Strand Releasing 2011 Line Up

Hey there kids! Here is an updated list of releases for 2011 by STRAND RELEASING. Enjoy!

UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES (Drama/Fantasy)

Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century, Tropical Malady, Blissfully Yours).  Suffering from acute kidney failure, Uncle Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form.  Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave – the birthplace of his first life…  In his signature cinematic style, the acclaimed Thai filmmaker delivers a strange and mystical world of visionary beauty.  Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Thailand’s Official Selection for Best Foreign Language Film for the 84^th Annual Academy Awards. Nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2011 Spirit Awards. Opens in New York on Wednesday, March 2^nd, 2011 at the Film Forum.  Opens in Los Angeles on Friday, March 4, 2011 at the Royal Theatre. Opens in San Francisco on Friday, March 4, 2011 at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.

TO DIE LIKE A MAN (Drama)

Directed by João Pedro Rodrigues. Tonia is a large-than-life drag icon of Lisbon’s night life in the late 1980s.  At the peak of her career, she meets and falls in love with Rosario, a young soldier who’s gone AWOL.  Under pressure from Rosario, Tonia begins a series of operations to become a woman but the final step proves much harder than she could have guessed.  Torn between her love for Rosario and her deeply-rooted religious convictions, Tonia looks for distraction in a trip to the countryside with Rosario.  Lost along the way, the couple find themselves in an enchanted forest where everything they think they know about life and love is a proven wrong. Part melodrama, part phantasmagorical fairy tale, To Die Like A Man is visual extravaganza. Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival. Portugal’s Official Selection for Best Foreign Language Film for the 84^th Annual Academy Awards. Opens in New York on Friday, April 8, 2011 at IFC Center.

THE ARBOR (Documentary)

Directed by Clio Barnard.  Andrea Dunbar was described as ‘a genius straight from the slums.’  The unflinchingly honest playwright wrote about her distressing upbringing on the  Arbor, the notorious Buttershaw Estate in Bradford, UK.   When she died tragically in 1990 at the age of 29, Andrea left behind her plays and three children by three different men.  Although Lorraine, Andrea’s oldest daughter, acquired a knack for writing, she was unable to avoid a grim fate of her own.  This documentary follows Lorraine and her other siblings on a powerful journey of reflection and self-discovery as they begin to understand the struggles their mother faced.  Comprised of  personal letters; interviews with Andrea’s family and friends; and a reading of her most celebrated play; The Arbor is as innovative in its construction and execution as it is heartbreakingly compelling. Winner of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Best New Documentary Filmmaker.   Opens in New York on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at  Film Forum.

CAMERAMAN: THE LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF (Documentary)

Directed by Craig McCall.  Jack Cardiff’s career spanned an incredible nine of moving picture’s first ten decades and his work behind the camera altered the look of films forever through his use of Technicolor photography.  Craig McCall’s passionate film about the legendary cinematographer reveals a unique figure in British and international cinema.  Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival Classics and the New York Film Festival. Opens in New York on Friday, May 13, 2011 at Quad Cinema.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (Drama)

Directed by Catherine Breillat. French provocateur Catherine Breillat (Fat Girl, Bluebeard) continues her deconstruction of classic fairytales with her latest, The Sleeping Beauty.  Cursed at birth by an evil fairy, Anastasia is destined to prick her finger and die at the age of sixteen.  When three feckless fairy sisters discover this they hatch a plan to alter the curse: rather than die, Anastasia will sleep for 100 years.  While in slumber, Anastasia comes of age through a series of vivid dreams, filled with charming princes, dwarves, gypsies and magical creatures. When she reawakens a fully-formed adolescent, she finds that in real life, happy endings are more elusive than in our fantasies.  Beautifully designed by Francois-Renaud Labarthe and photographed by the great Denis Lenoir (Carlos), this constantly surprising, thought-provoking investigation of the female psyche reaffirms Breillat as one of the most inventive and risk-taking of contemporary French auteurs.  Official Selection of the 2010 Venice Film Festival. Official Selection of the 2010 Toronto Film Festival. Opens in July at IFC Center.

LEAP YEAR (AÑO BISIESTO) (Drama)

Directed by Michael Rowe.  Laura, a young journalist living an isolated life in a cramped Mexico City flat, is not lucky in love.   The banality of her daily life stands in stark contrast to her nightly pursuit of sex and love.  These short-lived affairs barely take the edge off her isolation, but then she meets the brooding, would-be actor Arturo.  Their chemistry ignites feelings in Laura that leave her deeply troubled.  The two embark on an increasingly dangerous sadomasochistic relationship in which pleasure, pain and love merge.  Their physical relationship seems headed for a very dark place as her secret past resurfaces, pushing Arturo to the limit in this intense, powerful and at times deeply unsettling movie.  Winner of the “Camera d’Or” Prize for Best First Film at the Cannes Film Festival.  Opening TBA.

3 (Drama/Comedy)

Directed by Tom Tykwer.  From the director of Run, Lola, Run and The International comes a sexy romantic drama with a nod to classic Hollywood’s screwball comedies.  Hanna and Simon, a couple in their early forties, live together in Berlin.  With their 20th anniversary looming, they both become restless despite being truly and deeply in love.  Unbeknownst to one another, they become acquainted with Adam, a younger man, and fall in love with him.  Clearly not your typical 30’s romp, this reinvention of those classic films with Tykwer’s sleek direction is a playful update, an intellectual study of a modern couple looking for redefinition in a world of absolutes.  Official Selection of the 2010 Toronto Film Festival.  Opens in Fall.

LA ZOMBIE (Comedy)

Directed by Bruce LaBruce.  Canadian bad boy Bruce LaBruce (Hustler White) is back with a hyper-sexual analysis of contemporary gay culture with L.A. Zombie.  Starring international porn star and model Francois Sagat, the film follows an alien zombie creature as he emerges from the sea and attempts to make sense of his new home, Los Angeles.  After getting picked up by a surfer in a truck, a severe accident occurs that results in the surfer lying dead in the middle of the road.  The alien zombie has sex with the dead man and brings him back to life.  Wandering away from the accident, he finds himself among LA’s homeless population where it becomes increasingly unclear whether he really is an alien zombie or a schizophrenic suffering from delusions.  Like a kind of dark savior, the alien zombie proceeds to find various dead men in the Greater Los Angeles area and bring them back to life.  Part porn; part horror; part art film; part critique of superficiality in the gay world; all Bruce LaBruce!  Opening TBA.