Hey Varsity fans, don’t be alarmed by the fence out front. We’re just getting some work done on the roofing. We look forward to re-opening once it is safe to do so!

Due to many requests, we will finally offer Davis Varsity Movie Passes through our sister business Mishkas Cafe’s web site. While you’re there, purchase some of Mishka’s bulk coffee and $3 of every sale will go to supporting the Davis Varsity. Please note that Varsity passes cannot be used to purchase movie rentals online.

Dear Varsity supporters,

Many of you have asked us if you can help in any way during these trying times and we finally have an answer for you.
Thanks to the support of a group of small studios, we are bringing you a selection of quality movies that you can stream at home. The movie magic will be even greater knowing that one half of each rental will actually go to Davis Varsity. With your help we hope to be ready to once again open doors for live audiences, many months after the last vestiges of the COVID-19 crisis are forgotten.

We hope to be able to offer many more titles in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned and stay safe!

In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, an abandoned water reservoir just outside the bustling metropolis, the Enache family lived in perfect harmony with nature for two decades, sleeping in a hut on the lakeshore, catching fish barehanded, and following the rhythm of the seasons. When this area is transformed into a public national park, they are forced to leave behind their unconventional life and move to the city, where fishing rods are replaced by smartphones and idle afternoons are now spent in classrooms. As the family struggles to conform to modern civilization and maintain their connection to each other and themselves, they each begin to question their place in the world and what their future might be. With their roots in the wilderness, the nine children and their parents struggle to find a way to keep their family united in the concrete jungle. With an empathetic and cinematic eye, filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc offers viewers, in his feature debut, a compelling tale of an impoverished family living on the fringes of society in Romania, fighting for acceptance and their own version of freedom.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Radu Ciorniciuc
Cast: Gica Enache, Vali Enache, Rica Enache
Language: Romanian w/English subtitles
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 26 minutes

In remote Western Australia, two estranged brothers, Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), are at war. Raising separate flocks of sheep descended from their family’s prized bloodline, the two men work side by side yet are worlds apart. When Les’s prize ram is diagnosed with a rare and lethal illness, authorities order a purge of every sheep in the valley. While Colin attempts to stealthily outwit the powers that be, Les opts for angry defiance. But can the warring brothers set aside their differences and have a chance to reunite their family, save their herd, and bring their community back together?

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Jeremy Sims
Cast: Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Wayne Blair
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours

Gillian (Gillian Wallace Horvat) is one of those many struggling filmmakers in L.A. who just can’t seem to get the money for their first feature. Feeling like her friends and her partner (Keith Poulson) are losing faith in her abilities, she decides to resurrect her abandoned documentary based on a pseudo-compliment she once received that she would make a good murderer. But while she documents what makes “the perfect murder” a hitherto unseen dark side of Gillian emerges and grows. Furthermore the problem with being a successful serial killer, she discovers, is keeping the whole thing stealth, denying her the recognition that she craves… and that unhinges her even more. After accidentally-ish killing her best friend (Chase Williamson), Gillian goes on a killing spree culminating with a final bloody act that nobody would dare deny her credit for.

Written, directed, and starring Wallace Horvat as a warped version of herself, I BLAME SOCIETY is razor-sharp satire of the pitfalls of post-#MeToo culture in Los Angeles. At once hilarious and genuinely disturbing, Horvat’s film delves into the psyche of a young woman trying to believe in her dreams and herself… and facing the darkness that lurks inside in this macabre Cinderella story.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Gillian Wallace Horvat
Cast: Gillian Wallace Horvat, Keith Poulson, Chase Williamson
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Based on the best-selling book by Naoki Higashida, later translated into English by author David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas), The Reason I Jump is an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity through the experiences of nonspeaking autistic people from around the world. The film blends Higashida’s revelatory insights into autism, written when he was just 13, with intimate portraits of five remarkable young people. It opens a window for audiences into an intense and overwhelming, but often joyful, sensory universe.

Moments in the lives of each of the characters are linked by the journey of a young Japanese boy through an epic landscape; narrated passages from Naoki’s writing reflect on what his autism means to him and others, how his perception of the world differs, and why he acts in the way he does: the reason he jumps. The film distills these elements into a sensually rich tapestry that leads us to Naoki’s core message: not being able to speak does not mean there is nothing to say.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Jerry Rothwell
Cast: Jordan O’Donegan
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes

1919. Stefan and his father Mike left family in Ukraine, fleeing for the New World, where they struggle to earn enough to re-unite the family. Stefan is instantly smitten with the Jewish suffragette neighbor, Rebecca-but Rebecca’s brother Moishe and Mike oppose the would-be Romeo and Juliet. Returned soldiers, angry at the lack of jobs after the war, violently threaten the city’s immigrants, including Emma, the refugee from racist violence in Oklahoma. When a movement develops for workers to leave their jobs in protest, AJ Anderson, a wealthy lawyer, pits all parties against each other in a dramatic and inspirational final stand.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Robert Adetuyi
Cast: Marshall Williams, Laura Slade Wiggins, Gregg Henry & Lisa Bell
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

A journey through the inspiration, writing and recording of a PJ Harvey record. After accompanying Seamus Murphy on his travels around the world for inspiration, PJ Harvey returns to London where the recording process continues to be documented.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Seamus Murphy
Cast: PJ Harvey
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Determined to fulfill her late mother’s dream of opening a bakery in charming Notting Hill, 19-year-old Clarissa enlists the help of her mother’s best friend Isabella and her eccentric estranged grandmother Mimi. These three generations of women will need to overcome grief, doubts and differences to honour the memory of their beloved Sarah while embarking on a journey to establish a London store filled with love, hope and colourful pastries from all over the world.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Eliza Schroeder
Cast: Shelley Conn, Shannon Tarbet, Celia Imrie
Language: English
Genre: Romance, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

NASRIN was secretly filmed in Iran by women and men who risked arrest to make this documentary. It is an immersive portrait of the world’s most honored human rights activist and political prisoner, attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, and of Iran’s remarkably resilient women’s rights movement. In the courts and on the streets, Nasrin has long fought for the rights of women, children, religious minorities, journalists and artists, and those facing the death penalty. In the midst of filming, Nasrin was arrested in June 2018 for representing women who were protesting Iran’s mandatory hijab law. She was sentenced to 38 years in prison, plus 148 lashes. Featuring acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and journalist Ann Curry. Narrated by Academy Award-winner Olivia Colman.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Jeff Kaufman
Cast: Olivia Colman, Ann Curry, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Jafar Panahi, Shirin Ebadi
Language: English, Farsi
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 32 minutes

A group of friends stumble upon a mirror that serves as a portal to a ‘multiverse.’ They soon discover that importing knowledge from the other side in order to better their lives brings increasingly dangerous consequences.

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Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Isaac Ezban
Cast:  Kathleen Quinlan, Carmel Amit, Alyssa Diaz
Language: English
Genre: Sci-Fi
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 44 minutes

When a virus threatens to turn the now earth-dwelling friendly alien hybrids against humans, Captain Rose Corley must lead a team of elite mercenaries on a mission to the alien world in order to save what’s left of humanity.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Liam O’Donnell
Cast:  Lindsey Morgan, Rhona Mitra, James Cosmo
Language: English
Genre: Sci-Fi
Rating: R for violence and language
Run time: 1 hour 53 minutes

A retired woman gets mixed up in a mystery when avid hunters in her mountain village begin turning up dead, and there are deer tracks next to their bodies.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Agnieszka Holland, Kasia Adamik
Cast: Agnieszka Mandat, Wiktor Zborowski, Jakub Gierszal
Language: Polish, English
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Sol, a tango singer, has been living in Buenos Aires for many years. But behind her impulsive nature and bright smile lies the loss of her son, with whom she had broken every bond. When Sol finally comes back to Paris in the hope of meeting her seven-year-old grandson Jo and the daughter-in-law she never met, she decides to rent the flat next door and pretends to be the new neighbor. From now on, she will try anything to get to know her estranged grandson…

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Jézabel Marques
Cast: Chantal Lauby, Camille Chamoux, Giovanni Pucci 
Language: In French with English Subtitles
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 38 minutes

Serving a life sentence for murder in the early 1970s, music prodigy Ike White had plenty of time to perfect his musical talent, but no hope of putting it to use in the outside world. Ike’s skills were exceptional enough, though, that his story captured the media’s attention. From this notoriety, he was able to record an album inside the prison with big-time producer Jerry Goldstein (War, Sly and the Family Stone). Superstar Stevie Wonder lobbied successfully for Ike’s early release from prison. With an acclaimed album under his belt and the support of Wonder and others in the industry, Ike was poised for stardom. But, instead, he went off the grid for over 40 years. Daniel Vernon’s mesmerizing new documentary is unpredictable and moving, echoing the strange journey of Ike White.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Daniel Vernon
Cast: Alvin Taylor, Greg Errico, Jerry Goldstein 
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 17 minutes

Sherry Hursey (Home Improvement, Bring It On) portrays Lilly, a loving foster mom and the keeper of an enchanted lighthouse. With her spirited crew of kids, their exotic talking pets and zany friends, Lilly, uses joy, love, laughter, and song as her tools, and shows everyone that “Life is Full of Possibilities!”

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Daniel Carrey, Andrew Ceglio
Cast: Sherry Hursey, Russell Lyons, Lizzi Jones
Language: English
Genre: Family
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 18 minutes

There is an obscure philosophical theory that humans should have been born with a small amount of alcohol in our blood; that modest inebriation opens our minds to the world around us, diminishing problems and increasing creativity. Intrigued, Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) and three of his friends, all weary high school teachers, embark on a risky experiment to maintain a constant level of intoxication throughout the workday. Initial results are positive, but as the units are knocked back and stakes are raised, it becomes increasingly clear that some bold acts carry severe consequences.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang 
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Based on a true story of bravery and courage! The year was 1918. Aníbal Milhais was one of 75,000 Portuguese soldiers sent to Flanders in defense of the Western Front. During the Battle of the Lys, when his beleaguered unit was forced into retreat, Milhais ignored superior orders and stood his ground in the trenches. Armed only with his Lewis light machine gun, he single-handedly fought off successive waves of German attack, saving the lives of countless Allied troops. Twenty-five years later, still haunted by the memories of war, Milhais recalls the stories that led to his fame as the soldier “worth a million men.”

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Gonçalo Galvão Teles & Jorge Paixão da Costa
Cast: João Arrais, Miguel Borges, Raimundo Cosme 
Language: In Portuguese with English Subtitles
Genre: History, War
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Showcasing the rare talents of Brazilian acting legend Regina Casé — star of The Second Mother — the latest feature from director Sandra Kogut is a brilliant comedy about gross class disparity and the infinite resourcefulness of those who can never take anything for granted.
Casé plays Madá, the fifty-something caretaker for a cluster of luxury beachside condos owned by a wealthy Rio de Janeiro family. Unfolding over the course of three consecutive summers — 2015 to 2017 — the film follows Madá as she invests in a roadside snack kiosk while tending to the every need of her condescending employers, becomes a bystander in a major money-laundering scandal, and eventually launches a whole new career. With every dizzying new turn of events, Madá manages to retain her high spirits, her sense of loyalty to those who deserve it — and her eagle eye for opportunity.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Sandra Kogut
Cast: Regina Casé, Rogério Fróes, Gisele Fróes 
Language: In Portuguese with English Subtitles
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

A modern telling of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion.” Wren Cosgrove is a happy, single, and self-confessed workaholic who, after rising to the top of the corporate ladder, finds herself coming home every night to her cat. When her firm is hired by Owen Jasper, “the man who got away,” long-lost feelings are stirred, giving Wren a second chance at true love.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Alex Appel, Jonathan Lisecki
Cast: Alicia Witt, Bebe Neuwirth, Daniella Pineda
Language: English
Genre: Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Billionaire activist George Soros is one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. Famous for betting against the Bank of England in 1992 and making a billion dollars in one day, he is maligned by ideologues on both the left and the right for daring to tackle the world’s problems and putting his money behind his fight – from free elections and freedom of the press to civil rights for minorities. With unprecedented access to the man and his inner circle, American director Jesse Dylan follows Soros across the globe and pulls back the curtain on his personal history, private wealth, and public activism. Soros reveals a complicated genius whose experience as a Jew during the Holocaust gave rise to a lifelong crusade against authoritarianism and hate.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Jesse Dylan
Cast: Robert Soros, Alexander Soros, Evan Neumark
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Baseball is life for the die-hard competitors in the 100th annual Koshien, Japan’s wildly popular national high school baseball championship, whose alumni include U.S. baseball star Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. But for Coach Mizutani and his players, cleaning the grounds and greeting their guests are equally important as honing their baseball skills. In director Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s dramatic and intimate journey to the heart of the Japanese national character, will those acts add up to victory or prove a relic of the past?

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Ema Ryan Yamazaki
Cast: Kaoru Kashiwagi, Yusei Kikuchi, Ito Kouno
Language: Japanese w/ English subtitles
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Queen of Hearts follows Flack as she takes her work in a brand new direction and reveals her long-term struggles as the mother of a child with autism. Flack has something deep and genuine to communicate to the world. She is a provocateur and a rebel, an example and an inspiration. Queen of Hearts is a moving portrait of an artist who is still testing, still experimenting, still searching.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Gabriel Mascaro
Cast: Dira Paes, Julio Machado, Antonio Pastich
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

At 88 years-old, Audrey Flack holds a unique place in the history of contemporary art in America. Feminist, rebel, mother, painter, sculptor and teacher, Audrey’s often controversial 40-year career evolved from abstract expressionism in the 1950s to photorealism in the 1970s. One of the first women ever included in the famed Janson’s History of Art, Audrey continues to create, explore, and inspire with her unique style and indomitable spirit.
Queen of Hearts follows Flack as she takes her work in a brand new direction and reveals her long-term struggles as the mother of a child with autism. Flack has something deep and genuine to communicate to the world. She is a provocateur and a rebel, an example and an inspiration. Queen of Hearts is a moving portrait of an artist who is still testing, still experimenting, still searching.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: DEBORAH SHAFFER AND RACHEL REICHMAN
Cast: Audrey Flack
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Lives are left in pieces after a white cop responds to a violent hostage call and kills the black suspect, only to learn he may have been set up. Facing trial, he must find the person responsible while examining his own accountability.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $11.00

Director: Mike Nell
Cast: Brian Geraghty, Sharon Leal, Bethany Joy Lenz
Language: English
Genre: Action
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Survival Skills is a lost training video from the 1980s. Jim, the perfect, policeman in a perfect relationship in a perfect community, gets in over his head when he tries to resolve a domestic violence case. Before long, the ugly underbelly of the ‘Good Guys in Blue’ begins to expose itself and Jim decides to take matters into his own hands.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $9.99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0StnG_gd5Y

Director: Quinn Armstrong
Cast: Stacy Keach, Vayu O’Donnell, Spencer Garrett
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Following Mimosas, Oliver Laxe’s third feature brings us to his ancestral home of Galicia. Here, in this remote Spanish region, where the grandeur of nature is both beautiful and terrifying, Laxe unfolds a story of the uncontrollable forces of nature on human lives.

After serving two years in prison for arson, Amador (Amador Arias), returns to his mountainside village in north-west Spain, where he resumes a serene, if mostly solitary, existence tending cabbages and injured cows with his ageing mother, Benedicta (Benedicta Sánchez). Life resumes for the two following the rhythm of nature despite the suspicious glares of the unforgiving locals —until one night a devasting fire ignites that threatens to engulf the entire region. Stunningly captured on 16mm by DP Mauro Herce, this quietly explosive drama was the winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes last year.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Oliver Laxe
Cast: Amador Arias, Benedicta Sánchez, Inazio Abrao
Language: Galician, Spanish with English Subs
Genre: Drama, Crime
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

During the Ming Dynasty, a Buddhist abbot charged with protecting the sacred scroll of Tripitaka prepares to name his successor. An aristocrat and a general arrive at his secluded mountaintop monastery promising to help in his search, but are in fact scheming to secure the scroll for themselves. As they set about recommending corrupt successors, rival bands of martial artists lie in wait to steal the precious artifact. Soon, the monastery is transformed into an epic battleground for the scroll, with each player caught in a web of betrayal. Called a “remarkably photographed caper heist [featuring] intriguing battles of wits and minds” (Far East Film Festival), RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN is also the peak of legendary director King Hu’s (A TOUCH OF ZEN) infusion of Buddhist spiritual principles into the legacy of martial arts cinema.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: King Hu
Cast: Feng Hsu, Yueh Sun, Chun Shih
Language: MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Genre: Drama, Action
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours

When British aid worker Hana returns to the ancient city of Luxor, she comes across Sultan, an archeologist and former lover. As she wanders, haunted by the familiar place, she struggles to reconcile the choices of the past with the uncertainty of the present.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Zeina Durra
Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Karim Saleh
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

For more than 40 years, journalist Robert Fisk has reported on some of the most violent and divisive conflicts in the world.

Yung Chang’s This Is Not a Movie captures Fisk in action—feet on the ground, notebook in hand, as he travels into landscapes devastated by war, ferreting out the facts and firing reports back home to reach an audience of millions.

The process of translating raw experience into incisive and passionate dispatches requires the determination to see things first-hand and the tenacity to say what others won’t. In his relentless pursuit of the facts, Fisk has attracted his share of controversy. But in spite of the danger, he has continued to cover stories as they unfold, talking directly to the people involved.

In an era of fake news, when journalists are dubbed “the enemies of the people,” Fisk’s resolve to document reality has become an obsessive war to speak the truth.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Yung Chang
Cast:  Robert Fisk, Amira Hass, Nirmeen Hazineh 
Language: English & Arabic with English Subtitles
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Ted’s story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. It’s the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Alice Gu
Cast: Chuong Pek Lee, Susan Lim, Ted Ngoy 
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

The Guardian of Memory tells the stories of Mexican men, women, and children seeking safety in the US. Carlos Spector, an El Paso immigration lawyer, fights tirelessly to obtain political asylum for Mexicans fleeing extreme violence. This is the story about the kindness and hope that still exists in people who have endured tremendous suffering.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Marcela Arteaga
Cast: Carlos Spector
Language: Spanish
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Three retirees decide to move away from Rome to find a better standard of living in a country where their meagre pensions will go that much further. Planning for the trip sees the trio trawl the pubs and restaurants of a sun saturated Rome and discover that even at an old age they can still learn one or two lessons about themselves and life. Gianni Di Gregorio, Italy’s laconic answer to Larry David, returns to the humanist comic territory of arthouse hits Mid-August Lunch and The Salt of Life with Citizens of the World, a warm and delightful reflection on life with characters you’ll want to spend many more hours with long after the credits roll. (Curzon)

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Gianni Di Gregorio
Cast: Gianni Di Gregorio, Giorgio Colangeli
Language: Italian with English Subtitles
Genre: Comedy
Rating: Not Rated
Run time:

Made in response to the times we are living in, THE ANTIDOTE is a feature documentary that weaves together stories of kindness, decency, and the power of community in America. It’s about everyday people who make the intentional choice to lift others up and make their communities better, despite the fundamentally unkind ways of our society — which are at once facts of life in America, and yet deeply antithetical to our founding ideals.

Directed by Academy Award-nominee KAHANE COOPERMAN and six-time Emmy winner JOHN HOFFMAN, THE ANTIDOTE aims to drive a national conversation about the roles that kindness, decency, compassion and respect play in a civilized, democratic society. While it’s easy to court despair in the face of monumental, structural problems, THE ANTIDOTE tells stories of compassionate people intentionally leveraging the resources within themselves and their communities to give others a chance at a better life. THE ANTIDOTE isn’t about an idea or a platform; there are no historians, policy wonks, or celebrities. It is simply about how we treat each other. It is about who we are and, maybe, it’s about who we can be.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Kahane Cooperman, John Hoffman
Cast: Rebecca Young, The Henley family, Ron MacFarland, Tammy Hammrich
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Adapted from a 1909 novel by Jack London yet set in a provocatively unspecified moment in Italy’s history, Martin Eden is a passionate and enthralling narrative fresco in the tradition of the great Italian classics. Martin (played by the marvelously committed Luca Marinelli) is a self-taught proletarian with artistic aspirations who hopes that his dreams of becoming a writer will help him rise above his station and marry a wealthy young university student (Jessica Cressy). The dissatisfactions of working-class toil and bourgeois success lead to political awakening and destructive anxiety in this enveloping, superbly mounted bildungsroman. Winner of the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival and the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Pietro Marcello
Cast: Luca Marinelli, Jessica Cressy, Vincenzo Nemolato
Language: Italian with English subtitles
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Winner of major prizes at the Berlin and Turin film festivals, the hauntingly beautiful debut feature from Pietro Marcello (LOST AND BEAUTIFUL, MARTIN EDEN) interweaves two love stories: the 20-year romance between a Sicilian tough guy and a transsexual former junkie whom he met in prison, and a poetic reverie of the Italian port town of Genoa, depicted in all its mysterious, fading glory. Commissioned by the Fondazione San Marcellino, a Jesuit order dedicated to helping society’s poor and marginalized, THE MOUTH OF THE WOLF masterfully combines documentary with fiction and melancholy home movies from the past century with poetic images, sounds, and music of the waterfront today.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Pietro Marcello
Cast: Vincenzo Motta, Mary Monaco, Franco Leo
Language: Italian with English subtitles
Genre: Documentary, Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 10 minutes

In a world of super-villains, evil schemes, and global domination, someone has to take out the trash. Welcome to the world of Henchmen, third class. When Lester, a fresh-faced recruit, joins the Union of Evil, he is assigned to a motley crew of blue-collar workers led by fallen henchmen, Hank. But when Lester accidentally steals a super villain’s ultimate weapon, Hank must break his risk-nothing code to save the boy he’s befriended, even if it means becoming the one thing he has always avoided: a hero.

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Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Adam Wood
Cast:  Rosario Dawson, James Marsden, Nathan Fillion
Language: English
Genre: Kids, Animation
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

For 65 years and counting, Burk Uzzle has created some of the most iconic photographs in American history. From Martin Luther King to Woodstock to America’s small towns and back roads, Uzzle’s photographs have provided a breathtaking commentary on American civil rights, race, social justice, and art.

Grounded in documentary photography when he was hired by LIFE magazine at age 23, Uzzle’s work grew into a combination of split-second impressions reflecting the human condition during his tenure at the international Magnum cooperative (founded by one of his mentors, Henri Cartier-Bresson).

An electrifying fusion of music, image, and dialogue, “F11 and Be There” captures the life and artistry of this most unique American photographer.

“Critic’s Pick! Burk Uzzle, the subject of this unusually distinctive documentary, doesn’t have the name recognition of Bill Cunningham or Jay Maisel, two lensmen highlighted in recent features, but he should. The film is as beautifully composed as Uzzle’s pictures. The director Jethro Waters also shot the movie, a subtle feast of light and color.”
-Glenn Kenny, The New York Times

“With its behind-the-scenes look at one of America’s best photographic practitioners and its depiction of a man with the soul of a true artist, ‘F11 and Be There’ should be required viewing for aspiring artists everywhere. In a world filled with darkness, this film shines a little light.” -Rod Machen, Cinapse

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Jethro Waters
Cast:  Burk Uzzle
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Anat (Naama Preis, Best Actress winner at the Jerusalem Film Festival) has never been able to reach her father’s exacting musical standards, so the family’s hope of producing a talented composer rests on her unborn son. After giving birth to a deaf child, Anat takes drastic measures to ensure that he becomes the musical prodigy her father always wanted. But when the boy grows up indifferent to achieving his destiny as a great pianist, Anat is forced to stand up to her father and confront the harsh realities of her past.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Itay Tal
Cast: Naama Preis, Andy Levi, Ze’ev Shimshoni
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes

With his trumpet he turned the Tijuana Brass into gold, earning 15 gold and 14 platinum records; He has won nine Grammys Awards between 1966 and 2014, and received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2012.

Herb co-founded the indie label, A & M Records with his business partner, Jerry Moss, which recorded artists as varied as Carole King, Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Janet Jackson, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, Quincy Jones, Sergio Mendes, and The Police. A&M would go on to become one of the most successful independent labels in history. He has shown his striking work as an abstract painter and sculptor, worldwide. And through the Herb Alpert Foundation, he has given significant philanthropic support of educational programs in the arts nationwide, from the Harlem School of the Arts and Los Angeles City College to CalArts and UCLA. 

John Scheinfeld’s documentary Herb Alpert is… profiles the artist, now 85, mostly from the perspective of colleagues like Questlove, Sting, and Bill Moyers. In their words, the shy, unassuming trumpeter is a musical, artistic and philanthropic heavyweight.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: John Scheinfeld
Cast: Michael Shapiro, Sting, Billy Bob Thorton
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 55 minutes

SAUL & RUBY’S HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR BAND, is a feature documentary (80 min.) directed and produced by Tod Lending, an Oscar nominated and national Emmy winning documentary filmmaker. It is a story full of comedy and tragedy as it follows the inspiring story of these two unique and unusual men. Their musical journey begins in total obscurity, playing in residential homes for the elderly and small Jewish community organizations, to then being invited to perform at venues across the country, including a coveted performance at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Tod Lending
Cast: Saul Dreier, Ruby Sosnowicz, Chana Sosnowicz
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes

A month after receiving a fatal diagnosis in January 2015, Oliver Sacks sat down for a series of filmed interviews in his apartment in New York City. For eighty hours, surrounded by family, friends, and notebooks from six decades of thinking and writing about the brain, he talked about his life and work, his abiding sense of wonder at the natural world, and the place of human beings within it. Drawing on these deeply personal reflections, as well as nearly two dozen interviews with close friends, family members, colleagues and patients, and archival material from every point in his life, this film is the story of a beloved doctor and writer who redefined our understanding of the brain and mind.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Ric Burns
Cast: Oliver Sacks
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 55 minutes

The Keeper tells the incredible true story of Bert Trautmann (David Kross, The Reader), a German soldier and prisoner of war who, against a backdrop of British post-war protest and prejudice, secures the position of Goalkeeper at Manchester City, and in doing so becomes a footballing icon.

His signing causes outrage to thousands of fans, many of them Jewish. But Bert receives support from an unexpected direction: Rabbi Alexander Altmann, who fled the Nazis. Bert’s love for Margaret (Freya Mavor), an Englishwoman, carries him through and he wins over even his harshest opponents by winning the 1956 FA Cup Final, playing on with a broken neck to secure victory. But fate will soon twist the knife for Bert and Margaret, when their love and loyalty to each other is put to the ultimate test.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Marcus H. Rosenmüller
Cast: David Kross, Freya Mavor, John Henshaw
Language: English and German with English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours

At the age of 84, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a breathtaking legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But without a definitive Ginsburg biography, the unique personal journey of this diminutive, quiet warrior’s rise to the nation’s highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans – until now. RBG is a revelatory documentary exploring Ginsburg ‘s exceptional life and career from Betsy West and Julie Cohen, and co-produced by Storyville Films and CNN Films.

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Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Julie Cohen, Betsy West
Cast: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ann Kittner, Harryette Helsel
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: PG for some thematic elements and language
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

The Varsity Theatre in Davis presents “A Chef’s Voyage” on Virtual Cinema. When you buy a ticket, 50% of the proceeds go straight back to the Varsity to support them during this difficult time.

“A Chef’s Voyage” follows the celebrated American Chef David Kinch and his team from Manresa, their 3 Star Michelin restaurant in California, for a one-of-a-kind collaboration with three legendary French chefs at their iconic restaurants in Paris, Provence, and Marseille.

To mark the 15th anniversary of Manresa, Kinch decides to close shop for a month so he and his staff can embark on their France voyage. Planning the trip takes months and the logistics are tricky: how to sneak the food on flights; unfamiliar host kitchens; a language barrier and more.

We go behind the scenes as the Manresa crew attempts to stage nine major meals over 10 days in the world’s most cinematic venues, alongside culinary superstars, with the world watching (and tasting) — all to celebrate 15 years of Manresa excellence by doing what Chef Kinch and his team do best: creating meals and experiences worthy of those three stars.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Rémi Anfosso
Cast: David Kinch, Jean-André Charial, Glenn Viel
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

A film about Northern Vogue and its people. Deep in Vogue celebrates the colorful, queer, emotional and political stories of Northern Vogue and its people. Synonymous with the black, gay ballrooms of 1980s New York this documentary asks why we need Vogue in Manchester now more than ever. Over the course of a year, film makers Dennis Keighron-Foster and Amy Watson charted the buildup to the Manchester ICONS Vogue Ball. Exploring themes from the internal politics of Vogue to its external politics like disenfranchisement of black youth, LGBT issues, a shrinking welfare state, a dearth of art spaces and modes of expression, a reductive and commercialized gay scene and a lack of safe spaces for the truly different. DEEP IN VOGUE is about people coming to love and accept themselves, finding a new family through vogue. The film explores the history of vogue and ballroom, in which Black and Latinx gay men and trans people sought an aspirational artistic outlet in the 1980s, in much the same way that gay, queer, trans and QTIPOC people seek a safe space today.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Dennis Keighron Foster, Amy Watson
Cast:  Joshua Hubbard, Asttina Mandella, Darren Pritchard
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour

If it hadn’t been for a bottle of scotch and a late-night visit from musician Gregg Allman, Jimmy Carter might never have been elected the 39th President of the United States. The documentary charts the mostly forgotten story of how Carter, a lover of all types of music, forged a tight bond with musicians Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan and others. Low on campaign funds and lacking in name recognition, Carter relied on support from these artists to give him a crucial boost in the Democratic primaries. Once Carter was elected, the musicians became frequent guests in the White House. The surprisingly significant role that music played throughout Carter’s life and in his work becomes a thread in this engaging portrait of one of the most enigmatic Presidents in American history.

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Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Mary Wharton
Cast: Madeleine Albright, Tom Beard, Bono
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 36 minutes

As a juror at Jacques Viguier’s trial, Nora is convinced that he did not kill his wife. This intuition quickly becomes an obsession. She persuades the most famous lawyer in the country to defend him. Together they start a compulsive fight to prove his innocence against all odds. That quest has a price they might not be ready to pay.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Antoine Raimbault
Cast: Marina Fois, Oliver Gourmet
Language: French with English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

The State of Texas vs. Melissa explores the life journey of Melissa Lucio, the first Hispanic woman to be sentenced to death in the state of Texas. For ten years she has been awaiting her fate — and she now faces her last appeal.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Sabrina Van Tassel
Cast: N/A
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 49 minutes

Epicentro is an immersive and metaphorical portrait of post-colonial, “utopian” Cuba, where the 1898 explosion of the U.S.S. Maine still resonates. This Big Bang ended Spanish colonial dominance in the Americas and ushered in the era of the American Empire. At the same time and place, a powerful tool of conquest was born: cinema as propaganda. In his latest film, Academy Award nominee Hubert Sauper (Darwin’s Nightmare) explores a century of interventionism and myth-making together with the extraordinary people of Havana—who he calls “young prophets”—to interrogate time, imperialism and cinema itself.

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Rental fee is $4.99

Director: Hubert Sauper
Cast: Oona Chaplin
Language: English and Spanish with English subtitles
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

When Jane (Sally Hawkins) is dumped at the altar she has a breakdown and spirals into a chaotic world, where love (both real and imagined) and family relationships collide with both touching and humorous consequences.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Craig Roberts
Cast: David Thewlis, Billie Piper, Sally Hawkins 
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: R for language and some sexuality
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Eva is about to turn 33 and her decision to stay in Madrid in August has become an act of faith. The days and nights arise as times for opportunities, and during the openair summer celebrations Eva meets other people whom she tries to help, without realising that she is actually helping herself. La virgen de agosto (The August Virgin) is a diary-film: the intimate journey of a woman in search of revelations; a rather philosophical and somewhat mystical summer story which is fun and festive from start to finish.

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Rental fee is $11.99

Director: Jonas Trueba
Cast: Itsaso Arana, Vito Sanz
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Based on harrowing true events, SONG WITHOUT A NAME tells the story of Georgina, an indigenous Andean woman whose newborn baby is whisked away moments after its birth in a downtown Lima clinic – and never returned. Stonewalled by a byzantine and indifferent legal system, Georgina approaches journalist Pedro Campas, who uncovers a web of fake clinics and abductions – suggesting a rotting corruption deep within Peruvian society. Set in 1988, in a Peru wracked by political violence and turmoil, Melina León’s heart-wrenching first feature renders Georgina’s story in gorgeous, shadowy black-and-white cinematography, “styled like the most beautiful of bad dreams” (Variety).

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Melina León
Cast: Pamela Mendoza, Tommy Párraga, Lucio Rojas
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes

November 1999: 67-year-old Trond (Stellan Skarsgård), lives in self-imposed isolation and looks forward to welcoming in the new millennium alone. As winter arrives he meets one of his few neighbors, Lars (Bjørn Floberg), and realizes he knew him back in the summer of 1948. 1948 – the year Trond turned 15. The summer Trond grew up.

OUT STEALING HORSES is based on the bestselling novel by Norwegian author Per Petterson, which received several important international awards and was included in The New York Times ’10 Best Books of 2007 (Fiction)’. Petterson’s novels have been translated into more than 50 languages.

Immediately following the film there will be a pre-recorded discussion between Stellan Skarsgard and director Hans Peter Moller. This conversation is exclusive to virtual cinema and in-theater engagements.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Hans Petter Moland 
Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Bjørn Floberg, Tobias Santelmann
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 3 minutes

The Fight is an inspiring, emotional insider look at how these important battles are fought and the legal gladiators on the front lines fighting them. Directors Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, and Eli Despres capture the rollercoaster ride of the thrill and defeat in these deeply human battles. When a mother is separated from her child, a soldier is threatened to lose his career, a young woman’s right to choose is imperiled at the pleasure of a government official, and the ability to exercise our basic right to vote is threatened, the consequences can be devastating to us and to future generations. The Fight celebrates the unsung heroes who fiercely work to protect our freedoms.

Immediately following the film there will be a pre-recorded discussion between Kerry Washington and the five ACLU lawyers featured in the film (Brigitte Amiri, Lee Gelernt, Dale Ho, Joshua Block and Chase Strangio). This conversation is exclusive to virtual cinema and in-theater engagements. Additionally, you’ll have free access to a live Q&A on Sun. 8/2 at 7:00pm ET with the filmmakers and lawyers, moderated by Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post. Click here to view the live Q&A page. (This will be also be archived and available beyond 8/2.)

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Eli B. Despres, Josh Kriegman 
Cast: Lee Gelernt, David Ho 
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: PG-13 for strong language, thematic material and brief violence
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Henri is a middle-aged writer with fading inspiration. Feeling increasingly misunderstood by his family, he dreams of running away to start over again. Yet when he discovers a bad-mannered dog in his garden, he decides to adopt him, starting an unexpected friendship that inevitably upsets Henri’s family and neighbors. The bittersweet and moving comedy about love standing the test of time stars iconic real-life couple Charlotte Gainsbourg and Yvan Attal.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Yvan Attal
Cast: Yvan Attal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Eric Ruf 
Language: French with English Subtitles
Genre: Comedy
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Koji Fukada’s followup to the critically-acclaimed HARMONIUM (also available from Film Movement), A GIRL MISSING “is a satisfying slow-burn drama expertly told” (Screen Daily). Ichiko is a private home-nurse who has worked for the elder matriarch of the Oishos for years and regards them as her own family. Ichiko’s quiet, routine life is shattered when a young member of the Oishos clan is kidnapped. When it is revealed that the kidnapper is none other than Ichiko’s nephew, her life begins to unravel in this taut thriller from one of Japan’s current cinematic masters.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: KOJI FUKADA
Cast: Mariko Tsutsui, Mikako Ichikawa, Sôsuke Ikematsu
Language: JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Isolated from the outside world, fifteen-year-old Lara (Hannah Rae) lives in seclusion on a vast country estate with her father and strict governess Miss Fontaine (Jessica Raine). Late one evening, a mysterious carriage crash brings a young girl into their home to recuperate. Lara immediately becomes enchanted by this strange visitor who arouses her curiosity and awakens her burgeoning desires.

This atmospheric coming-of-age tale is inspired by the 1872 Gothic vampire novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Emily Harris
Cast: Tobias Menzies, Jessica Raine, Greg Wise 
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

AMULET follows Tomaz (Secareanu), a former soldier who is left homeless after an accident and takes refuge in the decaying home of Magda (Juri), a lonely young woman in desperate need of help as she cares for her ailing mother. At first hesitant, Magda soon welcomes Tomaz into their lives. But as he gets closer to and begins to fall for Magda, Tomaz notices strange and unexplainable phenomena. Something seems very wrong with the mysterious old woman who never leaves the top floor, and Tomaz begins to suspect that Magda may in fact be a prisoner to her otherworldly bidding.

In addition to the feature, you’ll also have access to a pre-recorded discussion between director Romola Garai and Caryn Coleman of The Future of Film is Female, made available exclusively for virtual cinema engagements of the film.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Romola Garai
Cast: Carla Juri, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton and Angeliki Papoulia
Language: English
Genre: Horror
Rating: R for some strong violence, bloody images, a sexual assault, and brief language and nudity
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Seventeen-year-old Franz journeys to Vienna to apprentice at a tobacco shop. There he meets Sigmund Freud (Bruno Ganz, “Wings of Desire”, “Downfall”), a regular customer, and over time the two very different men form a singular friendship. When Franz falls desperately in love with the music-hall dancer Anezka, he seeks advice from the renowned psychoanalyst, who admits that the female sex is as big a mystery to him as it is to Franz. As political and social conditions in Austria dramatically worsen with the Nazis’ arrival in Vienna, Franz, Freud, and Anezka are swept into the maelstrom of events. Each has a big decision to make: to stay or to flee?

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Nicholas Leytner
Cast: Simon Morzé, Bruno Ganz, Johannes Krisch 
Language: English
Genre: Drama, History, War
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 57 minutes

It’s been decades since Caine, Bronson, Angus and Wendell escaped a POW camp. Now, they’re sharing a new prison, Hogan Hills Retirement Home. The four band together for an escape plan, but the rules of engagement have changed—and so has what they’re fighting for. Never Too Late is a heartwarming story about how you’re never too old to chase your dreams.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Mark Lamprell
Cast: James Cromwell, Jacki Weaver, Dennis Waterman 
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

The Magistrate of an isolated frontier settlement on the border of an unnamed empire looks forward to an easy retirement until the arrival of Colonel Joll, whose task it is to report on the activities of the ‘barbarians’ and on the security situation on the border. Joll conducts a series of ruthless interrogations, which leads the Magistrate to question his loyalty to the empire.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Ciro Guerra
Cast: Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson 
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

A fast living, cynical London music executive (Daniel Mays) heads to a remote Cornish village on a stag weekend where he’s pranked by his boss (Noel Clarke) into trying to sign a group of shanty singing fishermen (led by James Purefoy). He becomes the ultimate “fish out of water” as he struggles to gain the respect or enthusiasm of the unlikely boy band and their families (including Tuppence Middleton) who value friendship and community over fame and fortune. As he’s drawn deeper into the traditional way of life he’s forced to reevaluate his own integrity and ultimately question what success really means.

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Chris Foggin
Cast: James Purefoy, Meadow Nobrega, David Hayman
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Music
Rating: PG-13 for some strong language, and suggestive references
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

The fervent attraction between Georgie (Kelly Macdonald), a woman stuck in a loveless relationship, and Lu (Garrett Hedlund), a musician with a tragic past, gets the better of them when secrets are uncovered that will change their lives. Based on the critically acclaimed novel by iconic Australian writer Tim Winton, Dirt Music is a tale of love and redemption, set against the awe-inspiring backdrop of the Australian West.

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Gregor Jordan
Cast: Kelly Macdonald, Garrett Hedlund, David Wenham
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Romance, Crime
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Lise (16 years old) is accused of murdering her best friend. As the trial starts, her parents stand right by her side. But once her secret life is revealed in court, the truth becomes indistinguishable.

“I love you” means nothing. Everyone says “I love you”. A young girl called to the witness stand casually drops these disarmingly simple words that are enough to give one chills. That is a recurring feeling throughout this unusually precise courtroom drama, where words and their power are at the center of attention. In this case, the legal proceedings become the ritual of a society putting its own youth on trial.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Stéphane Demoustier
Cast: Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Melissa Guers
Language: French with English Subtitles
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Albert Topaze (Peter Sellers), a poor but proud French schoolmaster, loses his job after he refuses to alter the failing grades of one of his students. Seizing the opportunity to exploit his honesty, actress Suzy Courtois (Nadia Gray) convinces her lover, the corrupt city council member Castel Benac (Herbert Lom), to hire Topaze as a managing director for one of his shady businesses.

Seller’s lone directorial effort, MR. TOPAZE displays the British comic genius at the peak of his powers alongside his future Pink Panther nemesis Herbert Lom and a stellar supporting cast that includes Nadia Gray, Leo McKern, Billie Whitelaw and Michael Gough. Long considered a “lost” classic, MR. TOPAZE was digitally restored in 2K from the last surviving 35mm prints held in the BFI National Archive.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Peter Sellers
Cast: Nadia Gray, Leo McKern, Billie Whitelaw
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

In his first feature, director Bill Duke (The Rage in Harlem, Deep Cover) traces the racial and class conflicts seething in the Chicago’s giant slaughterhouses, and the brutal efforts of management to divide the workforce along ethnic lines, which eventually boiled over in the Chicago Race Riot of 1919. Winner of the Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival, 1985. Starring Damien Leake (Serpico, Apocalypse Now), Alfre Woodard (Crooklyn, Down in the Delta). Screenplay by African American playwright Leslie Lee, based on a Story by executive producer Elsa Rassbach.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Bill Duke
Cast: Damien Leake, Alfre Woodard
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: PG
Run time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Marona is a half-breed Labrador whose life leaves deep traces among the humans she encounters. After an accident, she reflects on all the homes and different experiences she’s had. As Marona’s memory journeys into the past, her unfailing empathy and love brings lightness and innocence into each of her owners’ lives.

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Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Anca Damian
Cast: Lizzie Brocheré, Bruno Salomone, Thierry Hancisse 
Language: French with English Subtitles
Genre: Family, Animated
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

One of the great adventurers of the 20th century, George Plimpton embarked on a lifelong journey akin to fictional characters such as Forrest Gump and Indiana Jones. He hung out with U.S. Presidents, played quarterback for the Detroit Lions, forced Willie Mays to pop out in Yankee Stadium, photographed Playboy models, was named the “Most Eligible Bachelor in Manhattan” by Esquire Magazine, played goalie for the Boston Bruins, struck the triangle for the New York Philharmonic and acted alongside John Wayne, Warren Beatty and Matt Damon. Some of these things he did well. Some he didn’t. But they were always amusing and inspiring. Witty, sophisticated, urbane and yet a man of the people, he embodied the American optimism of 1960s and ’70s. He co-founded and edited one of the most influential literary magazines in history, The Paris Review for 50 years, and in the process, he innovated a writing technique called participatory journalism. This gave Plimpton a unique perspective on the activities he wrote about, perhaps most famously with Paper Lion, a bestseller, which has never left the conversation of the greatest sports books of all-time.

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Rental fee is $5.99

Director: Tom Bean, Luke Poling
Cast: Ken Burns, Ric Burns, Graydon Carter
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Algiers, 1997. Terrorist wanting an Islamic and archaic state are everywhere. Women are oppressed, in a seek to take control of their bodies, clothing and public space. Young student Nedjma is passionate about making a fashion show.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Mounia Meddour
Cast: Lyna Khoudri, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda
Language: French and Arabic with English Subtitles
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

After decades in prison, stagecoach robber Bill Miner (Richard Farnsworth) emerges in 1901 a free man without a place in 20th century society…until he sees The Great Train Robbery and is inspired to once again do what he does best.

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Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Phillip Borsos
Cast: Richard Farnsworth, Jackie Burroughs, Ken Pogue
Language: French with English subtitles
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: PG
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Featuring extensive interviews with Diana Kennedy and famed chefs José Andrés, Rick Bayless, Gabriela Camara and Alice Waters, Diana Kennedy provides an intimate look at the leading expert on Mexican cuisine. The author of nine acclaimed cookbooks and a two-time James Beard Award winner, Diana is called the “Julia Child of Mexico”, but the feisty cook prefers “The Mick Jagger of Mexican Cuisine”.

Click here to rent this film and support the Varsity Theatre!

Rental fee is $4.99

Click here to register for the virtual Q&A with director Elizabeth Carroll, chef Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), chef Gabriela Cámara (Tale of Two Kitchens), & food writer David Tanis (The New York Times)

Director: Elizabeth Carroll
Cast: José Andrés, Gabriela Camara, Diana Kennedy
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes

In the heart of Chinatown, New York, an ornery, chain-smoking, newly widowed 80-year-old Grandma (Tsai Chin) is eager to live life as an independent woman, despite the worry of her family. When a local fortune teller (Wai Ching Ho) predicts a most auspicious day in her future, Grandma decides to head to the casino and goes all in, only to land herself on the wrong side of luck… suddenly attracting the attention of some local gangsters. Desperate to protect herself, Grandma employs the services of a bodyguard from a rival gang (Corey Ha) and soon finds herself right in the middle of a Chinatown gang war.

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Sasie Sealy
Cast: Tsai Chin, Hsiao-Yuan Ha, Michael Tow
Language: English, Mandarin, Cantonese
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

A lonesome boy accompanies his mother on a trip to clean out his late aunt’s house, and ends up forming an unexpected friendship with the retiree who lives next door.

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Director: Andrew Ahn
Cast: Hong Chau, Lucas Jaye, Brian Dennehy
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on Time’s list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world’s most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future.

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Rental fee is $4.99

Director: Justin Pemberton
Cast: Thomas Piketty
Language: English and French with English subtitles
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes

A complex portrait of a city and its inhabitants, The Hottest August gives us a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place? The Hottest August offers a mirror onto a society on the verge of catastrophe, registering the anxieties, distractions, and survival strategies that preoccupy ordinary lives.

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Director: Brett Story
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

In this black comedy of middle-aged masculinity gone awry, Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) is a recent divorcee who becomes obsessed with a vintage fringed deerskin jacket that begins to exert an uncanny hold on him. Set in a sleepy French alpine village, he falls into the guise of an independent filmmaker and befriends a trusting bartender and aspiring editor (Adèle Haenel, Portrait of a Lady on Fire) who becomes his collaborator on a movie that will document a surprising new goal he sets himself.

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Director: Quentin Dupieux
Cast: Jean Dujardin, Adèle Haenel, Albert Delpy
Language: French
Genre: Comedy, Horrror
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes

In the early Middle Ages, a contingent of knights embarks on a dangerous journey to spread Christianity and baptize the pagan inhabitants of an isolated village hidden deep in the mountains of a faraway island. After being shipwrecked, the two survivors set out to complete their mission, but as they attempt to convert the tribe, their diverging beliefs put them at odds with each other. Soon, love is confronted with hate, peace with violence, sanity with madness, and redemption with damnation.

Directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Bartosz Konopka, this genre-bending historical epic has been hailed as a “stunning showcase of experiential horror” (Bloody Disgusting) that “strikes with brutal clarity” (ScreenAnarchy).

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Bartosz Konopka
Cast: Krzysztof Pieczynski, Karol Bernacki, Wiktoria Gorodecka
Language: Polish
Genre: Horror
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes

In a small city of Brazil, a woman named Flor marries a man named Vadinho, but once married she finds that he is a good-for-nothing. She works teaching cooking and he takes all of her money to gamble. After Vadinho dies, Flor marries Tedoror, the owner of a drugstore. Flor is happy with her new husband but misses the love life with her previous husband. When one day the ghost of Vadhino comes back to peruse her.

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Bruno Barreto
Cast: Sônia Braga, José Wilker, Mauro Mendonça
Language: Portuguese
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Based on the novel by Gabriele d’Annunzio, this final film by revered director Luchino Visconti follows arrogant Roman aristocrat Tullio Hermil (Giancarlo Giannini) as he openly cheats on his wife, Giuliana (Laura Antonelli). Carrying on an affair with his scheming mistress, Teresa Raffo (Jennifer O’Neill), without any concern for his spouse, Tullio becomes jealous when he suspects Giuliana is having an affair of her own, leading to conflict and, ultimately, tragedy.

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Director: Luchino Visconti
Cast: Giancarlo Giannini, Laura Antonelli, Jennifer O’Neill
Language: Italian with English Subtitles
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

In this Parisian bitter sweet romance from Cédric Klapisch, warehouse employee Rémy (François Civil) and research assistant Mélanie (Ana Girardot) have never met, but they live parallel lives: they reside in neighboring apartment buildings, ride the same subway route, and are troubled by bouts of insomnia and depression. Their days punctuated by unfulfilling jobs, they seek meaningful romantic and platonic connection. As they stumble through psychotherapy, dating apps, fainting spells, and family visits, the seemingly star-crossed duo orbit around each other but remain just out of reach. Klapisch spins a delicate “what-if” from their compartmentalization, exploring our increasingly hermetic modern urban life.

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Rental fee is $10

Director: Cédric Klapisch
Cast: François Civil, Ana Girardot, Camille Cottin
Language: French with English Subtitles
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Set in the 1880s, this film chronicles the journey of Lalu (Rosalind Chao), a Chinese woman whose financially desperate family sells her as a bride. She is sent to the United States, where she is bought by sleazy barkeep Hong King (Michael Paul Chan), who plans to make money off of Lalu by forcing her into a life of prostitution. Unwilling to submit to his demands, she begins her own successful business venture and captures the attention of the troubled but kindly Charlie (Chris Cooper).

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Director: Nancy Kelly
Cast: Rosalind Chao, Chris Cooper, Michael Paul Chan
Language: English, Chinese
Genre: Romance, Western
Rating: PG-13
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

In a remote Icelandic town, an off-duty police chief (a chilling Ingvar Sigurdsson, who received Cannes’ Critics’ Week award for Best Actor for his performance) begins to suspect a local man of having had an affair with his late wife, who died in a tragic accident two years earlier. Gradually his obsession for finding out the truth takes over his life and inevitably begins to endanger himself and his loved ones. Combining classic thriller tropes with a distinctly Nordic arthouse sensibility, the second feature from Hlynur Palmason “engages in storytelling that’s both powerful and fresh throughout, marking him as a talent to watch” (The Hollywood Reporter).

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Director: Hlynur Palmason
Cast: Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Hilmir Snær Guðnason
Language: Icelandic
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Antiquarian booksellers are part scholar, part detective and part businessperson, and their personalities and knowledge are as broad as the material they handle. They also play an underappreciated yet essential role in preserving history. THE BOOKSELLERS takes viewers inside their small but fascinating world, populated by an assortment of obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and dreamers.

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Director: D.W. Young
Cast: Parker Posey, Fran Lebowitz, Gay Talese
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes