(Featuring Q&A with director Werner Herzog)

Directed by Werner Herzog

United States | 2019 | 89 minutes

In Japanese | English Subtitles 

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)

Synopsis:  Love is a business in the latest film from the legendary Werner Herzog. Receiving its premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, Family Romance is a Tokyo-based company that offers the perfect stand-ins for absent family, friends or admirers – available to rent for any occasion. In a fictionalised take on this real-life company, Herzog follows founder Yuichi Ishii as he helps his clients make their dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro Tanimoto hires Ishii to impersonate her missing ex-husband, the line between performance and reality threatens to blur. Blending fiction storytelling with documentary-style visuals, Family Romance, LLC is a striking meditation on truth and artifice in the age of loneliness.

Be one of the first to see Family Romance, LLC. On July 3, MUBI is hosting a free virtual preview, followed by an exclusive extended Q&A with Werner Herzog himself. To join, just click the button to RSVP, enter your email, and MUBI will send you an invite on the day of the event. No charge. No commitment. Just one breathtaking, beautiful film – completely free!

Directed by Waad al-Kateab, Edward Watts

Syria, United Kingdom | 2019 | 95 minutes

In Arabic, English | English Subtitles 

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  For Sama is both an intimate and epic journey into the female experience of war. A love letter from a young mother to her daughter, the film tells the story of Waad al-Kateab’s life through five years of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria as she falls in love, gets married and gives birth to Sama, all while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. Her camera captures incredible stories of loss, laughter and survival as Waad wrestles with an impossible choice– whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter’s life, when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much. The film is the first feature documentary by Emmy award-winning filmmakers, Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts.

(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)

Directed by Alfred L. Werker, Anthony Mann

United States | 1948 | 79 minutes | In English

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)

Synopsis:  A psychotic loner uses his genius for electronics to commit robberies while evading the police. When he kills a cop, Los Angeles’s finest police specialists employ new crime-fighting techniques to trap their clever adversary. The manhunt leads through—and beneath—Los Angeles’ darkest cityscapes. The terms “B film” and “noir” get tossed around too much these days. It takes a fleet-footed film of no-budget ingenuity like this dark-dark post-war thriller co-directed by an uncredited Anthony Mann (Winchester ’73) at the peak of his youthful style to remind us of their true evocative power. (Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation and The Film Foundation.)

Directed by Milad Alami

Denmark, Sweden | 2017 | 100 minutes

In Danish, Persian | English Subtitles

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  Esmail is a darkly handsome Iranian immigrant to Denmark who is on the verge of being thrown out of the country unless he can find a Danish woman willing to marry him. Night after night he puts on the same suit and hits the Copenhagen bar scene hoping to turn the next woman he sees into his future spouse. But amidst a series of fleeting relationships and failed one-night stands, Esmail meets Sara, a beautiful Danish-Iranian woman who makes him question everything about himself and what he is doing. As time is running out, the charmer finds himself caught between self-interest and self-respect.

(Presented in collaboration with Embassy of Spain)

Directed by Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi

Spain | 2017 | 108 minutes | In Spanish | English Subtitles

Rating: ( 15+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 15 and above

Synopsis:  From hot newcomers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi comes this gloriously camp musical comedy based on their own cult play La Llamada. An uplifting story about finding love in all shapes featuring classic hits by Whitney Houston together with delightfully catchy new songs. Maria and Susana are two rebellious teens who spend their summer in a camp run by nuns. They live there with Mother Superior Bernarda, an older nun looking to modernize, and Sister Milagros, a young nun who’s filled with doubt. With music as their common denominator, teen rebellion and ecclesiastic order collide, creating a hymn to freedom and first love.

(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)

Directed by Mani Kaul

India | 1973 | 79 minutes | In Hindi | English Subtitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)

Synopsis:  Based on a Rajasthani folk-tale, Duvidha (In Two Minds) is the story of a merchant’s son who returns home with his new bride, but is sent back to look after his family business. A ghost falls in love with the bride and takes the form of her absent husband and lives with her. She gives birth to his child. A pioneering voice of New Indian Cinema, director Mani Kaul devoted the third entry in his filmography (and his first movie in color!) to tackling a folk story on screen. Marriage, rural life, and the fragility of oneself are just some of the key themes dissected in this haunting piece of cinema.

(PORTRAIT DE LA JEUNE FILLE EN FEU)

Directed by Celine Sciamma

France | 2019 | 122 minutes

In French, Italian | English Subtitles

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  Set in 18th-century France on a small island off the coast of Brittany, Portrait of a Lady on Fire brings together two women from very different backgrounds. Marianne is a working-class, portrait artist who has been brought to an isolated island to paint Héloïse, a young noblewoman who has recently left the convent. Héloïse is brought to the island by her mother, a countess who is marrying Héloïse off to an Italian nobleman. Because she is a reluctant bride-to-be, Marianne arrives under the guise of companionship, observing Héloïse by day and secretly painting her by firelight at night. As the two women orbit one another, intimacy and attraction grow as they share Héloïse’s first moments of freedom. Héloïse’s portrait soon becomes a collaborative act of and a testament to their love.

Directed by Ghassan Salhab

Lebanon | 2002 | 120 minutes | In Arabic | French, English Subtitles

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  Beirut, a city destroyed and rebuilt seven times, is now a construction site. A city undergoing constant transformation, it resembles Soraya, Leyla, Tarek, Nadim and Haidar who we encounter in its streets. Soray is a tourist guide who follows the traces of past civilizations, traces that sometimes interweave with the ruins left by more recent wars. She picks up lovers and visas along the way. Leyla oscillates between intense mysticism and atheism. Nadim, an architect, reinvents his city, contributing to its destruction and reconstruction. Tarek has recently returned to his country and wonders why he did so. Haidar, a reporter, broadcasts what he observes of the world around him –and of his own life – over the radio. These characters interact, caught hanging in the present. They dare not look behind them, even less do they dare plan ahead. What life, what stories can be invented after a catastrophe?

Directed by Rifqi Assaf

Jordan | 2016 | 80 minutes | In Arabic | English Subtitles

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  Radi, who lives in seclusion, suffers from psychological problems that make him socially aloof. He designed his own little vehicle in which he lives away from society. On his way, he bumps into three people from different backgrounds whom he has to drive to their destination. Each makes an effect on Radi's personality. The journey starts with Layla, a Palestinian-Syrian divorced lady. Then, two other people join: a Lebanese artist, whose car broke down, and an inquisitive Jordanian policeman. "The Curve" is a story of destiny changing the lives of people unexpectedly.

(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)

Directed by Oscar Micheaux

United States | 1920 | 80 minutes | English Intertitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)

Synopsis:  Sylvia Landry, a teacher at a school for impoverished black children in the Deep South, takes a fundraising trip to Boston upon learning that the institution is nearly bankrupt. There she meets Dr. Vivian, who travels back south with Sylvia after falling in love with her. One of the earliest surviving works of African-American filmmaking, Oscar Micheaux’s remarkable drama offers a vivid tapestry of the intricacies of the Black experience. A pioneering independent director, Micheaux’s mesmerizing vision acts as a gut-punching indictment of systemic racism in America.

Directed by Jan Komasa

Poland | 2019 | 115 minutes | In Polish | English Subtitles

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  After spending years in a Warsaw prison for a violent crime, 20-year-old Daniel is released and sent to a remote village to work as a manual laborer. The job is designed to keep the ex-con busy, but Daniel has a higher calling. Over the course of his incarceration, Daniel has found Christ. He aspires to join the clergy, but his criminal record means no seminary will accept him. When Daniel arrives in town, one quick lie allows him to be mistaken for the town’s new priest, and he sets about leading his newfound flock. Though he has no training, his passion and charisma inspire the community. At the same time, his unconventional sermons and unpriestly behavior raise suspicions among some of the townsfolk — even more so as he edges towards a dark secret that the community hasn’t revealed in the confessional booth.

Directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov

Republic of Macedonia | 2019 | 87 minutes

In Turkish, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian with English subtitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences (all ages admitted)

Synopsis:  Honeyland is a unique documentary film that follows the life and labors of Hatidze Muratova, a Macedonian beekeeper of Turkish descent who lives in the abandoned village of Bekirlija in the mountain municipality of Lozovo with her mother. Shot over the course of three years, the documentary takes on the feel of a narrative feature as the uneducated female beekeeper deals with a variety of environmental problems, including climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and the exploitation and depletion of natural resources, as well as issues related to consumerism, rural flight, and nomadic Turkish refugees who squat on the adjacent property and quickly become neighbors from hell. The most awarded film out of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Honeyland is an epic, visually stunning portrait of the delicate balance between nature and humanity that has something sweet for everyone.

Directed by Maya Angelou

United States | 1998 | 113 minutes | In English

Rating: ( PG-13 ) - Parental Guidance is advised

Synopsis:  The only film directed by the iconic writer, poet, and activist Maya Angelou is a warm, richly evocative celebration of black southern family and resilience. Alfre Woodard delivers a brilliant performance as a floundering, drug-addicted mother living in Chicago whose own mother sends her to stay with an uncle (Al Freeman Jr.) in the Mississippi Delta, where she gradually reconnects with her heritage and discovers strength in her roots. With her writer’s eye for detail and keen sense of character and place, Angelou crafts a bittersweet, deeply moving family portrait that ranks as one of the unsung gems of 1990s independent filmmaking. The marvelous supporting cast includes Esther Rolle (in her final film appearance), Loretta Devine, and Wesley Snipes, who also produced.

(The film will be starting live on August 3 at 11PM UAE Time and available to watch until August 24)

Directed by Safinez Bousbia

France, Algeria, Ireland, UAE | 2011 | 89 minutes

In Arabic, French with English Subtitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences

Synopsis:  EL GUSTO is the story and legacy of an orchestra formed in pre-independence Algeria by composer and musician El Hadj M’Hamed El Anka that brought together musicians of Muslim and Jewish backgrounds through Algerian chaabi music. The film traces the lives of the musicians 50 years after Algerian independence, reuniting them in an exceptional concert for a passion they never lost – the soul of Algiers: Chaabi music. Throughout the early part of the 20th century, El Anka’s innovation within Algerian music resulted in the rising popularisation of Chaabi music, taking the style and musical culture far beyond Algeria. Beautiful scenery from the Casbah and other Algiers neighbourhoods interweave with the energetic music and brilliant storytelling from director Safinez Bousbia as viewers are taken on a musical tour of history while reflecting on changes from colonial to post-colonial realities. The vivid testimonies of musicians who have witnessed Algeria’s tumultuous change, including El Hadi El Anka (son of El Hadj M’Hamed El Anka), gives a unique insight into the richness and diversity present in Algerian music and history, specifically that of the evolution of chaabi music. (This screening is brought to you in collaboration with Al Balad Theatre, Amman Jazz Festival, Arabesques, D-CAF Festival, Khalil El Sakakin, Mosaic Rooms, NYUAD Arts Center, OrangeRed, The Arab British Centre, and WAW al Balad.)

Directed by Sean Baker

United States | 2017 | 115 minutes | In English

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  Warm, winning, and gloriously alive, Sean Baker’s The Florida Project is a deeply moving and unforgettably poignant look at childhood. Set on a stretch of highway just outside the imagined utopia of Disney World, The Florida Project follows six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince in a stunning breakout turn) and her rebellious mother Halley (Bria Vinaite, another major discovery) over the course of a single summer. The two live week to week at “The Magic Castle,” a budget motel managed by Bobby (a career-best Willem Dafoe), whose stern exterior hides a deep reservoir of kindness and compassion. Despite her harsh surroundings, the precocious and ebullient Moonee has no trouble making each day a celebration of life, her endless afternoons overflowing with mischief and grand adventure as she and her ragtag playmates—including Jancey, a new arrival to the area who quickly becomes Moonee’s best friend—fearlessly explore the utterly unique world into which they’ve been thrown. Unbeknownst to Moonee, however, her delicate fantasy is supported by the toil and sacrifice of Halley, who is forced to explore increasingly dangerous possibilities in order to provide for her daughter.

(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)

Directed by Dominik Graf

Germany | 1994 | 147 minutes

In German with English Subtitles

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  Karl Simon is the leader of a police SWAT team in Düsseldorf. During a raid on a mafia stronghold, one suspect escapes. But Simon recognizes the fleeing man as his former colleague Heinz Schaefer. The latter was said to have committed suicide years earlier after killing his disabled child in an act of desperation. But the search for that “ghost” turns into a dangerous game for Simon and his crew. The people in charge will do whatever it takes to cover up a conspiracy involving politicians and organized crime … This German variation on the Italian Giallo films had its premiere 25 years ago. For this director’s cut, Dominik Graf has added three scenes to his brawny police thriller. The restoration crew at Bavaria Film took the scenes, which had not survived on 35mm, from a videotape of the rough cut, and incorporated them into the original theatrical release version. The challenge was to process the additional scenes to match the high-quality 4K digital material. The audio work required particular attention, since the additional scenes had never been mixed.

Presented by Korean Cultural Center and the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development of UAE to celebrate UAE-Korea Cultural Dialogue 2020!

님아, 그 강을 건너지 마오 (Original Korean Title)

Directed by Jin Moyoung

South Korea | 2014 | 86 minutes

In Korean with English Subtitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences

Synopsis:  A blockbuster in its native Korea, where it would go on to become the country’s most successful film of all time, MY LOVE, DON’T CROSS THAT RIVER presents an unforgettable story of true love that transcends both generations and cultures. “100-year old lovebirds,” Jo Byeong-man and Kang Kye-yeol, have been inseparable companions for 76 years. Observing this fragile couple for 15 months, director Moyoung Jin acts as a fly-on-the-wall, capturing the tender moments of their twilight days - as the two face the inevitable reality that their time together will soon be approaching an end.

(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)

Directed by Youssef Chahine

Egypt | 1958 | 73 minutes | In Arabic with English Subtitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences

Synopsis:  Cairo Station (aka The Iron Gate), is directed by the internationally renowned Egyptian auteur Youssef Chahine. Cairo's main railroad station, commonly referred to as the Iron Gate, offers a panorama of modern Egyptian society, a community comprised of luggage carriers and soft-drink vendors living in abandoned train cars. A crippled newspaper dealer Kenaoui, played by Chahine himself, falls in love with a beautiful but indifferent lemonade seller Hanouma (Hind Rostom, called by some “the Marilyn Monroe of Arabia”), who only has eyes for a handsome porter Abou Serih (Farid Chawky, whose Egyptian nickname translates to “The King of the Third Class”). Swept away by his obsessive desire, the vendor kidnaps the object of his passion, with terrible consequences. Blending neo-realist immediacy with noir intrigue, Chahine’s film is a suspenseful portrait of life on society’s margins. Melodrama and thriller, social drama and love story in one, this masterly feature film by the Egyptian director Youssef Chahine was made in 1958 and located entirely on the station grounds.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

United States, India | 2015 | 54 minutes

In Hindi with English Subtitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences

Synopsis:  Academy Award nominee Paul Thomas Anderson takes us on a mind-blowing musical journey to Jodhpur, India. In spring 2015, the Maharaja of Jodhpur, India, hosted Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, Nigel Godrich, Paul Thomas Anderson, and more than a dozen Indian musicians. The team assembled a makeshift studio at the Maharaja's Mehrangarh Fort, and over the course of three weeks created the joyous collaboration that became the music and film of Junun ("madness of love"). Junun is a cross-cultural, cross-religious meeting point between Sufism, Qawwali, and the music of traditional nomadic Rajasthani, interwoven with devotional poetry in Urdu, Hebrew, and Hindi. Composed by Shye Ben Tzur, an Israeli musician and poet who lived in India for 15 years, the music was shaped by the influences of Greenwood and Godrich, and captured on film by Anderson. The results show the close camaraderie of artistic collaboration and deliver a sonic, visual, and sensory experience that will intrigue and capture your imagination. Paul Thomas Anderson’s one-of-a-kind documentary is an intimate, eclectic, multi-cultural, multi-musical journey. Prepare to be uplifted.

(Presented in collaboration with Embassy of Spain)

Directed by Álex de la Iglesia

Spain | 2017 | 105 minutes | In Spanish | English Subtitles

Rating: ( 18+ ) - Suitable for viewers ages 18 and above

Synopsis:  A bar on an average day at mid-morning. Long-standing regulars and strangers sidled up to the bar, sharing fried pastries and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Life goes on as normal until one customer exits and is shot in the middle of the deserted square. Inside, the group is stunned and only one of them decides to go out to help the downed man, promptly receiving a bullet himself. Everyone tries to come up with an explanation for why nobody inside goes out to help the fallen men: there could be a madman shooting from the rooftop. The square remains strangely empty and their phones have no service. Amid the confusion, they discover that someone removed the bodies from the square without them noticing. At that point, their speculations are unleashed, but soon one idea takes hold: What if the danger is inside? And what if the shots are to keep them from exiting the local and putting those outside in danger? THE BAR is a disturbing, claustrophobic and frenetic thriller with the visual power that comes with an Álex de la Iglesia film. This renowned genre director took inspiration from Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 and Buñuel’s Exterminating Angel, and sprinkled it with his own particular brand of black humor.

(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)

Directed by F.W. Murnau

Germany | 1924 | 90 minutes

German Intertitles with English Subtitles

Rating: ( G ) - General Audiences

Synopsis:  One of the crowning achievements of the German expressionist movement, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s The Last Laugh (Der letzte Mann) stars Emil Jannings as the elderly but proud doorman of a posh Berlin hotel whose happiness crumbles when he is relieved of the duties and uniform which had for years been the foundation of his happiness and pride. Demoted to polishing tiles beneath a sink as a lavatory attendant, all seems lost—but appearances can be deceiving. Through Jannings’s colossal performance, The Last Laugh becomes more than the plight of a single doorman, but a mournful dramatization of the frustration and anguish of the universal working class. A dazzling and groundbreaking drama of modern city life from the German master of silent cinema F.W. Murnau, Emil Jannings delivers one of Weimar German cinema’s most indelible (and melancholic!) performances in a story that spans the full range of epic tragedy and breathtaking beauty. Featuring the original score by Giuseppe Becca, this is the definitive edition of the landmark classic, mastered from a 2K restoration by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.

ROK SPOKOJNEGO SŁOŃCA (Original Title)

(NEW FILM RESTORATION!)

Directed by Krzysztof Zanussi

Poland, USA, West Germany | 1984 | 109 minutes

In Polish and English with English Subtitles

Rating: ( PG ) - Parental Guidance is advised

Synopsis:  In this award-winning drama set after the end of World War II, Scott Wilson stars as Norman, an American soldier who arrives in a formerly German-occupied part of Poland to investigate Nazi war crimes. There, he meets and forms a delicate friendship with Emilia (Maja Komorowska), a war widow living with her dying mother, and in spite of the language barrier, painful memories of their past, and the many cultural divisions that separate them, Norman and Emilia fall passionately in love and dare to steal a moment of happiness in the shadow of misery. Celebrated director Krzystof Zanussi reached a new artistic peak with this enormously moving wartime romance, which won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 1986 Venice Film Festival. Brilliantly acted by Wilson and Komorowska, beautifully shot by Oscar-nominee Slawomir Idziak and with an original score by Wojciech Kilar, A Year of the Quiet Sun is a timeless story of love’s ability to transcend all personal and cultural barriers.

Directed by Rungano Nyoni

U.K, France, Germany, Zambia | 2017 | 93 minutes

In English, Bemba, Nyanja with English Subtitles

Rating: ( PG-13 ) - Parental Guidance is advised

Synopsis:  Zambian-born Welsh director Rungano Nyoni groundbreaking first feature I Am Not a Witch is a sharply satirical and boldly provocative film that garnered incredible praise from audiences and critics alike at the Cannes 2017 Directors’ Fortnight. When eight-year-old Shula turns up alone and unannounced in a rural Zambian village, the locals are suspicious. A minor incident escalates to a full-blown witch trial, where she is found guilty and sentenced to life on a state-run witch camp. There, she is tethered to a long white ribbon and told that if she ever tries to run away, she will be transformed into a goat. As the days pass, Shula begins to settle into her new community, but a threat looms on the horizon. Soon she is forced to make a difficult decision – whether to resign herself to life on the camp, or take a risk for freedom. At times moving, often funny and occasionally surreal, I Am Not a Witch offers spellbinding storytelling with flashes of anarchic humour. Audacious and unforgettable, it showcases Rungano Nyoni as a fresh and fearless new voice in British film.