Vending Machine (2020)

Pounds of Matter

A kaleidoscopic perspective into one woman's experience with self-dissolution and urban alienation.

When a Tree Falls

A young couple is devastated when their son is killed by a falling tree during a windstorm. As the distraught father begins to look for answers into his son’s death, what appears to be a tragic accident turns out to have been the result of multiple blunders by multiple people.

My Neighbors the Yamadas

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humorous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life's little conflicts, problems, and joys in their own way.

A Brighter Summer Day

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

Phantosmia

A counselor/psychiatrist suspects a lingering case of phantosmia, a phantom smell, and possibly caused by a deep psychological fracture.

The Karate Kid Part II

Summoned by his dying father, Miyagi returns to his homeland of Okinawa, with Daniel, after a 40-year exile. There he must confront Yukie, the love of his youth, and Sato, his former best friend turned vengeful rival. Sato is bent on a fight to the death, even if it means the destruction of their village. Daniel finds his own love in Yukia's niece, Kumiko, and his own enemy in Sato's nephew, the vicious Chozen. Now, far away from the tournaments, cheering crowds and safety of home, Daniel will face his greatest challenge ever when the cost of honor is life itself.

Remains

Itamar and Thomas share a bed, walls, an apartment and electricity bills. Thomas commands, manages, and criticizes; Itamar is silent and listens. Between the apartment walls, frustration and loneliness unfold.

Good Morning

A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of inter­generational relationships, Good Morning tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after their parents refuse to buy a television set. Ozu weaves a wealth of subtle gags through a family portrait as rich as those of his dramatic films, mocking the foibles of the adult world through the eyes of his child protagonists. Shot in stunning color and set in a suburb of Tokyo where housewives gossip about the neighbors’ new washing machine and unemployed husbands look for work as door-to-door salesmen, this charming comedy refashions Ozu’s own silent classic I Was Born, But . . . to gently satirize consumerism in postwar Japan.

The Assassin

9th century China. Ten year old general’s daughter Nie Yinniang is abducted by a nun who initiates her into the martial arts, transforming her into an exceptional assassin charged with eliminating cruel and corrupt local governors. One day, having failed in a task, she is sent back by her mistress to the land of her birth, with orders to kill the man to whom she was promised – a cousin who now leads the largest military region in North China. After 13 years of exile, the young woman must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings.

Shinpei

An older brother who can't fit into society, a father who has given up on his future, and a younger sister who is tied to the house. This is the story of the small steps these three people take. The Great East Japan Earthquake suddenly changed the peaceful daily life of the people of Fukushima. Many people lost their homes and jobs due to not only the earthquake and tsunami, but also the nuclear accident, and left Fukushima. This is the story of a family living in the aftermath three years later, in Fukushima, where deep scars remain.

All My Friends

Allie and Jacob are inseparable best friends, rambling on in between playing gigs for empty crowds. But when a dream job is set to separate them, tensions and emotions arise in unexpected ways.

Hanging Garden

On the surface, the Kyobashis appear to be a happy family. Despite a family agreement that they are all open with each other, the entire household knows the opposite is true.

Have You Seen Me

When Benny's younger brother, Loren, suddenly reappears after being missing for months, the two are forced to reckon with the drastically different ways they have chosen to live their lives.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores and takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. Slowly, her ritualized daily routines begin to fall apart.

Odd Obsession

A middle-aged husband of a younger woman finds her youth intimidating to the point that he cannot become aroused. His solution involves the introduction of his daughter's lover to his wife.

Empire of Passion

In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.

Climbing to Spring

Toru grew up in alpine countryside around Mount Tate. As a child, he resented the yearly trek up the mountain with his father to prepare their mountain hut for the summer season of climbers. When Toru grows up, he leaves his hometown and enters the working world as a stock trader. One day, Toru receives word that his father has passed away. He returns to Mount Tate once again, and becomes conscious of a new calling. But, does Toru have what it takes to follow in his father’s footsteps?

Morning as a Mayfly

After a night of heavy drinking a young man has a dream where an angel tells him the world will end if he doesn't make a sacrifice.

Profound Desires of the Gods

Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill.

Death of Logic

On a voyage into the dark, we follow a man portraying an intens dialogue with the subconscious. A vignette into the process of looking inward, evaporates the ego and listens to what wants to be heard, on the road to letting go. A requiem for the death of the self.

Meio Éden

One morning in the early 90s, florist Ádina performs domestic tasks after apparent disagreements with her husband, Ivo.

The Turin Horse

A monumental windstorm and an abused horse's refusal to work or eat signal the beginning of the end for a poor farmer and his daughter.

Blue Moon Once

John the Baptist finds himself in a Holešovice silo, a wanderer roams across Prague´s brownfields and several women face their fathers.

To One's Liking

One day, a man films himself killing his dog with his bare hands and posts the video on the Internet. One night, Ethan watches the video and sets out to find the man and the behind-the-scenes story behind the dog video. And me, in the middle, I help as best I can, but I never thought I'd lose the boy I love in a picture...

Three Mirrors Creature's Flashes of Flesh

In the aftermath of an emotional shock, a ruthless high-class manager faces her own abyss, becomes pervaded by a sensory spirit and undertakes a purifying voyage.

Make-Believers

Masa hires rental actress and aspiring dancer, Kanako, to pose as his fiancée to impress his estranged, terminally-ill father. But as his father's death delays, Masa is forced to confront the spiraling web of lies and to learn to follow his heart.

Kid

Inspired by Jorge Luis Borges’ The Disinterested Killer Bill Harrigan, Garoto follows a young couple who find themselves in an enchanted place where they experience an amorous and spiritual adventure.

Theresa

A day in the life of a waitress/webcam model as she serves customers, deals with the world around her, and remembers why she does all of it in the first place.

Daughters, Wives and a Mother

Sanae is left a widow after her prestigious husband dies, but holds the proceeds of a million yen insurance policy. Being childless, her former in-laws have no objection to her return to her own family.

His Head

Jean Bonnard, clean-cut industrialist and the only son of a widow, goes to visit his mother in the small village where she lives. However, early in the morning the police arrive to arrest him, accusing the man of having murdered the old banker who'd made advances towards his girlfriend. Jean's mother is eager to aid her son, whom she believes is innocent. Said Epstein of his film: "I shot small landscapes in Livilliers which seemed to me-- in their reality, I mean-- very large".

Lola's Rainbow

Lola's Rainbow is a film about the mundanity of life. It's about feeling trapped in the everyday cycle of repetition. The rainbow is symbolic for many reasons to many different people, however for Lola it symbolises a way out. In a world that is often dull and vapid, the rainbow's bright colours call to Lola. Dreaming of chasing the rainbow and actually doing it are two different things. Most of us give up and accept that life doesn't get better than the cycle that we find ourselves in. EAT. SLEEP. WORK. REPEAT.

Felipe Rey

Felipe Rey is over 40 years old and still lives with his mother, Nora. The strange bond between mother and son will be tested as soon as Felipe invites Lucy, a janitor from his work, over for dinner.

The Room

A quiet killer is looking for a room. The real state agent, shy and expressionless, guides him through Tokyo, towards the ruins the decadent economy has left behind, in hopes of finding The Room.

Distant People

A couple's evening together is disrupted by a trip to the convenience store.

Following the Sound

Haru, a bookstore clerk, talks to Yukiko pretending to ask for directions. Haru has detected deep sorrow on Yukiko's face. Meanwhile, Haru has been spending days following Tsuyoshi discretely and checking his expressions.

Elegant Beast

A greedy, materialistic family attempts to cover-up the embezzlement committed by the son while keeping their other schemes active. They discover there are other, equally conniving players involved.

The Family Game

A sendup of the stereotypical Japanese family: dad is a salaryman jerk, unable to relate to anyone; mom is a hopeless housewife; the older son is a moderate academic success; but the younger son is a rebellious goof-off for whom a tutor must be hired. The tutor, played by the prototypical bad boy actor Matsuda Yusaku, proceeds to blow the entire family apart.

Strong Women, Weak Men

After the closure of a coal mine leaves her husband unemployed, Fumiko travels from Kyushu to Kyoto with her daughter Kimiko, and they become hostesses at a cabaret.

o jardineiro - ou os equinócios de uma memória latente

Oliver, an elderly gardener with Alzheimer's, discovers a Super 8 film reel he recorded decades ago, during the early days of his relationship with Julia, his late wife. As he watches the images from the past, his memories blur with the present, and he finds himself torn between reality and the recollections of a love that still blooms in his mind. While searching for answers that never come, Oliver confronts the fleeting nature of life and the beauty of memories that withstand the passage of time.

Sit With Me and Do Nothing for a While

A woman meditates on her life in an 80-minute unbroken zoom shot.

Static

A group of young people grapple with identity, guilt and mourning after learning of a close friend's death.

Army

Though plagued by ill health all his life, a young Japanese man is obligated to fulfill his family's longstanding military tradition.

Halley

Alberto is dead and can no longer hide it. Make-up and perfume can no longer conceal his quickly decomposing body. Dismayed, he decides to withdraw from the world, whilst forming an unusual friendship with Luly, the manager of the 24-hour gym where he works as a night guard.