Synopsis

Salvador and his younger brothers Oliver and Benjamin live in an isolated house in the woods. Together in a post-apocalyptic landscape, they’ve established grim routines of survival, including hunting in the forest to feed something sinister and ravenously hungry that’s hiding in their basement. As the many dangers of their dystopian world begin to close in around them, the young brothers must fight to protect the only thing they have left: their family.

Párvulos is not your typical post-apocalyptic epic, but an absolute roller coaster of genre — a dark, gruesome, yet surprisingly sincere coming-of-age tale set in a world devoid of childhood innocence where family is the only hope for the future.

Synopsis

The iconic, ironic ‘90s slacker-rock band Pavement gets its own appropriately wry and subversive music doc in the latest from indie-film iconoclast Alex Ross Perry (Listen Up Philip, Her Smell). Famous for their 1994 hit “Cut Your Hair” (“songs mean a lot / when songs are bought”), the band, known for its lo-fi sound and ingenious lyrics, was heralded by critics and sparked a cult following. But the mainstream always remained elusive.

In Pavements, Perry envisions an alternative reality where mercurial frontman Stephen Malkmus and the other members of the band are the subjects of a hot Hollywood biopic, an off-Broadway jukebox musical, and a pop-up museum exhibition, which all seem to be actually happening. Or are they? With hilarious making-of scenes featuring Jason Schwartzman and Tim Heidecker as record executives and Joe Keery as Malkmus, Pavements manages to be both a heartfelt tribute to the band and an absurdist deconstruction. It’s the ultimate movie adaptation of the sequel to their lives.

Synopsis

Matthias is a master of his profession. He’s the perfect chameleon, impeccably at ease in any social situation, wearing any costume, in any character’s skin. Do you need a “cultured boyfriend” to impress your friends?  A “perfect son” to influence your business partners? Or maybe just a sparring partner to rehearse an argument with a spouse? Whatever it is, Matthias is your man! And he is available for rent. Yet, while Matthias excels in all of these roles, just being himself with his partner and among his friends is a real challenge.

With an appealing absurdist tone and humor that deftly balances incisive wit with unbridled funny, Peacock takes the “rent-a” concept to the next level. Performance pieces that take delight in sending up the art world and sharp jabs at aspirational culture combine in this corrosive comedy that lays bare the darker essence of human relationships.

Synopsis

Transplanted from his African homeland to drug lord Pablo Escobar’s infamous Colombian compound, Pepe the hippo reflects on his tumultuous life in this bold, inventive cinematic essay. When Escobar abandons his plan for a private zoo, Pepe escapes to a nearby river, where his hulking presence unsettles the nearby fishing communities. The first and last hippopotamus ever killed in the Americas, he is feared and hunted. Through Pepe’s story, director Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias crafts a rich, layered narrative about displacement, dislocation, and the ecological consequences of human hubris. Pepe himself narrates a cacophony of events, from riverside beauty pageants to sentimental cartoons to historical inquiries. And his guttural, ghostly laugh is a constant presence in the film’s soundscape. Unpredictable and playful, Pepe is an unforgettable, immersive cinematic experience.

Synopsis

Through her decade-long quest to piece together fragments of her mother’s life, filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed offers a moving and intimate portrait of Sheila Turner-Seed, who died a few months after Rachel was born. In her lifetime, Sheila shirked societal expectations by exploring the world as a journalist and photographer. Through a wealth of pictures, home movies, television interviews, and newly discovered audio recordings of conversations with iconic photographers such as Henri-Cartier Bresson and Gordon Parks, Seed pays homage to the thrilling life and impressive work of her mother as an artist, best known for her groundbreaking series “Images of Man.”

With inventive visual compositions that play with both cinematic and photographic forms, a hint of humor, and a nod to her mother’s Chicago ties, Seed explores questions of legacy, memory, feminism, and modern photography while attempting to close the gap between herself and the mother she never knew.