The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
(Dir. Francisca Alegria, 2023)
Available to buy and rent early on Kino Now 7/5
Available on all major digital platforms 7/18
A choir of creatures introduces a world delicately constructed by fantasy, mystery, and magical realism in Francisca Alegría’s poignant and stunning debut feature. It begins in a river in the south of Chile where fish are dying due to pollution from a nearby factory. Amid their floating bodies, long-deceased Magdalena (Mia Maestro) bubbles up to the surface gasping for air, bringing with her old wounds and a wave of family secrets. This shocking return sends her widowed husband into turmoil and prompts their daughter Cecilia (Leonor Varela) to return home to the family’s dairy farm with her own children. Magdalena’s presence reverberates among her family, instigating fits of laughter and despair in equal measure with all but Cecilia’s eldest child, who finds much-needed comfort in their grandmother’s love and unconditional understanding during a time of transition. A lyrical rumination on family, nature, renewal, and resurrection, The Cow Who Sang A Song Into The Future is an ambitious proposal for acceptance and healing, suggesting that the dead return when they are most needed.
Close to Vermeer
(Dir. Suzanne Raes, 2023)
Available to buy and rent early on Kino Now 7/18
Available on all major digital platforms 7/25
Go behind the scenes of the largest Vermeer exhibition ever, mounted in early 2023 at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Capturing the imagination of the art world – with glowing reviews, global publicity, and tickets sold out through the entirety of its run – the Rijksmuseum's Vermeer retrospective is nothing short of an historic event. Suzanne Raes’s film follows curators, conservators, collectors, and experts in their joint mission to shine a new light on the elusive Dutch Master. This fascinating documentary reveals everything from the quiet diplomacy required to get the Vermeers to the Netherlands and the new technical knowledge gained by scanning the paintings layer by layer, to the shocking news that one work may not be by Vermeer after all. In the process, we discover how Vermeer was able to depict reality so differently from his contemporaries. But above all, Close to Vermeer shows the infectious love Vermeer’s art inspires. As one curator lovingly puts it: “A good exhibition should change your view of the world. Vermeer can really do that.”
Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece
Tintin and the Blue Oranges
(Dirs. Jean-Jacques Vierne, Philippe Condroyer, 1961/1964)
Available on Kino Now and Amazon 7/11
Welcome to the charming and colorful world of Tintin! Hergé’s classic comic book characters leap to the silver screen in two spirited adventures starring the intrepid boy-reporter and his faithful dog Snowy. In Tintin’s first-ever live-action adaptation, Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece, Captain Haddock sets sail to Istanbul, accompanied by our cow-licked hero and his cohorts. There they collect a strange bounty from the late Captain Paparanic: a rusty old ship called the Golden Fleece. But the real treasure lies in a chest under the sea, as they discover a map with an “X” on it—marking the spot of Paparanic’s gold. For his next escapade, Tintin and the Blue Oranges, Tintin tries to crack the riddle of an oddly hued citrus that can be grown in the desert—and possibly solve world hunger.
Chile '76
(Dir. Manuela Martelli, 2023)
Available on all major digital platforms 7/11
Set during the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, Chile ‘76 builds from quiet character study to gripping suspense thriller as it explores one woman’s precarious flirtation with political engagement. Carmen (Aline Kuppenheim) leads a sheltered upper middle class existence. She heads to her summer house in the off-season to supervise its renovation, while also performing local charitable works through her church. Her husband, children, and grandchildren come back and forth during the winter vacation, bringing reminders of the world beyond. When the family priest asks her to take care of an injured young man he has been sheltering in secret, Carmen is inadvertently drawn into the world of the Chilean political opposition and must face real-world threats she is unprepared to handle, with potentially disastrous consequences for her and her entire family.
Michael
(Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1924)
Available on all major digital platforms 7/18
Danish film master Carl Theodor Dreyer's Michael is a mature and visually elegant period romance that remains one of the earliest and most compassionate overtly gay-themed films in movie history. Based upon Herman Bang's 1902 novel, Dreyer's Michael refashions the classical Greek myth of Jupiter and Ganymede into a love triangle between an aging artist, Zoret (director Benjamin Christensen), his protagonist Michael (Walter Slezak, Lifeboat) and Princess Zamikoff (Nora Gregor, Rules of the Game), an aristocratic femme fatale as entranced by Michael’s youthful beauty as Zoret is. Co-written by Fritz Lang’s wife and collaborator Thea von Harbou (M, Metropolis), this intimate and compelling film possesses a bold level of emotional detail and depicts the twilight of a male-male romance with unusual daring and subtlety.
July 4
MURDER IN… (FRANCE) NEW SEASON
The blockbuster French TV series where the location is the star returns for a tenth season. Murder In… is an anthology series that’s part crime series, part travelogue, as it transports viewers to the great sites and regions of France. Among sweeping vistas and diverse locations, each episode contains a mystery to be solved, as cops chase down the criminals against stunning backdrops: lush forests, remote islands, rocky coastlines, beaches with clear blue water and grand ranches. Season 10 episodes are set in Amboise, Biot, Frioul Island, Haute Provence, Kermadec, Marie-Galante, Mont Saint-Michel, Porquerolles and Rochefort Sur Mer.
WAKE UP MY LOVE (ITALY) NEW SERIES
A small Italian community suffers from a mysterious illness until one mother's love changes everything.
July 11
CAPTAIN MARLEAU (FRANCE) NEW SEASON
She’s back! Corinne Masiero returns as the offbeat Captain Marleau, solving crimes in her inimitable style.
BACKWOODS CRIME (AUSTRIA) NEW SERIES
Riveting crime anthology series set in the breathtaking Austrian countryside - murder, mystery and plenty of surprises!
July 18
MAKARI: SICILIAN MYSTERIES (ITALY) NEW SEASON
The producers of Detective Montalbano present a new series of captivating mysteries based on the bestselling novels by Gaetano Savatteri. Saverio Lamanna returns to his abandoned family home in Makari, Sicily to write a book. His incredible intuition leads him to become an accidental detective…
July 25
ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE (FINLAND) NEW SERIES
After writing a critical article about a local football legend, reporter Katja Salonen finds herself drawn into a whirlpool of lies and conspiracy – not to mention murder.
INSPECTOR REX (AUSTRIA) NEW SEASON
Police dog Rex investigates crime and solves mysteries on the streets of Vienna - protecting the innocent, catching criminals and stealing the occasional ham roll.
July 6
"Christian" Season 2 (Italy)
In Season 1, Christian, a resident of crime-ridden Città Palazzo on the outskirts of Rome earns his living doing the dirty work for Lino, the neighborhood crime boss. But when stigmata appear on his hands, Christian can no longer do Lino’s bidding. He also discovers he has gained mysterious healing powers which, if used correctly, would allow him to finally achieve a better life. With the help of the neighbor he saved from a drug overdose with his new abilities, Christian prepares for a fight with Lino. But he is being tracked down by Matteo, a mysterious Vatican postulator searching for signs and confirmation of a miracle that changed his own life as a child.
Season 2 opens with Lino dead and Città Palazzo needing a new leader. Christian must now use his miraculous healing powers and build the kingdom predicted by the Blond Man. At the same time, Matteo is asked to take sides against his son’s savior. In fact, the Dark Woman, a divine being determined to foil the Blond Man’s plans, has arrived at his side. Christian must learn how to go from petty criminal to saint, from one of the many to the rock of an entire community. In so doing, he will become “king” of Città Palazzo and learn to make choices for the common good... while Matteo will discover the temptation of playing the game of life for personal gain. But the human heart is unpredictable, and not even the divine essence of the Blond Man and the Dark Woman will be able to control the struggle for individual freedom inside the walls of Città Palazzo.
July 13
“Follow The Money” Season 3 (Denmark)
Now available with English dubbing,
also available in original language with English subtitles
Missing “Succession” and “Billions?” In “Follow The Money,” big Danish sustainable energy company Energreen has enjoyed enormous growth. Problems arise when an employee’s body is found and Detective Mads Justesen starts investigating the company, led by charismatic CEO Alexander Sodergren. Does Sodergren know more about his employee’s death? The series takes viewers into the world of white-collar crime in banks, stock exchanges, and boardrooms, perpetuated by the speculators, swindlers, and corporate moguls who go to any lengths to pursue wealth.
July 20
"River" Season 1 (UK)
John River is a brilliant, Swedish-born police inspector in London whose genius lies side-by-side with the fragility of his mind. He is a man literally haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest, including the ghost of his murdered partner and confidant, Detective Sergeant Jackie ‘Stevie’ Stevenson.
Adrift in a London full of other exiled souls, River’s own isolation helps him connect with the troubled victims who crash into his world, and to see the truth in ways his colleagues both admire and question. But as his long-held defenses are eroded by love and loss, River is torn between the living and the dead. Will he have to choose once and for all?
July 27
"Agatha Christie's Hjerson" (Sweden, Germany, Finland, UK)
Now available with English dubbing
In the same vein as the “Knives Out” films, “Agatha Christie’s Hjerson” takes on the murder mystery genre in a fun and stylish way. “Agatha Christie’s Hjerson” is a modernization of a classic Agatha Christie character Sven Hjerson, a once renowned criminal profiler who suddenly chose to retire from the spotlight. He gets pursued by Klara Sandberg, a trash TV producer who wants to reset her career with a true-crime show that would star him. Hjerson has just been informed of his mother’s death and is forced to return to The Åland Islands. Klara manages to track him down and is on the same cruise ship heading to the archipelago. On the ship, a young journalist is murdered. A reluctant Hjerson and a zealous Klara begin their journey of solving a string of murder mysteries.
July 4
The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons
(Dirs. Judd Tully, Harold Crooks, 2023)
THE MELT GOES ON FOREVER chronicles the singular career of the elusive African-American art star David Hammons from Watts rebellion era ’60s L.A. to global art world prominence today. Hammons’ category-defying practice – rooted in a deep critique of American society and the elite art world – is in the words of one art critic “an invitation to confront the fissures between races."
(Dir. Bernard-Henri Lévy, 2023)
One year after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy (The Will to See) takes us to the heart of the conflict through a war diary made during the second half of 2022. From Kharkiv, in the Donbass, to Kherson, in the aftermath of the city’s liberation, this documentary bears witness to the ravages of war through the testimonies of soldiers, chronicles of the front and portraits of civilians, and shares with us the struggle of the Ukrainian people.
Star Pilot (2+5: Missione Hydra)
(Dir. Pietro Francisci, 1966)
A kitschy sci-fi extravaganza recently restored in 4K, Star Pilot (2+5 Missione Hydra, 1966) is a wildly colorful adventure through the vastness of space. Aliens from the constellation Hydra crash-land on the island of Sardinia. A prominent scientist, his daughter, several young technicians, and a pair of spies are taken hostage by the beings so they can use them to repair their spaceship’s broken engine. With that done, they take off towards their home planet, taking the Earthlings with them. However, the humans attempt to mutiny against their captors, inadvertently sending their tiny spaceship hurtling into the infinite beyond.
July 11
Only in Theaters
(Dir. Raphael Sbarge, 2023)
There has been a Laemmle in the movie business since there’s been a movie business. This is the story of a beloved Arthouse Cinema chain in Los Angeles with an astounding legacy. Over four generations, Laemmle’s have dedicated themselves to supporting, innovating, and elevating the art of filmmaking. Popularizing independent films, documentary films, and their filmmakers, the Laemmle Theatres’ impact on Hollywood and world cinema cannot be overstated. Filmed over 2+ years, Only in Theaters chronicles the Laemmle family, their business, and their determination to survive. But in a changing world, this is also a story about the future of cinema.
July 18
Persian Lessons
(Dir. Vadim Perelman, 2023)
Occupied France, 1942. Gilles (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) is arrested by SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He narrowly avoids sudden execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach Farsi to Head of Camp Koch (Lars Eidinger), who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over. Through an ingenious trick, Gilles manages to survive by inventing words of “Farsi” every day and teaching them to Koch. The particular relationship between the two men sparks the jealousy of other prisoners and SS guards towards Gilles. And while the suspicions of Koch grow every day, Gilles understands that he will not be able to keep his secret very long...
(Dir. Daniel Andres Werner, 2021)
This erotic thriller follows an illicit love affair gone violently wrong. Joan (Renato Quattordio) is a naïve 16-year-old who has fallen madly in love with his older but sultry art teacher Luciana (Romina Ricci). She is also smitten, and together they decide to run away for a love nest weekend in a country house. But what begins as a schoolboy’s dream turns sinister when he finds himself kidnapped by a mysterious older man who seeks ransom money from his rich parents. And is his teacher/lover involved in the crime? Violence soon erupts as the boy fights for his life. First love was never so complicated or dangerous.
July 25
A Douglas Fairbanks Double Feature: Robin Hood and The Black Pirate
(Dirs. Allan Dwan, Albert Parker, 1922/1926)
A big-screen spectacle that ranks as one of the monumental accomplishments of the silent era, ROBIN HOOD is a timeless story of romance and intrigue, staged on a herculean scale. Its sets were erected by an army of 500 carpenters and towered 90 feet in the air, covering acres of land – historically accurate to the smallest detail. For this restoration, a full frame 35MM fine grain positive was scanned at 4K, with 175 hours of digital clean-up at 2K completed.
Shot in two-strip Technicolor, Fairbanks had conceived of THE BLACK PIRATE years before it was finally made. According to Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance, it was “the most carefully prepared and controlled of Fairbanks’s entire career,” certainly in no small part due to the expense and limitations of the early color process. The resulting film earned high praise from The New York Times, which praised its “unrivalled beauty…mindful of the paintings of the old masters.” A 35MM color negative was mastered in HD for this presentation.
About Kino Lorber
With a library of over 4,000 titles, Kino Lorber has been a leader in independent art house distribution for over 45 years, releasing 35 films per year theatrically and garnering seven Academy Award® nominations in nine years. The company also brings over 350 titles annually to the home entertainment and educational markets through digital and physical media releases. Kino Lorber handles ancillary media for an expanding family of distributed labels – including Zeitgeist Films, Milestone Films, Cohen Media Group, Menemsha Films, and Greenwich Entertainment – and licenses titles digitally to all major TVOD and SVOD platforms. In recent years, Kino Lorber has expanded its own direct digital platforms through the launch of TVOD service Kino Now and the acquisition of MHz Choice and Topic, the two leading North American streaming services featuring international series.