Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally

Okiku and the World(ja)

Two rogue vagrants make their living as “manure men”, turning the waste from the tenement toilets into fertiliser sold to local farmers. Enter Okiku, the only daughter of a fallen samurai, and amongst the overflowing piles of excrement, a well-nourished love story unfolds.

Guitar Men: The Darkest Secret of Rock 'n Roll(de)

Dark Samurai(ja)

The film is inspired by Miyamoto Musashi who was one of the most famous Japanese ronin and warrior philosophers. This very alternate and visual interpretation of the fate of Miyamoto is brought into a mixture of contemporary Yakuza underworld and a hypnotic Samurai after-life. We flow seamlessly between through life, death, rebirth and the afterlife and challenge our traditional definition of the past, present and future. The film explores the agonizing and painful processes that go through the shattered mind of Miyamoto, as he desperately tries to hold on to the only thing he has left - The rapidly fading memories of his undying love for a woman named, Otsu. A love that for a Yakuza-Samurai is strictly forbidden and which will prove to have catastrophic consequences.

Merciless Blade(ja)

The first film in the 1953 trilogy based on the long novel series The Great Bodhisattva Pass.

Merciless Blade Part 2(ja)

The second film in the 1953 trilogy based on the long novel series The Great Bodhisattva Pass.

Merciless Blade Part 3(ja)

The final film in the 1953 trilogy based on the long novel series The Great Bodhisattva Pass.

Kakegurui(ja)

Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you're the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it's not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It's reading your opponent, the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling? At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrols, she's gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!

The Revenge of Yukinojo, Part 1: Revenge and Love(ja)

The first part of an entertaining historical drama depicting the eventful story of the revenge of an actor with a strange fate, with a variety of characters and exciting developments.

The Last Samurai(en)

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

The Hidden Fortress(ja)

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

Kingdom of Heaven(en)

After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.

Dolls(ja)

Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.

Mothra vs. Godzilla(ja)

Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla arises near Nagoya and the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.

The Fir Trees Remain(ja)

The 21-year-old feudal on Sendai, Tsunamune Date, was prohibited to go out in the daytime for his misbehavior during his short stay in Edo. On the next day, his 4 attendants were killed one after another. Sakai Utanokamike, the Rozyu, is turned out to be involved in this scheme, and the aim is to destroy the Date family. Tsunamune's brother Munekatsu Date who is willing to take over the family doesn't know the real purpose of Utanokami and helps him. Munesuku Harada gets to know the whole picture of the incident and takes action alone for the sake of protecting the Date family, leaving his own family. His lonely fight continues for 10 years and he got in danger in Utanokamike's house, and...

Midnight Swan(ja)

Nagisa is transgender. She grew up in Hiroshima as a man, but now lives in Shinjuku, Tokyo as a woman. Due to an incident, she begins to live with middle school student Ichika, who is a distant relative. Ichika has been neglected by her mother Saori. From living in solitude by herself, to now living with Ichika, Nagisa develops maternal instincts for the first time.

Kenkagarasu(ja)

Historical drama about two samurai who fight over everything yet unite together to fight an evil lord.

A Samurai's Honor at Pawn(ja)

A film about the struggle of an officer from Edo, Toyama Saemon, with a lightning-fast gang of thieves.

Legendary Hit-man, Kunioka(ja)

In 2018, director Sakamoto was working on a script for his new movie "Baby Assassins." He learns of a hitman business network called "Kansai Hitman Association" and applies for interviews as a reference for writing scripts. He is introduced to Masayuki Kunioka, a freelancer who is known as the strongest hitman in Kyoto. Sakamoto decides to follow Kunioka in his day-to-day life. One day, Kunioka kills the wrong person due to miscommunication with the client and is targeted by both the hitmen sent from the furious client and those who are aiming for revenge on behalf of the victim.

Thus the Divine Wind Blows(ja)

Set in the late thirteenth century, this film depicts the defense of southern Japan led by the Kono clan against the Mongol invasion in 1281.

Visitor Q(ja)

In a dysfunctional family where the mother is a heroin addict and prostitute, beaten by her son, and the father is an ex-TV reporter, sleeping with his daughter and filming his son being beaten up, ‘Q’, a complete stranger enters the bizarre family, changing their lives for the better, finding a balance in their disturbing natures.

Depeche Mode: 1989–90 “If You Wanna Use Guitars, Use Guitars…”(en)

"If You Wanna Use Guitars, Use Guitars…" - A 32-minute short film, entitled Depeche Mode 1989–90 (If You Wanna Use Guitars, Use Guitars), featured interviews with the band, Daniel Miller, Flood, François Kevorkian (who mixed the album), Anton Corbijn (who directed the music videos and did the album's photography/cover), and others. It also includes news footage from the infamous "riot" in Los Angeles, which gave the band media publicity the day before Violator came out.

Daffy Dilly(en)

Tired of selling gag novelties on the street, Daffy tries for the million-dollar reward offered by J.P. Cubish for the first person to make him laugh. But he first has to get past the rich man's haughty butler, and in the process subjects the servant to a Bogart-like grilling.

Salvation!(en)

A troubled young woman hooks up with a money-crazed televangelist and becomes a rich, heavy-metal Christian rock star.

Like Me a Million(sr)

It is a comedy about a young couple – Charlie, a news editor on a private television station, and Dana, the TV owner's secretary. Their story is intercepted by the reality news idea of Slobodan, the owner of the television station where both of them work. Slobodan is in a hurry to start the reality as soon as possible because he owes money to a tycoon and time is running out, and trashy programs generate quick profits. Charlie is reluctant to support Slobodan's idea but Slobodan convinces him it is what the viewers want. Although Slobodan is confident that his idea will generate the needed cash, the tycoon loses his patience. While Slobodan leaves the TV building, two masked men kidnap him and drive off in a van. That is when the twist happens.

A Canine Sherlock Holmes(en)

A dog leads a detective to a robber's hideout and fetches the police.

40(en)

This film is the record of a traumatic reaction to the terrorist acts in the Moscow subway of March 29, 2010.

Breakaway(en)

Breakaway plays out like a visual symphony. A prototype for the best (but still, lesser) contemporary formalist music videos, like Peter Care’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” and “Drive” (both for REM), Conner’s movie is an experiment in the visual language of film. But no matter how powerful a formal analysis of his filmmaking process may be in suggesting how Conner’s rhythms affect us, there is much in Breakaway – in Basilotta’s brash and unbridled self-assertiveness, in Conner’s feverish camera style, and even in the uncomplicated honesty of Cobb’s catchy lyrics and tune – that defies verbalisation… and must simply be loved! -- Senses of Cinema

Snowbody Loves Me(en)

Waif mouse Jerry, encrusted with snow, peers through a warmly lit window at Tom asleep by the fire in a room full of cheese.

Cathedral(en)

It is one of the earliest of the gay films after Stonewall, and one that refused to see touch, affection, and sensuality only in pornographic terms. The films final scenes use footage filmed in the St. Chapel, Paris, and connect the sensual with the spiritual. The patterns of movement and the inter-cutting align the film to dance.

Doll(es)

This story takes place in the suburbs, at night in Madrid. Tomás, our protagonist, is a young 21-year-old actor who asks for a cab back home after going out partying. He is picked up by a driver, and what seems to start as a normal conversation between client and cab driver, begins to take a nuance out of the ordinary.

Love and Learn(en)

A wealthy socialite bored with her life meets and falls in love with a struggling songwriter on the verge of leaving New York and quitting the music business.

Minin and Pozharsky(ru)

Christopher Ford Sees a Film(en)

What would you do if you saw a terrible film and your name was Christopher Ford?

My Uncle's Friend(pt)

The story of a LGBTQIA+ child told through old images from VHS tapes. The videos were recorded by Vicente's father between 1987 and 1993.

MAD(te)

Have you ever felt lonely in a Relationship..., Marriage or Live_In , doesn't matter, when you can't share your feelings with your companion, it is like travelling to an unknown destination with a troublesome partner.

The Big Cube(en)

A young woman and her drug addict boyfriend plot to drive the woman's stepmother insane with LSD in a plot to secure an inheritance.

Potatoeaters(el)

Four soldiers from different European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy and Yugoslavia) find themselves up against a common enemy.

Maria Del Norte(en)

An ironic story that takes a Border Patrol Agent, Angela Rubio through many obstacles and challenges to avoid Immigration. Angela gets hit on the head by a couple of drug smugglers and and is left unconscious. She is helped by an illegal immigrant Don Pablo, who is headed back to Mexico because of lack of work in the U.S. Angela not knowing who she or remembering anything from her past is convinced by Pablo to go back to Mexico. In mist of confusion she thinks she is an Illegal alien. It only gets more confusing when she and Don Pablo cross back to the U.S. in search of a better life and start running from the U.S. Border Patrol.