Avant-garde Cinema

“Funny, moving, and rich with meaning … the very existence of this movie is a gift.”
—Slate
“It’s a political statement, an act of defiance, a master class in one auteur’s body of work and process, and a document of a life unseen. But above all, it’s a gripping entertainment.”
—The Village Voice
“Meditates with touching simplicity on the very nature of filmmaking … one of cinema’s rare masterpieces of truth.”
—Mubi Notebook
“It’s a cry from the heart of an artist compelled to create, tell stories, and respond to hostile, confounding realities.”
—The Washington Post
This directly autobiographical documentary by Jafar Panahi and his collaborator Mojtaba Mirtahmasb was made during the filmmaker’s house arrest when he was forbidden, for political reasons, from doing the one thing he cares most about in the world: making cinema. It portrays Panahi’s home life under these restrictive conditions and is in and of itself a defiant gesture. THIS IS NOT A FILM was smuggled out of Iran on a USB drive that was baked into a cake, and subsequently screened at many international film festivals and won international awards.

-- Write-up by the Austin Film Society

“THE HOLE proves to be an eerily prophetic and timely movie, perhaps better now than it ever was.”
—San Francisco Examiner
“One of the best samples of the Taiwanese New Wave.”
—Asian Movie Pulse
“A deadpan musical about seeking a friend for the end of the world.”
—WBUR Boston
Presented in a newly struck 35mm print, approved by Tsai Ming-liang. The end of the world has never been more in tune. A hole in the floor bridges two apartments, quarantined amid the spread of a strange pandemic. A jazzy sci-fi/musical original, set to the rhythms of the apocalypse, from director Tsai Ming-liang (GOODBYE, DRAGON INN).

-- Write-up by the Austin Film Society

“One of the great American filmmakers is back with a crushing cautionary tale. It’s the best movie of the year so far.”
—Slate
“The latest documentary from the groundbreaking filmmaker Ross McElwee, and possibly his masterpiece.”
—The New York Times
“A profound and piercing portrait of loss.”
—The Hollywood Reporter
“Lovelorn, thoughtful, and deeply moving, this is a film you’ll really want to talk about.”
—Time Out
For over forty years, Ross McElwee has documented life through his own singular, personal lens. His son Adrien grew up in front of that camera and eventually picked one up himself. When a Hollywood producer pitches a fictional spin on SHERMAN’S MARCH, it stirs hope that Ross will finally find wider recognition. But that dream collides with a harsh reality as Adrien’s drug addiction worsens, leaving father to reckon with the life he’d kept just out of frame.

-- Write-up by the Austin Film Society

“Cool, enigmatic, and as gripping as any thriller … An unmissable film from this great director.”
—The Guardian
“With its sparse, poetic imagery, [VAGABOND] is a stunner.”
—Criterion
“Reaches for our humanity with a force that very few movies can muster.”
—The Wall Street Journal
Agnès Varda’s novelistic study of a homeless young woman (Sandrine Bonnaire) who traverses the highways and back roads of France was a highly acclaimed arthouse sensation in its day and has become even more meaningful as the decades pass.

-- Write-up by the Austin Film Society