The Secret Cinema

Alice

December 1990 •English

Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for a handsome sax player, Joe. Stricken with a backache, she consults herbalist Dr. Yang, who realizes that her problems are not related to her back, but in her mind and heart. Dr. Yang's magical herbs give Alice wondrous powers, taking her out of her well-established rut.

Thanks, Smokey!

July 2011 •English

Condoning bestiallity by using comparable visual stimuli for the desired effect of empathy. So it would seem.

Automatic

October 2019 •Greek

Two young women convince each other they are under threat after accidentally photographing what they believe to be a concealed automatic rifle. Shot in drawn-out, static takes, Emma Doxiadi’s comical mystery comments on Greece’s ongoing refugee crisis in real time, pointing squarely at foolish knee-jerk reactions.

Fish Out of Water

July 2008 •

Fish Out of Water manages to unfurl its light-hearted tale of young man and the sea, without a word of dialogue. Avoiding the morning traffic jams, our man (Nick Dunbar) finds peace by rowing each day to work in the city. But when a seductive blonde unexpectedly enters the picture, he finds his morning boat ride heading in unexpected directions. Directed by Lala Rolls (Land of My Ancestors), Fish Out of Water was invited to play in the 2005 NZ Film Festival, plus another 10 overseas fests. Victoria Kelly composes the brass and banjo-inflected soundtrack.

Great Great Great

March 2017 •English

Lauren simultaneously starts an affair with her boss, rents a bachelor apartment, and asks her boyfriend Tom to marry her.

Feats of Herkules

February 2000 •Russian

Animated actors and vases tell stories from Greek mythology. Part of a 100-film international project on the theme of world culture. (Robert Donn)

Tropic Thunder

August 2008 •English

A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.

Hello Neighbor!

October 1973 •Georgian

Bikini

March 2014 •Spanish

Spain, 1953. Pedro Zaragoza, mayor of the city of Benidorm, in the province of Alicante, by the Mediterranean Sea, visits the Palacio del Pardo, General Franco's residence in Madrid, to ask him for help, in the hope of solving a very delicate problem.

Cla'am

March 2017 •English

A dark, surreal comedy about a local man who becomes convinced that a vast conspiracy is behind the impossibly rapid gentrification in his London area. But is it all in his head, or is the truth even darker than he imagines? Cla'am is the debut short from Nathaniel Martello-White, one of the UK's leading young playwrights.

Bsss

February 2000 •German

A fly lands on a table to drink some spilled liquid; spotting an open children's book, it flies over and tries to emulate the picture of an elephant balancing on its trunk.

Living in Oblivion

July 1995 •English

Low-budget independent filmmaker Nick Reve tries to keep everything together as his production is plagued with an insecure actress, a megalomaniac star, a pretentious beret-wearing director of photography, and lousy catering.

The Wedding Banquet

March 1993 •Chinese

A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.

Midnight Snack

October 2024 •English

Hunger always strikes in the dead of night.

Ali G Indahouse

March 2002 •English

Ali G unwittingly becomes a pawn in the evil Chancellor's plot to overthrow the Prime Minister of Great Britain. However, instead of bringing the Prime Minister down, Ali is embraced by the nation as the voice of youth and 'realness', making the Prime Minister and his government more popular than ever.

Ring Master

April 2014 •Malayalam

Prince, a dog trainer, faces an awkward situation when his pet dog Diana acts in a film alongside his ex-lover, an actress who shares the same name as the dog.

Jake Gyllenhaal Challenges the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

January 2010 •English

A remixed narrative that combines two Jake Gyllenhaal films (Donnie Darko and Jarhead) with news footage of former President Barack Obama.

Save Yourself

November 2018 •English

Peter is a housekeeper with a crippling fear of cats. When a pig-lizard monster emerges threatening the safety of his town, Peter enlists the help of his friends to face his fears and stop the Pizard.

She Said Lenny

January 2010 •English

A woman is meeting her online crush for the first time in person. Will her date be everything she is expecting?

Mabrouk Again!

February 2000 •Arabic

Marie wakes up one morning in Beirut in a panic, convinced that she has lost her daughter’s wedding photograph. A photograph, however, that never existed… Ten years ago, her daughter’s marriage ceremony had to be cut short on account of a bombing raid. There was no time for a wedding photograph. Now, with the aid of a photographer and a chicken, Hoda and her husband decide to reconstruct the wedding ceremony once more, so that Hoda’s mother will at last have the photograph she deserves…