Films We Like has acquired the Canadian distribution rights to Occupied City, a moving meditation on wartime Amsterdam produced and directed by filmmaker Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave, Shame) and based on the book Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940 - 1945 by Bianca Stigter.
Films We Like has acquired the distribution rights to Return to Reason, an anthology of four recently restored silent films by surrealist artist Man Ray with a new original music score by SQÜRL (Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan). Return to Reason premiered at the 2023 Cannes and New York Film Festivals.
Films We Like has partnered with Janus Films to release in Canada Academy Award® winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final concert film, Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus, directed by Neo Sora. Opus was a standout at this year’s Venice International Film Festival where it premiered out-of-competition.
MUBI, the global film distributor, streaming service and production company, has announced the theatrical release date of Academy Award®-winning director Kevin MacDonald’s (Whitney, Touching the Void, One Day In September) gripping and thought-provoking new documentary High & Low - John Galliano, coming to cinemas in Canada on 15 March 2024.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to THE MONK AND THE GUN, Bhutanese director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s heart-warming tale which premiered at this year's Telluride Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival. THE MONK AND THE GUN is Bhutan’s official selection for Best International Film at the 96th Academy Awards. Pawo Choyning Dorji’s debut film Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom was nominated in the same category at the 2019 Academy Awards.
Debut writer-director Felipe Gálvez asserts himself as a revelatory new cinematic voice with The Settlers, a searing and indelible take on the Western. Blending historical specificity with vivid visual style, this Cannes Un Certain Regard FIPRESCI Prize winner creates a singular immersive vision, arresting in both content and form.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD, the new satire by Romanian director Radu Jude (Bad Luck Banging, Looney Porn). DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH premiered at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival, followed by its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Wavelengths category. Romania has picked it to be its official entry for the 2024 Oscars for Best International Feature Film.
French director Mehdi Fikri spent a decade working as a reporter covering social conflict and the issues of police violence and justice in France’s deprived suburbs. His observations inspired a fictional story that follows Malika, a French woman of North African descent, living in an outer suburb of the city of Strasbourg, who seeks justice after her younger brother dies in suspicious circumstances after being stopped by the police.
Le réalisateur français Mehdi Fikri a couvert pendant une dizaine d'années en tant que journaliste les conflits sociaux et les questions de violence policière et de justice dans les banlieues défavorisées de France. Ses observations lui ont inspiré cette fiction qui suit Malika, une Française d'origine maghrébine vivant dans une banlieue de la ville de Strasbourg qui cherche à obtenir justice pour son jeune frère, décédé dans des circonstances suspectes à la suite d'un contrôle de police.
Following its successful North American Premiere at TIFF, and Opening Night at VIFF, Films We Like and MUBI are delighted to unveil the trailer for Aki Kaurismäki’s (Le Havre, The Other Side of Hope) timeless love-story Fallen Leaves ahead of its opening in cinemas across Canada from November 24 2023. The award-winning Kaurismäki makes a masterful return with this hopeful and satisfying love story that won the Jury Prize at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The film is also Finland’s official Best International Feature Film entry to the 96th Academy Awards®.
For immediate release – Films We Like is thrilled to announce the world premiere of Archangel by iconoclastic filmmaker Guy Maddin, at the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival, India. The new digital 4K digital remaster was supervised by Guy Maddin and was made possible by the generous financial support of Telefilm Canada’s Canadian Cinema Re-Ignited digitization initiative.
Following its world premiere, Archangel will be theatrically released across Canada, beginning November 14, 2023 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto, with director Guy Maddin in attendance.
FILMS WE LIKE presents
Guy Maddin’s
Starts November 14, 2023
TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto, Canada with Director in Attendance
For immediate release – Guy Maddin’s surreal and visually striking sophomore film ARCHANGEL is revitalized with a stunning new 4K transfer from the original negative supervised by the director with the generous support of Telefilm Canada.
ARCHANGEL’s 4K Digital Remaster premieres November 14 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox with director Guy Maddin in attendance, followed by a theatrical release across North America by Films We Like (Canada) and Zeitgeist Films (US).
Literally a film like no other, this weird, wild and extraordinary photoplay is both melodrama and deadpan parody. With striking black and white cinematography and stylized set design, Guy Maddin tells a tale of obsessive love in the arctic Russian town of Archangel, where Bolsheviks, White Russians and German Huns converge during World War I.
To celebrate the release, Films We Like has commissioned Winnipeg-based artist and designer Galen Johnson to create a brand new poster and trailer.
Media Inquiries
Mercy Lam mercy@filmswelike.com
About Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin is an award-winning filmmaker and artist based in Winnipeg, Canada with many critically acclaimed films including: The Saddest Music in the World (2003), My Winnipeg (2007), and Tales From the Gimli Hospital (1988), which was reimagined in 4K and released as Tales From the Gimli Hospital Redux (2022).
About Films We Like
Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Carmine Street Guitars), Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent, and international films in Canada. Films We Like is committed to restoring neglected Canadian films, most recently P4W: Prison for Women, Hookers on Davie, and Calling the Shots by Janis Cole and Holly Dale.
Takumi and his daughter Hana lead a modest life in a village in the middle of nature. One day Takumi receives word that there are plans to build a glamping site near his home. The discovery that wastewater will be piped into the village's water source not only causes unrest among the residents, but also affects Takumi's life.
Films We Like pleased to announce that ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY (Orlando, ma biographie politique), will make its Canadian Premiere as a Wavelengths feature at TIFF 2023, with director Paul B. Preciado in attendance.
MUBI, the global film distributor, streaming service and production company and world cinema distributor Films We Like has announced that they will be bringing Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki’s award winning 20th feature film to Canada with its North American Premiere at TIFF 2023 and release in cinemas across the country this Fall.
Films We Like is pleased to announce that LAST SUMMER (L’été dernier), acclaimed director Catherine Breillat’s highly anticipated first film in a decade will make its North American Premiere as a Special Presentation at TIFF 2023.
LAST SUMMER which received rave reviews after its World Premiere in Competition at Cannes 2023, is a comeback more than worth the wait. A return to Breillat’s provocative explorations of female sexuality, desire and power, LAST SUMMER will be welcomed by followers of Breillat’s career and introduce her vision to a new generation.
Films We Like has acquired the Canadian rights to Delphine Deloget’s heartfelt debut film All to Play For (Rien à perdre) which premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and features the spellbinding lead Virginie Efira (Benedetta, Madeleine Collins, Paris Memories).
Léa Drucker stars as Anne, a brilliant lawyer who lives in perfect harmony with her husband Pierre and their six and eight‐year‐old daughters in the suburbs of Paris. One day, Theo, 17, Pierre’s son from a previous marriage, moves in with them. Anne gradually engages in a passionate relationship with him, putting her career and family life in danger.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to Umberto Eco – A Library of the World directed by Davide Ferrario, a documentary about the bestselling Italian author with perhaps the greatest intellectual appetite of any writer of his time. Umberto Eco had its world premiere at the Rome Film Festival last year.
Toronto based Sphinx Productions in association with Films We Like and The Criterion Collection, have announced the start on a brand new 4K restoration of The Sweet Hereafter by acclaimed director Atom Egoyan. In addition, Sphinx Productions in association with Films We Like announced the start on a brand new 4K remaster of Archangel by famed director Guy Maddin.
From his early experiments with biofeedback to his dazzling experiential installation in Marfa, Texas, Irwin's career has been defined by radical gestures that investigate the value of human sensory experience in a world that is becoming increasingly mechanized.
