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Summer Screenings

Vue Entertainment is banking on anime’s growing U.K. fanbase with a quartet of theatrical releases anchored by the highly anticipated “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle,” set to bow Sept. 12.

The exhibition chain will roll out two newly remastered 4K classics from acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda alongside a fresh Hatsune Miku feature. “Summer Wars” launched Aug. 3, and will be followed by “Wolf Children” on Aug. 17 and “Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing” on Aug. 31.

“Summer Wars” follows a shy math prodigy who accidentally unleashes a rogue AI threatening global digital infrastructure. “Wolf Children” centers on a young mother raising two half-human, half-wolf offspring across a decade-spanning narrative exploring themes of identity and acceptance. The Miku film introduces a twist on the virtual idol phenomenon, featuring a version of the character who has lost her singing ability.

September’s “Demon Slayer” sequel,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Blue Sun Palace (Constance Tsang)

Shot largely on location in Queens, Blue Sun Palace explores a hidden culture and milieu. Amy and Didi, two friends at a massage parlor, are struck by violence that throws their lives into disarray. Director Constance Tsang grew up in New York, which helps explain her script’s authentic feel. Alongside Lee Kang-sheng as a Taiwanese immigrant looking for connection, the real star here is cinematographer Norm Li, who gives the film’s massage parlors, fast-food joints, and convenience stores––all seen in grungy fluorescent lighting––a universal currency that makes just as much sense in Korea or Mexico as in the U.S. – Daniel E.

Where to Stream: VOD

Bob Trevino Likes It (Tracie Laymon)

A...

The hopelessness and disillusionment with regard to what a communist state had promised to be and what it has actually turned into where communism still exists (in whatever form) have often found their way into many films in the modern era. It is easy to identify the same ideas in the new film of Chinese filmmaking master Jia Zhangke, although very subtly and indirectly, for Caught by the Tides is much more than just social or political commentary. The film has a very loose plot about a woman’s somewhat unrequited love that spans decades but does not ultimately have any triumph. But Caught by the Tides is mostly a slow and patient observation of the changing times, the literal geographical changes, and of course the many social transformations that come with them. Zhangke’s new film makes for a delightful and thoroughly moving watch, and is highly recommended for fans of serious global cinema.

Li Jiaxi‘s “The Past Time” is a small, fine, and precisely observed film from the People’s Republic of China, in which the main characters receive a great deal of sympathy from the director. Li Jiaxi, who calls herself Cici Li in the credits, is a Chinese actress, writer, and director from Shanxi Province, also home of the famous Jia Zhangke. Certain echoes of his style of storytelling can also be found in Li’s film. Here, the young filmmaker has adapted her own work with the same title and also plays one of the main roles.

on CathayPlay by clicking on the image below

The four main characters, two young women and two young men, all work in a village that calls itself Jingnian City, a scenic tourist attraction, and is likely fictional. Yi (Cici Li) is a tour guide there, her friend Ling (Dong...

Exclusive:Cologne-based distributor-producer Rapid Eye Movies (Rem) is expanding its operations with the launching of an in-house world sales arm under the banner of Rapid Eye Movies International Distribution.

The initial line-up includes the maverick Filipino filmmaker Khavn’s latest project Rizal’s Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge, a hand-coloured 35mm silent film about his country’s fragmented colonial history at the turn of the 20th century, and 93-year-old German director Alexander Kluge’s latest two films made entirely using AI, Cosmic Miniatures and Primitive Diversity, which premiered in Rotterdam in 2024 and 2025 respectively.

In addition, the new venture will be handling a...

Belgian filmmaker Tim Mielants’ feature Steve, starring Cillian Murphy, has been added to the Platform lineup for this year’s Toronto Film Festival.

Steve was among nine titles added to the Platform competition Tuesday morning. Those titles are: Farnoosh Samadi’s Between Dreams and Hope, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani’s Bouchra, György Pálfi’s Hen, Pauline Loquès’ Nino, Bretten Hannam’s Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), Milagros Mumenthaler’s The Currents, Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Love, Valentyn Vasyanovych’s To the Victory! and Kasia Adamik’s Winter of the Crow.

The Platform jury will be headed by Carlos Marqués-Marcet, who won the 2024 Platform Award for They Will Be Dust. He will be joined by Oscar-nominated actor, writer, composer and director Marianne Jean-Baptiste, most recently at the festival in 2024 with Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, and Québécois filmmaker Chloé Robichaud, whose Sundance title Two...

The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the official juries for its 82nd edition running from August 27-September 6.

On the main competition jury, previously announced jury president Alexander Payne, will be joined by French director and screenwriter Stéphane Brizé; Italian director and screenwriter Maura Delpero; Romanian director, writer and producer Cristian Mungiu; Iranian director and writer Mohammad Rasoulof; Brazilian actress, writer and screenwriter Fernanda Torres; and Chinese actress Zhao Tao.

They will decide the Golden Lion for Best Film; Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize; Silver Lion for Best Director; Coppa Volpi for Best Actress; Coppa Volpi for Best Actor; Award for Best Screenplay; Special Jury Prize; and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.

A number of the jury members have Venice connections.

Brizé’s Another World (2021) and Out of Season (2023) premiered in Venice competition; Delpero world premiered her second film Vermiglio at the festival last year,...

“Hell is waiting for you. I’ll be your nightmare forever,” Yoshii (Masaki Suda) is told at gunpoint in one of the most thrilling sequences of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s career in “Cloud.”

It’s a line, though, that could apply across the Japanese filmmaker’s work, whether the specters in the machine stalking a post-Y2K digital realm in “Pulse” or the elusive serial killer who seems to operate by hypnosis in “Cure,” one of the very best horror movies ever made.

“Cloud” is Kurosawa’s first movie to weld his techno anxieties to a Western framework, as his movie about a sociopath-adjacent internet reseller and hoarder culminates in what I wouldn’t quite call a glorious shootout, but certainly the grandest action set piece yet from the filmmaker. “Cloud” is out in U.S. theaters from Sideshow/Janus Films on July 18, and IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer below.

Suda,...

Zhang Ming‘s “Springtime in Wushan” (“Wushan zhichun”) is a documentary film from 2003. The filmmaker returns from Beijing to his hometown to celebrate the Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year, with family and friends. But that’s not the only reason. Wushan, located on the outskirts of the metropolis of Chongqing, was one of the places most affected by the construction of the gigantic Three Gorges Dam, which permanently changed the landscape along the famous Yangzi River.

on CathayPlay by clicking on the image below

Zhang Ming, born in 1961, is a member of the Sixth Generation of Chinese filmmakers. He became internationally known for his remarkable feature films “Rainclouds Over Wushan” (1996) and “Weekend Plot,” for which he won numerous awards. It was somewhat surprising that the former, despite its anything but mainstream plot (it concerns a police investigation into a rape), was produced by the state-run Beijing Film Studio.

Caught by the Tides

Jia Zhang-ke’s elegiac and poetic feature revolves around a woman (Zhao Tao) who journeys from her home in a fading industrial city in search of a vanished former boyfriend. The movie looks back on China’s recent history, but also on Jia’s filmography, echoing themes, geographical features, techniques and structural elements while incorporating footage shot at various intervals from 2001 through 2023 — an approach that gives it a kind of kinship with Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. — David Rooney

Ghost Trail

Centering on a Syrian exile tracking down his former torturer in France, Jonathan Millet’s film is a work of visceral intensity and formidable control. Millet has a shrewd grasp of paranoid-thriller mechanics; a refreshing preference for intimacy and clarity over distancing stylistic or narrative fussiness; and two fantastic actors: soulful, movie-star-magnetic lead Adam Bessa and Tawfeek Barhom as a villain whose humanity is the most chilling thing about him.

Nebraska director Alexander Payne will receive the Pardo d’Onore at the Locarno Film Festival.

The American filmmaker will be presented with the honorary leopard on Friday, August 15. He will also present his 2011 pic The Descendants and 2013 title Nebraska and participate in a public discussion.

Payne, a writer-director also behind the likes of Sideway and The Holdovers, has won two Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and been nominated for Best Director on three occasions.

After studying filmmaking at UCLA, Payne wrote and directed politically-charged comedy Citizen Ruth, starring Laura Dern, in 1996. It premiered at Sundance and led to a run of seven influential films, which have starred the likes of Paul Giamatti, Reese Witherspoon and Jack Nicholson.

“Alexander Payne is an erudite auteur with an encyclopaedic cinephile knowledge,” said Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival. “Gifted with an unerring sense for the bittersweet facets of human comedy,...

Caught by the Tides.Jia Zhangke grew up in Fenyang, where the north winds blew cold fronts from Inner Mongolia over the medieval walls. Fenyang is in Shanxi province, China’s coal country, one of the nation’s most polluted regions; when Jia was a child, most of the buildings dated to the Ming and Qing dynasties, and you could bike across town in ten minutes and find yourself in the countryside. His father was a teacher, and his mother worked at the state store that sold liquor and cigarettes; in the 1970s, when food was still rationed by family size, they would send their children to school on a meager breakfast of cornmeal buns. The family all slept in the same bed, and Jia would play in the neighborhood courtyards, surrounded by stone walls. In Walter Salles’s documentary portrait Jia Zhangke, A Guy from Fenyang (2014), Jia returns to...

Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino is this year’s recipient of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award to be bestowed upon him during the 31st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, which will also feature a retrospective of his films that will be screened as part of the fest’s “tribute to” program.

The honor and tribute will be “in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of cinema,” Sarajevo fest organizers said on Tuesday. Sorrentino will also hold a masterclass and “share his thoughts on contemporary art in a conversation with the audience,” they noted.

“I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious recognition and grateful for the attention given to my filmography,” said Sorrentino. “I look forward to being with you in Sarajevo. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The fest highlighted the effect the Italian director and screenwriter’s oeuvre has had on audiences. “Paolo...

Illustration by Franz Lang.We asked some of the finest critics stalking the Croisette to tell us just one moment from this year’s festival that they won’t soon forget.Vadim RizovBefore every official competition screening at Cannes since 1991, the same computer-generated bumper has been shown. As described by former festival head Gilles Jacob, this ascent over red stairs from watery depths “starts at the bottom of the ocean, rises above the waves, and ends up among the stars—where the Palme d’Or belongs.” During round-number anniversary years, directors’ names are added to the stairs, but this year they’re blank. If you’re feeling uncharitable, this can serve as a damning metaphor for the festival itself: an image created in 1991 synecdochally standing for a selection of bedrock auteurs that remain stuck in the same time period. If you’re feeling charitable, the metaphor is more positive: the future of Cannes is unwritten,...

Janus Films has acquired all North American rights to “The Love That Remains,” the new film from “Godland” director Hlynur Pálmason, which world premiered in Cannes Premieres at this month’s Cannes Film Festival. The deal was negotiated by Janus Films and New Europe Film Sales.

The acquisition marks the second collaboration between Janus Films and Pálmason, following “Godland, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and was shortlisted for best international feature film at the 2024 Academy Awards.

“The Love That Remains” centers around a year in the life of a family as the parents navigate their separation. “Through both playful and heartfelt moments, the film portrays the bittersweet essence of faded love and shared memories amidst the changing seasons,” according to a statement.

The film stars Saga Garðarsdóttir (“Woman at War”), Sverrir Gudnason (“Borg Vs. McEnroe”), Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir (“Godland”), Þorgils Hlynsson (“Nest”) and Grímur Hlynsson (“Nest”).

Janus Films commented,...

Janus Films has acquired all North American rights to “Resurrection,” the Special Award winner at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival from visionary Chinese filmmaker Bi Gan.

The film, which premiered in competition at Cannes, marks the third feature from Bi Gan, whose previous credits include “Kaili Blues” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”

Told in six parts spanning a century, “Resurrection’s” framing story takes place in a world where humanity has lost the ability to dream, with one creature remaining entranced by the fading illusions of the dreamworld. The film stars Chinese superstar singer and actor Jackson Yee and veteran actor Shu Qi, known for her collaborations with Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

“Resurrection” was praised by Variety critic Jessica Kiang as “a marvelously maximalist movie of opulent ambition that is actually five or six movies, each at once playful and peculiar and part of an overarchingly melancholy elegy for the dream of...

Cannes-Winning Chinese Movie Now On Ott (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

The widely admired Chinese film, titled ‘Black Dog,’ had its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival last year. The movie was the winner at the Un Certain Regard, a parallel section at Cannes that showcases art and discovery films by young auteurs. ( Via Festival De Cannes) In a fantastic piece of news for diehard cinephiles, let us inform you that Black Dog has now started streaming on an Indian Ott platform. Read on to know more about the film and its streaming platform.

Black Dog – Plot & Cast

Directed by Guan Hu, the film’s underlying plot follows the story of a former motorcycle stuntman, Lang (played by Eddie Peng), who returns to his hometown on the outskirts of the Gobi Desert in Northwest China. He is a former convict who has just completed his jail term. He takes...

Audiences are really latching onto A24’s Friendship, buoying it to no. 7 at the domestic box office on just 60 screens with a $1.4 million weekend ($23k per screen average) and a $2+ million cume.

The film by Andrew DeYoung debuted on six screens last week with a top limited opening and can now boast a hugely successful expansion. The R-rated comedy stars comedian Tim Robinson as suburban dad Craig whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a new neighbor (Paul Rudd).

Certified Fresh Rt and backed by excellent exit polls, the bromance is generating tremendous word-of-mouth. Expands to a limited nationwide release over Memorial Day weekend as it settles into a long theatrical run throughout the summer.

Indie grosses can trickle in through early in the week, will update with any new numbers.

Kani Releasing releases Yoko Yamanaka’s Desert of Namibia exclusively at Metrograph...

As the Cannes market heads into its first weekend, it’s fair to say it’s a nerve-wracking time for the international film sales business. Barely recovered from the shocks of pandemic and Hollywood strikes, the industry now faces the threat of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, which are sowing a huge deal of confusion for international financing, co-production and sales.

Asia has not been immune from these shocks and uncertainties. Although a few mega-hits such as China’s Nezha 2 and Thailand’s How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies gives the impression that all is well – the truth is that box office recovery has been slow or uneven across most territories. The reasons for this would sound depressingly familiar in the West – a slowdown in U.S. studio tentpoles, the shift to streaming and (in China’s case) vertical short drama, and inflation hitting consumers’ pockets.

Launched just a few months ago by Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke and distribution veteran Tian Qi, Unknown Pleasures Pictures scored a hit with its first release, Italian production There’s Still Tomorrow.

Released on March 8 to coincide with International Women’s Day, Paola Cortellesi’s black-and-white comedy drama has grossed $6.2M (RMB44.8M) at the China box office and is still on release. Italy’s Vision Distribution is handling international sales on the film and supported Unknown Pleasures Pictures on the China marketing (see Asia sales analysis here for further details).

Upp was launched with the specific aim of bringing a more diverse range of films to Chinese cinemas and audiences. Jia is also the co-founder of Pingyao International Film Festival, which aims to support international arthouse cinema and emerging filmmakers. He is also partnered with Hello Group chairman and CEO Tang Yan on the Wings International fund, designed to support...

Italy’s Fondazione Prada is launching a film fund to sustain independent cinema. The new fund will be managed by former Directors’ Fortnight chief Paolo Moretti in collaboration with film programmer Rebecca De Pas.

The Fondazione Prada Film Fund, which is starting out with a €1.5 million ($1.6 million) pot, will support 10-12 selected feature films per year with no geographical or genre restrictions. The fund will be launched during the Venice Film Festival through a call for entries.

“Cinema is for us a laboratory for new ideas and a space of cultural education. For this reason, we have decided to actively contribute to the realization of new works and to the support of auteur cinema,” said Miuccia Prada in a statement. She is the owner of the Prada Italian luxury group and head of Fondazione Prada, the cultural institution that she established alongside her husband Patrizio Bertelli in 1993.

“For over 20 years,...

Friendship is out at 6 locations to a stellar debut weekend of $451k, and per theater average of $75.43k. That’s the highest limited opening this year and a boost the indie market’s been waiting for even as the broader box office picks up.

Only Watermelon Pictures’ documentary The Encampments, which debuted on one screen in late March to $77k, had a higher per theater opening of $77k.

R-rated comedy Friendship stars Tim Robinson as suburban dad Craig, whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a new neighbor (Paul Rudd). As Craig’s attempts to make an adult male friend, things spiral out of control, and their blossoming relationship threatens to ruin both of their lives. The TIFF-premiering film saw dozens of sellouts in both New York and Los Angeles with raucous crowds and great word-of-mouth. Fans of Tim Robinson and his Netflix series I Think You...

Limited opening per screen averages remain challenged even as the studio wide release landscape surges, but there’s a promising new entrant this week in Friendship, the A24 comedy opening on six screens.

The directorial debut of writer-director Andrew DeYoung stars I Think You Should Leave comedian Tim Robinson in his first major on-screen appearance. Early screenings in New York and L.A. have sold out, along with thousands of hats reading ‘Male Friendship’, the latest merch to hit the distributor’s shopping vertical and sell out. The former SNL performer and writer’s cringey cult hit has had three seasons on Netflix.

Friendship, which premiered at SXSW, is at 92% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Deadline’s review calls it a hilarious and “anxiety-inducing dark bromance” where suburban dad Craig (Robinson) falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor (Paul Rudd), but Craig’s attempts to make an adult male friend...

In the early months of 2003, a film that had been building buzz on the festival circuit the year before began to make its way to American arthouses. A story of twentysomethings caught up in petty crime and the punishment of perpetual restlessness — and blessed with the English title Unknown Pleasures — it was the fourth feature from writer-director Jia Zhangke. The movie sprinkled flecks of genre flicks into a narrative rendered with a no-frills realist aesthetic; the fact that Jia shot it using early 2000s digital video made you feel like...

The Tide is High: Zhangke Splices Thwarted Romance Across Changing Times

Filmmaker Jia Zhangke presents something of an experimental anomaly with his latest feature, Caught by the Tides (Feng Liu Yi Dai), spanning two decades of shifting cultural climates and landscapes. Assembling footage shot across several periods beginning in 2001, Jia Zhangke transposes a quiet narrative within these archival moments for a uniquely cobbled hybrid. Jia Zhangke’s wife, Zhao Tao, who has appeared in a majority of his narratives since 2000’s Platform, remains the vibrant highlight as a mute, melancholic woman fashioned like a figure from silent cinema.…...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Sideshow and Janus Films release “Caught by the Tides” in select theaters Friday, May 9, 2025.

A searching and scattershot portrait of displacement that’s as likely to resonate with Jia Zhang-ke devotees as it is to mystify those who are new to his work, “Caught by the Tides” finds the Chinese auteur returning the most pivotal characters and locations that have defined his movies over the last two decades. Then again, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he never left them.

Tracing the faintest contours of a scripted love story around the scaffolding of some documentary footage that Jia has collected over the course of 22 years, this elusive chimera of a film strains to literalize the delicate relationship between time and memory — a theme that has become increasingly central to the director’s work since...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Cannes coverage. Caught by the Tides opens in theaters on May 9.

Jia Zhangke’s is often a cinema of déjà vu: “We’re again in the northern Chinese city of Datong,” Giovanni Marchini Camia wrote for Sight and Sound back in 2019, “it’s again the start of the new millennium, Qiao is again dating a mobster, yet no one else makes a reappearance and there are enough differences to signal that this isn’t a sequel or remake.” Camia was writing about Ash Is Purest White yet much of the same could be said for Caught by the Tides, the director’s latest experiment in plundering his archive––indeed his memories––and spinning what he finds into something new. The protagonist of Tides is again named Qiao and is again played by Zhao Tao, appearing here in more than 20 years...

A quarter of the way through the 21st century, filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke has emerged as the foremost cinematic chronicler of contemporary China. His latest film, Caught by the Tides, ought to silence any doubts to the contrary. In a miraculous medley spanning over two decades of his country’s history, Jia excavates hidden stories within his past filmography while simultaneously casting his glance toward the future.

While it’s not necessary to know the background on the origins of Caught by the Tides to understand it, the context of its creation can only help enrich the experience. Like many during the pandemic, Jia looked inward at his own material as the outside world remained closed. Among footage used and unseen from his films like Unknown Pleasures, Still Life, and Ash Is Purest White, a larger story began to emerge on both a micro and macro scale. Once lockdowns lifted, he...

Caught by the Tides is that much-sought, almost-never-fulfilled encounter with something I can’t be 100% certain is real. Audacious in concept (assembling a new narrative from footage shot for previous features) and with an execution to match, at its best the film suggests some kind of landmark; being a longtime admirer of Jia Zhangke and the films he’s revisited (which are now streaming on the Criterion Channel) makes it no easier to process.

Jia has been on a long tour discussing the film: though it premiered at last year’s Cannes, he began promoting in earnest even before that, in an extended discussion with our own Rory O’Connor. (It also so happens he first alluded to the project when we spoke ten years ago.) Because Jia has likely answered a small set of questions enough times to drive any weaker person mad, limited time with an artist of his...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Bam

A retrospective of Wuhan on film begins.

IFC Center

A major Jia Zhangke retrospective has begun; The Beaver Trilogy, Interview with the Vampire, Dr. Caligari, and The Big Lebowski show late.

Museum of the Moving Image

The Fast and the Furious, Thunderball, and Safety Last! play in See It Big: Stunts!

Nitehawk Cinema

Fame screens Saturday and Sunday morning; print of Postcards from the Edge plays on the former day, while Sunday is a secret Hong Kong feature on 35mm.

Film at Lincoln Center

Films by Charles Burnett, Jamaa Fanaka, and more screen in L.A. Rebellion.

Museum of Modern Art

A Sarah Maldoror retrospective has begun; films by Orson Welles, Jacques Tourneur, and Anthony Mann play in The Lady at 100.

Film Forum

A new 35mm print of 8½ and Mort Rifkin favorite A Man and a Woman continue; Tim Burton...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Being Maria (Jessica Palud)

Last Tango in Paris was both a breakout role and turning point in the life and career of Maria Schneider––a traumatic filming experience that inspired her to become an advocate for women in the film industry, and the often redundant depictions of female characters in cinema. Her steadfastness and increasing ability to not suffer fools gladly after her experiences with Bernardo Bertolucci and Marlon Brando saw her walk out on several major directors midway through shooting, earning her a reputation for being difficult, frustrations largely ignored as this behavior coincided with her own battles with mental health and drug addiction, both of which were weaponized as reasons to not hire her. Any writing on Schneider characterizes her...

Bitters End has acquired international sales rights for “Two Seasons, Two Strangers,” the latest feature from Japanese director Sho Miyake, ahead of the Cannes film market.

With three decades in the business, Bitters End has established itself as a leading Japanese distributor, handling films from internationally acclaimed filmmakers including Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Bong Joon-Ho, the Dardenne brothers, and Jia Zhangke. Recent acquisitions include “Anora,” “Sex/Love/Dreams,” “Caught by the Tide,” “La Chimera,” and “Perfect Days.” The company also produces and was behind the Academy Award-winning “Drive My Car.”

“Two Seasons, Two Strangers” stars Korean actor Shim Eun-kyung alongside Japanese actor Shinichi Tsutsumi (“Always: Sunset on Third Street”). Currently in post-production, the project is targeting a November domestic release in Japan.

Miyake has built a strong festival reputation with previous works including “All the Long Nights” (Berlinale 2024), “Small, Slow But Steady” (Berlinale 2022), “And Your Bird Can Sing” (Berlinale 2019), and “Playback” (Locarno 2012). His contemplative,...

The summer season is upon us and, per each year, we’ve dug beyond studio offerings to present an in-depth look at what should be on your radar. From festival winners of the past year to selections coming straight from Cannes to genre delights to, yes, a few blockbuster spectacles, there’s more than enough to anticipate.

Check out our picks below and return for monthly updates as more is sure to be added to the calendar. Release dates are for theatrical openings, unless otherwise noted.

Pavements (Alex Ross Perry; May 2)

If the Hollywood superhero-industrial complex is perishing, the Rolling Stone and Spin magazine extended universe is hastily being built. What better defines “pre-awareness” for the studios like the data logged by Spotify’s algorithm, where billions of track plays confirm what past popular music has stood the test of time, and also how––in the streaming era––you can gouge ancillary money from it?...

Janus Films and Sideshow have shared with us a new trailer for the ambitious Chinese film “Caught By The Tides” from filmmaker Jia Zhangke, using footage from over multiple decades, that is coming to theaters on May 9.

In the pic, we mostly follow the perspective of Qiaoqiao, played by Zhangke’s “immortal muse” Zhao Tao, as she wanders an increasingly unrecognizable country in search of long-lost lover Bin (played by Li Zhubin), who left their home city of Datong seeking new financial prospects.

Continue reading ‘Caught By The Tides’ Trailer: Jia Zhangke’s Ambitious Love Story Using Footage Shot Over 23 Years Is Coming To Theaters This May at The Playlist.

"Carefully crafted to break your heart. Simply stunning." Janus Films has debuted the official US trailer for Caught by the Tides, the latest creation of beloved Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. This premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival last year and critics loved it there. It's a unique new creation that is made up of various bits of footage from his previous films and other projects. He shot a few new scenes to add in as well. A Chinese woman lives for herself in silence, celebrating the prosperous Belle Epoque with songs and dance. Caught by the Tides follows his eternally magnetic muse Zhao Tao across decades in China. "Telling a love story in three parts spanning more than twenty years, Jia offers a summing up before he turns a new page." The film also co-stars Zhubin Li as the mysteriously elusive lover... She never speaks a single line of dialogue in the film,...

His first narrative feature in six years, featuring footage collected over some two decades, Jia Zhangke’s Caught by the Tides is one of the filmmaker’s greatest achievements. A summative piece in a career-spanning project of capturing China’s transformation, the Cannes, TIFF, and NYFF selection will now arrive in U.S. theaters beginning May 9 from Janus Films and Sideshow. Ahead of the release, the new trailer and poster have arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “Traversing all of his past films, Jia Zhangke delivers an epic look at the romantic destiny of his perennial heroine, Qiaoqiao. Spanning 21 years of a country going through profound transformation, the film gives a new perspective to look into the contemporary China as well as the individual experiences under the turbulent emotional and social changes.”

Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Jia Zhangke’s is often a cinema of déjà vu: ‘We’re again...

Director Jia Zhang-Ke returns with a sprawling portrait of romantic destiny culled from 22 years of footage with “Caught by the Tides,” his latest collaboration with his wife and muse Zhao Tao.

Here, she plays Quiaoqiao, who drifts through decades of Chinese history while witnessing its profound and turbulent political changes. Sideshow and Janus Films open “Caught by the Tides” in select theaters May 9, and IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer premiere below.

Here’s a synopsis courtesy of the New York Film Festival: “The preeminent dramatist of China’s rapid 21st-century growth and social transformation, Jia Zhang-ke has taken his boldest approach to narrative yet with his marvelous ‘Caught by the Tides.’ Assembled from footage shot over a span of 23 years—a beguiling mix of fiction and documentary, featuring a cascade of images taken from previous movies, unused scenes, and newly shot dramatic sequences — ‘Caught by the Tides’ is a free-flowing work of unspoken longing,...

As the 15th Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff) commences on April 18, the annual event is presenting an array of riches for cinephiles and industry professionals alike, marking a trifecta of milestones: the 130th anniversary of world cinema, the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema, and the festival’s own 15th year.

Headlining this year’s Workshop & Masterclass series is a triumvirate of cinematic heavyweights. French acting legend Isabelle Huppert, who has appeared in over 100 films and earned multiple accolades including best actress at Cannes for “The Piano Teacher” and a Golden Globe for “Elle,” will explore “The Undercurrent Beneath the Ice” – an examination of her distinctive artistic approach that has made her a force in European cinema. The masterclass promises insights into her celebrated collaborations with directors like Claude Chabrol and Michael Haneke.

Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke, whose works like “Still Life” and “Ash Is Purest White” have earned him acclaim at Cannes and Venice,...

We’ve always loved setting trends at The Film Stage and are accordingly chuffed that, nine months after we screened a 35mm print at the Roxy, Roman Polanski’s late-career triumph The Ghost Writer comes to the Criterion Channel in next month’s Coastal Thrillers, a series that does what it says on the tin: The Lady from Shanghai, Key Largo, The Long Goodbye, The Fog, and the other best film of 2010, Scorsese’s Shutter Island. It pairs well with Noir and the Blacklist featuring films by Joseph Losey, Fritz Lang, Jules Dassin, and so on. Retrospectives are held for Terry Southern, Kathryn Bigelow, Jem Cohen, and (just in time for Caught By the Tides) Jia Zhangke, while Spike Lee gets his own Adventures In Moviegoing.

For recent restorations, Antonioni’s Il Grido and Anthony Harvey’s Dutchman appear. Criterion Editions include The Runner, Touchez pas au grisbi, Godzilla vs.

Exclusive: Italian black-and-white drama There’s Still Tomorrow, the first title from Jia Zhangke and Tian Qi’s new distribution outfit Unknown Pleasures Pictures (Upp), has grossed a healthy $6M (RMB43.5M) in China after four weeks on release.

Released on March 8, the film has pulled in 1.09 million admissions and is still playing in theatres. China is now the second highest box office market for the film internationally, behind only its native Italy where it grossed $35M following its October 2023 release.

Directed by Paola Cortellesi, the film is set in postwar Rome and follows a working-class wife and mother who dreams of a better future. Italy’s Vision Distribution is handling international sales on the film.

Jia told Deadline: “There’s Still Tomorrow resonates with the increasingly strong women’s consciousness among Chinese female audiences. Unlike other female-themed stories, it tells us that women don’t necessarily have to escape, they can...

The concept of forced relocation due to the construction of large-scale projects is one that has fascinated filmmakers for quite some time, with Jia Zhang-ke’s works in particular being the first that come to mind. Grzegorz Piekarski and Natalia Pietsch decided to focus on this theme for their feature debut, which had its world premiere at Visions du Réel a few days ago.

The focus is the ancient village of Hasankeyf, a Kurdish-majority settlement whose inhabitants are ordered by the Turkish government to relocate in order to make way for a dam being constructed in the area. The two Polish directors follow a number of locals, primarily two women and the local barber, as they watch helplessly while the centuries-old culture of the area disappears under the demolition of buildings and the impending flooding.

Their reactions differ. The women are mostly sad and less angry, while Burak, the barber,...

Looking for bold new work from first- and second-time feature filmmakers? Look no further than New Directors/New Films, the New York City festival that annually highlights them. Now in its 54th year, New Directors/New Films (Nd/Nf) returns to New York April 2 through 13, hailing from the Museum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center.

Sarah Friedland’s debut feature, “Familiar Touch,” will open the festival with its New York premiere. The drama centers on a dementia-suffering octogenarian Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), who has a surreal experience after relocating to an assisted-living facility. The film nearly swept the 2024 Venice Film Festival Orizzonti Competition, winning Lion of the Future, Best Director, and Best Actress for Chalfant.

The festival closes with the post-Sundance New York debut of the stylish “Lurker,” directed by Emmy-winning “Beef” and “The Bear” writer and producer Alex Russell. Théodore Pellerin stars as a retail worker who becomes...

by Vu Luu

This review may contain spoilers.

A burglar’s life takes an unexpected turn when he stumbles upon a plaster statue of a woman. A special connection develops between the burglar and the elderly homeowner, who fervently asks the burglar to end his life to reunite with his deceased wife for eternity. This is the premise of “Bury Us in a Lone Desert“. Directed by Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc, the 62-minute Vietnamese film competed at the Tiger Short Competition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in 2025. The 31-year-old editor-turned-filmmaker brings a bittersweet and quirky experience in which familiar genre elements are woven into an original drama.

Bury Us in A Lone Desert screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam

There aren’t many ups and downs to the narrative, apart from the fateful confrontation between the lowlife burglar (played by Psycho Neo) and the elderly homeowner (played by Lưu Đức Cường). The homeowner,...

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Theo Angelopoulos, Lynne Ramsay, Tsai Ming-liang, Michael Haneke, Lee Chang-dong, Terence Davies, Shōhei Imamura, Bi Gan, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jia Zhangke, Wong Kar-wai, Yorgos Lanthimos, Denis Villleneuve, Céline Sciamma, Guillermo del Toro, Kelly Reichardt, and RaMell Ross––those are just a few of the filmmakers introduced to New York audiences at New Directors/New Films over the last half-century.

Now returning for its 54th edition at Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art from April 2-13, this year’s lineup features 33 new films, presenting acclaimed titles from Berlinale, Cannes, Locarno, Sundance, Rotterdam, and more. Ahead of the festival kicking off next week, we’ve gathered our recommended films to see, and one can explore the full lineup and schedule here.

Blue Sun Palace (Constance Tsang)

Shot largely on location in Queens, Blue Sun Palace explores a hidden culture and milieu.

Jia Zhang-ke‘s early films consistently blended fiction with a documentary-like approach, as seen in movies like “Platform” and “Still Life”. However, in “24 City“, Jia took this approach a step further by directly combining documentary footage with fiction. The movie primarily consists of five real and four fictional interviews with people connected to Factory 420, a facility that once produced war equipment. In the present-day setting of the story, the factory is being demolished to make way for the titular redevelopment project.

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Through interviews with workers, managers, specialists, and security personnel, Jia Zhang-ke traces the history of the factory, from its construction by former members of Factory 111 to its eventual demolition. Testimonies about the forced relocation of workers set the tone for the film. The community that formed around the factory, including a school and a cinema, are thoroughly explored, with the...

Winner of Best Screenplay at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, “A Touch of Sin” signaled a significant turn for Jia Zhang-ke, who moved into distinct crime film paths, leaving behind the intense art-house tendencies of his previous works. Of course, the film is not a mainstream production, with the intense realism that characterized most of the Chinese’s works being evident here once more. The movie is split into four segments, all based on real life violent incidents.

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The intro of the movie sets the tone, as we see San’er shooting three thugs who try to rob him, while travelling on his motorbike, with the violence and irony that permeate the whole movie being indicative. The first segment, though, focuses on another man, Dahai, the workers’ representative at a privatized coal mine in Shanxi. Increasingly angered by the official’s and particularly one community elder’s corrupt ways,...

I’m old enough to remember when Jacques Rivette films were the domain of dark-web networks and substandard DVD rips, a conspiratorial network worthy of his cinema. It’s still a little strange seeing that April will feature a 10-film, one-short Criterion Channel program that combines of his canonized masterpieces with decidedly lesser-seens––plus Va Savoir, which I really hope is the recently unearthed four-hour cut for which there’s no substitute. Penélope Cruz is also subject of a retrospective in April, which––more than making me pine for a Rivette collab that never was––will include both Abre Los Ojos and Vanilla Sky, some Almodóvar, and another in the Channel’s ongoing let’s-add-a-Woody-Allen-movie campaign, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

For themed series, J. Hoberman has curated a series on the dangers of ’60s and ’70s New York that runs from Michael Roemer’s recently restored The Plot Against Harry and...

Thursday, March 27 at 8 p.m.:

Deal at the border

A film by Dastan Zhapar Ryskeldi, Kyrgyzstan (2024), 102min, Vostf – Prix du jury des amis du Musée Guimet at the 31st Festival International des Cinémas d’Asie in Vesoul: “The film shows how a small gangster turns into a real Antigone of Kyrgyzstan, giving his life to bury in his village a young runaway slave. This film demonstrates the profound agreement between the oldest cultural traditions and human universalism.”

Friday, March 28 at 8 p.m.:

To kill a mongolian horse

A film by Jiang Xiaoxuan, China (2024), 97min, Vostf – Prix Coup de coeur du Jury des amis du Musée Guimet at the 31st International Festival of Asian Cinemas in Vesoul: “The portrait of this Mongolian breeder who is gradually being stripped of his identity in a society that transforms its traditions into tourist attractions, where neither the language nor the culture around...

Acclaimed director Jia Zhangke is expanding beyond filmmaking, producing and festival organization to launch a new distribution venture focused on international cinema, Variety has confirmed with the filmmaker.

The director of “A Touch of Sin” and “Ash Is the Purest White,” a regular at Cannes and founder of Fabula Entertainment and Xstream Pictures, has partnered with experienced distributor Tian Qi to create Unknown Pleasures Pictures, a new acquisition and distribution company.

The company will focus on bringing international arthouse films to Chinese theaters with the goal of diversifying cinematic offerings available to local audiences. Jia will serve as president of the new venture, while Tian Qi, founder of Hero Films, will take on the role of general manager.

This partnership aims to introduce a wider range of global films to the Chinese market, which currently features a limited selection of international titles alongside domestic productions and Hollywood releases.

In 2017, Jia...

Exclusive: Prolific Chinese director Jia Zhangke, who also produces and spearheaded the Pingyao International Film Festival, is adding another string to his bow.

The A Touch Of Sin and Ash Is The Purest White Cannes regular and founder of X Stream Pictures is partnering with veteran Chinese distributor Tian Qi, founder of Hero Films, to launch new acquisition and distribution company Unknown Pleasures Pictures.

It will focus on the acquisition and distribution of international films with the aim of expanding the diversity of films being shown in cinemas in China. Jia Zhangke will act as president, and co-founder Tian Qi will take the post of general manager.

The new company builds on the work of Pingyao, which was launched in part to showcase international arthouse cinema and encourage Chinese distribution, as well as support emerging filmmakers.

It launches into a difficult market for international arthouse films in China in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic,...