Film Catalogue

Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Upon arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s nonspeaking half-sister, Alma. Something feels off in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.

Winter, 1862, in the midst of the American Civil War. A group of Northern soldiers is sent to explore an uncharted region in the western frontier. As they move through the eerie, silent landscape, they are drawn into a ghostly, mist-covered world where the lines between morality and savagery, life and death, become blurred. Roberto Minervini’s film, reminiscent of the early works of Terrence Malick, blends historical realism with a haunting naturalism, crafting a mystical allegory about the blood-soaked origins of America. These characters, searching for purpose and communicating with an absent god, seem like wandering spirits in a liminal space. Ultimately, they come to realize William Faulkner’s words: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

Ida, a twenty-something who acts even younger, lives her entire social life online. Her boyfriend, Marvin, lives in Sacramento and they’ve never met physically. When Marvin breaks the news that he’s started dating another woman IRL - in real life - Ida’s world falls apart. To make Marvin jealous, Ida decides to find her own physical partner. But while she knows the world in theory, she has no real-life experience. As she begins to search for that someone else, she unknowingly searches for her own self, too. As Ida and Marvin share their new experiences of love and sex in the real world, we keep hoping that Ida and Marvin will eventually find their way back together again. Dates in Real Life is both a serious and funny modern love story set between the world as we imagine it and the world that is real.

The Devil’s Bath, by the Austrian directorial duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (Ulrich Seidl’s partner and nephew, respectively), fearlessly confronts the countless monsters that have held sway over unwritten European history for centuries. In mid-18th-century rural Austria, Agnes (played with a physical vigor bordering on spiritual elation by Anja Plaschg, who also signs the film’s evocative soundtrack as Soap&Skin) inexorably sinks into the murky waters of depression and despair, gradually slipping into mindless violence. Against a mystical setting of gothic imagery, religious oppression, rigid dogmatism, mental illness, and institutionalized violence against women merge into a maze that leaves no room for escape.

An ambitious actor agrees to undergo a groundbreaking medical procedure to drastically alter his appearance. But the new face he dreamt of quickly becomes his worst nightmare as he loses the role he believed he was destined for and gradually becomes obsessed with reclaiming what’s been lost. A surprising blend of psychological thriller and dark comedy, the film explores the notion of identity, its fluid, elusive, and multifaceted nature, while evoking memories of David Lynch’s masterful The Elephant Man and John Frankenheimer’s unsettling Seconds. At the same time, it subtly critiques society’s hypocritical stance on imperfection. With two outstanding performances from its lead actors (Sebastian Stan’s portrayal earning him the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival) the film’s impeccable sound design and mesmerizing noir atmosphere make Aron Siberg’s latest one of the finest films of the year.

A dodo, a bird extinct for the last 300 years, shows up at the villa of a formerly wealthy family in Athens. The owners are counting down the critical two days to their daughter’s wedding, which will bring their financial salvation. In dodo’s presence, the already thin line between sanity and madness collapses as the situation spins out of control.

In this highly original crossbreed gem where Louis Buñuel meets early animation, slapstick comedy, and philosophical comedy, emerges the delirious reality of unconventional femininity – finally, off the leash: April, an independently-minded lawyer known for taking on lost causes, resolves to secure a victory in her next case. However, when Dariuch, another seemingly hopeless client, asks her to defend his faithful canine companion, Cosmos, April is unable to resist. She dives into the absurdity of defending a canine client, confronting not only the legal system but also advocating for both women’s and animal rights. A lively and at times comical court case unfolds – where a dog’s life hangs in the balance. A courtroom comedy with a lively cast that raises questions about our relationships with animals, orchestrated by one of the most talented actresses of her generation – and regular collaborator of Justine Triet, whose quasi-courtroom, Golden Palm-winning, astonishing drama Anatomy of a Fall shook our world as we know it. As Premiere magazine put it following the film’s premiere in Cannes, this is also “a meditation on the animal condition, both endearing and disconcerting.”

A father, a mother, and their three kids live in a house on the outskirts of a city. There is a tall fence surrounding the house. The kids have never left the property. They are being educated, entertained, bored, and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. They believe that the airplanes flying through the sky are toys and that zombies are small yellow flowers. The only person allowed to enter the house is Christina. One day Christina gives one of the daughters a headband as a present but asks for something in return.

1997: the tensions between religious and secular Turks are increasing. Fourteen-year-old Ahmet is sent by his recently converted father to an Islamic dormitory, a “yurt,” to learn Muslim values. Ahmet works hard to be the perfect son, but he has trouble fitting in with rough kids at the Yurt, and feels isolated in his day secular school, where he hides his new home from his classmates. His only solace is a new friend Hakan, a street-smart kid who knows how to work the Yurt system. Together they dream of making their own decisions. Drawing from the filmmaker’s personal memories, this striking debut combines social commentary and original visual aesthetics to tackle complex stories of masculinity, conservatism, responsibility, and revolt – issues endemic to the Eastern Mediterranean and resonant with the entire modern world.

A young captain returns home from a journey and is faced with loss. His boyfriend breaks up with him and their plant has died. His real journey begins now.

Young Princess Camélia, magically transformed into an adult, must traverse a phantasmagoric and otherworldly landscape filled with enchanted beings, fantastical goblins, and human-like ghouls. Throughout her journey to adulthood, she navigates a minefield of patriarchy, facing a series of frightful encounters in this whimsical and surreal new world. In her second feature (and her first solo feature), the multidisciplinary artist Niki de Saint Phalle pursues her own take on the fairy tale, and the result is a visionary exploration of female desire that unfurls according to the logic of dreams and poetry. The film follows a princess (played by Saint Phalle’s daughter, Laura Duke Condominas) who, following a series of encounters with fantastical beings, is magically transformed into an adult, and finds herself navigating a frightening and surreal new world. A work suffused with ideas and strong ties to Saint Phalle’s work in other media (sculpture, painting, assemblage, etc.), A Dream Longer than the Night is both an exemplary artist’s film and an underseen gem of 1970s French avant-garde cinema.

Nina knows why her grandfather hates her – obviously because she’s a lesbian. Time to come clean. In the weirdest car ride of their lives, Nina and Stathis will have to finally talk to each other whether they like it or not.