Valley of White Birds (2017)

Launder Run

Launder Run tells the story of Jake, a man returning to his gritty hometown after years away, carrying the weight of a troubled past. The film opens on a rainy Saturday afternoon as Jake trudges through a bleak estate, visibly exhausted and clutching a plastic bag. Arriving at his sister Sue’s chaotic, unkempt flat, he confronts the ruins of his old life—a dirty fridge, a cluttered bedroom reduced to storage, and the ghosts of a once-close family. Seeking solace, he revisits his old pub, a place teeming with memories. As he steps inside, the bartender recognizes him with shock, hinting at Jake’s mysterious past and the reasons for his long absence. “Lounder Run” explores themes of homecoming, redemption, and the unshakable grip of one’s origins.

NJPW G1 Climax 33: Day 16

The sixteenth night of the tournament took place on August 8th, 2023 at Act City Hamamatsu in Naka-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.

Ragat

Ragat (Blood) is a powerful Nepali film that highlights caste discrimination and social injustice. The story follows Krishna, a young man from a lower-caste family, who bravely fights against the oppression of the rich and upper-caste elites. Hemant Kaji, a wealthy and influential man, strongly believes in caste superiority and looks down on the poor. Amidst this division, Laxmi, a girl from a rich family, falls in love with Gopal, a lower-caste boy. Defying societal norms and family pressure, they marry against their parents' wishes, challenging the rigid caste system. Their love becomes a symbol of change, but their struggle is met with resistance. In the end, Radha, Laxmi's caring aunt, tragically loses her life, leaving behind a message that all human blood is the same-hot and red. Directed with a strong social message, Ragat questions why caste discrimination still exists in Nepali culture and calls for equality and justice.

Joint

When two best friends, Matt and Alan, smoke weed-laced cigarettes, things take a bizarre turn. Alan, high out of his mind, runs off in the streets of suburban Arizona. Left behind and still dazed, the anxious and reluctant Matt is forced to search for his missing friend.

Twitches Too

Reunited witch twins Camryn and Alex adjust to their new life as supernatural beings while at the same time trying to maintain a normal existence in this sequel to the magical Disney Channel original movie Twitches. But they soon find themselves going head to head with the forces of darkness that threaten to destroy their world. Luckily, their birth mother, the powerful Miranda, is on hand to help out.

John

A day in the life of John Lennon, alive and well in modern-day New York City. The former Beatle squabbles with a security guard, commiserates with his best friend over lunch, and upsets a bully.

The Gift

Tolya Sidorov is a simple worker of early retirement age from some remote place in Russia. Unexpectedly he discovers his artistic talent and becomes a sensation in the world of modern art. And all this because the creation of his masterpieces happens at a very intimate moment... The fame of the unusual artist spreads across the Internet, and even experts from Moscow come to visit an exhibition of Anatoly’s urinary painting. And like in the Russian fairy tale, the hero is miraculously showered with recognition and money. But Tolya prefers to stay incognito, trying to understand whether his work is real art. And the men from the factory would laugh at him if they found out.

64: Part 2

1989: 64th and last year of the Showa era. A girl is kidnapped and killed. The unsolved case is called Case 64 ('rokuyon'). 2002: Yoshinobu Mikami, who was the detective in charge of the Case 64, moves as a Public Relations Officer in the Police Affairs Department. His relation with the reporters is conflicted and his own daughter is missing. The statute of limitations for the Case 64 will expire in one year. Then a kidnapping case, similar to the Case 64, takes place. The rift between the criminal investigation department and police administration department deepens. Mikami challenges the case as a public relations secretary.

Bamboo Doll of Echizen

Kisuke, a young bamboo worker marries Tomoe, a geisha who was once involved with Kisuke's late father.

Wolf Dog

A paroled convict tries to start life anew by moving with his family to a ranch, where his young son finds a puppy that is half wolf and half dog.

Earth Summit Mission: Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Team

"Earth Summit Mission" is the first 4K documentary recording a scientific expedition. The 60-minute Earth Summit Mission documentary is a record of the second Chinese scientific expedition to Mount Qomolangma which took place in the summer of 2022. It involved around 200 scientists, led by Yao Tandong from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the course of the expedition, the scientists set a number of records, from collecting ice and snow samples from the highest point on Earth and setting up the world’s highest weather station, to sending up an observation aerostat to an altitude of over 9,000 meters.

Area X

Paul's dad unexpectedly picked him up from work today. And then a hooker. After dropping them off at a seedy roadside motel, Paul's father handed him two hundred dollars and told him not to come out until he's a man. These are just a few of the bizarre, sexually charged events that Paul recounts to Marco, a charming and seductive hustler he meets in a dicey bar on a hidden street underneath New York City's infamous Port Authority Bus Terminal, an area officially named but rarely referred to as "Area X". It is here in this dark and shady place that Paul must navigate his way through what he wants, what he needs, and the high cost attached to both.

All Mistakes Buried

A lone, struggling addict takes on a dangerous underground criminal ring in his small Southern town to retrieve a stolen pendant he believes will save his marriage.

The Bridge Partner

A timid housewife is jolted into a fight for her survival or sanity when she thinks she hears her new partner at a weekly bridge game whisper a shocking threat.

Solid Ivory

Woody is shooting pool at a farm house when one of his pool balls rolls into a nearby henhouse. He takes the ball back but must battle with the hen who thinks the woodpecker is taking one of her eggs. Woody makes several attempts to get the ball back from the protective poultry finally disguising himself as a macho continental rooster whom the hen falls for causing Woody to retrieve his ball. But it doesn't last long.

Analog

Satoru Mizushima is a designer, who prefers traditional things like handmade items and handwritten works. One day, he happens to meet a mysterious woman, Miyuki Miharu, at the cafe named Piano. She seems to have similar values to him and he is attracted to her. Satoru asks for Miyuki's cellphone number, but she doesn't own a cellphone. They make a promise to meet at the cafe every Thursday. Since then, Satoru and Miyuki meet every Thursday and their relationship develops romantically. Satoru decides to propose Miyuki, but she doesn't show up at the cafe.

Rocks

The stone-people Hew and Kew have seen a lot in their everlasting lives on top of their mountain. Therefore they're only mildly amazed by the ongoings in the valley below, they've got their own little problems to deal with - But all of a sudden, Mankind is discovering and inventing, instead of just woozeling, and this new behavior starts to threaten Hew's and Kew's stoic peacefulness...

Phosphorus

Basking in a theatres lights, a realm of dust particles dances in unison. One sprite suddenly gets the chance to be centre stage…

Paint Showers

Cosmos of paint unleash a storm of color.

Three Little Pigs

The two pigs building houses of hay and sticks scoff at their brother, building the brick house. But when the wolf comes around and blows their houses down (after trickery like dressing as a foundling sheep fails), they run to their brother's house. And throughout, they sing the classic song, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?".

Deathigner

Little Death, child of The Grim Reaper, have problems to follow the steps of his infamous father.

Gridman the Hyper Agent: boys invent great hero

22 years ago… A boy, Takeshi Todo, who attempted to take over the world with the devil of the Computer World together. He reformed himself after the battle and now needs the power of the Hyper Agent. Again, the evil is going to appear in the real world. A materialized monster is now approaching! Enter the battle code! The access code is… “GRIDMAN.”

Kanón

Based on the novel “Adam Stvořitel” by Karel Čapek: angry at the world for its imperfections, Adam destroys everything except himself. God, as punishment, lets Adam rebuild the world to his whim and will.

The Stolen Portrait

A sarcastic horror parody of comic book series from the 1930s.

Half a Life

After a traumatic encounter, a young gay Egyptian joins the LGBT rights movement. When his safety is jeopardized, he must choose whether to stay in the country he loves or seek asylum elsewhere as a refugee. "Half a Life" is a timely story of activism and hope, set in the increasingly dangerous, oppressive, and unstable social climate of Egypt today.

The Curve of Forgotten Things

A magical girl, who exists outside of space and time, inhabits an odd, timeless landscape that is both old and modern, and spends her days playing and collecting objects from history, things that she loves.

Super Rhino

This short begins with the star canine and his owner Penny in peril from "The Man with the Green Eye", trapped within his fortress protected by overwhelming defenses, tied up and suspended high above a bottomless pit that's surrounded by fire. So Penny's father transforms Rhino into a super hamster to save the day.

Clown and His Dogs

Short film of 300 individually painted images. A lost film.

Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man

A child is born. We see underwater swimmers representing this. He is young, in a jungle setting, with two fanciful "instincts" guiding him as swooping bird-like acrobats initially menace, then delight. As an adolescent, he enters a desert, where a man spins a large cube of metal tubing. He leaves his instinct-guides behind, and enters a garden where two statues dance in a pond. As he watches their sensual acrobatics of love, he becomes a man. He is offered wealth (represented by a golden hat) by a devil figure. In a richly decorated room, a scruffy troupe of a dozen acrobats and a little girl reawaken the old man's youthful nature and love.

Tales of the Black Freighter

A mariner survives an attack from the dreaded pirates of the Black Freighter, but his struggle to return home to warn it has a horrific cost.

The New Species

Stumbling across a mysterious bone sparks the imagination of three kids, who decide to seek scholarly wisdom from a palaeontologist and see what clues they can dig up.

Lacrimosa

A young woman finds her lost lover in a world of ever-changing surreal landscapes. But love, she discovers, is more complicated than she imagines.

Hell's Bells

The demons of hell play music for Satan, whose delight turns to wrath when an insubordinate refuses to become food for Cerberus.

First Blood

A teenage girl goes through a bizarre transformation after she gets her first period.

Cliffhanger

A sheriff's shootout turns into an adventure through the wondrous world of film.

A Town Called Panic: Christmas Panic!

The year’s end celebrations are coming. Christmas : the tree, the dinner, the presents. Indian and Cowboy are expecting their presents eagerly. Overexcited by the organisation of the celebration, they fight and destroy the Yule log on which Horse was putting the last touch. Horse is livid and cancels the gifts from Santa Claus. How will they win back the favours of Horse and The Old Bearded Man? How will they retrieve their gifts ? For Indian and Cowboy begins a long, very long Christmas Eve.

Dragon Sledge

Plot unavailable

The Cloud and the Whale

A cheerful cloud made friends with a huge whale. But it turns out that in a difficult moment, even a very small cloud can become strong and save his friend.

The Talisman

This short film, based on the novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub, was produced to demonstrate the direction of a full Talisman adaptation.

Flight

Little chicken Zina has a big dream - to learn to fly. How can it be fulfilled?

Jabberwocky

In stop-motion animation, a wardrobe moves through the countryside. It arrives in a house, a child's voice recites Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," and various objects, such as toys and dolls, move about, disintegrate, and play out archetypal scenes. Like Carroll's verse, the images are at once familiar and unfamiliar. A child's play suit, hanging in the wardrobe, becomes the adventure's protagonist.

Dimensions of Dialogue

Three surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.

Alice in Dreamland

Alice is summoned by the White Rabbit to save Wonderland from spreading Darkness. However, she knows Alice in Wonderland is a story and that this must be a dream. And so it proves, but at the end, the now grown-up Alice sees the events of her dream begin to unfold for real.

Pow!

A Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.

A Game with Stones

A device consisting of a clock, a pendulum, a faucet and a bucket enacts a series of events whenever the clock chimes.

J.S. Bach: Fantasia in G minor

A man plays the Bach piece of the title on the organ, accompanied by images of stone walls with cracks and holes that grow and shrink, intercut with images of doors and wire-meshed windows.

Picnic with Weismann

Various objects are having a sunny outing together in the nature.

The Sled

A red squirrel cub, amazing bullfinches, and dazzling white snow. The fluffy squirrel is sledging down the hill and having fun.

Up and Down

An educational short film directed featuring the Luxo Jr. discovering the concept of "Up" and "Down" with the help of his dad, Luxo Sr.

Ancien and the Magic Tablet: Another Story

This is the story that always appears in the dreams of Kokone, who eventually becomes a high school student. What is the secret hidden in the fairy tale that Kokoneheard as a young boy? And then, what is this secret entrusted to his father Momotaro's mind? This movie depicts the adventures of the main character, high school student Morikawa Kokone, who appears in the dreams of another main character, Yasue, another nap princess.

Here's the Plan

The film follows the life of a married cat and dog couple who start off with a dream to open a bakery, only for their lives to drift apart due to a variety of circumstances.

The Wrong Rock

A mushroom embarks on an epic adventure to find its purpose in life.

The Snail and the Whale

A half hour animated film for all the family based on the much-loved book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The Snail and the Whale is the much loved classic that shows us a restless young snail who has ambitions to travel the world. The other snails think she should stay put, but she puts out a call for a “Lift wanted around the world”. Eventually her call is answered by a great big grey-blue humpback whale! She sets off with him across the seas. On their journey the snail and the whale discover towering icebergs and far-off lands, fiery mountains and golden sands. The snail is delighted by the wonderful world around her, until she realises how small it makes her feel.

Music Box

Plot unavailable

Green Pink Caviar

Models are seen licking brightly colored candy on a sheet of glass. The video illustrates the moment where clarity becomes abstraction and beauty commingles with the grotesque.

On My Mind

A loser-in-love's struggle to move on is personified by a crow.

Susannah's Lesson

Based on Stephen King characters from the Dark Tower series, this short examines the student-teacher dynamic between the legendary Gunslinger and the woman in the wheelchair he pulled into his world a few months before our story begins.

After the Rain

In green pastures, a dog lives happily alongside its master, an old and very unusual shepherd. The shepherd isn't merely content to shear his sheep, but transforms the wool into clouds to create rain, thereby perpetuating the life cycle. But if the shepherd isn't eternal, what will happen to the valley? The young dog must be creative and persevere in order to avoid the worst.

Corp.

Ambition, labour exploitation, environmental pollution, human degradation, surplus value, corruption and much much more can be found in the amazing world of the free market.

Purple Dictatorship

Yeda, the green-faced woman, sells homemade bread to support the house where she lives with her sick husband. Through the context of green-faced people, we know the reality of those who live on the fringes of a purple-faced society.

Sitara: Let Girls Dream

Pari, a 14-year-old girl, dreams of becoming a pilot while growing up in a society that doesn’t allow her to dream.

The Button

Every time a Soviet apparatchik presses a button, something explodes.