The Souvenir

In 1980s London, ambitious film student Julie pursues her dreams at film school while embarking on an intense love affair with the charming and worldly Anthony. What initially seems like an immersive romance gradually takes on a more complex and darker tone when Anthony's unreliability and hidden heroin addiction come to light. As their relationship pulls Julie further in, she finds her ideals and future plans coming under pressure, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish reality from imagination.

This semi-autobiographical film by director Joanna Hogg is a subtle and probing exploration of love, dependency, and the way personal experiences are transformed into art. Featuring an impressive debut by Honor Swinton Byrne, daughter of Tilda Swinton, as Julie, the film balances between social realism and a more stylized, cinematic approach to memories. It is no surprise that the film was awarded Best International Feature Film at the Sundance Film Festival.

A24/7 
What do Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Midsommar have in common? Not the cast, not the writers, not the cinematographers, and not the directors… No, what these three films share is the production company/distributor A24. The American A24 is a true success story: film lovers leap up when they see the A24 logo in the opening credits. The company was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, John Hodges, and David Fenkel, all of whom are not yet forty years old. Initially, A24 was only involved in the distribution of films. They pick up films that often struggle to find a large audience because they are different, innovative, and because the creators take risks. In 2016, they turn a new page. For the first time in their still young history, they produce a film themselves. And once again, they hit the mark, as the first film A24 invests in with its own money is Barry Jenkins’ later Oscar-winning Moonlight.

In the nearly 15 years that A24 has existed, they have produced or distributed around 150 films. 150 films without superheroes, cliché characters, or wafer-thin plots, but with real flesh-and-blood people, with their own unknown stories that deserve to be seen on the big screen again. That's why this summer; A24/7 - a modest selection of seven titles from the rich A24 catalog.