Perfect Blue: Covi & Frimmel Marinate in Memories
“Everything changing all the time. Even the air you breathing change,” notes a character in August Wilson’s classic play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1984), which encapsulates the essence of The Loneliest Man in Town, the latest documentary feature from directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel. Unlike like their last title, Vera, which featured actor Vera Gemma as a version of herself while also navigating a fictionalized narrative, this is more aligned with their past catalogue, such as Mister Universo (2016), following a central subject’s experiences (and enhanced by a source novel penned by Covi).… Read the rest
Long have Chinese filmmakers used the medium of film to address China’s growing industrialisation and embrace of capitalism. Modern master Jia Zhangke comes to mind as an inspiration but few have tried something quite as unique as with Light Pillar. For his debut animated feature, Xu Zao (also known as Xu Jingwei) has crafted a sometimes baffling, visually daring dreamscape grounded in reality with genuinely unique formal decisions. The animation is pushed to its limits as he weaves live-action performers into its zany, eclectic world — though not in any way you’ve seen before.… 
The sovereignty of Australia was never officially ceded by its First Nations peoples, succinctly stated in the 1980s slogan “
True to form, or rather, anti-form, 
How does one define their own home? Is it the place we were born? The place we grew up? Or a more abstract attribute like sexuality, self-acceptance or maybe even a hobby? In Kai Stänicke’s feature debut we focus on Hein (Paul Boche) returning to a tiny German island community 14 years after leaving for the mainland. The only problem is he appears to have physically changed quite a bit and no one seems to be wholly certain this is the young boy that left all those years ago. The village decides the best way to solve the issue of allowing Hein to return is a trial in order for him to prove himself to truly be Hein.… 
New German Wave legend Ulrike Ottinger returns with her long gestating project The Blood Countess (Die Blutgräfin), a comedic take on the infamous