21st Century Cinema
125 Episodes
Explore the best of contemporary cinema from around the world.
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Episode 1
Directed by Ursula Meier • 2008 • France
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, Adélaïde LerouxThis mesmerizing fable of modern family life stars Isabelle Huppert as Marthe, a happy-go-lucky mother whose family enjoys an idyllic existence in their isolated, ramshackle home, which edges ont...
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14:46Episode 2
Orthodontics
Episode 2
Directed by Mohammadreza Mayghani • 2021 • Iran
Starring Maryam Hossieni, Yas Farkhonde, Arezou AaliConfined by her orthodontic headwear, an alienated teenage girl seeks release through a series of transgressions in this surreally stylized vision of adolescent ennui giving way to shocking rebel...
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2:04:45Episode 4
The Intruder
Episode 4
Directed by Claire Denis • 2005 • France
Starring Grégoire Colin, Béatrice Dalle, Florence Loiret CailleRich, strange, and tantalizingly enigmatic, Claire Denis’s uncanny odyssey is a mesmeric sensory experience that haunts like a half-remembered dream. Inspired by a book by philosopher Jean-Lu...
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07:48Episode 5
Who I Am and What I Want
Episode 5
Directed by Chris Shepherd and David Shrigley • 2005 • United Kingdom
Starring Kevin EldonAppropriately crude hand-drawn animation evokes the manic rantings and ramblings of a singularly self-deluded man.
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1:17:31Episode 6
Spring Blossom
Episode 6
Directed by Suzanne Lindon • 2021 • France
Starring Suzanne Lindon, Arnaud Valois, Florence VialaThe delicate, beautifully observed debut feature from writer-director-star Suzanne Lindon is the rare tale of adolescent romantic awakening to be told from the perspective of an actual teenager. Lin...
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1:27:51Episode 7
Loving Highsmith
Episode 7
Directed by Eva Vitija • 2022 • Germany, Switzerland
Starring Gwendoline Christie, Annina Butterworth, Marijane MeakerThe life and work of celebrated American writer Patricia Highsmith are revealed through her diaries and notebooks and the intimate reflections of her lovers, friends, and family...
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13:45Episode 8
Lady of the Night
Episode 8
Directed by Marin Håskjold • 2017 • Norway
Starring Jonas Strand Gravli, Sverre KvammeThe dynamics between friends are challenged when Martin arrives at a Christmas party wearing a dress. As hidden desires come forth, the evening becomes an exploration of gender roles.
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1:28:53Episode 9
In Another Country
Episode 9
Directed by Hong Sang-soo • 2012 • South Korea
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Yu Jun-sang, Jung Yu-miLegendary French actress Isabelle Huppert stars in the first English-language film from South Korean master Hong Sang-soo. In a triptych of overlapping stories, three different French women—a filmma...
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38:27Episode 10
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
Episode 10
Directed by Maria Brendle • 2020 • Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland
Starring Alina Turdumamatova, Nurbek Esengazy Uulu, Madina TalipbekNineteen-year-old Sezim wants to fulfill her dream of studying in the Kyrgyz capital when she is kidnapped by a group of young men, taken to the hinterlands, and forced ...
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12:45Episode 11
Behemoth: or the Game of God
Episode 11
Directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese • 2016 • Lesotho, Germany
Starring Tseko MonahengA preacher walks the streets of Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, dragging a mysterious coffin whose contents elicit unexpected—and unscripted—reactions from passersby.
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1:44:16Episode 12
Abuse of Weakness
Episode 12
Directed by Catherine Breillat • 2013 • France
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Kool Shen, Laurence UrsinoInspired by director Catherine Breillat’s real-life experiences, ABUSE OF WEAKNESS is a daring exploration of power and sex from a director fearlessly confronting her own demons. Isabelle Huppert...
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2:00:18Episode 13
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Episode 13
Directed by Ang Lee • 2000 • Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, United States
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang ZiyiTwo master warriors (Chow Yun-fat and Michelle Yeoh) are faced with their greatest challenge when the treasured Green Destiny sword is stolen. A young aristocrat (Zhang Ziyi) pre...
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1:26:30Episode 14
Invoking Justice
Episode 14
Directed by Deepa Dhanraj • 2011 • India
In Southern India, many family disputes are settled by Jamaats—all-male bodies that apply Islamic Sharia law to cases without allowing women to be present, even to defend themselves. Recognizing this fundamental inequity, a group of women in 2004 establis...
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1:19:48Episode 15
Boy and the World
Episode 15
Directed by Alê Abreu • 2013 • Brazil
Starring Vinicius Garcia, Lu Horta, Marco Aurélio CamposBrazilian artist Alê Abreu’s vibrant, Academy Award–nominated animated adventure is a riotous explosion of music and color that depicts the wonders and struggles of the modern world as seen through the...
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46:50Episode 16
Love in the Time of AIDS
Episode 16
Directed by Deepa Dhanraj • 2006 • India
LOVE IN THE TIME OF AIDS follows a group of kothis (gay men who identify as femme) in Belgaum, a small city in Karnataka, and traces their stories of love, desire, and ostracization, as well as their work with an NGO that promotes safe-sex practices.
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1:41:57Episode 17
Things to Come
Episode 17
Directed by Mia Hansen-Løve • 2016 • France, Germany
Starring Isabelle Huppert, André Marcon, Roman KolinkaWhat happens when the life you’ve worked so hard to build falls apart all at once? Nathalie (a radiant Isabelle Huppert) is a philosophy teacher with a seemingly settled existence, jugglin...
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Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You.
Episode 18
Directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese • 2019 • Germany, Lesotho
Part poetic essay, part documentary, this rapturous film by director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESURRECTION) analyzes the complexities of his relationship to his native country of Lesotho from his new hom...
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11:30Episode 19
The Couple Next Door
Episode 19
Directed by Abbesi Akhamie • 2020 • United States
Starring Baboucarr Camara, Ellie Foumbi, Jennifer TchiakpeA single woman’s feelings of loneliness begin to stir when an eccentric African couple moves in to her building.
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1:11:49Episode 20
So Late So Soon
Episode 20
Directed by Daniel Hymanson • 2020 • United States
Starring Jackie Seiden, Don SeidenHalf a century into their marriage, Chicago artists Jackie and Don Seiden approach the fragility of old age in their own distinct ways. Jackie, notorious for her unbounded energy, is constantly on the move, ins...
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Mosonngoa
Episode 21
Directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese • 2014 • Lesotho
Starring Siphiwe Nzima-Ntskhe, Masele Tokane, Chaka Phehlamarole KhalecheneLemohang Jeremiah Mosese made this narrative short film in 2014, inspired by the real-life legend of Lesotho’s only known female stick fighter.
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1:08:31Episode 22
INAATE/SE/
Episode 22
Directed by Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil • 2016 • Canada, United States
INAAT/SE/ reimagines an ancient Ojibway story, the Seven Fires Prophecy, which both predates and predicts first contact with Europeans. A kaleidoscopic experience blending documentary, narrative, and experimental forms, INAAT...
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Keane
Episode 23
Directed by Lodge Kerrigan • 2004 • United States
Starring Damian Lewis, Abigail Breslin, Amy RyanLodge Kerrigan’s stunningly immersive portrait of a father in crisis is one of the most searing and unforgettable independent films of the early 2000s. William Keane (Damian Lewis in a tour-de-forc...
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The Task
Episode 24
Directed by Leigh Ledare • 2017 • United States
Twenty-eight strangers shuffle into a nondescript room, where they sit down for day three of a radical social experiment orchestrated by taboo-breaking artist Leigh Ledare. Veering between brutal honesty, righteous indignation, manipulative cagines...