Oscar Restrepo’s obsession with poetry has brought him no glory. Aging and erratic, he has succumbed to the cliché of the poet in the shadows. Meeting Yurlady, a teenage girl from humble roots, and helping her cultivate her talent brings some light to his days. But dragging her into the world of poets may not be the way.

An avant-gutter psychedelic dream, Anything That Moves is an erotically charged, blood-soaked thriller set in the sticky corridors of Chicago. Shot on fleshy Super 16mm, director Alex Phillips' rust belt giallo continues on his trajectory of taboo-shattering horror cinema with this tense, funny, and absolutely twisted murder mystery. The film follows nubile sex worker Liam who bikes with his girlfriend—his partner in both business and pleasure—through the city delivering snacks and divine satisfaction to his love-hungry clients. Meanwhile, a serial killer's gory murders are piling up and all the evidence seems to point back to the lover's bed... Produced in collaboration with cult home video outfit Vinegar Syndrome, the film features stand-out supporting performances from erotic film legends Ginger Lynn (The Devil’s Rejects) and Nina Hartley (Boogie Nights). With an original instrumental score by Chicago-based artists Cue Shop calling to mind the lush orchestrations of Bruno Nicolai and lurid visuals by acclaimed cinematographer Hunter Zimny (The Scary of Sixty-First, Funny Pages), Anything That Moves provides an immersive throwback to 70s exploitation flicks.

A group of teenage camp counselors attempt to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past, but they are stalked by a mysterious, relentless killer. Content warning: This film contains scenes of violence and gore. Bikini Drive-In is a semi-monthly screening series examining horror films curated and introduced by Cinematheque Film Programmer Olivia Norquay. Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

Sylvia Hamilton and Claire Prieto’s contributions to Canadian film are invaluable, as their work explores and traces the lives, histories and perspectives of Black people in Canada. This February, the Winnipeg Film Group presents works by two pioneers of Black Canadian cinema. Born in 1950 in Beechville, Nova Scotia, in a Halifax community first settled by Black refugees from the War of 1812, Sylvia Hamilton is a multi-award-winning Canadian filmmaker, writer and poet. She is considered, alongside Roger McTair, Claire Prieto and Jennifer Hodge, a pioneer of Black Canadian cinema. Renowned and multi-award winning Nova Scotian filmmaker Sylvia D. Hamilton illuminates underrepresented stories from Black Nova Scotians in poignant vignettes, character portraits, and incisive testimonies, revealing a dark side to the often forgotten history of racial inequality and segregation of Black communities in Canada, from coast-to-coast. Clarie Prieto is a Trinidadian-Canadian TV and film producer, director and distributor whose work was vital to the birth and growth of Black Canadian cinema. Her films focus on Black history and culture and the experiences of Black Canadian women. Some Black Women (1975), which Prieto produced, is considered to be the first film ever made by a Black Canadian about the perspectives of the Black community in Canada. Prieto also played an important role in the Black Film and Video Network, whose goal, as she put it, was “to encourage and promote the development, production and distribution of the work of Black film and video-makers in Canada.” Black Mother Black Daughter Dir. Sylvia Hamilton and Claire Prieto 1989, Canada, 28 min Black Mother Black Daughter, was one of the first NFB productions ever created by an all-female crew. It chronicles the lives of Black women in Nova Scotia, their contributions to the home, the church and the community, and the strengths they pass on to their daughters. Older Stronger Wiser Dir. Claire Prieto 1989, Canada, 27 min In this short documentary, five Black women talk about their lives in rural and urban Canada between the 1920s and 1950s. What emerges is a unique history of Canada’s Black people and the legacy of their community elders. Produced by the NFB’s iconic Studio D. Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia Dir. Sylvia Hamilton 1992, Canada, 28 min In their predominantly white high school in Halifax, a group of Black students face daily reminders of racism, ranging from abuse to exclusion. They work to establish a Cultural Awareness Youth Group, a vehicle for building pride and self-esteem through educational and cultural programs. With help from mentors, they discover the richness of their heritage and learn some of the ways they can begin to effect change.

In a time of superstition and magic, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn Goodfellowe, journeys to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to transform into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh’s missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the Wolfwalkers and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.

Merging elements from Dracula’s Daughter (1936) with André Breton’s surrealist novel Nadja (1928), and fusing shimmering black-and-white 35mm with hallucinatory Pixelvision video, Michael Almereyda’s (Tesla, Experimenter, Hamlet) acclaimed cult film follows young vampire Nadja (Elina Löwensohn) as she returns to NYC to avenge her father’s death at the hands of Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Fonda). Executive produced by David Lynch. New 4K restoration of the director’s cut. An Arbelos Films and Grasshopper Release.

In a dystopian near-future Japan, law and order is enforced by a brutal paramilitary police unit known as the Kerberos Panzer Cops aka ‘Watchdogs of Hell’, equipped with heavy weaponry and reinforced body armor called “Protect Gear.” However, when their extreme methods spark public outcry, the government moves to dismantle the unit. Disobeying orders to disband, a trio of officers stage a rebellion—but only one, Koichi Todome (Shigeru Chiba) escapes. Three years later, Koichi returns to Tokyo after living in exile, carrying a mysterious suitcase. He seeks to reunite with his former comrades and uncover the truth behind the crackdown, but he soon finds himself in a surreal and dreamlike city—a shadow of its former self, filled with strange characters, elusive memories, and Kafkaesque absurdity. As reality begins to unravel Koichi descends deeper into paranoia, unable to tell friend from foe, truth from illusion. A philosophical blend of film noir, political allegory, and existential mystery, The Red Spectacles is a visually striking black comedy that meditates on justice, memory, and the cost of loyalty. It also serves as Mamoru Oshii’s foray into live-action filmmaking and his first feature installment in the Kerberos Saga. Welcome to Cult-O-Rama, our monthly screening series exploring beloved sleaze, trash, and underground cinema! A celebration of bad taste curated and introduced by Cinematheque Film Programmer Olivia Norquay. Presented in partnership with Sookram’s Brewing Co. Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

In 1943, in the middle of World War II, Koda Yukiko goes to French Indochina under Japanese occupation (presently Vietnam) to work as a typist, where she meets an engineer Tomioka, a married man. They fall in love. When the war ends, he returns to Japan. She, believing his promise to divorce his wife in living in Tokyo and marry her, returns home a little later and visits him immediately. Nevertheless, he is vacillating. Bewildered at his such attitudes, she becomes a mistress of a foreigner. (The Japan Foundation)

Frantz Fanon, a French psychiatrist from Martinique, has just been appointed head of department at the psychiatric hospital in Blida, Algeria. His methods contrast with those of the other doctors. A biopic in the heart of the Algerian war where a fight is waged in the name of humanity.

Adaptation of the first 100 pages of Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables", where Jean Valjean encounters goodness for the first time.

Elsa, a doctor, hides from the world the fact that she can see the dead and help them cross to the other side. Convinced that her gift leads to rejection, she has given up on love, retreating into solitude and her work. That is, until she meets Oscar - a dead man who doesn’t know he’s dead…

In a kind of philosophical dialogue, Doctor Augustin Masset and renowned writer Fabrice Toussaint discuss life and death… A whirlwind of encounters in which the doctor is the guide and the writer, his passenger, led to confront his own fears and anxieties.

In 1930s Algeria, the daily life of an indifferent Frenchman is shaken by the death of his mother and a fateful encounter on a beach.

After being sent to his grandmother's house because of bad grades, a boy finds a panda cub and begins a summer of friendship and adventure.

A French chef in search of fame tries to help the young Lili-Beth win a culinary competition. But to do so he must contend with the hostility of an entire village towards Sonia, the local customs officer.

Every day, Jay travels the length and breadth of Tokyo in his taxi, looking for his daughter Lily. Having given up hope of ever seeing her again, he is about to move back to France when Lily hops in his cab.

Kin, a former geisha, lives in a small tidy house with her mute maid, Shizuko. For Kin, moneymaking has become more important than love affairs, and she is investing very profitably in real estate with the help of Itaya, a real estate broker. Kin often goes out to visit her former geisha friends, Nobu, Tamae, and Tomi, who live in the neighborhood. She has been loaning them money, and often visits them in order to collect the interest without delay. The four major roles are played by talented and experienced actresses, but Naruse's skillful direction is ultimately responsible for delineating the subtle differences between the four personalities. (The Japan Foundation)

Developed from a script of poetry and filmed on location throughout the Red River Valley on some broken Bolex cameras, Levers is a story about the act of the human hand which turns rock into stone. The film begins with a bang as a crowd gathers at the municipal grounds of an unnamed Manitoban city for the unveiling of a new sculpture. Later that evening, a large blast erupts in the sky, giving rise to a global day of darkness. Worldwide, people huddle around the warm glow of their television sets eagerly awaiting a new sun to rise, yet in the Red River Valley, life carries on as usual. But death is an unstoppable force, made evermore apparent under the clear light of the sun’s return. Determined to satiate her curiosity surrounding recent events, an intrepid civil servant undertakes an odyssey into the gritty, yet seemingly benevolent sculptor, whose world is shrouded in mystery. Relationships criss-cross throughout the film acting as the glue that holds together a vibrant array of elemental imagery: A fiery sunrise that is as frightening as it is beautiful, and the fringe of a buckskin jacket billowing in a flurry of incandescent snow. Indigenous cultural markers intermingle with Catholic and esoteric symbolism, exemplifying the religious syncretism emblematic of many Métis people. Mixing in-camera fx with a delicate eye for beauty, Levers portrays an ominous story conveyed through a potent mixture of the rarity of fantasy and the idleness of the everyday.

At the dawn of the modern era, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Gael García Bernal) navigated a fleet of ships to Southeast Asia, attempting the first voyage across the vast Pacific Ocean. On reaching the Malay Archipelago, the crew pushed to the brink of madness in the harshness of the high seas and overwhelming natural beauty of the islands, Magellan's obsession leads to a rebellion and reckoning with the consequences of power. A vast, globe-spanning epic from Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (Norte, The End of History), Magellan presents the colonization of the Philippines as a primal, shocking encounter with the unknown and a radical retelling of European narratives of discovery and exploration.

Our Hospitality (1923) broadened the boundaries of slapstick and proved that Buster Keaton was not just a comedian, he was an artist. Keaton stars as youthful dreamer Willie McKay, who travels westward on a rickety locomotive to claim his birthright, only to find that his inheritance is a rundown shack. On top of that he learns that the object of his affection (Keaton’s real-life wife Natalie Talmadge) is the daughter of a man with whom his family has been engaged in a long, violent feud. McKay’s personal struggles are punctuated by brilliant slapstick setpieces that involve an exploding dam, raging waterfalls, and a primitive steam engine. Plays with One Week Dir. Buster Keaton and Edward F. Cline 1920, USA, 25 min A newly wedded couple attempts to build a house with a prefabricated kit, unaware that a rival sabotaged the kit's component numbering. Join us for McDonald at The Movies, where comedian, star and co-founder of Kids in the Hall, Kevin McDonald presents a film handpicked from the archives of comic history. Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

On a weekend trip to the countryside, Laura miraculously survives a car crash. Physically unhurt but deeply shaken, she is taken in by a local woman who witnessed the accident and now cares for Laura with motherly devotion. When her husband and adult son also give up their initial resistance to Laura’s presence, the four of them slowly build up some family-like routine. But soon they can no longer ignore their past…

Okamoto Hatsunosuke and his wife, Michiyo, have moved from Tokyo to a small house in a modest neighborhood in Osaka. They married for love, but their romance has faded and they are approaching middle age. Michiyo has grown increasingly dissatisfied with her life since she has no children to care for. Hatsunosuke works for a securities firm, but the company is so small that he has no real chance for promotion. As a result of these frustrations, Michiyo nags Hatsunosuke while he remains aloof in an effort to avoid a serious confrontation. When Hatsunosuke's niece, Satoko, runs away from her home in Tokyo and arrives at their doorstep, real problems arise. (The Japan Foundation)

A couple at the table by the window look happier than anybody else in the restaurant. Hiroshi Eda, who works at a governmental office, has got a promotion and his wife, Yumiko, has been pregnant. Their happiness seems to last forever, but actually it ends that afternoon with a traffic accident that kills the husband. Shiro Mishima, the young man who has caused the accident, is a promising salaried-man of the Pacific Trading Company. He happens to meet Yumiko in the restaurant where she has last seen her husband alive. Shiro promises to give her fifteen thousand yen every month for compensation. (The Japan Foundation)

When serial killer Charles Lee Ray is mortally wounded in a police shoot-out, he uses a voodoo spell to transfer his soul into Chucky, an innocuous ‘Good Guys’ doll. Young Andy receives him as a birthday gift, and Chucky soon embarks on a killing spree. However, Charles doesn’t want to be trapped in the body of the doll forever, escape is possible by transferring his personality into the first human he reveals his identity to... and naturally Andy is curious about his new toy. Content warning: This film contains scenes of violence. Join us for our Staff Picks series, where our Winnipeg Film Group staff select and introduce new and old favourites. This month’s selection was chosen by Education and Outreach Coordinator John Seymour. Generously sponsored by IATSE 856 Manitoba.

Through loss, love, and self-discovery, a woman transforms pain into art—and writes a life on her own terms. Based on the beloved memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch and marking the directorial debut of Kristen Stewart, The Chronology of Water is a raw and unflinching portrait of survival, sexuality, and self-invention. The film traces Lidia’s life from her earliest memories in the Pacific Northwest, as a promising swimmer, through fractured relationships, near-motherhood, addiction, and encounters with artistic heroes. Told as a fluid memory wash, the story transforms trauma into art, embodying Yuknavitch’s defiant voice that made her work a modern cult classic. It is not only a chronicle of a woman becoming a writer, but a visceral journey through the wreckage and resilience of a life lived against the grain. Content warning: This film contains scenes of sexual violence.

Anna, an artist, and Magnús, a fisherman, live with their three children and charismatic sheepdog in the quiet grandeur of the Icelandic countryside. As the fractures in their marriage come to the surface, the couple try to hold onto the afterimages of a life together and make sense of a deep and lingering devotion. Filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason (Godland) brings surprising humor and emotional weight to this gorgeous, intimate, and brilliantly expansive scenes from a marriage, amidst the majestic backdrop of the changing seasons.

January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A 6-year-old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab. Please note: The film is based on real events and emergency calls recorded by the Palestine Red Crescent. The voices on the phone are real.

Keiko, widowed when her husband died in an accident, is the hired madam of a bar in Ginza's posh nightclub district. The bar owner, complaining of declining sales, urges her to sell her body to keep the big spending customers coming, but Keiko refuses, even if it means losing a client like Minobe, who has set up Yuri, one of Keiko's former hostesses, in her own bar. Feeling pressured, Keiko moves to another bar where she skillfully juggles men, becoming a lover to all, but a real lover to none. (The Japan Foundation)

Widowed during the war only after 6 months of marriage, Reiko almost single-handedly rebuilt her husband's family's liquor store after it was bombed. 18 years later, however, it and the other small businesses are losing business to a new supermarket down the street. As if that was not her only problem, Reiko must both fend off sisters-in-law who want to get rid of her by marrying her off as well as take care of a rambunctious younger brother-in-law, Koji. (The Japan Foundation)