OFFSCREENINGS | Offscreen
The Offscreenings program presents a fine selection of special, new and unreleased films, giving a platform to movies at the cutting edge of contemporary cinema. These films are noted for their artistic originality, unique vision and inventive approach to the medium and genre. Come and see the cult films of tomorrow.
HIGH LIFE
Claire Denis' first English language film is a stimulating mix of sex, violence and body horror, set on a spaceship crewed by convicts dispatched on a perilous quest for alternative energy sources. Robert Pattinson plays a prisoner who refuses to donate his sperm to Juliette Binoche's breeding experiments.
HIGH LIFE - SECOND SCREENING
Claire Denis' first English language film is a stimulating mix of sex, violence and body horror, set on a spaceship crewed by convicts dispatched on a perilous quest for alternative energy sources. Robert Pattinson plays a prisoner who refuses to donate his sperm to Juliette Binoche's breeding experiments.
LUZ
Tilman Singer makes an impressive writing-directing debut with a slow-burning retro-styled chiller. After an accident, a young female cabdriver walks into a German police station, but the psychologist assigned to piece together her backstory has ulterior motives, and demonic possession may be on the menu.
RELAXER
Joel Potrykus' no-budget chamber movie presents the ultimate couch potato survival challenge. The YK2 apocalypse is approaching, but an underachieving slacker vows not to get up from the world's scuzziest brown leather sofa until he has conquered Pac-Man level 267. You'll be glad this one isn't in Odorama.
THE WOLF HOUSE
Maria runs away from a German cult in Patagonia and seeks refuge in a house in the menacing forest. The stop-motion images keep morphing before your very eyes in this beautiful but unsettling Chilean animation in which pigs sprout hands or people dissolve into streaks of paint.
PROSPECT
A prospecter and his teenage daughter land their rickety spaceship on a remote moon, hoping to strike it rich. But the toxic atmosphere is the least of their problems in this smart sci-fi with a Western vibe and nice performances from Pedro Pascal ("Game of Thrones", "Narcos") and newcomer Sophie Thatcher.
BALANGIGA: HOWLING WILDERNESS
An old man, his 10-year-old grandson and their water buffalo trek over corpse-strewn landscapes after the Balangiga massacre of 1901, when Filipinos struck back against American occupiers. A picaresque and quietly devastating child's-eye view of war with a streak of magical realism and a dash of Jodorowsky.
THE ROAD MOVIE
Buckle up for a wild and crazy ride through the mind-boggling insanity of Russian dashcam footage. Dmitrii Kalashnikov's deftly-edited compilation is bumper-to-bumper with hilarious, terrifying, horrific or just plain what-the-fuck moments on the road. All of human life is here, and never a dull moment!
L'HEURE DE LA SORTIE
After a teacher's suicide, his replacement (Laurent Lafitte) becomes obsessed with a clique of exceptionally gifted teenage pupils who seem to be hiding something. Can he uncover their secret before it's too late? Sébastian Marnier's creepy thriller drip-feeds unease on its way to an apocalyptic climax.
KILLING
An untested young ronin, living among farmers, must protect them from marauding outlaws. What at first may seem a surprisingly conventional small-scale chambara from the director of "Tetsuo" develops into a subversive critique of the samurai code, with Tsukamoto himself in the role of sage elder swordsman.
BOILED ANGELS: THE TRIAL OF MIKE DIANA
In 1992, 25-year-old cartoonist Mike Diana became the first artist in the U.S. to be charged with obscenity when the FBI and citizens of Florida stumbled across his low-circulation zines. Henenlotter's documentary, narrated by Jello Biafra, is the troubling story of this ruling against freedom of expression.
DOMESTIK
Adam Sedlák's feature debut shows a cyclist going to extreme lengths in pursuit of peak fitness, while his wife is fixated on getting pregnant. Most of the film takes place in the couple's flat, where the artfully sterile aesthetic, ominous ambience and squirm-inducing body horror evoke early Cronenberg.
IN FABRIC
In the latest film from the director of "The Duke of Burgundy", a cursed red dress casts a spell over its wearers. A seductive, haunting ode to the timelessness of the ritualistic retail experience, with splashes of giallo styling, a bewitching score by Cavern of Anti-Matter, and a wicked sense of humour.
This movie will be introduced by director Peter Strickland.
HOLIDAY
Sascha enjoys the perks of being a gangster's moll: emerald earrings, holiday on the Turkish riviera. But is there a price to pay for consorting with sociopaths? And if so, who will pay it? Eklof's stunning feature debut lulls you into uneasy acquiesence before punching you in the gut with a shocking payoff.
ANIARA
Thousands of colonists leave a ruined Earth and head for Mars in this adaptation of an epic poem by Nobel laureate Harry Martinson. But the spaceship is knocked off course, leaving them facing a bleak future in which they must change their habits and find new meaning in their lives if they are to survive.