Restored prints

The fairy-tale allegory "Až prijde kocour" ("The Cassandra Cat") was shot by Vojtech Jasný after making a name for himself with the anthology film Touha ("Desire", 1958). Jirí Brdecka and Jan Werich collaborated with Jasný on the screenplay. Werich also acted in the film, portraying both the main narrator and a traveling magician who puts on a show in the small Czech town. The magician is accompanied by the performer and a magical cat with sunglasses. When the sunglasses are removed, the cat’s vision is able to reveal the true nature of people. Lovers turn red, thieves turn gray, traitors turn yellow… With its combination of colorful special effects and fantasy story with moralistic undertones, the film enchanted the jury in Cannes, where Jasný won the Special Jury Prize.

In Adiaké, little village in Ivory Coast, Demi-dieu is a rich and respected farmer married to five women. One day, he falls in love with the young Binta whom he wishes to marry her. He summons all his wives and announces to them that he will reserve for each one a day of the week, and Sunday for the one who will be distinguished. Reluctant, Binta ends up accepting the union under pressure from her parents. Very quickly, Demi-dieu realizes that the young woman does not intend to submit to her husband's rules.

Louise is a divorced and single woman, a drawing teacher living in Annecy. She meets a young Italian immigrant with whom she falls in love to the point of making him live with her. But love, age difference and lack of money do not go well together.

The adventures of four convicts who were given fourteen days of freedom on the basis of good conduct, and their attempts to adapt in rather changed environment. As the fourteenth day is approaching the situation is about to change.

Daniel, the son of a local cheesemaker, is about to leave for a distant school. The eleven-year-old boy is suddenly aware of the delights and value of the life he is leaving behind.

Orson Welles loves the art of illusion. With filmmaker François Reichenbach he seeks to portray one of the greatest forgers Elmyr de Hory who admirably imitated the works of contemporary painters. Dressed as a magician Welles keeps us intrigued, plays around with the truth and lies behind his editing table.

"Friendship's Death" is the bizarre and absorbing story of the relationship between a British war correspondent (Bill Paterson) and a female extra-terrestrial, named Friendship (Tilda Swinton) who, on a peace mission to Earth, misses her intended destination of MIT, and instead lands inadvertently in Jordan during the events of Black September in 1970. The film's intelligent wit, coupled with outstanding performances from its two leads makes this a truly compelling film. This is the only solo feature directed by renowned film theorist Peter Wollen who died in 2019.

In a small Sicilian village the closing of the sulphur mine provokes hunger and unemployment. Ciccio, an ambivalent man, proposes to some villagers to guide them to France illegally. Among others Saro, a widow with three kids, and Vanni, a fugitive bandit and his girlfriend Barbara accept to go. When the group arrives in Rome Ciccio tries to flee with their money but Vanni stops him even if he must leave the group as the police is chasing him. Some people give up and go back as the journey is hard and full of difficulties but Saro, Barbara and a bunch of others keep going. On the Alps covered by snow, there is a last duel between Saro and Vanni as Vanni is jealous, but he gets killed. The border is close and maybe the better future they all dream of is possible.

Veronika lives in Poland. Veronique lives in France. They don’t know each other. Veronika gets a place in a music school, works hard, but collapses and dies on her first performance. At this point, Veronique’s life seems to take a turn…

Twenty-something François collects boxes and bottles and resells them to shopkeepers. He lives with his insensitive mother and stepfather. Mado a 11-years old, outsider of her family because of the oddness in expressing her feelings gets kidnapped by François. He takes her to live with him in the attic of his parents' home. Despite the circumstances, an increasingly comforting relationship evolves, and they begin to give each other some of their huge love... Based on a true story.

Diego is an aging revolutionary unwilling to accept that the fight for freedom should be passed to younger hands. While on the run from government agents and police, Diego begins to reflect on the meaning of his life of violent, idealistic struggles and whether it might be better to simply retire and live in peace with his long-suffering wife. A chance encounter with a hot-headed student terrorist revives his militant passions... An emotionally charged suspense-drama set in France and on the streets of fascist Spain.

Stefan Brand is a rich pianist who likes to go out at night and seduce women. One evening, while returning home, he finds a letter from an unknown sender. The first few lines catch his eye and he spends the whole night reading it. As he goes along, he discovers a past under the passionate gaze of a person he has ignored. About fifteen years earlier, when he was moving into a new apartment, the neighbor's daughter fell under his spell. She spied on him, followed him, loved him madly in secret. She met him one day and they spent the night together. For him, it will be only a passing fancy, for her it will be the love of her life.

Varlam, the despotic mayor of a small town, dies. After his funeral, his body is repeatedly unearthed and buried again. Through flashbacks and dreamlike scenes, we witness his rise, power and ambiguities.

A love story in the city of dreams... Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch's seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles's dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy and revenge like no other.

The orphan Juli and her grandparents, the remnants of the former emigrant family, return home from the Soviet Union at the end of the 1940s. Her aunt, prison director Magda, attempts to bring up the resolutely stubborn teenager to have blind faith in communism. She does not succeed. Juli remembers the past as her sculptor father was arrested by the KGB and her mother died. The teenager unconsciously understands that people have started to be arrested even in Hungary and the system of Soviet terror is back in operation. Juli matures into an independent woman as she researches memories of her parents. In this, only Magda’s brother, János, is any help. She sees her father in János.

Mr. Asai left Tokyo during World War II, and now resides in Nara. He is a widower who lives with his three daughters: Chizuru, the eldest, who has returned home after her husband’s death; Ayako, who is of marriageable age but shows little interest in leaving home; and Setsuko, the youngest and most tomboyish of the three sisters. The latter is platonically close with Shoji, the out-of-work younger brother of Chizuru’s late husband, who lodges at a temple near the Asai’s home. One day, Shoji’s old friend Amamiya drops by while on a business trip. When Setsuko finds out that he remembers Ayako well from their youth, she joins forces with Shoji in a sneaky bid to reconnect the two…

"Demon Pond" is a story dealing with the world of fantasy and legend written by Kyoka Izumi. The story is the legend of Demon Pond, the pond in Fukui prefecture, surrounded by the mountains of Mikuni Pass. A Dragon God is sealed in the pond and unless the bell near the pond is rung three times every day, the Dragon God will go on a wild rampage and the village will suffer a great flood. The man and wife who tended the bell lived peacefully and happily...but their eventless life suddenly came to an end as the world of fantasy and mystery develops...

Bastien Sassey (Serge Reggiani), mule for a drug trafficking organisation led by Stan The Armenian, is determined to quit his activities once and for all to run away with his fiancée Jacqueline (Jeanne Moreau). To do so, Bastien bonds with Hans, head of a rival gang, and has the task of delivering a football filled with a time bomb to Stan. Through an unfortunate chain of events, the football falls into the hands of children playing nearby. Informed about the case, Superintendent Varzeilles (Paul Meurisse) must hunt down the drug traffickers and locate the bomb before it sets off at 10 PM. The investigation turns into a race against time, where each detail counts.