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Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Astrakan (David Depesseville)

Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France and one of the better in Locarno this year; and if that title isn’t enough to give pause, plenty else in the opening exchanges will. The first act is a procession of flags, both red and false: at the opening the protagonist, Samuel, lightly goads a snake in the reptile house of a zoo; moments later a rabbit is hung and skinned in his kitchen with all the ceremony of...

As the arthouse cinema market continues to regain its footing, the list of what may be considered an overlooked film could be quite vast, depending on one’s metrics. For our yearly feature highlighting the 50 best films you might have missed––arriving before our overall top 50 films––we’ve sought to dig deep to find the gems that deserved more attention upon their initial release and have mostly been left out of year-end conversations. Hopefully, with many widely available on a variety of streaming platforms, they will begin to find an expanded audience.

While many documentaries would qualify for this list, we stuck strictly to narrative efforts; one can instead read our rundown of the top docs here. Check out the list below, as presented in alphabetical order.

The Adults (Dustin Guy Defa)

The rare case of a Movie About Nothing whose languorous attitudes collect a world of concern: desire against reality,...

Though we aim to discuss a wide breadth of films each year, few things give us more pleasure than the arrival of bold, new voices. It’s why we venture to festivals and pore over a variety of different features that might bring to light some emerging talent. This year was an especially notable time for new directors making their stamp, and we’re highlighting the handful of 2023 debuts that most impressed us.

Below one can check out a list spanning a variety of different genres, and many are available to stream here. In years to come, take note as these helmers (hopefully) ascend.

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Raven Jackson)

Raven Jackson’s directorial debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is a distillation of cinema to its purest form, a stunning patchwork of experience and memory. Daring in its formal gambits but universal for how it explores humanity’s connection with nature,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Astrakan (David Depesseville)

Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France and one of the better in Locarno this year; and if that title isn’t enough to give pause, plenty else in the opening exchanges will. The first act is a procession of flags, both red and false: at the opening the protagonist, Samuel, lightly goads a snake in the reptile house of a zoo; moments later a rabbit is hung and skinned in his kitchen with all the ceremony of...

Kids can be difficult, but so can our parents and guardians. Such notions are explored with an artistic hand in David Depesseville's debut narrative feature, which will be released Friday, Sep. 1. Astrakan — whose mystery of a title is finally revealed in the film's groundbreaking third act — is French Impressionism at its finest, chronicling hard-hitting, slow-burn sequences of a young orphan named Samuel (Mirko Giannini). It's an utterly realistic portrayal of youth in revolt that sheds light on the work of Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows) and could even fit well into a Wes Anderson film — I'm looking at you, Moonrise Kingdom.

Gripping French cinema is often hard to refute, even if this isn't exactly a commercial-grade project. But sometimes, less is more — and here, the simple yet lush 16mm film component allows Astrakan to really shine.

A Gripping Look at Youth in Revolt

First, a word about French Impressionism,...

With the summer movie season now quietly winding down, the fall movie season is upon us and while we expect a handful of release dates to change as writers and actors fight for what they deserve, it’s time to look at what’s on the horizon. As we do each year, after highlighting the best films offered thus far, we’ve set out to provide an overview of the titles that should be on your radar.

Featuring 40 films, the below preview includes both the best we’ve already seen (with full reviews where available) and the anticipated with (mostly) confirmed release dates over the next four months. A good amount will premiere over the next few weeks at Telluride, Venice, TIFF, and NYFF, so check back for our reviews. Dates below are theatrical releases unless otherwise noted.

Astrakan (David Depesseville; Sept. 1)

Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs,...

A standout among feature-length directorial debuts this year, David Depesseville’s Astrakan is one of the most piercing, enigmatic coming-of-age stories, proving there is still much to mine from the endless well of first experiences. Shot in stunningly vivid 16mm by Simon Beaufils (Knife+Heart), the Locarno and New Directors/New Films selection follows a orphan who goes to live with foster parents as he experiences first love, passions, and family secrets. Ahead of a September 1 release in theaters and on VOD from Altered Innocence, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer and poster.

Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France...

Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-wai, Steven Spielberg, Claire Denis, Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Kelly Reichardt, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Charles Burnett, Lynne Ramsay, Lee Chang-dong, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mia Hansen-Løve, Bi Gan, Michael Haneke, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Those are just a few of the directors who have been featured at New Directors/New Films throughout its 52-year history.

With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.

Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.

Astrakan (David Depesseville)

Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...

Considering many films premiering at the Locarno Film Festival can take years to get a release here in the United States––should they get any at all––Locarno in Los Angeles has been a welcome addition to the festival scene. Now in its sixth edition, the series (curated by Jordan Cronk and Robert Koehler) highlights the best of Locarno over four days, and kicks off this Thursday at 2220 Arts + Archives. Find our recommendations for what to seek out this year below.

The Adventures of Gigi the Law (Alessandro Comodin)

In the heat of late summer, San Michele al Tagliamento is a humid emulsion of corn fields, cypress trees, and silent streets. Sitting along the border between Veneto and Friuli, in the northeast of Italy, it’s a rural town in which nothing ever happens, everyone knows each other, and the sun throws everything into a somnolent lockdown—the concrete blazing,...

The Asian premiere of Soi Cheang’s “Mad Fate” is just one of three locally-produced movies that have been set as the opening and closing titles of the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival.

“Mad Fate” is joined in the festival opening slot on March 30 by “Elegies,” Ann Hui’s documentary portrayal of the topography of contemporary local poetry, which will have its world premiere. The closing film, another world premiere, is “Vital Sign,” an affecting drama directed by Cheuk Wan-chi and starring Louis Koo, Yau Hawk-sau, and Angela Yuen, which will wrap up proceedings on 10 April.

In total, the festival has programmed some 200 films from 64 countries and territories. These include nine world premieres, six international premieres, and 67 Asian premieres.

“Mad Fate,” an intense examination of murder, local superstition and the lower depths of society, premiered last month at the Berlin festival in a special section. Cheang will be a major feature of the Hkiff,...

Exclusive: Altered Innocence has picked up all North American rights to the Locarno competition title Astrakan, the debut feature from filmmaker David Depesseville.

The pic will screen at New Directors / New Films, MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual film festival and is being prepped for a Summer 2023 theatrical release.

Altered Innocence describes the film as a coming-of-age tale about “adoption, first love, and family secrets,” with an unexpected formal left turn.

The full synopsis reads: Samuel is a wild-looking twelve-year-old orphan who has been placed with a nanny, Marie, for several weeks. Marie, who is struggling between her feelings and her need for money, is married to Clément, with whom she has two sons, Alexis and Dimitri. Very quickly, Samuel will have to get to know this new family and their possible secrets.

Depesseville has described the film as “an impressionistic chronicle of that preadolescent age...

Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art have set Savanah Leaf’s Earth Mama and Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s Sundance Special Jury Award winner Mutt, both debut features, as opening and closing film at the 52st edition of their collaboration, New Directors/New Films, running March 29–April 9 in NYC.

The festival will introduce will showcase 27 features and 11 shorts from 41 directors at theaters in both venues.

Mutt star Lio Mehial was awarded a U.S. Special Jury Award for acting at Sundance Film festival for their portrayal of Feña, a twentysomething trans man contending with an onslaught of aggravation, surprise encounters and emotional choices over the course of a single hectic day in New York City. “We were charmed, seduced, and compelled by this fresh new performer as we watched them navigating the intimate complexities of their everyday life and relationships in his search for acceptance,” the jury citation said.