This October MUBI UK exclusively debuts the acclaimed animated fantasy
Cryptozoo. Other highlights include a focus on women-directed horror, South Korean
cinema and a celebration of black cinema.
Cryptozoo
This October, MUBI exclusively showcases the enigmatic
Cryptozoo (2021), a dazzling fantasy from the mind of
visionary filmmaker Dash Shaw (High School Sinking into the Sea). Featuring vocal performances from a brilliant ensemble cast, including
Lake Bell and Michael Cera, Cryptozoo was a
highlight of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the 2021
Berlinale Generation where it earned the Special Mention in the 14plus
competition.
Cryptozoo is set in a world inhabited by both humans and
rare mythical creatures known as “Cryptids”, telling the story of Lauren,
a zookeeper who has dedicated her life to finding and bringing these
controversial beings under the protection of her sanctuary – the titular
Cryptozoo. When she attempts to track down an elusive, dream-eating beast
and bring it to safety, she enters into a dangerous mission to find it
before it is captured and exploited by the military.
Women at the Forefront of Horror
Halloween brings with it a special streaming exclusive:
Prano Bailey-Bond’s critically-acclaimed
Censor
(2020) will be premiering on October 31st, crowning MUBI's exciting season
of horror films directed by women. The season will kick off with
Alice Lowe’s darkly comedic revenge horror
Prevenge
(2016) starring herself while pregnant, followed by Anna Biller’s
spellbinding
The Love Witch
(2016), and Jennifer Kent’s cult offering
The Babadook
(2014). The season takes a refreshing angle on the genre, exploring themes
such as motherhood, gender roles, and trauma from a female
perspective.
New South Korean Cinema
MUBI exclusively presents a survey of the best undistributed South Korean
films from emerging voices and upcoming directors from the past five
years, and starring actors such as Yuh-jung Youn, one of South
Korea’s most prolific actresses and the winner of this year’s Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress for
Minari.
The season will include: Yoon Dan-bi’s
Moving On (2019), Kim Cho-hee’s
Lucky Chan-sil (2019), E J-yong’s
The Bacchus Lady (2016), Kim Dae-hwan’s
The First Lap (2017), Jeong Ga-young’s
Heart (2019), Jang Woo-jin’s
Winter’s Night (2018), and Jeon Go-woon's
Microhabitat (2017).
Cut to Black: Celebrating Black Cinema
With October being Black History Month in the UK, MUBI will present an
essential yet overlooked masterpiece by a Black British filmmaker at the
beginning of the month, marking the launch of a collection regrouping films
available on MUBI directed by Black directors, as well as iconic works
portraying Black lives on screen, such as
Félicité
(Alain Gomis, 2017),
This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, 2019), Mandabi (Ousmane Sembène, 1968) or
The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, 1972).
Opéra de Paris Meets Cinema’s Auteurs
This month, MUBI also brings you an exciting collaboration in the form of a
slate of diverse short-form visions from acclaimed auteurs such as
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sergei Loznitsa or
Jafar Panahi commissioned by the Opéra de Paris. The chosen films,
all exploring performance, range from a feverish choreography between dream
and reality in the heart of a Thai forest to Algerian desert singers.
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
MUBI presents Lili Horvát’s mesmerising and critically-acclaimed
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, selected as the Hungarian entry for the Best International Feature Film
at the 93rd Academy Awards. The film follows Márta, a 40-year-old
neurosurgeon, who falls in love and leaves her shining American career
behind to return to Budapest to start a new life. There she finds that the
love of her life claims that they have never met before.
Endless Night
A few years after the Civil War, Anxo returns to his home village in the
Galician countryside, where he discovers how war and the new regime have
transformed the relationships among people. Featuring non-professional
actors, director Eloy Encisio samples Franco-era art–plays, memoirs,
and letters—in one of the most profound explorations of the social and
political foundations of fascism in modern cinema.
Play It Safe
Play It Safe, written and directed by Mitch Kalisa, is a parable on race,
focusing on the microaggressions experienced by Jonathan, a student
attending an affluent London drama school. In the program notes for his
curated selection at the Telluride Film Festival 2021, director Barry
Jenkins said "I know folks who’ve been Jacob. And now, for 13 minutes, you
will too."
Corporate Accountability
Jonathan Perel films factories and buildings of companies in
Argentina from his car in this vividly unsettling landscape documentary
(Berlinale ‘20). Yet it's the voiceover by Perel that gives these images
weight and meaning, as he reads aloud a report detailing each of these
companies’ participation in the assassinations, torture, and worker
repressions during the military regime.
