HANDSOME DEVIL[/caption]
Here is the first official trailer for Handsome Devil, an Irish funny, music-drenched coming-of-age story set in an elite Dublin rugby school from writer-director John Butler. Handsome Devil which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival stars Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Spectre) alongside rising stars Fionn O’Shea and Nicholas Galitzine.
Heading up a cast of bright new talent is Fionn O’Shea as gawky, sixteen year-old Ned, a bright, artistic lad who faces his own hell on earth when he is sent to an all-boys Irish boarding school where the manly pursuit of rugby is virtually a religion. He steels himself for the loneliness, ridicule and constant insinuations about his sexuality. Everything changes with the arrival of his new roommate Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a star player in the rugby team, and inspirational English teacher Dan Sherry (Sherlock and Spectre star Andrew Scott). Ned and Conor bond over a mutual appreciation of cool music and an unlikely friendship blossoms and faces unbearable pressures from a school grimly attached to its narrow macho values.
A music-mad 16-year-old outcast at rugby-mad boarding school forms an unlikely friendship with his dashing new roommate, in this funny and observant coming-of-age tale from Irish novelist and filmmaker John Butler.
This tender look at the travails of teenage life is the story of the worst thing Ned (Fionn O’Shea) ever did. It’s also the story of the best thing that ever happened to Ned.
With his dyed hair, willowy build, and penchant for sexually ambivalent pop and rock from generations past, 16-year-old Ned has never fit in at the rugby-mad boarding school his father insists he attend. Determined to simply keep his nose down and weather another year of loneliness and bullying, Ned is pleasantly surprised when he develops a friendship with his dashing new roommate, Conor (Nicholas Galitzine), a rugby virtuoso with issues of his own.
The boys bond over music and start to practice guitar together. At the encouragement of their English teacher (Andrew Scott), Ned and Conor enter a talent show at a local girls’ school. As both talent show and rugby season loom, however, the pressure on Conor to choose between manly athletic discipline and more artistic pursuits threatens to tear him apart — while Ned is increasingly tempted to betray Conor’s trust in order to save his own skin. Toronto International Film Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j1i94L8PMk
A Fantastic Woman (Una Mujer Fantástica)[/caption]
Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lelio’s trans drama A Fantastic Woman (“Una Mujer Fantástica”) has been 
Check out the trailer for the French erotic thriller SEX DOLLS starring César Award winner Hafsia Herzi. The film, written and directed by Sylvie Verheyde, and co-starring Ash Stymest, Karole Rocher, Paul Hamy, opens in theaters – in New York at the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood – on VOD Friday February 10th.
A high-priced call girl navigates the shadowy world of London’s sex trade underground in this provocative, erotic thriller. Virginie (César Award winner Hafsia Herzi) goes about her work as a prostitute with a cool detachment, trading sex with wealthy businessmen for money, but never getting emotionally involved. That all changes when she meets Rupert (Ash Stymest), an enigmatic stranger with unclear intentions. Risking everything, Virginie plunges into a dangerous affair that tears her between a ruthless madame who forbids romantic attachments and a dark, sexy man who could be her savior or her downfall.
The Wound, John Trengove[/caption]
Just after celebrating its selection to have its world premiere in competition at the 
ma ma[/caption]
Ma ma is set in Madrid, Spain, and stars Academy Award®-winning actress Penelope Cruz as Magda, a woman recently diagnosed with breast cancer who’s also going through a separation from her self-centered husband Raul (Alex Brendemuhl), who left her for one of his students.
It’s a few of several devastating hardships Magda endures in Spanish director Julio Medem’s film, written and produced by himself, Cruz and Alvaro Longoria.
After a few months of ignoring a lump on her right breast, Magda decides to get it checked out. Her doctor, Julian (Asier Etxeandia), biopsies the lump for cancer.
Shortly afterwards, much to her dismay, he delivers the terrible news that she indeed has cancer, and will require grueling chemotherapy sessions to shrink the nodules before having a mastectomy.
Each chemo session is accompanied by a glaring white background that distracts the viewer more than adding anything to the scenes. But the wonderful cinematography and camera work pull you back in.
Looking to for a bit of escapism, Magda attends her son Dani’s (Teo Planell) football game, where she meets a man, Arturo (Luis Tosar), a talent scout for the famed football (soccer) team, Real Madrid.
Arturo is interested in recruiting her son, a standout player on his youth squad, in Real Madrid’s junior program, which helps develop young talent into future professionals.
While there, Arturo receives unimaginable news of his own, that there has been a car accident, which has claimed the life of his daughter, and left his wife in a comma.
Magda accompanies Arturo to the hospital, subsequently visiting him while undergoing her own chemo treatments, which she hasn’t divulge to anyone at the time.
However, she eventually tells Arturo, who winds up losing his wife, and the two become each other’s support system. As she recovers from her operation, and is in the clear for the time being, they predictably fall in love, and form the perfect family unit.
But cruel misfortune steps in again on the hard-luck Magda, as Dr. Julian, who belts out beautiful, romantic songs in a bedside attempt to soothed her, informs his patient that the cancer has spread to her other breast, and metastasized to wall of her lungs. Subsequently, the doctor delivers a gut-wrenching prognosis of only six months to live.
What follows is an over-the-top attempt of series of events intent on extracting more tears from movie-goers, with the final scene cumulating in another foreseeable outcome.
Overall, though, ‘Ma ma’ is worth seeing despite its campy, overdramatic feel—which is only exaggerated by a few scenes in which beating hearts are splashed across the screen for shameless, emotional effects—because of its positive message of strength, courage, and hope amidst tragedy.
‘Ma ma’ opens in New York City on May 20th, and in Los Angeles and Miami on May 27th, with national expansion to follow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxtB15K-nN4
MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER[/caption]
The award winning South Korean documentary film MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER directed by Moyoung Jin will open in theaters in New York on Friday, June 17 and in Los Angeles on Friday, June 24 with a national release to follow.
A blockbuster in its native Korea, where it would go on to become the country’s biggest independent film of all time, MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER presents an unforgettable story of true love that transcends both generations and cultures.
“100-year old Lovebirds” Byong-man Jo and Gye-yeul Kang, have been inseparable companions for the past 76 years. Living in their small home by the river, they wear traditional Korean clothes, go shopping at the local market, have picnics with neighbors, and enjoy dance parties. Every night they go to sleep holding each other’s hands. Observing this fragile couple for 15 months, director Mo-Young Jin acts as a fly-on-the-wall, capturing their twilight days with tender moments that reveal simple acts of affection – from a good-natured leaf fight to a gentle caress of the cheek.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsf1DNxSciY
Weed, religion & trouble make up the ingredients for the award winning film Dough directed by John Goldschmidt.
Dough stars Jonathan Pryce and Jerome Holder, and is the winner of the Audience Award at Hartford Jewish Film Festival 2016, Green Mountain Film Festival 2016, and New Hampshire Jewish Film Festival 2016.
The film is set in London and tells the story of a Jewish bakery owner (Nat) played by Jonathan Pryce who is in need of a boost to his bakery so he hires a new apprentice Ayyash played by Jerome Holder. While working one day in the bakery Ayyash drops his weed in the bread dough and Nat business started to get a major boost in sales but in the end the shop was turned upside and unlikely friendship was created.
Dough puts off highly realistic vibes and all the actors worked really well together. I loved the fact “Dough” tackled religion and still had the ability to add comedy and weed in the same film. My only dislike about the film is that at times it got a little too predictable, however, over all I would recommend this film.
So with that said Dough will be opening this weekend in 
Chloé Leriche’s first feature-length film, BEFORE THE STREETS (Avant les rues), will be released in Quebec, Canada, on April 15th.
The film will play in Cinéma Beaubien (MTL), Cinéma du Parc (English sub-titled version), Station Vu – Cinéma de quartier (MTL), Cinéma Guzzo Méga-Plex Pont-Viau (Laval), Cinéma Guzzo place Jacques-Cartier in Longueuil, Cinéma Le Clap (Québec), La Maison du cinéma (Sherbrooke), Cinéma RGFM Joliette and Cinéma Le Tapis Rouge (Trois-Rivières).
BEFORE THE STREETS world premiered in competition at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in the Generation section, and closed the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois film festival 2016.
Young Shawnouk kills a man during a robbery and flees into the forest. Deciding to return to his Atikamekw village in Québec, he tries to redeem himself using traditional cleansing rituals.
BEFORE THE STREETS celebrates a revival of native culture and its traditions, as embodied by the very actors who participated in the film. The first dramatic feature shot in the native language of Atikamekw, the film boasts a cast composed almost entirely of non-professionals living and working in the villages where the film was shot. The story takes place in Manawan, while a forest fire closes in on the nearby village of Wemotaci.
Chloé Leriche[/caption]
Chloé Leriche is a self-taught writer, director, and editor who has produced a dozen short films since 2001; her work has won several international film festival awards. She worked for Wapikoni Mobile, encouraging young people from different native tribes in Québec and Ontario to express themselves through cinema.
MEN & CHICKEN[/caption]
The “inventively bizarre and outlandish comedy” MEN & CHICKEN directed by acclaimed, Oscar-winning director Anders Thomas Jensen will open in New York and LA on April 22nd.
MEN & CHICKEN starring David Dencik (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) was an official selection of the 
VIKTORIA[/caption]
The Bulgarian film VIKTORIA, directed by Maya Vitkova will be released in the U.S. by Big World Pictures.
Official Selection at Sundance, Rotterdam, AFI Fest and a number of other prestigious film festivals, and winner of numerous awards, VIKTORIA will open at the 
LES COWBOYS[/caption]
LES COWBOYS directed by Thomas Bidegain, and starring Finnegan Oldfield, featuring John C. Reilly will be released theatrically on June 24th, opening in NY at 
IFC Midnight has released the trailer for the “creepy, weird” Turkish horror film BASKINO, directed by Can Evrenol.
BASKIN opens on VOD and in NY at The IFC Center on March 25th, and in LA at Arena Cinema on April 1st.
A five-man unit of cops on night patrol get more than they bargain for when they arrive at a creepy backwater town in the middle of nowhere after a call comes over the radio for backup. Entering a derelict building, the seasoned tough guys and their rookie junior, who’s still haunted by a traumatic childhood dream, do the one thing you should never do in this kind of movie: they split up. They soon realize they’ve stumbled into a monstrous charnel house and descend into an ever-more nightmarish netherworld where grotesque, mind-wrenching horrors await them at every turn. This is one Baskin (that’s “police raid” to you non-Turkish speakers) that isn’t going to end well. But wait! Things aren’t what they seem in this truly disturbing, outrageously gory, and increasingly surreal film whose unpredictable narrative pulls the carpet from under your feet and keeps you guessing right up to the final moment. A wildly original whatsit that reconfirms Turkey as the breakout national cinema of the moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9SfWmXQY3o