1521: The Quest for Love and Freedom (2023)

Magellan sur la route des épices

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Fernand de Magellan and his men embarked on an expedition that would forever change the way we see the world. Like Christopher Columbus before him, he set out in search of a western sea route to Asia's legendary Moluccan archipelago.

Magellan

In the 16th century, young and ambitious Portuguese navigator Fernão de Magalhães rebels against the power of King Manuel I, who doesn't support his dream of discovering the world. He persuades the Spanish Crown to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East. The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magalhães' mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which sparks violent uprisings beyond his control.

Akiho Yoshizawa Temptation: Eating Me

A sensual coming-of-age drama set in Shonan that carefully follows the trajectory of a woman who is swaying in love. Akiho Yoshizawa, who boasts of idol-like popularity, plays a woman who is bewildered by her love that she pretends not to notice when her rival appears unexpectedly. Aki (Akiho Yoshizawa), who works at an Italian restaurant, has been managing the restaurant with Kawano (Hideki Nishioka), who stands alone in the kitchen since the death of his wife, who was in charge of desserts. For some reason, my heart flutters when I see the motion.

Jo

A young woman in the Old West sets off on a journey of revenge after her sister is murdered.

Coffin Mountain Ancient Tomb

Zhang Sanye, the descendant of Guanshan Taibao, went to Longtang Township with his apprentice at the invitation of his junior brother He Laodao. In order to avoid the loss of life in Ezhou, Zhang Sanye and others are determined to find the legendary tomb of Magu before the warlord Luo Manzi. A group of people went through all kinds of dangers and finally found the tomb, but Mr. Zhang discovered that the tomb robbery was actually a trap carefully arranged by He Laodao and Luo Manzi. There was a bigger conspiracy behind the treasure in Magu's tomb...

This Greedy Old Skin

A kind of modern dress "Donzoko" "The Lower Depths", about slum life in Osaka, where a greedy widow (Mimasu) takes advantage of her poor roomers, including her own son, who makes a meagre living stripping taxicabs.

The Mortal Storm

The Roth family leads a quiet life in a small village in the German Alps during the early 1930s. After the Nazis come to power, the family is divided and Martin Breitner, a family friend, is caught up in the turmoil.

The Hustler

Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his home planet. Aided by lawyer Oliver Farnsworth, Thomas uses his knowledge of advanced technology to create profitable inventions. While developing a method to transport water, Thomas meets Mary-Lou, a quiet hotel clerk, and begins to fall in love with her. Just as he is ready to leave Earth, Thomas is intercepted by the U.S. government, and his entire plan is threatened.

Straw Dogs

David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy's old flame, Charlie. Eventually the taunts escalate.

Stagecoach

A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo, and learn something about each other in the process.

Mulholland Drive

Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.

Adam's Apples

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

Heavenly Creatures

Precocious teenager Juliet moves to New Zealand with her family and soon befriends the quiet, brooding Pauline through their shared love of fantasy and literature. This friendship gradually develops into an intense and obsessive bond.

The Inheritors

In a small farming valley in Austria in the beginning of the 20th century a tyrannical farmer is found dead, and all the farmhands are relieved to be free of their tyrant. But the farmer was childless, so suddenly they all inherit the farm together. Now conflicts begin, as nobody is the boss and nobody has to obey.

The Leopard

As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life. Proud but pragmatic Prince Don Fabrizio Salina allows his war hero nephew, Tancredi, to marry Angelica, the beautiful daughter of gauche, bourgeois Don Calogero, in order to maintain the family's accustomed level of comfort and political clout.

Sommersby

Set in the South just after the US Civil War, Laurel Sommersby is just managing to work the farm without her husband, believed killed in battle. By all accounts, Jack Sommersby was not a pleasant man, thus when he suddenly returns, Laurel has mixed emotions. It appears that Jack has changed a great deal, leading some people to believe that this is not actually Jack but an imposter. Laurel herself is unsure, but willing to take the man into her home, and perhaps later into her heart.

Shower

An aged father and his younger, mentally challenged son have been working hard every day to keep the bathhouse running for a motley group of regular customers. When his elder son, who left years ago to seek his fortune in the southern city of Shenzhen, abruptly returns one day, it once again puts under stress the long-broken father-son ties. Presented as a light-hearted comedy, Shower explores the value of family, friendship, and tradition.

Blow-Up

A successful mod photographer in London whose world is bounded by fashion, pop music, marijuana, and easy sex, feels his life is boring and despairing. But in the course of a single day he unknowingly captures a death on film.

Breathless

Jesse, a small-time criminal, high-tails it to Los Angeles to rendezvous with a French exchange student. Stealing a car and accidentally killing a highway patrolman, he becomes the most wanted fugitive in L.A.

The Hidden Fortress

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.

Arlington Road

Bedraggled college professor Michael Faraday has been vexed — and increasingly paranoid — since his wife's accidental death in a botched FBI operation. When a seemingly all-American couple set up house next door, Michael begin to suspect there’s more to them than meets the eye.

Whale Rider

A contemporary story of love, rejection, and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.

Elevator to the Gallows

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

When a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.

Ghosts

Nina, an end-of-teenage orphan with mental problems, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fell in love with each other, but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. In the meantime, Francoise is picked up at a psychic department of a Berlin hospital by her husband, Pierre. After seeing Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but neither Toni nor Pierre believe her. Nina is unsure about what to think...

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.

Catch a Fire

The true story of anti-apartheid activists in South Africa, and particularly the life of Patrick Chamusso, a timid foreman at Secunda CTL, the largest synthetic fuel plant in the world. Patrick is wrongly accused, imprisoned and tortured for an attempt to bomb the plant, with the injustice transforming the apolitical worker into a radicalised insurgent, who then carries out his own successful sabotage mission.

The Prestige

A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.

Dreamgirls

A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.

In My Father's Den

War journalist Paul Prior returns to his New Zealand hometown after his father’s death, rekindling strained relationships with his brother and memories of a troubled past. He befriends Celia, a curious and aspiring writer, who shares a fascination with his world. When Celia mysteriously disappears, Paul becomes the prime suspect, forcing him to confront buried secrets and uncover the dark truths of his family and community.

Baby Boy, Baby Girl

Josie is a failed startup businesswoman, who is struggling with no permanent job. Ever since she saw her ex-boyfriend Seb escorting a politician and broke up with him three years ago, Josie remains single. Seb, on the other hand, becomes more sophisticated from earning handsomely through Sugar Dating. Josie learns about Seb’s success, prompting her to ask Seb to groom her for Sugar Dating. Once Josie gets a grasp on the work, she will be good at what she does and will not struggle financially anymore. At the same time, Seb’s feelings for her start coming back, but Josie now sees love differently. She thinks that love should only be transactional. It does not help that Josie can’t forget the time when Seb broke her heart.

The Man from Island West

In contemporary Taiwan, the aboriginal Ah-ming attempts suicide. When his life is saved by an old miner, Ah-ming is drawn into a journey back to his origins. Meanwhile, the miner's son, Ah-Chuan, finds a fugitive hooker who has returned from the lowlands. But Ah-Chuan only wants to integrate himself into mainstream society, in sharp contrast to the intentions and needs of those around him.

Funeral Ceremony

Matylda, who lives in the Czech countryside, is trying to arrange burial plans for her dying husband, Jan. While Matylda hopes to have a funeral for Jan in the small town where they once lived, there are complications. Years earlier, Jan spoke out against the Communist government and was consequently expelled from the town. When Matylda fails to convince a local politician to allow the ceremony, she uses her husband's funeral as a public show of dissent.

The Role of My Family in the World Revolution

An absurd depiction of the communist revolution in Yugoslavia after World War II, the film primarily follows a group of young partisans who are placed in the home of a pre-war bourgeois family. The family then tries to adapt to the new ideology and values, often leading to various absurd situations.

The Other, Gold

At the end of the day, sometimes an old friend and a bowl of ramen are as good as gold. For one Black TV writer, this is just the beginning as she battles grief and ‘pandemmy’ isolation in Little Tokyo while seeking to rekindle her bond with a former BFF.

The 2ality Of Can

Following the events of The Duality Of Can (2023), two friends must come to terms with their failure to retrieve the prized Monster Can, and in doing so, they devise a way to track down the man who stole it and defeat him once and for all.

Identifying Features

Magdalena makes a journey to find her son, who has disappeared on his way to the Mexican border with the United States. Her odyssey takes her to meet Miguel, a man recently deported from the US. They start to travel together, Magdalena looking for her son, and Miguel hoping to see his mother again.

Blast Beat

After their family emigrates from Colombia during the summer of ‘99, a metalhead science prodigy and his deviant younger brother do their best to adapt to new lives in America.

Farewell Amor

Reunited after a 17-year separation, Walter, an Angolan immigrant, is joined in the U.S. by his wife and teenage daughter. Now absolute strangers sharing a one-bedroom apartment, they discover a shared love of dance that may help overcome the emotional distance between them.

Miss Juneteenth

Turquoise, a former beauty queen turned hardworking single mother, prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant, hoping to keep her from repeating the same mistakes in life that she did.

Luxor

When British aid worker Hana returns to Luxor, a sleepy city on the banks of the Nile, she comes across Sultan, a talented archeologist and former lover. As she wanders, haunted by the familiar place, she struggles to reconcile the choices of the past with the uncertainty of the present.

Herself

Struggling to provide her daughters with a safe, happy home, Sandra decides to build one - from scratch. Using all her ingenuity to make her ambitious dream a reality, Sandra draws together a community to lend a helping hand to build her house and ultimately recover her own sense of self.

Beast Beast

A look at the lives and trauma surrounding three people living in a southern town.

The Killing of Two Lovers

In a rural Utah town, David, a father of four, grapples with his separation from wife Nikki as she pursues a new relationship.

La Leyenda Negra

In Compton, a soon-to-be undocumented teenager fights for her right to stay in America while risking her family, her friendships, and her first love.