film not only captures the complexities of the 2SLGBTQ+ existence in conservative places like Georgia and Turkey, but also reveals the intersections of – and contention between – tradition and modernity. Akin’s latest film resonates deeply with its compelling narrative and remarkable visual storytelling.
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Luke Gilford‘s National Anthem, featuring Charlie Plummer and Eve Lindley, is a visually stunning and emotionally resonant exploration of identity and belonging within the unique setting of a queer rodeo in the American West.
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For fellow cinephiles and gothic horror fans, Adrien Beau‘s The Vourdalak is a visual treat that left me curious about the filmmaker’s future work in the genre. This film, an adaptation of Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy’s 1839 novella ‘La Famille du Vourdalak’, predates Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ by over half a century and is a welcome addition to the vampire lore.
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The myth of MarÃa Lionza, a deity of the Venezuelan jungle, merges with the experience of a migrant filmmaker yearning for her lost Goddess. Over the years, the iconic statue in her honour became damaged by the passage of time.
Filmmaker Ximena Pereira began to document the debacle over the iconic statue. On the one hand, the ‘Broken Goddess’ was sheltered at the Central University of Venezuela. On the other, the Mayor’s Office of Caracas wanted to install a replica to replace the original piece.
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On my last day at Hot Docs this past May, I had the pleasure of seeing Carlota Nelson‘s ‘Eyes of the Soul: Cristina GarcÃa Rodero’ (La Mirada Oculta). The film follows the life and work of world-renowned photographer Cristina GarcÃa Rodero.
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Documentary Chasing Time reunites Extreme Ice Survey project lead and photographer James Balog with the Emmy-winning team behind Chasing Ice to capture the end of the epic undertaking and spotlight the power of an intergenerational effort to seed hope and inspire action toward a sustainable future.
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