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!

Still Life, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2006, is an empathetic portrait of those left behind by a modernizing society and, as in director Jia Zhang-ke’s earlier films (Platform, Unknown Pleasures, The World), it is a unique hybrid of documentary and fiction.
In Still Life, great changes have come to the town of Fengjie due to the construction of the Three Gorges hydro project: Countless families that had lived there for many generations have had to relocate to other cities. Fengjie’s old town, which has a 2000- year history, has been torn down and submerged forever, but its new neighborhood hasn’t been finished yet. There are still things that need to be salvaged and yet there are also things that must be left behind. In Still Life, such life-changing choices face both Sanming, a miner traveling to Fengjie in search of his ex-wife of sixteen years, and Shen Hong, a nurse who has come to Fengjie to look for her husband who she hasn’t seen in two years. Both Sanming and Shen will find who they’re looking for, but in the process they too will have to decide what is worth salvaging in their lives and what they need to let go of.

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

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Jia Zhang-ke
Cast: ‎Zhao Tao‎, ‎Han Sanming 
Language: Mandarin
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Ava (Jessica Chastain) is a deadly mercenary who works for a black ops organization, traveling the globe and specializing in high profile hits. Ava’s career takes a bad turn when a high profile job goes wrong due to faulty information provided to her. With a botched hit (as well as a track record for questioning the validity of her targets), Ava is told to take a hiatus until the heat blows over, but secretly the head of the organization, Simon (Colin Farrell), has ordered a hit on her to ensure nothing traces back to the company. With the recent death of her father, Ava decides to go back home to Boston and attempt to mend her relationship with her mother and sister, Judy, though the homecoming proves to be far from happy as the years of estrangement have created resentment. To complicate things further Ava’s ex-fiancé, Michael (Common), is now in a relationship with Judy, and involved with an underground gambling ring that Ava knows all too well from her younger days. Ava now has to save her family and herself from multiple threats, while battling her own demons.

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

Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Tate Taylor
Cast: Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Common 
Language: English
Genre: Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes

“The Dark Divide” is based on the true story of renowned butterfly expert Dr. Robert Pyle’s (David Cross) perilous 1995 journey across one of America’s largest undeveloped wildlands. At the urging of his dying wife Thea (Debra Messing), the shy author finds himself in over his head on an epic, life-changing expedition through Washington’s Gifford Pinchot National Forest in search of new species of butterflies. Over the course of his six-week adventure Pyle battles self-doubt, the grueling trail, and the people and creatures who call this forest home. And, somewhere deep in the heart of The Dark Divide, he makes a discovery that challenges everything he knows about the natural world. Also starring David Koechner, Cameron Esposito, Gary Farmer, Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood, and Kimberly Guerrero. With music by The Avett Brothers, Giants in the Trees, Samantha Crain, Bombadil, The National Reserve, David Childers, and Michael Thomas Howard.

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

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Tom Putnam
Cast: David Cross, Debra Messing, Cameron Esposito, Gary Farmer, Patterson Hood, David Koechner, Kimberly Guerrero, Dyami Thomas
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 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.

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

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 sly, sultry character study from filmmaker Justine Triet, SIBYL follows a psychotherapist (Virginie Efira) who decides to quit her practice and return to writing instead. As Sibyl starts dropping patients, she begins to struggle with excess time and a lack of inspiration–until she gets a call from Margot (Adèle Exarchopoulos), a young actress wrapped up in a dramatic affair with her costar, Igor (Gaspard Ulliel), who happens to be married to the film’s director (Sandra Hüller). Becoming further enmeshed in Margot’s life, Sibyl starts to blur past and present, fiction with reality, and the personal with the professional as she begins to use Margot’s life as source material for her novel.

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

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Justine Triet
Cast: Virginie Efira, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Gaspard Ulliel, Sandra Hüller
Language: French and English with English subtitles
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 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.

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

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

Winner of the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Berlinale Panorama and Australia’s official submission to the 92nd Academy Awards®, this story of a Cambodian teenager sold into forced labor on a Thai fishing boat is a passionate testimony against social injustice and a moving coming-of-age tale about a boy whose humanity is put to the test.

Spirited 14-year-old Chakra works the rice fields with his family. He yearns for independence and seeks out a local broker who can get him paid work in a Thai factory. Without telling his family, Chakra travels to Bangkok to make his fortune. But when he gets there, he and his new friend Kea realize the broker has lied to them. Along with other Cambodians and Burmese, they are sold to a fishing captain as slaves.

Chakra and Kea are trapped at sea, trawling fish 22 hours a day, surviving on just a handful of cold rice a day. The captain quickly weeds out those weakened by the conditions or trying to escape, and throws them overboard. The trawler sells its catch and restocks its supplies without going to land, making escape impossible. As fellow slaves are tortured and murdered around them, Kea begins to lose his mind. When his only ally is killed, Chakra looks to Rom Ran to understand what it will take to be free. With hope and humanity dwindling, Chakra decides to take control of the trawler.

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

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Rodd Rathjen
Cast: Sarm Heng, Thanawut Ketsaro, Mony Ros
Language: Khmer and Thai with English subtitles
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 32 minutes

Middle-aged Shokoo finds out that ex-husband, Fereydoun, has been placed in a nursing home by their children. She, and second husband Reza, decide to take care of Fereydoun themselves, but in their own home.

In doing so, the relationship between Shokoo and Fereydoun is significantly transformed. This new situation affects Reza and Shokoo’s daily life and unexpected changes take place in the lives of all three characters.

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

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Mona Zandi Haghighi
Cast: Fatemeh Motamed Arya, Saeed Aghakhani, and Reza Babak
Language: Persian
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

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.

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

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.

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

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

It’s 1998 in Miami. Rampant poverty, broken families, and a prejudiced system push underprivileged youth to the fringes of society. But for a magnetic group of teens, there’s a reprieve. A game where it’s not about where you come from, but how you play. That equalizer is chess. Mr. “T” Martinez, a chess militant and passionate coach, leads them to a completely foreign field of battle: the National Chess Championship. With an underfunded school district, Martinez and his team can’t just waltz into the arena. They have to fight for it. Chess runs parallel to their own experiences as Martinez teaches them that the power of Critical Thinking can not only save their kings, but also their lives.

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

Rental fee is $6.99

Director: John Leguizamo
Cast: John Leguizamo, Rachel Bay Jones, Michael Kenneth Williams
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 57 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.

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

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

Werner Herzog turns the camera on himself and his decades-long friendship with the late travel writer Bruce Chatwin, a kindred spirit whose quest for ecstatic truth carried him to all corners of the globe. Herzog’s deeply personal portrait of Chatwin, illustrated with archival discoveries, film clips, and a mound of “brontosaurus skin,” encompasses their shared interest in aboriginal cultures, ancient rituals, and the mysteries stitching together life on earth.

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

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Werner Herzog
Cast: Werner Herzog, Elizabeth Chatwin, Nicholas Shakespeare
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Set just prior to the start of the 21st century, this vaguely futuristic story follows two residents of a quickly crumbling building who refuse to leave their homes in spite of a virus that has forced the evacuation of the area. As rain pours down relentlessly, a single man is stuck with an unfinished plumbing job and a hole in his floor. This results in a very odd relationship with the woman who lives below him. Combining deadpan humor with an austere view of loneliness and a couple of unexpected musical numbers, Tsai Ming-Liang crafted one of the most original films of the 1990s.

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

Rental fee is $8.00

Director: Ming-liang Tsai
Cast: Kuei-Mei Yang, Kang-sheng Lee, Tien Miao
Language: Mandarin with English subtitles
Genre: Drama, Musical
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 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.

Join us for Q&As with Academy Award-nominated director Hubert Sauper! 

Sunday, August 30, 3:00pm ET / 12:00pm PT Hosted by Museum of the Moving Image Set a reminder! 

Saturday, September 5, 3:00pm ET / 12:00pm PT Hosted by the Coolidge Corner Theatre Set a reminder!

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

Rental fee is $12.00

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.

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

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.

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

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

THE 24TH tells the incredibly powerful and timely true story of the all-black Twenty-Fourth United States Infantry Regiment, and the Houston Riot of 1917. The Houston Riot was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers in response to the brutal violence and abuse at the hands of Houston police officers. The riot, which lasted two hours, led to the death of nine civilians, four policemen, and two soldiers and resulted in the largest murder trial in history, which sentenced a total of nineteen men to execution and forty-one men to life sentences.

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

Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Kevin Willmott
Cast: Trai Byers, Bashir Salahuddin, Aja Naomi King
Language: English
Genre: Drama, History
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 53 minutes

Using new archival sources and unprecedented access to key players on both sides, master documentarian Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA) reveals the true story behind one of the most daring rescues in modern US history: a secret mission to free hostages captured during the 1979 Iranian revolution.

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

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Barbara Kopple
Cast: Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Ted Koppel
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 47 minutes

Starting at Zero explores the power of investing in high-quality early childhood education so that all children and families have the opportunity to attain the American Dream.

The film brings together the voices of policymakers, educators, academics, business leaders, pediatricians, parents, and children. It features five current and past governors who are champions of early childhood education: Governors Steve Bullock of Montana, Kay Ivey of Alabama, and Ralph Northam of Virginia, as well as former Governors Jim Hunt of North Carolina, and Phil Bryant of Mississippi.

Starting at Zero examines the latest developmental brain science to demonstrate how essential the earliest years of learning are to maximize human potential. Key features of high-quality early childhood learning environments and experiences are outlined and then brought to life as the film delves into the evolution of Alabama’s #1 nationally ranked state Pre-K program.

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

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Willa Kammerer
Cast: N/A
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour

Filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival and directed by world-renowned photographer Bert Stern, Jazz on a Summer’s Day features intimate performances by an all-star line-up of musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O’Day, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, and closes with a beautiful rendition or The Lord’s Prayer by Mahalia Jackson at midnight to usher in Sunday morning. The film has been beautifully and extensively restored in 4K from the best surviving vault elements by IndieCollect.

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

Rental fee is $10.00

Director: Bert Stern
Cast: Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Chuck Berry
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

The sudden disappearance of his wife and children sends Will on a frantic search across Europe to regain his family and piece his life back together. He locates them in a remote village in France, but relief turns to horror when Will discovers his baby son has mysteriously died. Grief struck, Will secretly buries him in a bid to protect his wife. But by burying the truth, Will now risks destruction. As the mystery behind his wife’s actions start to take a dark and menacing form, Will sets out to discover the truth about his wife’s disappearance and his son’s tragic death—no matter the cost.

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

Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Paula van der Oest
Cast: Claes Bang, Olga Kurylenko, Brian Cox 
Language: English, French, Italian
Genre: Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Producer and journalist Silvia Bizio introduces an evening with writer Charles Bukowski by recounting her time with the author and the discovery of an extraordinary time capsule that lead to the documentary’s creation. This short documentary is based on a video interview conducted by Bizio in January of 1981 with Bukowski at his home in San Pedro, California. It was a long night of smoking cigarettes and drinking wine with Bukowski and his soon to be wife, Linda Lee Beighle, talking about all kinds of subjects, from writers to sex, love and humanity. The interview was shot on Umatic tapes which have been digitized and edited along with new shots in Super8 of scenes of Los Angeles today and poems read by the same Bukowski.

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

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Matteo Borgardt
Cast: Charles Bukowski, Linda Lee Beighle, Silvia Bizio
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 52 minutes

Eric S. Vaughan’s The Con is a 5–part original crime docuseries of an in-depth investigation into the 2008 financial crisis, available to watch in virtual cinemas August 7th. The 2008 financial crisis seemed to hit the American landscape out of nowhere

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

Rental fee is $20.00 for all 5 episodes

Director: Eric Vaughan
Cast: N/A
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: N/A

Capturing the messy upheaval of the ’70s just as rock was re-inventing itself, CREEM: AMERICA’S ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MAGAZINE explores CREEM Magazine’s humble beginnings in post-riot Detroit, follows its upward trajectory from underground paper to national powerhouse, then bears witness to its imminent demise following the tragic and untimely deaths of its visionary publisher, Barry Kramer, and its most famous alum and genius clown prince, Lester Bangs, a year later. Fifty years after publishing its first issue, “America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine” remains a seditious spirit in music and culture.

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

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Scott Crawford
Cast: Alice Cooper, Joan Jett, Michael Stipe, Cameron Crowe, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Kirk Hammett, Wayne Kramer, Chad Smith
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 15 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).

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

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.

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

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.)

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

An exploration into the career, music and influence of the iconic musician. With unprecedented access to the artist and featuring interviews with Sarah McLachlan, Alec Baldwin and more, this intimate documentary follows Lightfoot’s evolution from choirboy in rural Canada to troubled troubadour to international star with hits including “If You Could Read My Mind”, “Sundown”, “Carefree Highway”, and “Rainy Day People”.

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

Rental fee is $9.99

Director: Martha Kehoe, Joan Tosoni
Cast: Gordon Lightfoot, Geddy Lee, Sarah McLachlan
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

On the morning of Nov. 8, 2018, a devastating firestorm engulfed the picturesque city of Paradise, California. By the time the Camp Fire was extinguished, it had killed 85 people, displaced 50,000 residents and destroyed 95% of local structures. It was the deadliest U.S. fire in 100 years — and the worst ever in California’s history. REBUILDING PARADISE, from Academy Award-winning director RON HOWARD, is a moving story of resilience in the face of tragedy, as a community ravaged by disaster comes together to recover what was lost and begin the important task of rebuilding.

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

Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Ron Howard
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 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.

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

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

This revealing and unfiltered documentary follows the life and career of academy-award-winning actress, Olympia Dukakis. Starting on the day she turns eighty and continuing for three years, this film deals with the struggles and pains surrounding identity and the roles placed on us by society. Its cinema-verité style allows the audience to constantly move alongside Olympia as she navigates between rehearsals, workshops, family life, and finally the journey to her ancestral home in Greece. Exhibiting both candor and vulnerability, we see her deal with age, grief and sexuality while opening up about her past struggles with depression, suicide and drug addiction. Relinquishing and confronting her inner doubts and demons, we reflect upon her life, finding strength in sisterhood and the unity of female solidarity. Intricately weaving between visceral impromptu personal moments with Olympia, together with footage of her performances both on and off screen, we experience the presence of an unrelenting female energy. Not only does her story add to the perpetual ‘herstory’ of women withstanding and overcoming their obstacles and oppressors through the passage of time, it also gives us insight into how she overcame the impediments that affected her life as the daughter of immigrants and as a woman in a male-dominated society. We are granted the raw, unfiltered attitude of Olympia without a script to guide her. Her fierceness is seen to persist throughout her daily life beyond the stage or film. self-doubt have thickened her skin and sharpened her mind, and her energy is contagious. Despite her age and the innumerable experiences in her life, her determination to continue, to move forward and overcome the hurdles that life places before us all, is an inspiration.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Harry Mavromichalis
Cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Laura Linney, Diane Ladd, Lynn Cohen, Lainie Kazan, Austin Pendleton, Ed Asner, Armistead Maupin, Governor Michael Dukakis
Language: English
Genre: Biography, Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

From Cleveland to Broadway to Hollywood and a hundred stops in between, actress-singer-comedian Kaye Ballard has travelled the world of show business like no other performer. Spanning the 1940s to the 2000s,Ballard has not just done it all, but she has proved to be one of the most multifaceted talents to ever hit stage and screen. It is her uniquely captivating and enchanting career that is celebrated in the documentary film Kaye Ballard: The Show Goes On!

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Dan Wingate
Cast: Woody Allen, Ann-Margret, Eve Arden
Language: English
Genre: Biography
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Winner of the first-ever Library of Congress / Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, Flannery is the lyrical, intimate exploration of the life and work of author Flannery O’Connor, whose distinctive Southern Gothic style influenced a generation of artists and activists. With her family home at Andalusia (the Georgia farm where she grew up and later wrote her best known work) as a backdrop, a picture of the woman behind her sharply aware, starkly redemptive style comes into focus. Including conversations with those who knew her and those inspired by her (Mary Karr, Tommy Lee Jones, Lucinda Williams, Hilton Als and more), Flannery employs never-before-seen archival footage, newly discovered personal letters and her own published words (read by Mary Steenburgen) alongside original animations and music to examine the life and legacy of an American literary icon.

Content Advisory: This film contains offensive language, including an ethnic slur that—in an effort to retain the integrity of the literary works examined therein—has not been muted or otherwise distorted in the presentation of the documentary. Racist language was wrong during Flannery O’Connor’s lifetime and is wrong today. This film, the filmmakers and those presenting the film do not condone, support or promote the use of racist language in any way.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Elizabeth Coffman, Mark Bosco
Cast: Mary Steenburgen
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 37 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

Jim (David Thewlis) and his daughter Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira), a high school music teacher, attempt to unravel their complicated histories and intertwined secrets in the latest film from Academy Award nominee Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), which weaves through time exploring perception and penance, memory and forgiveness. A hoax instigated by an aggressive school bus driver (Rossif Sutherland) goes very wrong. Accused of abusing her position of authority with 17-year-old Clive (Alexandre Bourgeois) and another student, Veronica is imprisoned. Convinced that she deserves to be punished for crimes she committed at an earlier age, Veronica rebuffs her father’s attempts to secure her early release. Confused and frustrated by her intransigence, Jim’s anguish begins to impinge on his job. As a food inspector, he wields great power over small, family-owned restaurants. It’s a power he doesn’t hesitate to use. While preparing Jim’s funeral, Veronica confides the secrets of her past to Father Greg (Luke Wilson), who may hold the final piece of this father-daughter puzzle.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Atom Egoyan
Cast: David Thewlis, Luke Wilson, Laysla De Oliveira 
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 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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Director: Ciro Guerra
Cast: Mark Rylance, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson 
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Using interviews and rare archival footage, JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE chronicles Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration. Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 80 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s primarily cinéma verité film also includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his life.

Immediately following the feature, there will be a pre-recorded discussion between Representative Lewis and Oprah Winfrey, filmed last month and being made available exclusively for virtual cinema and in-theater engagements of the film. This is a wide-ranging, informal, 16-minute conversation that’s a perfect follow-up to the documentary.

Additionally, on 7/9 join us for a panel discussion presented by the Freedom Rides Museum of Montgomery, Alabama, featuring Freedom Riders Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Dr. Rip Patton in conversation with director Dawn Porter. In partnership with the Capri Theatre. 7:30pm EST / 4:30pm PST.

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Dawn Porter
Cast: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, John Lewis, Martin Luther King 
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: PG for thematic material including some racial epithets/violence, and for smoking
Run time: 1 hour 36 minutes

DENISE HO – BECOMING THE SONG profiles the openly gay Hong Kong singer and human rights activist Denise Ho. Drawing on unprecedented, years-long access, the film explores her remarkable journey from commercial Cantopop superstar to outspoken political activist, an artist who has put her life and career on the line to support the determined struggle of Hong Kong citizens to maintain their identity and freedom.

Denise’s story mirrors almost perfectly the last three decades of Hong Kong’s uneasy relationship with China. A top international recording artist in Hong Kong and across China and other Asian nations, the turning point in her career came during the seminal moment of change for Hong Kong, the Umbrella Movement of 2014. Her public support of students who demanded free elections and occupied central Hong Kong for nearly three months had immediate and lasting consequences: she was arrested and then blacklisted by China.

Under pressure, sponsors dropped Denise and venues refused to let her perform. The film follows Denise on the road as she tours the U.S., Canada and UK and prepares to release a new hit song, attempting to rebuild her career. But it soon became clear she is also reflecting on her life’s trajectory. In June 2019, Hong Kong exploded in anti-extradition law protests with millions taking to the streets, and Denise once again faced a turning point. She has been in the streets with the tear gas and water cannons. She has tried to mediate for and protect the protesters. She has addressed the United Nations and U.S. Congress to explain the crisis and plead for international help, making it clear that Hong Kong’s struggle is a desperate fight for basic freedom and democracy around the world.

As the film draws to a close, the fight for Hong Kong continues…

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Rental fee is $12.00

Director: Sue Williams
Cast: Denise Ho
Language: English, Cantonese
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Dujuan is a 10-year-old Arrernte and Garrwa boy from Mparntwe (Alice Springs) in Australia. Full of life and exuberance, he learns, with the support of his loving mother and grandmother, to hunt, speak two Indigenous languages and become a healer. Dujuan is politically astute and a leader in the making. But within the westernized school system, his strength and intellect go unnoticed and the colonial approaches to education threaten him with failing grades. At the time of filming, 100% of the youth in Alice Springs detention centers were Aboriginal, and throughout the film it becomes increasingly clear that the system is set up to work against young boys like Dujuan. This powerful film, made in collaboration with Dujuan’s family, is an emotional journey through the fight to mend an educational schism between traditional culture and colonial ideas and solidify a future for the youth.

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Rental fee is $10

Director: Maya Newell
Cast: Carol Turner, Dujuan Turner, Megan Turner
Language: English, Aboriginal
Genre: Documentary, Biography
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 25 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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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

Purchase a ticket for $12, get access to the film for 72 hours AND an exclusive pre-recorded conversation with director Brian Welsh and executive producer Steven Soderbergh, moderated by Slamdance’s Peter Baxter (presented by Slamdance).

A universal story of friendship, rebellion, and the irresistible power of music set against the backdrop of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994, which banned unlicensed raves across the UK, BEATS follows best friends and polar opposites Johnno and Spanner who, realizing they are destined for different futures, sneak out to an illegal party in pursuit of one last crazy night together. In English with English subtitles.

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Brian Welsh
Cast: Cristian Ortega, Lorn Macdonald, Laura Fraser
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Crime
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Turquoise Jones is a single mom who holds down a household, a rebellious teenager, and pretty much everything that goes down at Wayman’s BBQ & Lounge. Turquoise is also a bona fide beauty queen—she was once crowned Miss Juneteenth, a title commemorating the day slaves in Texas were freed – two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Life didn’t turn out as beautifully as the title promised, but Turquoise, determined to right her wrongs, is cultivating her daughter, Kai, to become Miss Juneteenth, even if Kai wants something else.

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Rental fee is $6.99

Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples
Cast: Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, Alexis Chikaeze
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 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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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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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”.

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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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Rental fee is $12

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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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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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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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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Rental fee is $4.99

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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Rental fee is $12

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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Rental fee is $4.99

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

A film of deeply concentrated beauty, acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela stars nonprofessional actor Vitalina Varela in an extraordinary performance based on her own life. Vitalina plays a Cape Verdean woman who has travelled to Lisbon to reunite with her husband, after two decades of separation, only to arrive mere days after his funeral. Alone in a strange forbidding land, she perseveres and begins to establish a new life. Winner of the Golden Leopard for Best Film and Best Actress at the Locarno Film Festival, as well as an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, Vitalina Varela is a film of shadow and whisper, a profoundly moving and visually ravishing masterpiece.

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Director: Pedro Costa
Cast: Vitalina Varela, Ventura, Manuel Tavares Almeida
Language: Portuguese
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 5 minutes

In the early seventies, the world was watching as Chile democratically elected Socialist leader Salvador Allende. His political ideals and aspirations—among them providing education for all children and distributing land to the nation’s workers—terrified the country’s right-wing, as well as the U.S., who helped orchestrate a military coup that replaced him with dictator Augusto Pinochet. This tragic history has been well documented, but Italian director Nanni Moretti (Caro Diario, Ecce Bombo) adds an angle many viewers may not know about: the efforts of the Italian Embassy to save and relocate citizens targeted by the fascist regime. Told through the testimonies of those who were there, Santiago, Italia is a chilling depiction of living under junta rule and an ultimately inspiring expression of hope amidst dire circumstances.

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Director: Nanni Moretti
Cast: Salvador Allende, Carmen Castillo, Patricio Guzmán
Language: In Spanish and Italian with English Subtitles
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Rose, a sweet, lonely driving instructor in rural Ireland, is gifted with supernatural abilities. Rose has a love/hate relationship with her ‘talents’ and tries to ignore the constant spirit related requests from locals – to exorcise possessed rubbish bins or haunted gravel. But! Christian Winter, a washed up, one-hit-wonder rock star, has made a pact with the devil for a return to greatness! He puts a spell on a local teenager – making her levitate. Her terrified father, Martin Martin, asks Rose to help save his daughter. Rose has to overcome the fear of her supernatural gift and work with Martin to save the girl, get the guy and be home in time for a light snack… maybe a yogurt or something.

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Director: Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman
Cast: Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, Will Forte
Language: English
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Horror
Rating: R for language, sexual content and some horror violence
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

In her Stockholm studio, Hilma af Klint created 193 breathtaking abstract paintings long before Kandinsky (the supposed pioneer of abstract art) ever dreamed of it.

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Halina Dyrschka
Language: English, Swedish, German
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes

The 1981 Academy Award-winning Best Foreign Language Film MEPHISTO, by Hungarian master István Szabó, concerns a passionate but struggling actor (Klaus Maria Brandauer) who remains in Germany during the Nazi regime and reaps the rewards of this Faustian pact by finally achieving the stardom he has long craved. Sparkling new 4K restoration by the Hungarian Film Fund.

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Rental fee is $4.99

Director: Istvan Szabo
Cast: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Krystyna Janda, Ildikó Bánsági
Language: German, Hungarian
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 25 minutes

In post-WWII Leningrad, two women, Iya and Masha (astonishing newcomers Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina), intensely bonded after fighting side by side as anti-aircraft gunners, attempt to readjust to a haunted world. As the film begins, Iya, long and slender and towering over everyone—hence the film’s title—works as a nurse in a shell-shocked hospital, presiding over traumatized soldiers. A shocking accident brings them closer and also seals their fates. The 28-year-old Russian director Kantemir Balagov won Un Certain Regard’s Best Director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this richly burnished, occasionally harrowing rendering of the persistent scars of war.

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Director: Kantemir Balagov
Cast: Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Vasilisa Perelygina
Language: Russian with English subtitles
Genre: Drama, War
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Haiti, 1962. A man is brought back from the dead only to be sent to the living hell of the sugarcane fields. 55 years later, at a Parisian boarding school, a Haitian teenager confesses an old family secret, never imagining that this strange tale will inspire her classmate to do the unthinkable.

The latest from French master Bertrand Bonello (Saint Laurent, Nocturama), ZOMBI CHILD is an “audacious and cunning” (Little White Lies) new take on classic horror tropes that “poses timely and provocative questions” while “taking us on a journey that’s as intellectually demanding as it is compelling.” (Screen Daily).

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Rental fee is $12

Director: Bertrand Bonello
Cast: Louise Labeque, Wislanda Louimat, Katiana Milfort
Language: French with English subtitles
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 45 minutes

The British working class is once again the empathetic subject of Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, a wrenching, intimate family drama that exposes the dark side of the so-called “gig economy”.

Ricky, a former laborer, and his home-attendant wife Abby—who lost their home in the 2008 financial crash—are desperate to get out of their financial distress. When an opportunity comes up for Ricky to work as his own boss as a delivery driver, they sell their only asset, Abby’s car, to trade it in for a shiny new white van and the dream that Ricky can work his way up to someday owning his own delivery franchise.

But the couple find their lives are quickly pushed further to the edge by an unrelenting work schedule, a ruthless supervisor and the needs of their two teenage children. Capturing the sacred moments that make a family as well as the acts of desperation they need to undertake to make it through each day, this universal story is skillfully and indelibly told with unforgettable performances and a searing script by Loach’s long-time collaborator Paul Laverty.

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Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone
Language: English
Genre: Drama
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Acclaimed writer-director Yaron Zilberman (A Late Quartet) chronicles the disturbing descent of a promising law student to an intransigent ultranationalist obsessed with murdering his country’s leader, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Incitement is a gripping and unnerving look through the eyes of a murderer who silenced a powerful voice for peace.

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Director: Yaron Zilberman
Cast: Yehuda Nahari Halevi, Amitay Yaish Ben Ousilio, Anat Ravnitzki
Language: Hebrew
Genre: Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 2 hours 5 minutes

Told in Bill Cunningham’s own words from a recently unearthed six-hour 1994 interview, the iconic street photographer and fashion historian chronicles, in his customarily cheerful and plainspoken manner, moonlighting as a milliner in France during the Korean War, his unique relationship with First Lady Jackie Kennedy, his four decades at The New York Times and his democratic view of fashion and society. Narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker, The Times of Bill Cunningham features incredible photographs chosen from over 3 million previously unpublicized images and documents from Cunningham.

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Director: Mark Bozek
Cast: Bill Cunningham, Sarah Jessica Parker
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Run time: 1 hour 15 minutes