This film is part of Rentals
The Congress
Ari Folman’s follow up to Waltz with Bashir is a hallucinatory fable about an actress whose digital image is controlled by a Hollywood studio.
Director: Ari Folman
Overview
Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem (Solaris), Ari Folman’s mind-bending follow up to the critically lauded Waltz with Bashir tells the story of Robin Wright, an actress struggling to find work in Hollywood who accepts a lucrative offer from ‘Miramount’ studio to have her image digitised and controlled by the company.
Twenty years after relinquishing her identity, the contract has expired and she is summoned to a mysterious congress taking place in an animated world. Although radically different in content to his previous political documentary, Folman’s hallucinatory slice of sci-fi eccentricity shares a similarly daring stylistic approach. As a scathing satire on the film industry it’s fascinating; as an exercise in formal experimentation it’s never less than dazzling.
Related
Girls Will Be Girls Girls Will Be Girls
Drama 2024 119 mins Director: Shuchi Talati
Teenage romance simmers in a strict Himalayan boarding school in this sublime coming-of-age tale. Winner of a 2024 Sundance audience award
The Goldman Case The Goldman Case
Drama 2023 116 mins Director: Cédric Kahn
Gripping courtroom drama based on the explosive 1976 murder trial of French political activist, Pierre Goldman.
In Camera In Camera
Drama 2024 95 mins Director: Naqqash Khalid
A struggling actor faces relentless knockbacks in Naqqash Khalid’s sharp-witted comment on race and identity in the film industry.
Kneecap Kneecap
Drama 2024 105 mins Director: Rich Peppiatt
Fantastically outlandish biopic about the anarchic Belfast rap trio and their fight to save the Irish language.
Tracks Tracks
Biopic 2014 113 mins Director: John Curran
Mia Wasikowska stars in this inspirational true story about one woman’s extraordinary odyssey through the Australian Outback.
Dark Waters Dark Waters
Biopic 2019 126 mins Director: Todd Haynes
Mark Ruffalo plays an attorney trying to uncover the corporate scandal of a chemical company poisoning a local community, in this searching ecological drama from Todd Haynes (Safe, Carol).
Upstream Colour Upstream Colour
Science Fiction 2013 96 mins Director: Shane Carruth
Shane Carruth’s startlingly original and beautifully conceived drama follows two lovers as they recover from infection by a mind-altering parasite.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Drama 2004 103 mins Director: Michel Gondry
Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet play the couple who fall in love so quickly it seems they must have known each other in a past life ... only to discover they did.
Splice Splice
Horror 2010 104 mins Director: Vincenzo Natali
Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are scientists who create an animal-human hybrid that develops at an alarming rate and soon grows out of control.
The Untamed The Untamed
Fantasy 2016 98 mins Director: Amat Escalante
Amat Escalante follows Heli with a boundary-pushing, mind-blowing mix of sex, sci-fi and social drama.
The Endless The Endless
Horror 2017 112 mins Director: Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson
Two brothers who escaped a cult are drawn back in by a mysterious message… Acclaimed directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring) return with another hybrid piece of raging intensity.
Possessor Possessor
Horror 2020 104 mins Director: Brandon Cronenberg
In the near future, a cool and ruthless assassin who uses other people’s bodies to carry out execution-style killings comes unstuck when her latest vehicle resists.
Mean Streets Mean Streets
Crime 1973 112 mins Director: Martin Scorsese
Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel excel in Scorsese’s seminal tale of the conflict between Catholicism and crime in New York’s Little Italy.
Who's That Knocking at My Door Who's That Knocking at My Door
Drama 1968 86 mins Director: Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese’s powerful and grittily authentic first feature, starring Harvey Keitel as a young New Yorker who falls in love with a free-spirited college graduate (Zeth Bithune).
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Drama 1974 107 mins Director: Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed fourth feature famously won Ellen Burstyn an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Reservoir Dogs Reservoir Dogs
Crime 1991 99 mins Director: Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino explodes onto the screen with his debut feature following a jewellery heist gone horribly, violently wrong.
Youth Youth
Drama 2015 119 mins Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Michael Caine scintillates as a curmudgeonly composer in Paolo Sorrentino’s deliciously bittersweet drama.
Bad Timing Bad Timing
1980 122 mins Director: Nicolas Roeg
Nic Roeg's complex, elusive cult classic is a Vienna-set tale of all consuming passion, starring Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell and Harvey Keitel.
Timestalker Timestalker
Comedy 2024 89 mins Director: Alice Lowe
Alice Lowe's time-jumping fantasy rom-com is a colourful, darkly funny treat.
South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic South: Sir Ernest Shackleton's Glorious Epic of the Antarctic
Documentary 1919 81 mins Silent Director: Frank Hurley
An extraordinary story of survival in the wastes of Antarctica.
Night Courier (Mandoob) Night Courier (Mandoob)
Comedy 2023 112 mins Director: Ali Kalthami
A desperate delivery driver gets caught up in the dark underworld of Riyadh in Ali Kalthami’s gripping, pitch-black satire.
The Ballymurphy Precedent The Ballymurphy Precedent
Documentary 2018 108 mins Director: Callum Macrae
John Pilger's film on the conflict in Northern Ireland is a skilful mix of investigative journalism, documentary storytelling and reflections on contemporary history.
Utopia Utopia
Documentary 2013 111 mins Director: John Pilger and Alan Lowery
John Pilger's portrayal of the oldest continuous human culture is also an investigation into a suppressed colonial past, and rapacious present.
The Coming War on China The Coming War on China
Documentary 2016 113 mins Director: John Pilger
John Pilger’s prescient 60th film for ITV is both a warning and an inspiring story of resistance.