Contemporary Movies Catalogue

Mother is Wrong – French Mini TV Series

Dir. by François Velle | France 2018 | French with English subtitles | Thriller

Captain Marianne Aubrais is a detective with the Le Havre Police Department. Should she believe a child who tells her that his mother is not his mother? After all, she is busy investigating a robbery that happened months ago. Stolen goods worth hundreds of thousands of euros have not been recovered and two fugitives are still at large. But if the kid’s story is not pure fantasy, it would be truly criminal to ignore it. The little boy’s memories are fading. If he is telling the truth, will he never grow up to be the adult he should have become? Will he finally be forced to accept the unthinkable and allow himself to be raised by a woman who may have abducted him?

Buy online

High Resolution Stills

Anatomy of Hell

(R) Dir. Catherine Breillat, France, 2004. 77 min | Drama
After meeting a man in a gay nightclub, a young woman suggests that she pay the man to meet her over four nights to look at her “where she is unwatchable”. What follows is a series of sequences in which writer and director, Breillat sets out to prove that all men are, at their core, misogynists.

Sister Smile

(PG) Dir. Stijn Coninx, France/Belgium 2009. 119 min | Drama, Biography
Cécile de France (Orchestra Seats, The Singer) stars in the true story of Belgian nun Jeannine Deckers, international 60s pop icon Soeur Sourire, or The Singing Nun. Her controversial life story largely depicts her painful struggle between the church, her family and her true self.

High Resolution Stills

A Ma Soeur! (For My Sister! a.k.a. Fat Girl)

(R) Dir. Catherine Breillat, France, 2001. 87 min | Drama
Elena is fifteen and diabolically beautiful. She is neither more futile nor more stupid than her younger sister, but she doesn’t realise that she is no more than an object of desire. And, as an object, all she can do is to be taken. Or be had. Indeed, this is the subject, the loss of girls’ virginity, which opens the door to tragedy during one summer holiday period. From the director of Romance, Anatomy of Hell and An Old Mistress.

An Old Mistress

(R) Dir. Catherine Breillat, France, 2007. 104 min | Drama
A biting, dramatic period feature based on the 19th century novel by Barbey d’Aurevilly sees the young and dashing Ryno de Marigny about to marry the virtuous Hermangarde. But can he give up his mistress of many years, the tempestuous Vellini. Beautifully photographed and full of rich secondary characters, this intimate chamber piece is full of betrayals, confidences and secrets. Starring Asia Argento and Roxane Mesquida.

Vengo

(M) Dir. Tony Gatlif, France/Spain, 2000. 97 min | Musical, Drama
Set in the dramatic, arid landscape of Andalusia, Tony Gatlif (Latcho Drom) creates a vivid impression of a region and its culture, in which music, machismo and passion intertwine. The plot centres around a grieving father struggling to protect his family from a rival family, and is underscored by vibrant music with a mix of Andalusian and North African influences.

Transylvania

(M) Dir. Tony Gatlif, France, 2006. 103 min | Drama
A young woman, Zingarina, travels to Transylvania, in the heart of Romania, in search of her lover, the father of her unborn child. Searching amongst the Romany Gypsy community where music is a central part of life. Transylvania, starring Asia Argento, Amira Casar and Birol Unel, closed the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

Darwin’s Nightmare

(M) Dir. Hubert Sauper, France/Austria/Belgium, 2004. 111 min | Documentary
Winner Best Documentary, 2004 European Film Awards and Nominee Best Documentary Academy Award
Some time in the 1960’s, in the heart of Africa, a new animal was introduced into Lake Victoria as a little scientific experiment. The Nile Perch, a voracious predator, extinguished almost the entire stock of the native fish species. However, the new fish multiplied so fast, that its white fillets are today exported all around the world. This documentary is captivating with fascinating subject matter.

Heading South

(M) Dir. Laurent Cantet, France/Canada, 2005. 108 min | Drama
On the sun-drenched island of Haiti at the end of the 1970s, tourists idle away their vacations in the palm-fringed paradise of the beach hotels. Three North American women, converge on the island looking for flirtation, relaxation and respite from their mundane jobs and marriages. Starring Charlotte Rampling.

Exils

(M) Dir. Tony Gatlif, France, 2004. 103 min | Adventure, Drama
Winner Best Director Cannes Film Festival 2004. From the director of Latcho Drom, Vengo and Swing. Beginning in Paris and travelling overland through Spain, a young couple make their way to Algeria, the land their parents were forced to leave years before. Great music, as in all Gatlif films. Stars Romain Duris and Lubna Azabal.

Latcho Drom

(G) Dir. Tony Gatlif, France, 1993. 103 min | Documentary
Winner Un Certain Regard Award, Cannes Film Festival 2003. The film takes the viewer on a journey west, from India to Spain, with stops along the way, to dramatise Romany’s nomadic culture. Gatlif holds his camera on the elemental essentials of this life: water, the wheel, fire, beasts of burden and of sustenance, colorful clothes, jewelry, musical instruments, song, and dance. Throughout, via song and dance, young and old celebrate, embody, and teach the cultural values of family, journey, love, separateness, and persecution.

Baise Moi

(RC) Refused classification. This film is currently unavailable.
Dir. Virginie Despentes, France, 2000. 77 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Baise Moi tells the story of two young women, angry at the world, who embark on a twisted, rage-filled road trip. On their sexually charged rampage of violence they attempt to deal with the violence and humiliation to which they have been habitually subjected.

Red Lights

(M) Dir. Cedric Kahn, France, 2003. 106 min | Thriller
35mm prints available.
Based upon Georges Simenon’s book, Red Lights is a carefully crafted thriller masterfully incorporating elements of suspense and noir. Starring Jean-Pierre Darroussin and Carole Bouquet.

The Gleaners and I

(G) Dir. Agnès Varda, France, 2000. 82 min | Documentary
35mm prints available.
Agnès Varda’s award-winning documentary. The secluded life of the deep French countryside is portrayed in this semi-autobiographic study of the obscure lifestyle. Focusing primarily on gleaners, those who scavenge an already harvested field, the moral, political and aesthetic aspects of these people are gradually revealed.

The Gleaners and I: Two Years Later

(G) Dir. Agnès Varda, France, 2002. 63 min | Documentary
Available on DVD only
Varda revisits some of those profiled in The Gleaners and I and visits others who were so delighted by the film that they wrote to her to tell her so. An amusing, and once again, fascinating follow-up.

The Page Turner

(PG) Dir. Denis Dercourt, France, 2006. 85 min | Drama, Thriller
Un Certain Regard, 2006 Cannes Film Festival. A tight emotional thriller about a young woman taking carefully planned revenge on a woman she believes ruined her potential musical career years before. Understated and beautifully acted and scored.