A weird story, based on legend, about a mother and her daughter-in-law who survived in times of hardship by murdering Samurai and selling their armour to buy rice. A wonderfully strange and visually striking Japanese folk tale, unusual in itself, but also a beautiful and detailed character study. find out more...

In an unnamed European town, in an unspecified era, live Cynthia and Evelyn. Every day Evelyn cycles to Cynthia’s chateau to work as a lowly maid and every day the cruel, vindictive Cynthia inflicts countless sad find out more...

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs might be Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse's finest hour, a delicate, devastating study of a woman, Keiko, played heartbreakingly by Hideko Takamine, who works as a bar hostess in Tokyo's very modern post-war Ginza district. Sly, resourceful, but trapped, Keiko comes to embody the conflicts and struggles of a woman trying to establish her independence in a male-dominated society. A profoundly moving masterpiece. find out more...

An entomologist, searching for insects in the desert, becomes trapped in a large escape-proof sandpit with a desirable, but inarticulate, woman, and a taught sexual tension gradually builds between them. On such a slight plot the film develops into an exploration of eroticism and the attraction between man and woman. An unusually cruel and suspense filled thriller. find out more...