All Quiet on the Western Front tells the gripping story of a young German soldier on the Western Front of World War I. Paul and his comrades experience first-hand how the initial euphoria of war turns into desperation and fear as they fight for their lives, and each other, in the trenches. The film from director Edward Berger is based on the world renowned bestseller of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque.
Holy Spider
2023 Oscar® Selection, Denmark Female journalist Rahimi (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) travels to the Iranian holy city of Mashhad to investigate a serial killer who believes he is doing the work of God, cleansing the streets of sinners by murdering sex workers. As the body count mounts, and Rahimi draws closer to exposing his crimes, the opportunity for justice grows harder to attain as the ‘Spider Killer’ is embraced by many as a hero. Based on the horrific true story of serial killer Saeed Hanaei, acclaimed writer-director Ali Abbasi (BORDER) unveils a gripping crime thriller, and a daring indictment of a society in which rough justice is routinely a fact of life.
ALcarras
2023 Oscar® Selection, Spain In a small Catalonian village, the peach farmers of the Solé family spend every summer together picking fruit from their orchard. But when new plans arise to install solar panels and cut down trees, this tight-knit group suddenly faces eviction — and the loss of far more than their home. Winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale, the sophomore film from Carla Simón (SUMMER 1993) is a sun-dappled, deeply moving ensemble portrait of the countryside and a community’s unbreakable bonds.
The Blue Caftan
2023 Oscar® Selection, Morocco Halim is one of the few enduring maalems, or master tailors, in one of Morocco’s oldest quarters. Along with his wife Mina, he runs a traditional caftan store and services demanding clientele. But when a talented apprentice is hired to help keep up with orders, the young man’s presence and effect on the closeted Halim finally force the couple to face the truth about their relationship. The Blue Caftan is a sensitive, perspective-shifting ode to cultural tradition and the craft of love.
RETURN TO SEOUL
2023 Oscar® Selection, Cambodia Freddie (Park Ji-Min), a young French woman, finds herself spontaneously tracking down the South Korean birth parents she has never met while on vacation in Seoul. From this seemingly simple premise, Cambodian-French filmmaker Davy Chou spins an unpredictable, careering narrative that takes place over the course of several years, always staying close on the roving heels of its impetuous protagonist, who moves to her own turbulent rhythms (as does the galvanizing Park, a singular new screen presence). Chou elegantly creates probing psychological portraiture from a character whose feelings of unbelonging have kept her at an emotional distance from nearly everyone in her life; it’s an enormously moving film made with verve, sensitivity, and boundless energy.
CLOSE
2023 Oscar® Selection, Belgium Leo and Remi are two thirteen-year-old best friends, whose seemingly unbreakable bond is suddenly, tragically torn apart. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Lukas Dhont’s second film is an emotionally transformative and unforgettable portrait of the intersection of friendship and love, identity and independence, and heartbreak and healing.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground-breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis.
All That Breathes
As legions of birds fall from New Delhi’s darkening skies, and the city smoulders with social unrest, two brothers race to save a casualty of the turbulent times: the black kite, a majestic bird of prey essential to their city’s ecosystem.
Navalny
Poison always leaves a trail. The fly-on-the-wall documentary follows Russian opposition leader, Alexey Navalny, through his political rise, attempted assassination and search to uncover the truth. #Navalny
BONUS
EO
EO, a gray donkey with melancholic eyes and a curious spirit, begins life as a circus performer before escaping across the Polish and Italian countryside, where he encounters a troubled young priest, a Countess, a rowdy soccer team, and experiences society’s cultural and environmental ills, all on his journey to freedom. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes 2022, and Poland’s entry for the 2023 Academy Awards.
The Quiet Girl
#TheQuietGirl, is a delicate drama that follows a shy nine-year-old who has been separated from her immediate family and left in the care of two distant relatives for the summer. After sun-dappled days spent milking cows, peeling potatoes and fetching water from the well, the Initially uncommunicative child soon opens up to her foster parents. Textural and tender, this award-winning film shows that home is where you feel loved.
“No one sees anything. Ever. They watch, but they don’t understand.” So observes Connie Nielsen in Olivier Assayas’s hallucinatory, globe-spanning Demonlover, a postmodern neonoir thriller and media critique in which nothing—not even the film itself—is what it appears to be. Nielsen plays Diane de Monx, a Volf Corporation executive turned spy for rival Mangatronics in the companies’ battle over the lucrative market of Internet adult animation. But Diane may not be the only player at Volf with a hidden agenda: both romantic interest Hervé (Charles Berling) and office enemy Elise (Chloë Sevigny) seem to know her secret and can easily use it against her for their own purposes. As the stakes grow higher and Diane ventures into deadlier territory, Assayas explores the connections between multinational businesses and extreme underground media as well as the many ways 21st-century reality increasingly resembles violent, disorienting fiction.
9. WOJNAROWICZ
Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F**ker is a fiery and urgent documentary portrait of downtown New York City artist, writer, photographer, and activist David Wojnarowicz. As New York City became the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, Wojnarowicz weaponized his work and waged war against the establishment’s indifference to the plague until his death from it in 1992 at the age of 37. Exclusive access to his breathtaking body of work – including paintings, journals, and films – reveals how Wojnarowicz emptied his life into his art and activism. Rediscovered answering machine tape recordings and intimate recollections from Fran Lebowitz, Gracie Mansion, Peter Hujar, and other friends and family help present a stirring portrait of this fiercely political, unapologetically queer artist.
Marie recently found herself abandoned on Christmas Eve by her husband and has been falling apart ever since. Berling has been the eternal “bacherlorette” who outwardly denies her age and lives the sweet life, all seems perfect until we find out about her complicated relationship with her daughter. Vanja is still living in the past and has never been able to move on from her late husband. The three life long girlfriends decides to travel to Italy together to attend a cooking course in Puglia and here they each find the opportunity to redefine themselves and acknowledge that the most important thing in life is their friendship and that it’s never too late to live a more fulfilling life.
7. THE GOOD TRAITOR
April 9, 1940: Denmark is invaded by Nazi Germany with demands for immediate and unconditional surrender. The government surrenders after a few hours and begins cooperating with the Nazis. On the other side of the Atlantic is Denmark’s ambassador to the United States of America, a daredevil and a man of the world – Henrik Kauffmann, who is willing to put everything on the line. He refuses to follow the German directives and engineers a rebellious plan to defeat Hitler and give the Danish people their freedom back.
6. THE MARIJUANA CONSPIRACY
Based on a true story, this entertaining and informative film took place in 1972. It’s about an outlandish study on the effects of marijuana on young women. This film centers around five young women who shared a common goal: to make some money and have a fresh start in life. It began as fun, like Hippiie camp, and many of the young women thrived and at their given tasks despite their “toke times”. The scientists, frustrated and surprised with the women’s motivation, decided to give them ever-increasing THC levels. This didn’t stop most of the women’s productivity until many become zombified by the excessive doses. The girls used their unique strengths, resilience and friendship in order to overcome this extreme adversity. To this day, the women still do not know the results. They deserve their story to be told, and they deserve answers.
5. Collective
In 2015, a fire at Bucharest’s Colectiv club leaves 27 dead and 180 injured. Soon, more burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life-threatening. Then a doctor blows the whistle to a team of investigative journalists. One revelation leads to another as the journalists start to uncover vast health care fraud. When a new health minister is appointed, he offers unprecedented access to his efforts to reform the corrupt system but also to the obstacles he faces. Following journalists, whistle-blowers, burn victims, and government officials, Collective is an uncompromising look at the impact of investigative journalism at its best.
4. Nawal El Saadawi: A Daring Legacy
Nawal el Saadawi, an Egyptian author, activist and physician who became an emblem of the struggle for women’s rights in the patriarchal Arab world and campaigned against female genital mutilation, which she had endured at age 6, died on Sunday March 21, 2021, in Cairo. She was 89. Muslimish invites you to a seminar titled “Nawal El Saadawi: a daring legacy” with host Wissam Charafeddine, coFounder of Muslimish, and Guests Dr. Ginan Rauf, Barbara Nimri Aziz, and Zeinab Assaf Lecanu on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at 7PM EST. Join us for the live discussion with your comments and questions.
3. FATHER
2. MINARI
A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to an Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
1. THE MAN WHO SOLD HIS SKIN
Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, left his country for Lebanon to escape the war. To be able to travel to Europe and live with the love of his life, he accepts to have his back tattooed by one of the World’s most sulfurous contemporary artist. Turning his own body into a prestigious piece of art, Sam will however come to realize that his decision might actually mean anything but freedom.
Wissam Charafeddine 