Friday Releases: I.S.S.

JANUARY 19, 2024

I.S.S.

Directed By: Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Studio: Bleecker Street

Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling from this, the astronauts receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary.

Starring: Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jr., Maria Mashkova, Costa Ronin, and Pilou Asbæk
Genre: Sci-Fi | Thriller
Rating: R (for some violence and language)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 95 minutes

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Which Brings Me To You

Directed By: Peter Hutchings
Studio: Decal

Two romantic burnouts, Jane and Will, are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After a disastrous hookup in the coatroom, the two spend the next 24 hours together, trading candid confessions of messy histories and heartbreak, on the off chance that this fling might be the real thing.

Starring: Lucy Hale, Nat Wolff, John Gallagher Jr., Genevieve Angelson, and Ward Horton
Genre: Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 98 minutes

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Cult Killer

Directed By: Jon Keeyes
Studio: Saban Films

When a renowned private investigator is murdered, his protege takes on the case. As her investigation unfolds, she is forced into a dangerous alliance with his killer to uncover the town’s grisly secrets and bring justice to its victims.

Starring: Shelley Hennig, Alice Eve, Olwen Fouéré, Nick Dunning, Kim DeLonghi, and Antonio Banderas
Genre: Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: R (for violent content, language and some sexual references)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 105 minutes

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Bring Him To Me

Directed By: Luke Sparke
Studio: Roadside Attractions + Samuel Goldwyn Films

Under orders from a ruthless crime boss, a getaway driver must battle his conscience and drive an unsuspecting crew member to an ambush execution. There is a long drive ahead.

Starring: Barry Pepper, Jamie Costa, Liam McIntyre, Rachel Griffiths and Sam Neill
Genre: Crime | International | Thriller
Rating: R (for violence and pervasive language)
Country: Australia (English)
Runtime: 96 minutes

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Sunrise

Directed By: Andrew Baird
Studio: Lionsgate

When a former cop named Fallon returns to the scene of a horrific crime, the residents of a rural town discover the dark visitor is really a vampire who feeds on blood and fear. Befriended by a kind immigrant family, the instinctive killer soon faces a choice of revenge or redemption.

Starring: Guy Pearce, Alex Pettyfer, Olwen Fouéré, Kurt Yaeger, Crystal Yu, and William Gao
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Rating: R (for violence, gore and language)
Country: USA | UK (English)
Runtime: 93 minutes

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Double Down South

Directed By: Tom Schulman
Studio: Level 33 Entertainment

In the dangerous high-stakes world of illegal keno pool gambling, Diana (Lili Simmons), a smart, tough newcomer, charms keno-veteran Nick (Kim Coates) into taking her under his wing. They prepare to risk it all to defeat the world champion, but soon find themselves in much more danger than they ever imagined.

Starring: Lili Simmons, Kim Coates, Igby Rigney, Tom Bower and Justin Marcel McManus
Genre: Drama | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 120 minutes

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Founders Day

Directed By: Erik Bloomquist
Studio: Dark Sky Films

In this satirical political slasher from the Bloomquist Brothers, a small town is shaken by a series of ominous killings in the days leading up to a heated mayoral election. As accusations fly and the threat of a masked killer darkens every street corner, the residents must race to uncover the truth before fear consumes the town.

Starring: Naomi Grace, Devin Druid, William Russ, Amy Hargreaves, Catherine Curtin, Emilia McCarthy, and Olivia Nikkanen
Genre: Comedy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller
Rating: R (for strong bloody violence, language and some sexual references)
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 106 minutes

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Wanted Man

Directed By: Dolph Lundgren
Studio: Quiver Distribution

Johansen (Dolph Lundgren) is an aging detective, whose outdated policing methods have given the department a recent public relations problem. To save his job, he is sent to Mexico to extradite a female witness (Christina Villa) to the murders of two DEA agents. Once there, he finds not only his old opinions challenged, but that bad hombres on both sides of the border are now gunning for him and his witness.

Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Christina Villa, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Paré, Roger Cross, and Aaron McPherson
Genre: Action | Thriller
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 81 minutes

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The Arc Of Oblivion

Directed By: Ian Cheney
Studio: Abramorama

THE ARC OF OBLIVION explores a quirk of humankind: in a universe that erases its tracks, we humans are hellbent on leaving a trace. Set against the backdrop of the filmmaker’s quixotic quest to build an ark in a field in Maine, the film heads far afield — to salt mines in the Alps, fjords in the Arctic, and ancient libraries in the Sahara — to illuminate the strange world of archives, record-keeping, and memory. Playfully weaving stop-motion animation, spellbinding cinematography and fascinating interviews from the director’s inner circle and experts in the fields of science, culture and art — including documentarians Werner Herzog and Kirsten Johnson — THE ARC OF OBLIVION reveals how nature inspires the human drive behind filmmaking.

Starring: Werner Herzog
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English & French)
Runtime: 105 minutes

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Inside the Yellow Cocoon

Directed By: Pham Thien An
Studio: Kino Lorber

Winner of the prestigious Camera d’Or for best first film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the enthralling Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell from Vietnamese filmmaker Thien An Pham is a reverie on faith, loss, and nature expressed with uncommon invention and depth. It’s a simple tale told with visual complexity: after a car accident claims the life of his sister-in-law and leaves his 5-year-old nephew an orphan, a thirtysomething man named Thien (Le Phong Vu) leaves Saigon for a trip back to his rural hometown. During his meditative, wandering visit, Thien wrestles with his own agnosticism in the face of others’ religious beliefs, summons memories of his long-disappeared brother, and reconnects with a former girlfriend who now lives as a nun at a Christian church and school. With its drifting camera, evocative use of natural light, and gratifying perambulatory nature, this is a film with the power to readjust one’s perceptions of the world around us.

Starring: Nguyen Thi Truc Quynh, Nguyen Thinh, Le Phong Vu, and Vu Ngoc Manh
Genre: Drama | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Vietnam | France | Singapore | Spain (Vietnamese & English)
Runtime: 179 minutes

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The Breaking Ice

Directed By: Anthony Chen
Studio: Strand Releasing

Young urbanite Haofeng feels lost and adrift on China’s northern border. By chance, he goes on a tour led by Nana, a charming guide who instantly fascinates him. She introduces him to Xiao, and the three bond quickly.

Starring: Dongyu Zhou, Haoran Liu, Chuxiao Qu, Ruguang Wei, and Baisha Liu
Genre: Drama | Romance
Rating: Not Rated
Country: China | Singapore (Chinese, Korean, & English)
Runtime: 97 minutes

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The Hunted

Directed By: Louis Lagayette
Studio: Falcon Films

After its boat capsizes, a group of migrants is rescued by rich Europeans who offer shelter on the island where they are vacationing. The miracle becomes a nightmare when the saviors reveal their true plan and turn into ruthless man hunters.

Starring: Ayman Al Aboud, Daphne Alexander, Raj Bajaj, Lily Banda, and Pigmalion Dadakaridis
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Rating: R (for strong bloody violence, grisly images and language)
Country: Belgium | France | UK (English & Arabic)
Runtime: 94 minutes

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Pasang: In the Shadow of Everest

Directed By: Nancy Svendsen
Studio: Slice of Pie Productions

PASANG: In the Shadow of Everest chronicles Pasang Lhamu Sherpa’s tragic and inspiring journey to become the first Nepali woman to summit Everest in 1993. As an uneducated, indigenous woman and a Buddhist in a Hindu kingdom, Pasang’s dream to scale the legendary mountain pits her against family, foreign climbers, her own government, and nature itself. Her determined pursuit of Everest plays out within the context of her nation’s quest for democracy and the emergence of the commercial climbing industry. As told by the Nepalis who knew her, by some of the world’s most notable alpinists, and by Pasang herself, PASANG: The Shadow of Everest, documents her historic quest that would transfix her country and uplift a new generation’s belief in its possibilities.

Starring: Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, Marc Batard, Norbu Tenzing, Vincanne Adams, and Jan Arnold
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 72 minutes

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Vishniac

Directed By: Laura Bialis
Studio: Abramorama

Roman Vishniac is best known for having traversed Eastern Europe from 1935 through 1938, on assignment to photograph Jewish life. Less than a decade later these communities would be wiped out and Vishniac’s iconic photographs would provide the last visual records of an entire world. Through his photographs, we see Jewish life — in Eastern European shtetls and in Weimar-era Berlin — and witness the Nazi rise to power. After the war, his documentation continued with photographs of Berlin in ruins and Jewish children in Displaced Persons camps. Vishniac was also a respected scientist who made considerable contributions in the field of microscopic photography. His “Living Biology” series, funded by the National Science Foundation, were some of the first films depicting life through a microscope and became a staple in the 1960s and 1970s in classrooms across the United States. His pioneering microscopy transformed the nature of science photography. VISHNIAC delves into the person and story behind the photos as it frames Vishniac’s legacy as a key modernist photographer and preserver of memory. Through his stunning images, VISHNIAC introduces new audiences to a lost world that is quickly fading from our grasp.

Starring: Bradley Brennan, July Hodara, Declan Knappenberger, Vita Knappenberger, and Lucas Meisel
Genre: Documentary
Rating: Not Rated
Country: USA (English)
Runtime: 90 minutes

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Time Still Turns The Pages

Directed By: Nick Cheuk
Studio: ILLUME Films

A schoolteacher re-lives painful childhood memories after discovering concerning information about an at-risk student.

Starring: Chun Yip Lo, Ronald Cheng, Charm Man Chan, Hanna Chan, and Yee Chun Jessica Chan
Genre: Drama | International
Rating: Not Rated
Country: Hong Kong (Cantonese)
Runtime: 95 minutes

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