OVID’s October Lineup: Alain Cavalier noir starring Romy Schneider & Jean-Louis Trintignant, Taviani brothers underrated epic with Mastroianni, Ann Hui, Del Close, Maya Deren, Che Guevara, Halloween Horror Galore, & more! 

This October OVID presents 25 new films and 14 exclusives.

A precursor to The Conformist, we have Alain Cavalier’s Le combat dans l’île starring Romy Schneider and Jean-Louis Trintignant, plus the Taviani brothers’ epic Allonsanfàn, a stirring account of post-Napoleonic Italy starring Marcello Mastroianni with a score by Morricone. 

We’ll be spooking your Halloween with a week of horror films, from Hong Kong horror comedy Visible Secret by Ann Hui (the third film by Hui to join the platform), to Pedro Almodóvar’s favorite horror film Arrebato (Rapture). But before that, we bring you the all-too-real horrors of illegal abortion with Stories of A, which delves into an underground network of abortion providers and seekers in Paris evading arrest by police (shot in 1973, and uncomfortably close to our present). 

We’ll also premiere a doc on the earliest days of affirmative action and the student takeover of the City College of New York: The Five Demands. We’ll present The Divine Horsemen: Living Gods of Haiti, a film about Haitian vodou shot by experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, completed after her death. We have two stellar animated films this month: The Tune (early Bill Plympton, his first feature) and The Wolf House, a contemporary critical hit! To lighten up a month of noirs and scaries, we round out with For Madmen Only, a hybrid portrait of legendary improv guru Del Close who coached many of the best-known comedians of the late twentieth century. Plus, a doc on jazz journalist Nat Hentoff, featuring luminaries such as Amiri Baraka and music by jazz heavyweights (Davis, Coltrane, Mingus, and others).

Full details on October’s complete lineup are below.

(Image above from Charles Belmont & Marielle Issartel's Stories of A, premiering on OVID on October 4th)

Wednesday, October 2

Notre-Dame of Paris, Rising from the Ashes
Directed by Laurent Fléchaire
Andana Films | Documentary | France | 2021

Three years ago, Notre-Dame of Paris cathedral’s rooftops were destroyed by flames in front of the eyes of the whole world. Since then, clearance and security efforts led to the start of a huge reconstruction task ahead. Men and women at the reconstruction site embody the mysterious aura of the place, a void where their only and most important mission is to save and restore the magnificent cathedral.

Thursday, October 3

The Art of Cooking With Fire
Directed by Iñaki Arteta
Pragda | Documentary | Spain | 2019

Self-taught, Bittor Arginzoniz has achieved world fame as a grill genius with his restaurant Asador Etxebarri, ranked number 3 of the world’s best restaurants in 2019. His personality and the place where he lives make his cuisine unique, minimalism is his trademark. Bittor has revolutionized the way people roast meat, fish, or vegetables. He has a remarkable ability to coax out explosive flavor from seemingly simple ingredients, most of which are grilled over his famous adjustable-height grills. The Art of Cooking with Fire offers viewers an exclusive look into Bittor’s way of working, from the obsessive search for the best product to preparation and cooking. Bittor shares his sources of inspiration and motivation.

“Arteta has achieved an unusual degree of intimacy with Arginzoniz and his family and shows the chef in action in his kitchen, in some scenes never seen before.” —El Correo

The Price of Progress
Directed by Víctor Luengo
Pragda | Documentary | Spain | 2019

In the urgent context that shapes much of the discourse on the future of agriculture in the E.U., The Price of Progress delves into the intricacies of the international food industry. As questions loom over the safety and regulation of food, the film asks: Who determines what is safe to eat? What role do genetically modified organisms play, and how do differing standards across continents impact global perspectives? The film forces audiences to confront the interests at stake in the food industry: power, money, and above all, health.

“Explores the networks of the food industry in Europe from political to scientific pressures.” —El Diario

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Friday, October 4

Inbetween Girl
Directed by Mei Makino
With Emma Galbraith, William Magnuson, Emily Garrett, Liz Waters
Utopia | Feature | United States | 2021

Filmmaker Mei Makino’s new feature film tells a charming and emotional coming-of-age story. When she’s blindsided by her parents’ sudden divorce, teen artist Angie Chen turns to secret hook-ups with Liam, the heartthrob of her private school. Angie is set on a journey of sexual awakenings, racial insecurities, and artistic expression as she comes to discover what she wants, and who she wants to be.

“Critic’s Pick! Takes seriously the messiness of growing up, the hardest parts of which involve accepting life’s ambiguities.” —Beatrice Loayza, The New York Times

“Emma Galbraith gives a confident beyond her years performance.” —RogerEbert.com

“A clever and liberated debut.” —The Playlist

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Restored!

Stories of A
Directed by Charles Belmont & Marielle Issartel
Icarus Films | Documentary | France | 1973/2024

Shot in Paris in 1973, this feminist film on the fight for abortion rights was banned as soon as it was released. A large-scale game of hide-and-seek ensued, as activists created an underground distribution network, hiding the film from police, and creating an effective model for cinema as an act of civil disobedience. Faced with a tide of illegal abortions leading to death and sterility, a group of doctors decided to offer abortions for free, and to be public about it. The filmmakers originally set out to make an educational film about the movement. Instead, they created a feature-length feminist classic. Recently restored, this fascinating historical document is a reminder of the critical importance of access to abortion.

“An example of militant cinema that was mindful of people and situations, concerned about pedagogy and emotion, driven by a current where anger over unjust legislation mixed with the joy of a collective struggle filled with energy.” —Slate  

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Monday, October 7

El Dia Que Me Quieras: (The Day You’ll Love Me)
Directed by Leandro Katz
Icarus Films | Documentary | Argentina | 1999

A meditation on the last picture taken of Che Guevara as he lay dead on a table surrounded by his captors. After Guevara was captured and killed, in 1967, a wire photograph was transmitted from Bolivia. Its publication on October 10, 1967, was the culmination of a legendary search that had lasted two years. 

“Visually exquisite and deeply moving… at once an elegy to the passing of the age of revolution in Latin America and an investigation into the history and mythos surrounding the infamous photograph of the beatific corpse of its central icon: Che Guevara.”—Afterimage

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Los Puros
Directed by Carla Valdés León
Icarus Films | Documentary | Cuba | 2024

A group of old friends reunite at a summer house in Varadero, Cuba. Their last meeting was in Minsk, mid-1980s: they were preparing to return home to Cuba after five years spent studying Marxist-Leninist philosophy in the Soviet Union. The meeting triggers a flood of old memories and historical reminiscences. Drawn to the Soviet Union by an idealistic commitment to utopian socialism, the young students were disoriented by what they encountered: a society moving inexorably towards its own disintegration. This was the era of perestroika, when new reforms rapidly transformed Soviet society and undermined the old certainties of official ideology. What once appeared as a shining beacon of the future looked increasingly like a historical artifact destined to disappear.

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Tuesday, October 8

One or Two Questions
Directed by Kristina Konrad
Pragda | Documentary | Uruguay, Germany | 2018

A testimony of the capacity of documentary archives to unravel the complexity of history, One or Two Questions documents the mood on the streets of Uruguay between 1987 and 1989 following the approval of a law granting amnesty for all crimes and human rights violations committed by the army and police during the dictatorship.

“Konrad’s subtle and almost Socratic questioning, though, is the best expression of journalism’s true role within democracy: to make the people conscious.” —The Guardian

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Thursday, October 10

The Tune
Directed by Bill Plympton
With Daniel Neiden, Maureen McElheron, Marty Nelson
MVD | Animated Feature | United States | 1992

Legendary animator and cartoonist Bill Plympton’s first feature, The Tune is a wildly surreal animated musical comedy about a struggling songwriter named Del (voiced by Daniel Neiden), desperate to write a hit tune to save his relationship with his long-suffering girlfriend Didi. On his way to meet her and his boss, Del gets sidetracked in the cheerfully deranged Alternate Universe of Flooby Nooby: a strangely nostalgic vision of 1950s middle-class America as filtered through the affectionate-but-twisted sensibilities of David Lynch, Talking Heads and classic Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoons.

“Plympton’s first feature is a surreal surety, chock full of brilliant gags, decent tunes, and lots of unobtrusive heart: it’s 78 minutes of unrelenting fun.” —Austin Chronicle

Friday, October 11

Fill ‘er Up with Super
Directed by Alain Cavalier
With Patrick Bouchitey, Etienne Chicot, Bernard Crombey, Xavier Saint-Macary
MVD/Radiance Films | Feature | France | 1976

Klouk (Bernard Crombey) is a car salesman who has to miss a family holiday to deliver a luxury Chevrolet station wagon to his boss’ wealthy client. He decides to take his friend Philippe (Xavier Saint-Macary) along with him for the ride across the length of France from Lille to the Cote d’Azur. A buddy road movie that came together from genuine friendship and developed throughout the months-long script workshop giving the film a casual and naturalistic quality that pre-dates Richard Linklater’s similar approaches by some decade, Fill ‘Er Up with Super is one of many touching road movie comedies about youth in a line of classics.

“Fans of Cassavetes’ films about masculinity and its discontents will find a lot to love in this nicely acted, sensitively directed look at male friendship.” —Video Librarian

‘A down-to-earth meditation of male bonding and bruised masculinity that really deserves so much rediscovery.” —Cinema Sentries

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Le Combat dans l’île
Directed by Alain Cavalier
With Romy Schneider, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Henri Serre
MVD/Radiance Films | Feature | France | 1962

Clement (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is a wealthy son of an industrialist who lives a secret life as a right-wing terrorist. Double-crossed following an assassination attempt he flees to the countryside with his wife, Anne (Romy Schneider) where they stay with his childhood friend, Paul (Henri Serre). Clement plots his revenge, but Anne falls for Paul and a love triangle is just one of many complications in this multi-layered discovery from the French New Wave. With the support of producer Louis Malle, Alain Cavalier directed his debut, a noirish drama beautifully shot by cinematographer Pierre Lhomme (Army of Shadows). While echoing the political turmoil of the 1960s, the film probes bourgeois values and the relationship between sex and violence, acting as a precursor to The Conformist and demonstrating the influence of Chabrol.

“Not to be missed. Cavalier’s subtly committed and beautifully crafted thriller investigates the political dilemmas of early 1960s France under the guise of a love triangle.” —Village Voice

“Rescued now from 1962 oblivion, Alain Cavalier’s black-and-white noir is sleek and cool, with complicated turns and thrilling shoot-outs and stormy betrayals, both political and romantic.” —Boston Phoenix

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Wednesday, October 16

The Five Demands
Directed by Greta Schiller & Andrea Weiss
Icarus Films | Documentary | USA | 2023

A riveting story about the student strike that changed the face of higher education forever. In April 1969, a small group of Black and Puerto Rican students shut down the City College of New York, an elite public university located in the heart of Harlem. Fueled by the revolutionary fervor sweeping the nation, the strike soon turned into an uprising, leading to the extended occupation of the campus, classes being canceled, students being arrested, and the resignation of the college president.

“Feels more pressing than ever.” —Hyperallergic     

“A captivating look at the student strike that forever changed higher education… A powerful reminder of the value of determination and united effort in pursuing social justice.” —Overly Honest Movie Reviews

OVID EXCLUSIVE — SVOD PREMIERE

Thursday, October 17

El Gran Movimiento
Directed by Kiro Russo
With Max Bautista Uchasara, Julio César Ticona, Israel Hurtado, Gustavo Milán
KimStim | Feature | Bolivia, France | 2021

Stunningly shot in the Bolivian mountains and in contemporary La Paz, the film follows Elder who arrives in the capital after a seven-day journey seeking to get back his work at a mine. Once in the city, Elder gets a job but his health soon deteriorates. An elderly woman known as Mama Pancha sends him to Max, a mysterious man who resides in the rainforest and occasionally heads to La Paz for work as a street performer. To save Elder, Max performs a series of shamanic rituals that slowly brings the young man back to life.

“A thoroughly idiosyncratic and elliptical approach to the city symphony.” —In Review Online

“Fascinating in its suggestions and beautiful in its compositions.” —The Film Stage

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Guie’dani’s Navel
Directed by Xavi Sala
With Sótera Cruz, Érika López, Majo Alfaroh, Yuriria del Valle
Pragda | Feature | Mexico | 2019

In a star-making performance, Sótera Cruz brings razor-sharp intensity to her portrayal of Guie’dani, a Zapotec girl determined to fight for her dignity. Guie’dani is dragged to Mexico City by her mother to help in her work as a housekeeper for an upper-middle-class family. There, the subtle psychological subjugation inflicted by the white family functions as a metaphor for the oppression of the old world by the new. Yet, Guie’dani rejects the life of servitude and seeks her own identity through a friendship with another rebellious teen. Guie’dani’s Navel is a unique coming-of-age narrative exploring the racism inflicted on indigenous people in Mexico and the empowerment of a new generation that refuses to accept it silently.

“While Guie’dani’s Navel has a relatively simple premise, it has sincere performances and thoughtfully written characters having profound interactions with one another.… highly recommended.” —Educational Media Reviews Online

Friday, October 18

The Wolf House
Directed by Cristobal León & Joaquín Cociña
KimStim | Animated Feature | Chile | 2018

Maria, a young woman finds refuge in a house in the south of Chile after escaping from a sect of German religious fanatics. She is welcomed into the home by two pigs, the only inhabitants of the place. Like in a dream, the universe of the house reacts to Maria’s feelings. The animals transform slowly into humans and the house becomes a nightmarish world. Inspired on the actual case of Colonia Dignidad, The Wolf House masquerades as an animated fairy tale produced by the leader of the sect in order to indoctrinate its followers.

“The film surprises, with incredible force, in every one of its 75 minutes.” —The New York Times

“Utilizes stop-motion to conjure a level of surreal grotesqueness that would make Jan Švankmajer blush.” —Hyperallergic

Tuesday, October 22

The Divine Horsemen: Living Gods of Haiti
Directed by Maya Deren
Women Make Movies | Documentary | USA | 1977

A black and white documentary film about dance and possession in Haitian vodou that was shot by experimental filmmaker Maya Deren between 1947 and 1952 and edited and completed after her death. Most of the film consists of images of dancing and bodies in motion during rituals in Rada and Petro services.

“Maya Deren was a brilliant filmmaker and theorist whose substantial body of films and writings has paled beside the even larger legend of her life and death. At the center of the legend is the film, never finished in her lifetime, that she made in Haiti between 1947 and 1951, of the voodoo dances and ritual ceremonies into which she became initiated.” —B. Ruby Rich

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Silent Witnesses
Directed by Jerónimo Atehortúa Arteaga & Luis Ospina
Pragda | Feature | Colombia, France | 2023

Tells the impossible love story between Efraín and Alicia during Colombia’s first half of the 20th century. Based on remnants of the few Colombian silent films from 1922-1937 that have withstood the test of time, and taking several key Colombian novels as a reference, this new imaginary story pays homage to this little-known found cinema. What begins as a melodrama, in which Efraín falls in love with Alicia, engaged to Uribe, a powerful and vengeful industrialist, turns into a journey into the heart of the jungle, in which Efraín will witness the humiliating living conditions of the peasants of southern Colombia and the genesis of an armed rebellion.

“A fascinating look into the largely lost and overlooked work of early Colombian cinema.” —Kino Critics

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Wednesday, October 23

The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: Notes on the Life of Nat Hentoff
Directed by David L. Lewis
With Amiri Baraka, Stanley Crouch, Floyd Abrams, Aryeh Neier, Dan Morgenstern 
First Run Features | Documentary | USA | 2013

Nat Hentoff is one of the enduring voices of the last 65 years, a writer who championed jazz as an art form and who also led the rise of ‘alternative’ journalism in America. This unique documentary wraps the themes of liberty, identity and free expression around a historical narrative that stretches from the Great Depression to the Patriot Act. At the core of the film are three extraordinary, intimate conversations with Hentoff. Commentary and perspective are offered through additional interviews with such luminaries as Amiri Baraka. Interwoven through it all is the sublime music of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus and Bob Dylan, along with never-before-seen photographs and archival footage of these artists and other cultural figures at the height of their powers. 

“Brisk and engaging. Hentoff comes off as an amused, amusing, endlessly fascinating man, one with more stories to tell than he could have fit into his almost three dozen books or his half-century of columns. He’s a great pleasure to watch, to listen to, and to read, even when you couldn’t disagree with him more.”
—The Village Voice

“A sharp-looking and enjoyable doc that celebrates the writer’s legacy.”
—The Hollywood Reporter

Friday, October 25

Allonsanfàn
Directed by Paolo & Vittorio Taviani
With Marcello Mastroianni, Lea Massari, Mimsy Farmer, Laura Betti
MVD/Radiance Films | Feature | Italy | 1974

Though Visconti’s The Leopard may be cinema’s most celebrated film about 19th-century revolutionary politics, the Taviani brothers’ stirring account of the Risorgimento, Italy’s fervent drive toward independence and national unification, deserves to be better known, not least because of Marcello Mastroianni’s affecting performance as an aristocratic rebel adrift in post-Napoleonic Italy, a feckless man of treasonous impulses toward his former comrades and lovers. Morricone’s score is at times opera seria and at others opera buffa, perfectly keyed to the Tavianis’ martial scope and touches of magic realism, a fantasia of radical change in the wake of 1968 political disillusionment. Quentin Tarantino would quote Morricone’s main musical theme in Inglourious Basterds. (Text courtesy MoMA).

“This wittily rumbustious, almost operatic film offers a stirring reminder of a time when European filmmakers regularly engaged with serious political ideas, without compromising their cinematic creativity.” —Sight & Sound

“A film of extraordinary density and allusiveness from its opening moments, a torrent of baroque images, extravagant music and stylistic rhetoric, posited somewhere between 19th-century melodrama and popular opera. Aesthetically thrilling.” —Monthly Film Bulletin

Sunday, October 27

The Attachment Diaries
Directed by Valentín Javier Diment
With Jimena Anganuzzi, Lola Berthet, Edgardo Castro
MPI | Feature | Argentina | 2021

Argentina, 1970s. A desperate young woman goes to a clinic to have a clandestine abortion. As her pregnancy is already through the fourth month, the doctor refuses. Instead, she proposes to sell the baby to one of her clients and offers to provide shelter in her house until the child is born. Their disturbed personalities will become intertwined in a strange and dangerous relationship.

“Fans of those seamy places where art and smut intersect, this movie is a nasty little treat.” —The Los Angeles Times

“Gleefully kneads melodrama, noir, horror and sexual perversion into a pathological romance between two deeply damaged women.” —The New York Times

OVID EXCLUSIVE

Monday, October 28

Gateway
Directed by Niall Owens
With Tim Creed, Fiona Hardy, Ryan McParland
MPI | Feature | Ireland | 2021

When four troubled criminals decide to set up their drug operation in an abandoned house, they find a mysterious locked room. As the house lures them each into this secret space, it confronts them with their innermost evil and their darkest thoughts, ultimately pitting them against each other. Intimately intense and unnervingly frightening, Niall Owens’ Gateway is at once a character study in criminality and a dark exploration of the evil that lies within the human psyche.

“Gateway is chilling and hypnotizing, perfect for those who love a bleak Irish slow burn with a gut-punch ending.” —Dread Central

“A visually dense fright fest.” —Film Threat

Tuesday, October 29

Visible Secret
Directed by Ann Hui
With Eason Chan, Shu Qi, Anthony Wong, Sam Lee
MVD/Radiance Films | Feature | Hong Kong | 2001

Spirits lurk everywhere in Ann (Boat People) Hui’s horror-comedy, Visible Secret. Instantly infatuated by enigmatic amnesiac June (Shu Qi, Millennium Mambo) who has the ability to see spirits, Peter is swept into a world where he has one foot in the past, one in the present, and somehow has to figure out which is which.

“The kind of mixture of profoundly unsettling and grossly entertaining that only a filmmaker at the peak of her abilities can accomplish.” —The Chinese Cinema

Wednesday, October 30

4K Restoration!

Arrebato (Rapture)
Directed by Iván Zulueta
With Eusebio Poncela, Cecilia Roth, Will More, Marta Fernández Muro
Altered Innocence | Feature | Spain | 1979

Pedro Almodóvar’s favorite horror film! A dimension-shattering blend of heroin, sex, Super-8, and cinemania. This towering feat of counterculture was the final feature of cult filmmaker and movie poster designer Iván Zulueta, about a horror movie director adrift in a sea of doubt and drugs. As his belated second feature nears completion, his reclusive bubble is popped by two events: a sudden reappearance from an ex-girlfriend, and a package from past acquaintance: a reel of Super-8 film, an audiotape, and a door key. From there, the boundaries of time, space, and sexuality are erased through a hallucinogenic Moebius strip of filming and being filmed. 

“A triumph… A brilliant collision of arthouse and grindhouse sensibilities. Cerebral and visceral, subtle and shocking, Arrebato is a genre experience like no other.” 
—Rue Morgue

Thursday, October 31

If Only Night Wouldn’t Fall
Directed by Marc Schmidt
Andana | Documentary | Netherlands, Norway, Belgium | 2023

To prevent anxiety and optimize their wellbeing, an increasing number of people across the Western world use data technology. But what is actually measured when collecting data about our mental state? And what gets lost in this quest for our optimal selves?

“Artful, ambitious.” —Eye for Film

For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close
Directed by Heather Ross
With Andrew Alexander, Ike Barinholtz, Bernadette Birkett, Lauren Lapkus, Adam McKay, Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Jason Sudeikis, Matt Walsh, and James Urbaniak
Utopia | Documentary | 2020

A comedy-documentary hybrid film about comedian Del Close (1934–1999), who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. Its stories are drawn in part from Wasteland, an autobiographical horror comic co-written by Close and John Ostrander and published by DC Comics. It premiered at SXSW in 2020.

“Essential for comedy fans and historians. It’s something that anyone interested in theater as a career or even anyone who does improv comedy on the weekends should check out.” —RogerEbert.com

Complete list of films premiering on OVID this month (in alphabetical order):

Allonsanfàn, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani (1974)
Arrebato (Rapture), Iván Zulueta (1979)
El Dia Que Me Quieras: (The Day You’ll Love Me), Leandro Katz (1999)
El Gran Movimiento, Kiro Russo (2021)
Fill ‘er Up with Super, Alain Cavalier (1976)
For Madmen Only: The Stories of Del Close, Heather Ross (2020)
Gateway, Niall Owens (2021)
Guie’dani’s Navel, Xavi Sala (2019)
If Only Night Wouldn’t Fall, Marc Schmidt (2023)
Inbetween Girl, Mei Makino (2021)
Le Combat dans l’île, Alain Cavalier (1962)
Los Puros, Carla Valdés León (2024)
Notre-Dame of Paris, Rising from the Ashes, Laurent Fléchaire (2021)
One or Two Questions, Kristina Konrad (2018)
Silent Witnesses, Jerónimo Atehortúa Arteaga & Luis Ospina (2023)
Stories of A, Charles Belmont & Marielle Issartel (1973)
The Art of Cooking With Fire, Iñaki Arteta (2019)
The Attachment Diaries, Valentín Javier Diment (2021)
The Divine Horsemen: Living Gods of Haiti, Maya Deren (1977)
The Five Demands, Greta Schiller & Andrea Weiss (2023)
The Pleasures of Being Out of Step: Notes on the Life of Nat Hentoff, David L. Lewis (2013)
The Price of Progress, Víctor Luengo (2019)
The Tune, Bill Plympton (1992)
The Wolf House, Cristobal León & Joaquín Cociña (2018)
Visible Secret, Ann Hui (2001)