Matusalén (2024)

Checkmates

Candela, the headmistress of an elite school, after a traumatic divorce, returns to her old high school to lead a group of rebellious students through chess. There she will learn that in chess, and in life, it doesn't matter if you are a king or a pawn, because everyone ends up in the same box.

A Hipster in Rural Spain

Quique is dispatched to a village in deep Spain Teruel to lead its politics of recuperation but soon discovers he was sent there so that his girlfriend and leader of his party could spend more time together.

Carousel

Park manager Fiona is tasked with taking care of some former friends who won an exclusive private sneak preview of Halloween at Liseberg – a whole night, all alone in the empty park. But cotton candy, lovely rides and lots of laughter soon turn into something completely different, as they realize they are not alone in the park. And the night of dreams quickly turns into a true nightmare.

Tequila. Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll

Tequila. Sexo, Drogas y Rock and Roll is a documentary narrated by Cecilia Roth and with the participation of the survivors of the mythical rock band Tequila: Ariel Rot, Alejo Stivel and Felipe Lipe. The film tells the tale of the legendary rock band who provided the soundtrack for the liberation of young Spanish people during the transition. Five young people who suddenly pull off their dream of making good and those destroyed by the fame and success. But their songs have succeeded in lasting over time as indestructible classics.

Love at First Kiss

The story of Javier who, at the age of 16, while kissing a girl for the first time, realized that he had a gift of romantic clairvoyance. Javier can see the future... and he finally knows who the love of his life is.

The Four Feathers

A young British officer resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. To redeem his honor, he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves their lives.

Picture Perfect

A young advertising executive's life becomes increasingly complicated when, in order to impress her boss, she pretends to be engaged to a man she has just met.

The Good Boss

Julio Blanco is the proprietor of Básculas Blanco, a Spanish company producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town, which awaits the imminent visit from a committee that will decide if they merit a local Business Excellence award: everything has to be perfect when the time comes. Working against the clock, Blanco pulls out all the stops to address and resolve issues with his employees, crossing every imaginable line in the process.

Lisa Frankenstein

In 1989, a misunderstood teenager has a high school crush — who just happens to be a handsome corpse! After a set of playfully horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a murderous journey to find love, happiness…and a few missing body parts along the way.

Sleeping Dogs

Roy Freeman, an ex-homicide detective with a fractured memory, is forced to revisit a case he can't remember. As a man's life hangs in the balance on death row, Freeman must piece together the brutal evidence from a decade-old murder investigation, uncovering a sinister web of buried secrets and betrayals linking to his past. With only instincts to trust, he faces a chilling truth - sometimes, it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Goodnight Mommy

In the heat of the summer lays a lonesome house in the countryside where nine year old twin brothers await their mother’s return. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before and the children start to doubt whether this woman is actually who she says she is.

No Exit

Stranded at a rest stop in the mountains during a blizzard, a recovering addict discovers a kidnapped child hidden in a car belonging to one of the people inside the building which sets her on a terrifying struggle to identify who among them is the kidnapper.

To Catch a Killer

Baltimore. New Year's Eve. A talented but troubled police officer is recruited by the FBI's chief investigator to help profile and track down a mass murderer.

The First Omen

When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters a darkness that causes her to question her own faith and uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that hopes to bring about the birth of evil incarnate.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Following their explosive showdown, Godzilla and Kong must reunite against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own.

Wanted

Doormat Wesley Gibson is an office worker whose life is going nowhere. He meets a sexy woman named Fox and discovers that his recently murdered father - whom Wesley never knew - belonged to the Fraternity, a secret society of assassins which takes its orders from Fate itself. Fox and Sloan, the Fraternity's leader, teach Wesley, through intense training, to tap into dormant powers and hone his innate killing skills. Though he enjoys his newfound abilities, he begins to suspect that there is more to the Fraternity than meets the eye.

Creed III

After dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed has thrived in his career and family life. When a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, Damian Anderson, resurfaces after serving a long sentence in prison, he is eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter with nothing to lose.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Several generations following Caesar's reign, apes – now the dominant species – live harmoniously while humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all he's known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Peter Quill, still reeling from the loss of Gamora, must rally his team around him to defend the universe along with protecting one of their own. A mission that, if not completed successfully, could quite possibly lead to the end of the Guardians as we know them.

The Truman Show

Every second of every day, from the moment he was born, for the last thirty years, Truman Burbank has been the unwitting star of the longest running, most popular documentary-soap opera in history. The picture-perfect town of Seahaven that he calls home is actually a gigantic soundstage. Truman's friends and family - everyone he meets, in fact - are actors. He lives every moment under the unblinking gaze of thousands of hidden TV cameras.

Parasite

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Peter Parker is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a super-hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man.

Joker

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Struggling to find his place in the world while juggling school and family, Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales is unexpectedly bitten by a radioactive spider and develops unfathomable powers just like the one and only Spider-Man. While wrestling with the implications of his new abilities, Miles discovers a super collider created by the madman Wilson "Kingpin" Fisk, causing others from across the Spider-Verse to be inadvertently transported to his dimension.

It

In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.

Extraction

A hardened gun-for-hire's latest mission becomes a soul-searching race to survive when he's sent into Bangladesh to rescue a drug lord's kidnapped son.

The Godfather

Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.

The Substance

A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.

Civil War

In the near future, a group of war journalists attempt to survive while reporting the truth as the United States stands on the brink of civil war.

Train to Busan

When a zombie virus pushes Korea into a state of emergency, those trapped on an express train to Busan must fight for their own survival.

Deadpool

The origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who, after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.

Eternals

The Eternals are a team of ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years. When an unexpected tragedy forces them out of the shadows, they are forced to reunite against mankind’s most ancient enemy, the Deviants.

Deadpool & Wolverine

A listless Wade Wilson toils away in civilian life with his days as the morally flexible mercenary, Deadpool, behind him. But when his homeworld faces an existential threat, Wade must reluctantly suit-up again with an even more reluctant Wolverine.

A Quiet Place

A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters the Spider Society, a team of Spider-People charged with protecting the Multiverse’s very existence. But when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders and must set out on his own to save those he loves most.

Three Thousand Years of Longing

A solitary scholar discovers an ancient bottle while on a trip to Istanbul and unleashes a djinn who offers her three wishes. Filled with reluctance, she is unable to come up with one, so the djinn tries to inspire her with his stories.

Barbie

Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.

Coco

Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz. Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector, and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel's family history.

Dune

Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence-a commodity capable of unlocking humanity's greatest potential-only those who can conquer their fear will survive.

Pledge This!

At popular South Beach University, filthy rich super-snob Victoria English is the absolute queen of leading Greek student club, Sigma Sigma. In order to achieve her crowning ambition, winning FHM Magazine's annual best sorority, she must recruit atypical 'Sigmies' to fulfill the diversity criteria. Ambitious sycophant pledge Kristen Haas helps her attract 'losers' (too poor, ugly, unfashionable), who are cruelly put through excruciating hazing, without intent to actually enroll them. Gloria, the brightest and most assertive pledge, wins the heart of Derek 'baby Dick', Victoria's ideal, yet constantly abused boyfriend, whose bitch-addiction is cured by this alternative lover. Together they lead the revolt of the not-even-nerds.

Sorority Boys

After being falsely accused of stealing the budget for their annual cocktail cruise, three very different fraternity brothers are kicked out of their dorm. In order to clear their name and to secure their future careers, the three dress up in drag and pledge the sorority next door where they learn a few valuable - and hilarious - lessons about themselves and the female species.

Tears of the Black Tiger

A homage and parody of 1950s and 1960s Thai romantic melodramas and action films. Dum, the son of a peasant falls in love with Rumpoey, the daughter of a wealthy and respected family. The star-crossed lovers are torn apart for years, but their forbidden love survives. When tragedy strikes, Dum unleashes his rage and becomes the gun-slinging outlaw the "Black Tiger" who will stop at nothing to seek his revenge.

Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth

In this horror parody, a masked serial killer menaces the town of Bulimia Falls with various sharp objects. Attention-seeking television personality Hagitha Utslay is soon on the scene, reporting on the ever-growing body count. Former mall security guard Doughy shows up to protect the teenage population, but he's clearly not much help, allowing the murderer to pick off even more hapless kids as numerous scary movies are referenced.

Accepted

A high school slacker who's rejected by every school he applies to opts to create his own institution of higher learning, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, on a rundown piece of property near his hometown.

Der Campus

A married university professor ends his explosive affair with a female student who then accuses him of sexual harassment. A satire with plenty of situation comedy about a misstep with consequences!

Wonder Boys

Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.

New York Minute

Top student Jane Ryan heads to Manhattan for a college-scholarship competition. Her rebellious twin Roxy Ryan goes along to crash a video shoot. But anything can happen - and does - in a romp involving a pursuing truant officer, a smuggler, hunkalicious guys and the girls' realization that when the chips are down, a sister can be the best friend of all.

The Barbarian Invasions

In this belated sequel to 'The Decline of the American Empire', middle-aged Montreal college professor, Remy, learns that he is dying of liver cancer. His ex-wife, Louise, asks their estranged son, Sebastian, a successful businessman living in London, to come home. Sebastian makes the impossible happen, using his contacts and disrupting the Canadian healthcare system in every way possible to help his father fight his terminal illness to the bitter end, while reuniting some of Remy's old friends, including Pierre, Alain, Dominique, Diane, and Claude, who return to see their friend before he passes on.

Road Trip

After an Ithaca College student films his one-night stand with a beautiful sorority girl, he discovers one of his friends has accidentally mailed the homemade sex tape to his girlfriend in Austin. In a frenzy, he must borrow a car and hit the road in a desperate bid to intercept the tape.

Boys and Girls

Ryan and Jennifer are opposites who definitely do not attract. At least that's what they always believed. When they met as twelve-year-olds, they disliked one another. When they met again as teenagers, they loathed each other. But when they meet in college, the uptight Ryan and the free-spirited Jennifer find that their differences bind them together and a rare friendship develops.

2 States

A man and a woman come from two very different cultural backgrounds, and decide that they won't get married until they convince their parents. As feared, differences between the families pose a hurdle.

How High

Multi-platinum rap superstars Redman and Method Man star as Jamal and Silas, two regular guys who smoke something magical, ace their college entrance exams and wind up at Harvard. Ivy League ways are strange but Silas and Jamal take it in a stride -- until their supply of supernatural smoke runs dry. That's when they have to start living by their wits and rely on their natural resources to make the grade.

The Tin Mine

A failed engineering student in the late 1940s gets the unexpected education of a lifetime by working for four years in a rainforest tin mine.

Antonia's Line

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

Welcome To Academia

Faculty and administrators of the prestigious Victorian University jockey for power in the classroom, the boardroom, and the bedroom. Amidst all their petty intrigues, a young graduate student is forced to experience a life lesson not offered on the regular curriculum.

Ice Princess

With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni, nothing can stop Casey Carlyle from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.

Orange County

Shaun Brumder is a local surfer kid from Orange County who dreams of going to Stanford to become a writer and to get away from his dysfunctional family household. Except Shaun runs into one complication after another, starting when his application is rejected after his dim-witted guidance counselor sends in the wrong form.

Starter for 10

In 1985, against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Brian Jackson enrolls in the University of Bristol, a scholarship boy from seaside Essex with a love of knowledge for its own sake and a childhood spent watching University Challenge, a college quiz show. At Bristol he tries out for the Challenge team and falls under the spell of Alice, a lovely blond with an extensive sexual past.

Picture the Steal

Rip and Seb are college students from very different backgrounds. Rip is from a working class family and has had to fight for everything he has. Seb is from an upper class background and has been surrounded by privilege his entire life until now. Both Rip and Seb wish to go to university. Unfortunately, neither can afford to go. Despite their differences, an unlikely friendship forms between the two and they plan to burgle a house to raise money. However, everything changes when they realise the house they are trying to steal from is owned by a gangster.

All Women Have Secrets

When they decide they might as well be penniless husbands and wives as penniless campus sweethearts, three couples at a Midwestern university, against the advice of their friends, get married. Joe and Susie Tucker prove that two can live as cheap as one by setting up housekeeping in a trailer, and working at whatever odd jobs turn up.

Up the Creek

Bob McGraw is in his 12th year of college, goofing his way through life. Bob, Irwing, Gonzer and Max are the four losers forced and bribed to represent their university in an intercollegiate raft race. Forced and bribed into this role, they make some friends, the lovely Heather Merriweather, but mostly enemies, among others a whole team of marines, and preppy IVY-leaguers determined to win.

3 Idiots

Rascal. Joker. Dreamer. Genius... You've never met a college student quite like "Rancho." From the moment he arrives at India's most prestigious university, Rancho's outlandish schemes turn the campus upside down—along with the lives of his two newfound best friends. Together, they make life miserable for "Virus," the school’s uptight and heartless dean. But when Rancho catches the eye of the dean's daughter, Virus sets his sights on flunking out the "3 idiots" once and for all.

The Night in IV Chapters

A group of students surround their beloved campus. But what they did was unnatural. In general, other people will surround the campus in the afternoon or evening, but they will circle the campus at night, to be more precise, starting at 11 pm. There are various things that they find while circling their beloved campus…

Educating Rita

Rita, a witty 26-year-old hairdresser, wants to 'discover' herself, so she joins the Open University where she meets the disillusioned professor of literature, Dr. Frank Bryant. His marriage has failed, his new girlfriend is having an affair with his best friend and he can't get through the day without downing a bottle or two of whisky. What Frank needs is a challenge... and along comes Rita.

Ooga Ooga

In the year 3003, two scientists find a primitive being called Ooga Ooga in the middle of the woods. They decide to adopt him and try to insert him into today's society.

Reuben, Reuben

A drunken Scottish poet who has not written a word in years feels compelled to regain control of his life and work after meeting a beautiful young woman.

Lucky Jim

Jim Dixon feels anything but lucky. At the university he has to do the bidding of absent-minded and boring Professor Welch to have any hope of keeping his job. Worse, he has managed to get entangled with unexciting but neurotic Margaret Peel, a friend of the Professor's. All-in-all, the pub is the only friendly place to be. His misery is completed at a dreadful weekend gathering of the Welch clan by the arrival of son Bertrand. Not so much that Betrand is loud-mouthed and boorish - which he is - but that he has as companion Christine Callaghan, the sort of marvellous and unattainable woman Jim can only dream about.

The Twonky

A college professor, left alone by his wife for the weekend, discovers his new TV set is not only alive, but determined to take control of his entire life.

Freshman Orientation

A bored college student sees a prime opportunity to score with a hot coed who has made the assumption that he is gay, and he decides to play along when she follows her sorority leader's assignment to seduce then cut loose a series of misfits and losers.

Mr. Nice

Biopic about 1970s Welsh marijuana trafficker Howard Marks, whose inventive smuggling schemes made him a huge success in the drug trade, as well as leading to dealings with both the IRA and British Intelligence. Based on Marks' biography with the same title.

High School

A high school valedictorian who gets baked with the local stoner finds himself the subject of a drug test. The situation causes him to concoct an ambitious plan to get his entire graduating class to face the same fate, and fail.

Pyaar Impossible!

Be-spectacled geek, Abhay falls in love with college hottie, Alisha and silently slinks away into the shadows when he realises she's unattainable. Seven years later, he re-enters her life as the nanny and hopes to woo the single mom, this time at least. Does he succeed?

Welcome Week: A College Horror Anthology

After his four siblings mysteriously die in their first weeks of college, a paranoid freshman must put his fears aside when a masked killer picks him as her next victim.

Yes or No

Pie is a sweet girl who moves into a new college dorm room where she finds out that her new roommate Kim, is a tomboy who looks and dress like a boy. As their friendship develops, Pie and Kim begin to wonder if the feeling they feel for one another is just an ordinary friendship or true love.

Daughters & Sons

A daughter struggles to talk to her father, who is also a son.

Intimate Games

A university professor opens a sexual Pandora's box when he hands his class an assignment to explore their deepest carnal fantasies and desires. As the students begin to plumb their secret passions, they find themselves propelled into an erotic world where theory soon yields to practice.

Bimboland

A shy French anthropologist who happens to be secretly in love with her college superior, chooses "bimbos" as the subject of her thesis. She becomes one of them in order to do that, and the professor she loves falls for her new identity.

My Wedding and Other Secrets

A journey through a cultural minefield, navigating the divide between the traditional values of immigrant parents and the contemporary aspirations of their children in a new land.

Kill Shot

Out at Pacific Coast University, five students living in the same apartment building go through personal trials.

13 Semester

When Momo leaves his small home town to go to university, he is full of enthusiasm and confidence, but slowly the pressures of study and campus living begin to grind him down. Half way through his course he finds himself at a crossroads with both his relationship and studies.

H.O.T.S.

Four girls spurned by the popular Sorority on campus decide to start their own and steal all the men on campus away from the house that rejected them.

Happy Death Day 2U

Collegian Tree Gelbman wakes up in horror to learn that she's stuck in a parallel universe. Her boyfriend Carter is now with someone else, and her friends and fellow students seem to be completely different versions of themselves. When Tree discovers that Carter's roommate has been altering time, she finds herself once again the target of a masked killer. When the psychopath starts to go after her inner circle, Tree soon realizes that she must die over and over again to save everyone.

That's Cunning! Shijo Saidai no Sakusen?

Comedy about a group of chemistry students who organize a cheating scam during their final exams. Amuro Namie, the top pop music sensation, plays one of the students.

Sex Is No Laughing Matter

Mirume is a 19 year old college student who falls in love with Yuri, an almost 40 year old art teacher at his university. Yuri isn't your typical college professor, having a quirky sense of humor and unpredictable personality. When Yuri invites Murume to her studio, she playfully seduces the still naive 19 year old student. Things become more complicated when Mirume discovers that Yuri is married to a much older man....

Sparni

It’s the second semester of junior year for Pierce “Sparni” Sparnroft, a gifted jazz vibraphonist studying at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Sparni’s prospects on the vibes were rejuvenated by their new professor, the world-renowned Steve Nelson, and are to be showcased during a student-driven recital in May 2023. But all the while, Sparni must face a crisis within.

The Male Animal

The trustees of Midwestern University have forced three teachers out of their jobs for being suspected communists. Trustee Ed Keller has also threatened mild mannered English Professor Tommy Turner, because he plans to read a controversial piece of prose in class. Tommy is upset that his wife Ellen also suggested he not read the passage. Meanwhile, Ellen's old boyfriend, the football player Joe Ferguson, comes to visit for the homecoming weekend. He takes Ellen out dancing after the football rally, causing Tommy to worry that he will lose her to Joe.

Grey Area

While trying to impress a girl he just met, Will joins a small but eccentric business club at his university. Partnering with Dusty and Terri, senior members who are eager to maintain their title as club champions, the trio enroll in an intense online business competition in an attempt to win a trip to internationals and a hefty cash prize.

Grand Blue

Iori’s only dream is to go to college on a remote island—but when he gets roped into the school’s debaucherous, alcohol-indulgent diving club his hope for a sparkling campus life is thrown into chaos.

Chameleon

After embarrassingly sitting with a full cup at the end of a game of Never Have I Ever, Maria sets out to live a little by doing all the things she's never done.

Maison Ikkoku - Apartment Fantasy

Travel into Japan's nuttiest apartment house and meet its volatile inhabitants: Kyoko, the beautiful and mysterious new apartment manager; Yusaku, the exam-addled college student; Mrs. Ichinose, the drunken gossip; Kentaro, her bratty son; Akemi, the boozy bar hostess; and the mooching and peeping Mr. Yotsuya.

Isn't Anyone Alive?

In a Japanese military hospital, a mysterious pandemic strikes and quickly kills seemingly at random. A group of unconnected individuals must come to terms with their own impending deaths, and the fragile absurdity of life.

Brain Drain 2

Alfonso, pursues the girl of his life to Harvard, determined to conquer her under the same friends and outlandish plans that his brother used in Oxford. But when you least expect it appears Martha, the girl he fell in love while at school.

Eric Rushton Won't Die Alone

Fledgling comedian Eric Rushton has never been on a date - until this documentary.

Blue Thermal

Tamaki becomes a captive of the vast beauty of the skies from the moment Kuramochi takes her under his wing and up for a flight in a glider.

The Student Prince

A prince has a romance with a barmaid before he must give up personal happiness for duty.

Pools

Kennedy has one day to get her shit together or get kicked out of school for good. Instead of buckling down, she rallies a ragtag crew for a midnight pool-hopping adventure through the lavish estates of her college town. But under the surface, Kennedy is searching for answers to the questions tearing her up inside in the wake of her father's death. As the secrets spill, this wild escape becomes a cathartic journey of self-discovery.