At 11 am
ROBE OF GEMS (Manto de gemas/Mexico/Argentina/USA)
(117 min; 2022; Spanish with English subtitles)
Director: Natalia López
Recipient of the Silver Berlin Bear Jury Prize, Berlin International Film Festival 2022; and Winner Feature Film Competition Award for Best Director, Morelia International Film Festival 2022
In the countryside of Mexico, the fates of three women collide when the case of a missing person leads them on a path of pain and redemption. The tale of three women - the wealthy and emotionally unstable Isabel (Nailea Norvind), her housekeeper Maria (Antonia Olivares), and a defeated police chief, Roberta (Aida Roa) - whose paths connect and unfold within a rural Mexican community that is passive in the face of crime, violence, and systemic corruption.
At 2 pm
MY NIGHT (Ma nuit/France)
(87 min; 2021; French with English subtitles)
Director: Antoinette Boulat
Recipient of the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film, Athens Panorama of European Cinema, 2021
Marion is 18 years old. Filled with grief since the loss of her sister, she has reached an age where she feels a vital need for freedom. One night, she embarks on a ride through the streets of Paris. What follows is an evening of encounters until Marion meets the impulsive and free-spirited Alex. Like a reunion of two lonely souls, their path will evolve into a rhythm of wandering in a city that youth no longer relates to, like a journey into the night.
At 4 pm
NOAH LAND (Nuh Tepesi/Turkey)
(109 min; 2019; Turkish with English subtitle)
Director: Cenk Ertürk
Multiple award winner including awards for Best Actor & Best Screenplay - International Narrative Competition, Tribeca Film Festival 2019; SIYAD Award for Best Actor, Turkish Film Critics Association Awards 2020; Golden Boll in National Feature Film Awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film & FILMYON Best Director, Adana Film Festival 2019; among others
Writer-director Cenk Ertürk’s début film, Noah Land, follows Ömer (Ali Atay), a recently-divorced man who takes his estranged father, Ibrahim (Haluk Bilginer), back to the remote, Turkish town that expelled him 45 years earlier. Dying of cancer, Ibrahim returns to arrange to be buried under a tree he planted as a child.
However, it turns out the tree has since become a religious landmark called the “Noah Tree,” which the locals believe the biblical figure planted after The Flood. As Ömer and Ibrahim fight to have the latter’s deed on the land recognized, they begin to fix their troubled relationship.
At 6.30 pm
DECISION TO LEAVE (Heojil kyolshim/South Korea)
(139 min; 2022; Korean with English subtitles)
Director: Park Chan-wook
Multiple award winner including Best Director Award, Cannes Film Festival 2022; NBR Award for Top Five International Films, National Board of Film Review, USA 2022; ALFS Award for Best Foreign Language Film, London Critics Circle Film Awards 2023; Grand Bell Awards for Best Film, Best Actor & Best Screenplay, Grand Bell Awards, South Korea 2022; among others
In Busan, Jang Hae-Joon (Park Hae-il), an insomniac but cool police detective is investigating the death of a man who apparently fell from a mountain top. He becomes increasingly suspicious of Song Seo-rae (Tang Wei), the deceased’s wife. His suspicion goes side by side with his attraction for her, which begins to cloud his vision as another murder case and the distant relationship with his wife (who due to work, lives elsewhere) occupy his mind.
One of 2022's best films is full of mystery and longing. The film's ending is just as enigmatic as its plot. The film guards its secrets with extreme care, and slowly reveals them in moments where they are the least expected. Its slow-burning plot has echoes of Alfred Hitchcock’s storylines, making whichever notion of what's going to happen useless…
