May on MUBI UK/ROI sees some overlooked film from
Francis Ford Coppola highlighted, along with the beginning of a
Christian Petzold retrospective, an acclaimed Russian documentary, a
Lizzie Borden restoration and more.
Phantoms Among Us: The Films of Christian Petzold
Starting in May and continuing through July, MUBI presents an exhaustive
retrospective dedicated to Christian Petzold, whose directorial voice
is one of the most celebrated of this century. Specifically, they’ll be
looking at his unique way of addressing German society and history by
reimagining such genres as film noir, thriller, melodrama, and the spy film.
Their May selection includes Jerichow (2008) and
The State I Am In (2000), while the whole focus will consist
of Yella (2007), Barbara (2012),
Phoenix (2014),
Transit
(2018) as well as the three early career shorts Süden (1990),
Ostwärts (1991), and
The Warm Money (1992).
MUBI Releases: State Funeral
Moscow, March 1953: in the days immediately following the death of Joseph
Stalin, countless citizens flooded the Red Square to mourn their leader’s
loss and witness his burial. Though the parade was captured in detail by
hundreds of cameramen, their footage has remained largely unseen. Working
from several hours of this revelatory archival material, now stunningly
restored, master filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa (The Event, The Trial) has crafted one of his most astonishing nonfiction achievements. An
immersive recreation of a key moment in Soviet history,
State Funeral presents an all-too-timely commentary on the
terrifying absurdities inherent to totalitarianism and the cult of
personality. State Funeral will be released by MUBI in
select UK cinemas and on the platform from May 21st.
To accompany the release of State Funeral, MUBI will be showing a larger retrospective of Loznitsa’s found-footage
work: “Back in the U.S.S.R.: Sergei Loznitsa's Archival Documentaries”.
This selection of new restorations comprises
The Trial (2018), The Event (2015),
Blockade (2006) and Revue (2008) and offers
rare access to key moments of Soviet history, from World War II to the
fall of the U.S.S.R.
Reignite Cinema: Francis Ford Coppola’s Outliers
This month MUBI will be looking at the work of one of the greatest living
filmmakers, Francis Ford Coppola, by turning their attention to some
anomalies in his filmography, which nonetheless bear the mark of his taste
and vision by taking risks with form and genre. The series will include the
lavish musical romance One From the Heart (1981), which failed
to impress upon release and was recently reappraised; the coming of age
drama The Outsiders (1983), featuring a cast of then rising
stars that includes Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise; the surreal
fantasy Youth Without Youth (2007), which marked Coppola’s
return to filmmaking after a 10 year hiatus; and the personal family drama
Tetro (2009), set in Buenos Aires and shot mostly in gorgeous
black and white.
MUBI Spotlight: Mayor
This month’s MUBI Spotlight, an exclusive showcase of exciting recent
releases, is David Osit’s Mayor (2020): a unique
documentary which, after a successful festival run, screens on MUBI weeks
after its digital UK release. Warm and full of humour, but with a strong
political stance, it follows the daily duties of the mayor of Ramallah in
the midst of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
MUBI Releases: Born in Flames
Showing as part of our “Dystopia” season, MUBI will screen a restoration of
Lizzie Borden’s widely celebrated Afrofuturist, feminist classic. Set
in New York City of the near-future, this 1980s masterpiece combines
guerilla filmmaking and post-punk aesthetics for a faux sci-fi feminist
rebellion.
Other Exclusives
Showing exclusively on MUBI this month are Sophy Romvari’s short
Still Processing (2020) and legendary Polish provocateur
Walerian Borowczyk’s Letter From Paris (1976).
Still Processing is a deeply personal nonfiction film,
revolving around an archive of family photos, which reflects on loss and
familial grief. Letter From Paris is an experimental essay
shot in Paris on 16mm, focusing on the chaotic construction of the Centre
Pompidou, which will launch MUBI's special “City Symphonies”.
Death Will Come and Shall Have Eyes
Inspired by a poem by Cesare Pavese, this is a tender, intimate, and
subdued portrait of love and illness in a long-term lesbian relationship,
whose central performances have been compared to those of Ingmar Bergman’s
chamber pieces.
Atlantis
A winner at Venice Film Festival, and Ukraine's official Oscar submission
for Best International Feature Film, Atlantis is a
post-apocalyptic drama with an unexpectedly sweet love story at its core and
dark humour around the edges. Showing as part of MUBI's “Dystopia”
season.
Tendre
Winner of the Short Film Grand Prize at IndieLisboa,
Isabel Pagliai’s short is an exploration of childhood and its
timelessness, taking place in the suspended haze of late summer and first
love.
