Premiere streaming service for curated independent films, MUBI, has unveiled its film slate for May, which is packed with recent festival hits and rediscovered classics that will be exclusively available to stream on the service. MUBI has also partnered with New York’s Museum of the Moving Image to present part of the ninth edition of First Look, the museum’s acclaimed festival of innovative new international cinema, with exclusive premieres from the festival’s lineup including Transnistra.
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To celebrate the filmmaking partnership of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet and MUBI’s year-long retrospective last year, this month’s slate will also exclusively present the brand new restoration of their classical adaptation, Antigone.
The full list of titles set to premiere this month includes:
Take Me Somewhere Nice — May 21
Around the World When You Were My Age — May 28
Winner of the Bright Future Award at Rotterdam 2019, Aya Koretzky’s feature debut Around the World When You Were My Age is a highly personal travelogue memoir, where the director lovingly retraces her father’s world travels.
Beanpole — May 2
After featuring his shockingly powerful debut Closeness last year, MUBI will present the exclusive streaming premiere of Russian wunderkind Kantemir Balagov’s second film Beanpole. Winner of Best Director and the FIPRESCI Prize at Un Certain Regard in Cannes 2019, the film is an entrancing immersion into post-war turmoil and a towering ode to female resilience.
Crystal Swan — May 23
MUBI is excited to present the streaming premiere of Darya Zhuk’s blazing debut feature. Set in 1990s Belarus, Crystal Swan (Slamdance ‘19) follows a wanderlust young DJ who is derailed by a typo in a forged US Visa application, forcing her to head to a backwater village where she is determined to fake her way to the American dream.
MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE’S FIRST LOOK FESTIVAL — Exclusive
Nofinofy — May 4
Transnistra — May 12
Searching Eva — May 18
Bird Talk — May 25
MUBI is proud to partner with New York’s Museum of the Moving Image to present a selection of titles from their ninth edition of the First Look Festival, which was unfortunately suspended due to COVID-19. Each week in May, MUBI will exclusively premiere a film from the festival, which was organized by the museum’s curatorial team. The selection features both documentary and narrative works, including Anna Eborn’s intimate, dreamy documentary Transnistra (Rotterdam ‘19) about adolescents living in the tiny, unrecognized nation.
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A STRAUB-HUILLET RETROSPECTIVE — Exclusive
Antigone — May 5
Silicia! — June 17
After their expansive, year-long retrospective last year, MUBI is returning to the work of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, one of cinema’s most important filmmaking partnerships. MUBI will exclusively present brand new restorations of two of their most celebrated films from the 1990s in May and June.
WEIMAR GERMANY
The Last Laugh — May 3
From Caligari to Hitler — May 7
Nosferatu — May 14
Spies — May 19
Metropolis — May 24
The Blue Angel — May 29
A tribute to one of the most foundational periods of cinematic history, MUBI will present the seminal works of the Weimar era’s pioneering directors F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, and Josef von Sternberg. This survey of the German masterpieces, ranging from Expressionist to science fiction to musicals, features five beautiful digital restorations, including Rüdiger Suchsland’s sweeping 2014 documentary on the period From Caligari to Hitler (Venice ‘14), based on Siegfried Kracauer’s influential book, and culminating with Marlene Dietrich’s career-making performance in The Blue Angel.
A NEW WAVE EPIC: JACQUES RIVETTE’S OUT 1
Out 1, Noli Me Tangere – Episodes 1 & 2 — May 8
Out 1, Noli Me Tangere – Episodes 3 & 4 — May 9
Out 1, Noli Me Tangere – Episodes 5 & 6 — May 10
Out 1, Noli Me Tangere – Episodes 7 & 8 — May 11
This month, the “holy grail of cinephilia” comes to MUBI. Jacques Rivette’s elusive 13-hour masterpiece Out 1 is one of the most enthralling cinematic experiences of all time and is now fully restored. Conceived as a series, the film consists of 8 feature-length episodes and features countless New Wave legends, including Jean-Pierre Léaud and Juliet Berto.
DOUBLE BILL: EMIR KUSTURICA
Underground — May 16
Life Is a Miracle — May 17
A double bill dedicated to the historical fictions and absurdist satires of the two-time winner of the Palme d’Or, Emir Kusturica. The selection includes the Serbian auteur’s expansive masterpiece Underground (Cannes ‘95), an epic chronicle of the history of Yugoslavia that is layered with both humor and melancholy.
A JOURNEY INTO INDIAN CINEMA
The Stranger — May 26
MUBI’s ongoing survey of the best of Indian cinema continues this month with the nation’s most internationally celebrated filmmaker. Satyajit Ray’s final film The Stranger (Venice ‘91) is a philosophical work that ponders the evolution of civilization and human nature.
MAY DAY WITH GODARD
La chinoise — May 1
On May Day, MUBI returns to the overtly political cinema of Jean-Luc Godard. La chinoise(Venice ‘67) is both prelude and prophecy of May ‘68. A molotov cocktail of raw Maoism, pop colours, savage satire and the romantic timelessness of Anne Wiazemsky and Jean-Pierre Léaud.
