The Lost City

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat(fr)

Jazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War. In 1960, the UN became the stage for a political earthquake as the struggle for independence in the Congo put the world on high alert. The newly independent nation faced its first coup d'état, orchestrated by Western forces and Belgium, which were reluctant to relinquish control over their resource-rich former colony. The US tried to divert attention by sending jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the African continent. In 1961, Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was brutally assassinated, silencing a key voice in the fight against colonialism; his death was facilitated by Belgian and CIA operatives. Musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach took action, denouncing imperialism and structural racism. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev intensified his criticism of the US, highlighting the racial barriers that characterized American society.

Sarumba(en)

Sailor meets singer in Cuba. He's due to ship out, but hits it off with her, so he sticks around. Trouble brewing on many fronts - singer's best friend doesn't like the sailor, and singer has another suitor anyway. Rich guy takes her to all the fancy Cuban sports events - jai-alai, horse racing. Much more glamorous than spending time with Sailor. Can he win her over before he gets in trouble for letting his ship sail without him?

Too Afraid of Life or Splat(es)

A superstitious middle-aged woman falls in love with a taxi driver, while trying to learn the identity of the unseen person tossing eggs at her.

Bailando con Margot(es)

Things I Left in Havana(es)

Three sisters leave Cuba in search of a better life in Madrid. While there, they encounter, among other things, other Cuban expatriates.

Che Guevara, naissance d'un mythe(fr)

Florida Straits(en)

A man who spent 20 years in Cuban prison after the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion and a boat captain and his crew go covertly to Cuba to find a cache of gold buried during the invasion. But can they trust each other?

Another Day of Life(en)

In 1975, Ryszard Kapuściński, a veteran Polish journalist, embarked on a seemingly suicidal road trip into the heart of the Angola's civil war. There, he witnessed once again the dirty reality of war and discovered a sense of helplessness previously unknown to him. Angola changed him forever: it was a reporter who left Poland, but it was a writer who returned…

The Cuban Love Song(en)

A guilt-ridden U.S. Marine returns to Cuba to try to find the woman he promised to marry.

The Days of Water(es)

This Cuban feature examines the circumstances arising out of a woman's claim to have seen the Virgin Mary and to have been healed by waters from a nearby stream. In an accelerating storm of cynical opportunism, her sincere beliefs are exploited by businessmen, politicians and military men. Rival groups compete to exploit the hysteria the vision causes, and the chaos culminates in a revolution. Striking imagery and skillful camerawork enhance this feature.

Alice in Wondertown(es)

A biting satire about life in contemporary Cuba. Alicia, a young drama instructor, is sent to the small town of Maravillas de Noveras, which is itself an exaggerated, but very ingenious reflection of the real Cuba. Her adventures there are almost as surreal as the ones experienced by Lewis Carroll's character, reflecting patterns of indoctrination, coercion, absolutism, and many other everyday problems in Cuban society.

One Day in November(es)

It is the story of a young man named Esteban, who was totally devoted to the cause of the Revolution against Fulgencio Batista. One day, Esteban is diagnosed with a cerebral aneurism, which causes him to take stock of his life as a revolutionary and to reconsider his relationships to his family--to his mother and brother, particularly--and his friends.

The Companion(es)

At the height of the 1980s AIDS epidemic, Cuban boxing champion Horacio's punishment for failing a drug test is to watch over the brash, combative Daniel, a patient in a sanatorium where HIV patients are compulsorily confined. The two collide as Daniel yearns for freedom while Horacio dreams of returning to the ring.

Operation Peter Pan: Flying Back to Cuba(es)

Between 1960 and 1962 more than 14,000 cuban children were sent alone by their parents to the USA. This clandestine operation -with the participation of the CIA and the Catholic Church- became known as "Operation Peter Pan". Many of the parents had expected to follow their children, who had been granted visa waivers by the US government, but the Missile Crisis terminated the flights between the two countries and the children found themselves stranded in the USA. In 2009, for the first time a group of the Peter Pan children, now adults visited Cuba to give "closure and make peace with the land where they were born".

Melaza(es)

With the closure of the sugar mill, the little town of Molasses is devastated, lifeless. Aldo and Monica form a young married couple that do not find a way to survive. By supporting each other, they try to save their world without loosing their faith.

Tamango(fr)

A Dutch slave captain, on a voyage to Cuba, faces a revolt fomented by a newly captured African slave, Tamango. The slaves capture the captain's mistress, forcing a showdown.

August(es)

Cuba, summer of 1994. In the midst of período especial, one of the greatest crises in the country’s history, thousands of Cuban rafters try to reach the United States illegally, never sure if they’ll make it out alive. With holidays starting, Carlos plunges into a carefree August, wandering around with his friends and falling in love for the first time. Little does he know about the country’s uncertain future, and in this hot summer, the world of Carlos will turn upside down.

Santa & Andres(es)

Santa, a peasant woman loyal to the Revolution, is sent to guard Andrés, a gay writer who is under house arrest, considered “ untrustworthy” for his ideas and sexuality by the Cuban authorities. Set in a small village in eastern Cuba during the early 1980s, this poignant political drama depicts an encounter between two deeply thoughtful souls on opposite sides of a profound cultural divide. Both have experienced deep loss, and both know the damaging effects of isolation and oppression. Even so, the cavernous ideological divide separating them — the same one that has separated Cuban friends and kin for over 50 years — has until now seemed insurmountable.

Ustedes tienen la palabra(es)

Rebuild, in the same place of events, a trial held in 1969 to four men, accused of sabotage for having caused the fire of a forest plan that caused the death of eight people and large material losses. At the same time, it analyzes retrospectively the circumstances that contributed to the occurrence of the crime.

King of the World(nl)

Cinema version of the 5 part TV series. During World War II, Stan Vandewalle saves boxing trainer Max from the bombed German war prisoners camp, and shoots two German soldiers while escaping. After the war, Stan resolves to put all his frustration over the death of his slow-witted brother Aloïs, who dreamed of becoming an opera singer, with his side-car against a farmer's truck in making come true Aloïs other dream, to see Stan becoming 'king of the world' as boxer.

Spirits of the Dead(fr)

Anthology film from three European directors based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe: a cruel countess haunted by a ghostly horse, a sadistic young man haunted by his double, and an alcoholic actor haunted by the Devil.

Chéri(en)

The son of a courtesan retreats into a fantasy world after being forced to end his relationship with the older woman who educated him in the ways of love.

The Cincinnati Kid(en)

An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.

Tsar(ru)

In 16th-century Russia in the grip of chaos, Ivan the Terrible strongly believes he is vested with a holy mission. Believing he can understand and interpret the signs, he sees the Last Judgment approaching. He establishes absolute power, cruelly destroying anyone who gets in his way. During this reign of terror, Philip, the superior of the monastery on the Solovetsky Islands, a great scholar and Ivan's close friend, dares to oppose the sovereign's mystical tyranny. What follows is a clash between two completely opposite visions of the world, smashing morality and justice, God and men. A grand-scale film with excellent leading roles by Mamonov and Yankovsky. An allegory of Stalinist Russia

Mr. Brooks(en)

A psychological thriller about a man who is sometimes controlled by his murder-and-mayhem-loving alter ego.

The Kingdom(en)

A team of U.S. government agents is sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs(en)

Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.

Gangs of New York(en)

In early 1860s New York, Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon is released from prison and returns to the Five Points, seeking revenge against his father's killer, William Cutting, a powerful anti-immigrant gang leader. He knows that revenge can only be attained by infiltrating Cutting's inner circle. Vallon's journey becomes a fight for personal survival and to find a place for the Irish people.

Rain Man(en)

When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.

Brokeback Mountain(en)

In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.

Life Is Beautiful(it)

A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire family is deported to a concentration camp during World War II. While locked up he tries to convince his son that the whole thing is just a game.

I Am Legend(en)

Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City and perhaps the world. For three years, Neville has faithfully sent out daily radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there. But he is not alone.

Jurassic World(en)

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.

Ex Machina(en)

Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.

PK(hi)

A stranger in the city asks questions no one has asked before. Known only by his initials, the man's innocent questions and childlike curiosity take him on a journey of love, laughter and letting go.

Shutter Island(en)

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

Oppenheimer(en)

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Titanic(en)

101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.

Inside Out(en)

When 11-year-old Riley moves to a new city, her Emotions team up to help her through the transition. Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness work together, but when Joy and Sadness get lost, they must journey through unfamiliar places to get back home.

Interstellar(en)

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.