Empire of the Sun

The Trench

September 1999 •English

The Trench tells the story of a group of young British soldiers on the eve of the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916, the worst defeat in British military history. Against this ill-fated backdrop, the movie depicts the soldiers' experience as a mixture of boredom, fear, panic, and restlessness, confined to a trench on the front lines.

Pretend I'm Not Here

January 2001 •French

Student Eric kills time by spying on his neighbors. Compulsively taking notes on everything within binocular range from his bedroom window, he harasses his neighbors by sending unsigned notes and making their private affairs public. When they discover his identity and draw him in, will this release him from his solitude, or confirm in his mind that he will always be the outsider?

Liberty Heights

November 1999 •English

This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben completes high school, he falls for Sylvia, a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van, attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman while their father tries to maintain his burlesque business.

An Actor's Revenge

January 1963 •Japanese

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

L'Eau du Nil

October 1928 •English

Wirsoq, who belongs to the type of cosmopolitan financier, gets into his power a young French aristocrat, Arthur de Sorgepois, and insists that the boy's sister should marry him. The girl is in love with a young artist, Pierre Levannier, who secretly returns her affection, but does not declare himself at this critical moment because he is not rich enough to support a wife.

BAUS: The Ship's Voyage Continues

March 2025 •Japanese

The Odd Angry Shot

March 1979 •English

A group of Australian SAS regiment soldiers are deployed to Vietnam around 1967/8 and encounter the realities of war, from the numbing boredom of camp life and long range patrols, raids and ambushes where nothing happens, to the the terror of enduring mortar barrages from an unseen enemy. Men die and are crippled in combat by firefights and booby traps, soldiers kill and capture the enemy, gather intelligence and retake ground only to cede it again whilst battling against the bureaucracy and obstinacy of the conventional military hierarchy. In the end they return to civilization, forever changed by their experiences but glad to return to the life they once knew.

If We Were a Season

September 2017 •Korean

Born on the same day and raised side by side, high school students Yoon Hae Rim and Uhm Ki Seok are close friends. They never say it, but they are precious to each other. One day, a transfer student from Seoul comes. Oh Dong Kyung is bold and not afraid to say what he is feeling, unlike Hae Rim and Ki Seok. Is Dong Keung enough to shake up their friendship?

S.F.W.

September 1994 •English

An alienated and misanthropic teenager gains sudden and unwanted celebrity status after he's taken hostage by terrorists where his indifference to their threats to kill him makes news headlines.

The Face of Another

July 1966 •Japanese

A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.

Akvaariorakkaus

January 1993 •Finnish

Waitress Saara meets handsome journalist Joni, and soon moves in to live with him. Joni tries his best to satisfy Saara sexually but, disturbed by violent lesbian fantasies, she is unable to experience orgasm. Trying to cope with the situation, Saara has another brief affair back in her old home town.

Beatles

August 2014 •Norwegian

At long last, one of the most important novels in Norwegian history will be made into a film. Beatles relates the story of four Oslo boys born in 1951 and hooked on The Beatles, from the time they as seventh graders find themselves on the threshold of the adult world. The film is all about boyish pranks, hopes, disappointments, and of course about pretty girls, hopeless infatuations, drunkenness and parties. The world is changing, and so is the friendship between the boys. But the conclusion is, true friendship endures all - and no band in the world is better than The Beatles.

Jellyfish

February 2019 •English

In Margate, England, life is not easy for teenager Sarah Taylor, between being bullied at school, being exploited by a dominant boss and having to take care of her depressive mother and her two siblings. But Sarah finds a way to channel her growing despair and fight adversity when her drama teacher gives her a new purpose.

Waking Up in Vegas

November 2023 •German

Yael is at the beginning of puberty and is searching for his own identity between his virile big brother and his queer best friend Aaron. In the process, he not only questions himself, but also endangers his friendship with Aaron.

When the Trees Fall

September 2018 •Ukrainian

In the rural Ukraine, in a ghostly world where fantasy tears the veil of reality, life fiercely fights death every day and old values and vengeance reign over people's souls, Vitka, an imaginative and rebellious little girl, is the fascinated witness to the crazy love that Larysa, her teenage cousin, feels for Scar, a young criminal.

Places Where We've Never Been

March 2022 •Spanish

Elena has ordered dinner at home, but when she opens the door, she discovers that the delivery man is Manu, the one who was her great love and whom she has not seen for too many years.

Heaven Knows What

May 2015 •English

A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.

Nicholas Nickleby

December 2002 •English

Nicholas Nickleby, a young boy in search of a better life, struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his coldheartedly grasping uncle.

The Winter War

November 1989 •Finnish

Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.

The Desolate Beach

May 1963 •Bengali

A writer meets five widows on a train to Puri. As the six lives begin to intertwine, the theme of the taboos of widowhood emerge; but so, too, does a philosophy of life and hope for the future. The performers collectively won Best Actress at India's National Film Awards in 1964.