This July, FILM MOVEMENT PLUS Celebrates Japanese Cinema With 3 Exclusives

Japan has one of the world's oldest and most productive film industries. The first film ever produced in Japan was a short documentary about geishas playing musical instruments, shown in June 1899. Since then, it's an industry that has given rise to some of cinema's most talented storytellers from Mizoguchi and Kurosawa to Miyazaki and Kitano. The July, SVOD platform Film Movement Plus pays homage to their influential film culture with a trio of streaming exclusives not found anywhere else: A BALANCE, 100 YEN LOVE and WHILE THE WOMEN ARE SLEEPING.

In addition, July also brings the powerful and acclaimed YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY, Sudan's very first Oscar submission for "Best International Film", along with a spotlight featuring the best of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival from Film Movement's deep catalog; the festival runs from Friday, July 1-9 in the Czech Republic. Included are acclaimed Karlovy Vary award winners THE TEACHER (Best Actress), WINTER FLIES (Best Director), MELLOW MUD (Variety Critic's Choice Award), DEDE (East of West Award), ROOM 304 (Special Mention) and SWEET EVIL (Best Actress).

Finally, during the month of July, Film Movement Plus offers new subscribers the best discount of the year on an annual subscription - 35% off. Regularly $59.99 per year, the subscription will now cost approximately $39 (or $3.25 per month) for 24/7 multi-platform award-winning cinema from around the world!

The July streaming exclusives, premieres and spotlights on FILM MOVEMENT PLUS include:

Friday, July 1 FM+ EXCLUSIVE: WHERE I'VE NEVER LIVED Director Paolo Franchi

When an accident forces him to bed, old renowned architect Manfredi (Giulio Brogi) asks his only daughter Francesca (Emmanuelle Devos) to help him with the renovation of a lakeside villa. Francesca has quit THE FAMILY firm long time ago to move to Paris, but decides to accept to please her father and starts working with the man's most trusted partner, charming 50 year-old Massimo (Fabrizio Giufini). As the renovation of the villa progresses, the empathy between the couple builds up and when Manfredi suddenly passes away, Francesca and Massimo will finally face the true feelings they have for each other. The drama captured "Best Original Score" at the Italian Golden Globes and "Best Cinematography" at the Bari International Film Festival, both in 2018. (2017 | 98 minutes | Italian with English Subtitles)

Friday, July 8 FM+ PREMIERE: YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY

Director Amjad Abu Alala Only the eighth narrative feature ever filmed in the Sudan, this powerful drama, winner of a prestigious Venice Golden Lion for Best Debut Feature and a New York Times Critic's Pick, is the daring debut of director Amjad Abu Alala. In the film called "a vibrant and transfixing revelation" (Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times), during her son's naming ceremony, a sheikh predicts that Sakina's child will die at the age of twenty. Haunted by this prophecy, Sakina becomes overly protective of Muzamil, who is ever mindful of his fate. As Muzamil escapes Sakina's ever-watchful eye, he encounters friends, ideas and challenges that make him question his destiny. An auspicious and visually sumptuous "coming-of-death" fable that presents a moving meditation on what it means to live in the present, YOU WILL DIE AT TWENTY captured awards and accolades in equal measure. Devika Girish of The New York Times called it "rapturous" and said that views can find "boundless enchantment in every frame" and Mina Takia of AwardsWatch said the drama is "complex, stunning and sophisticated...[and] a major achievement for Sudanese cinema." . (2021 | 104 minutes | Arabic with English Subtitles)

FM+ EXCLUSIVE: ONE MORE JUMP Director Emanuele Gerosa

The pain and frustration of young Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are shown through the prism of a parkour team in ONE MORE JUMP. When Abdallah - founder of the Gaza Parkour Team - was invited to Europe, a few years ago, he decided not to make return trip, with the aim of becoming a professional athlete. His friend and teammate, Jehad, still lives segregated in the Strip. Every day, he trains the youngest members of the team: only sport can keep their hopes alive. But Jehad is aware that, by fleeing alone, Abdallah has made things even worse for them. One day, Abdallah decides that the time has come to join the main European parkour competition in Sweden, and to confront reality. At the same time, Jehad finally receives the visa he has been waiting years for. ONE MORE JUMP asks the question "can you ever be free if you must leave everything you love behind?" (2019 | 83 minutes | Arabic with English Subtitles)

Friday, July 15

FM+ EXCLUSIVE: JAPANESE CINEMA SPOTLIGHT: 100 YEN LOVE Director Masaharu Take

32-year-old Ichiko (Sakura Ando) lives at home with her parents, passing the days in self-indulgent grunginess. Ichiko's recently divorced younger sister Fumiko has moved back home with her young son. One day, after a particularly heated argument, Ichiko charges out of the house for good. With few employment options to support herself, Ichiko works THE NIGHT SHIFT at a 100 yen shop (dollar store). On her way home each day she passes a boxing gym where she watches Yuji Kano (Hirofumi Arai) silently practice, developing a crush on him. The pair starts seeing each other and things change for Ichiko... At last, the bell rings and longtime loser Ichiko's rematch with life begins!  "Heart breaking and poignant, 100 Yen Love is easily one of the best films I've seen in years" said Dustin Chang in Screen Anarchy (2014 | 113 minutes | Japanese with English Subtitles)

Friday, July 22

FM+ EXCLUSIVE: JAPANESE CINEMA SPOTLIGHT: WHILE THE WOMEN ARE SLEEPING

Director Wayne Wang

Starring actor-director Beat (aka Takeshi) Kitano, Hidetoshi Nishijima (Dolls) and Shioli Kutsuna (The Assassin), WHILE THE WOMEN ARE SLEEPING, based on Spanish author Javier Marias' eponymous short story, is set in a seaside resort where a novelist gets to know a mysterious older man-younger woman couple. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter writes that the film is ""A stylish psycho noir (...) The result has the calculated fascination of a Patricia Highsmith thriller, though minus her moral ironies and plus some very Wang-ian tongue-in-cheek satire". (2016 | 103 minutes | Japanese with English Subtitles) Friday, July 29

FM+ EXCLUSIVE: JAPANESE CINEMA SPOTLIGHT: A BALANCE

Director Yujiro Harumoto As a documentary director, Yuko (Kumi Takiuchi) has mastered the balance between journalistic integrity and self-interest. Her professional ethics, when reporting a case of high-school bullying which led to two suicides, demand impartiality and respect for the truth - there are, however, some versions of the truth which are more likely to get aired on television than others. But when Yuko, who makes a career picking through the fallout after headline news stories, realizes that a scandal is about to break much closer to home, she reevaluates her lofty principles to become a participant in a morally challenging story. And, as the boundaries between work and family, reality and ideals, beliefs and truths become blurred, and the world Yuko knew begins to veer in unexpected directions, what irreversible choices will she ultimately make? An official selection at the 2021 Berlinale, A BALANCE, called "a rare and brave achievement" by Japan Times, captured the "New Currents Award" at the 2020 Busan IFF and the Robert Rossellini Jury Award and Audience Award at the 2020 Pingyao IFF. (2020 | 113 minutes | Japanese with English Subtitles)

FILM MOVEMENT PLUS (www.filmmovementplus.com) opens up a world of provocative, compelling and award-winning films from Film Movement's singular library. Priced at $5.99 per month with a free 14-day trial, the SVOD subscription service, currently available on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Android TV, mobile (iOS and Android), and Chromecast, offers consumers immediate access to over 400 festival favorite feature films and 100 short films, including: THEEB, the 2016 Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Film; AFTER THE STORM, a powerful family drama from 2018 Palme d'Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters); HUMAN CAPITAL, a political thriller from Paolo Virzi (The Leisure Seeker) that was Italy's Best Foreign Film submission for the 87th Academy Awards and MY LOVE, DON'T CROSS THAT RIVER, an unforgettable documentary about true love that transcends generations and cultures and is South Korea's most successful film of all time. Classics from the Film Movement catalog include Bille August's PELLE THE CONQUEROR, an Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film in 1996 and much more.

 

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