Film: All Boys
Country of Production: Finland/Denmark
Czech actors and sites like BelAmi have risen to iconic status in the world of gay erotica, and Heikkinen chronicles how cultural events like the Velvet Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall cleared the way for the gay porn industry’s ascent. While the young men who populate the films and photo shoots of such productions carry an air of sexual liberation, the dark truth is that many of the actors are troubled youths without viable career choices. Through beautiful cinematography, the film draws poetic parallels between the loneliness of the creators and consumers of adult film. Yet, the often dark subject matter of All Boys is countered by the interviewee’s genuine longing for love and human connection. Scenes with one man who managed to move on from acting in gay porn to a seemingly traditional family life suggest that those involved in the industry can escape the perils of drugs and prostitution.
In a hyper connected world where erotic material is never far out of reach, All Boys is required viewing. Behind every seductive image in adult media is a story, and All Boys is a film that’s intent on finding out how the story ends.
Film: La Ville Louvre
Country of Production: France
French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert goes behind the scenes of one of the world's most famous museums in this documentary about the Louvre in Paris. The film charts the extensive renovations that took place at the Louvre in the late 1980s, when the now-famous glass pyramid was added to the classic buildings.
Series: Shikabane Hime - Corpse Princess: Part One – Episodes 1-13
Country of Production: Japan
Episodes 1-13 of the Japanese anime series. In the dark of night at a Buddhist temple, a mysterious ritual is performed causing the dead body of a beautiful teenage girl to be brought back to life. This girl is Makina Hoshino, the latest Shikabane Hime (corpse princess), or killer of restless souls. Makina Hoshino now travels the Earth as a Shikabane Hime, or Corpse Princess, destined to wreak havoc on the walking undead with her twin MAC-11 machine guns. Caught between here and the afterworld, and bound to the monk who reanimated her, Makina can only gain eternal peace by killing 108 fellow zombies before she is murdered all over again.
Film: The Nicolas Philibert Collection
Country of Production: France
Nenette tells the story of a 40-year-old orangutan kept at the Jardins des Plantes zoo in Paris. A star attraction at the zoo, Nenette nevertheless pays little attention to the hordes of visitors who flock to look at her. A mother of four who has outlived three mates, Nenette has lived at the zoo for over 30 years. The film shows her going about her daily routines behind glass, revealing her visitors only by their voices and as shadowy reflections in the glass.
The award-winning film Etre et Avoir (2002) charts the events within a small single-class village primary school in the Auvergne region of France over the course of one academic year. A dozen children aged 4-10 are brought together each day in a rural classroom and taught all their subjects by a single teacher, Monsieur Georges Lopez. A master of quiet authority, he patiently navigates the children towards adolescence, cooling down their arguments and listening to their problems, while trying to balance the varying needs of the disparate age groups for whom he must provide.
Nicolas Philibert goes behind the scenes of one of the world's most famous museums in La Ville Louvre (1990), a documentary about the Louvre in Paris. The film charts the extensive renovations that took place at the Louvre in the late 1980s, when the now-famous glass pyramid was added to the classic buildings.
Un Animal, Des Animaux (1996) charts the renovations of the zoological gallery of France's Natural History Museum, which was closed to the public for over 25 years before reopening in the mid-1990s.
Film: Voyage To The Edge Of The World
Country of Production: France
Jacques Cousteau and his crew take on the cold of Antarctica, exploring icebergs, volcanoes, reefs and islands on his ship Calypso and in a submarine. During the expedition, the team brave the icy water to film beneath the ice that surrounds the continents, as well as taking to the skies in a hot air balloon.
Film: Late Autumn
Country of Production: Japan
BFI adds another title to its ongoing strand, The Ozu Collection with the release of Late Autumn (1960), presented in a Dual Format Edition (a Blu-ray and a DVD disc in one box), and complemented by an early Ozu film that has never been made available in the UK before.
When college nostalgia inspires a group of middle-aged businessmen to match-make for the widow of a friend – played with measured dignity by Setsuko Hara (Tokyo Story) – and her daughter, they have no idea of the strife their careless interference will cause.
Late Autumn’s examination of familial upheaval moves effortlessly from comedy to pathos and is amongst the finest of Ozu’s post-war films.
Film: The Bird With The Crystal Plumage
Country of Production: Italy/West Germany
Blu-ray only release. The Bird With The Crystal Plumage sees the Italian master of terror nailing the ‘Giallo’ blueprint with a brutal thriller that packs a gory brace of horrific murders alongside its genre defining mix of red herrings, leather gloved slashers and stylish decor.
When Sam, an American writer living in Rome, witnesses an attempted murder in an art gallery and reports the crime to the police, he unwittingly sets the killer’s sights on himself and his beautiful model girlfriend. Things soon start to unravel as it becomes clear that, with the identity of the villain very much open to question, Sam himself is a prime suspect in the case. As the murders continue, Sam begins his own investigations into the serial killings hoping to somehow clear his name. But in doing so he becomes involved in a deadly relationship with the unknown slayer.
*The release date is subject to change for any of these titles.
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