AAVCLUB @ AFS Cinema

*$4 off with code: AAAFF$4

Applicable for additional showtimes of the films listed below as well. Check AFS Cinema schedule for most updated showtimes.

PALESTINE ’36

Directed by Annemarie Jacir | Palestine/UK/France/Denmark/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Jordan
2025, 2h 0min, DCP, In Arabic and English with English subtitles.

Palestine’s Official Selection for the 98th Academy Awards®

“This is a story of national identity and resistance with contemporary resonance, but it’s also a classic genre movie, its historical tapestry populated by a strong ensemble of screen stars as well as impressive newcomers.”
—Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

“At a time when our movies feel as though they’re getting smaller and more meaningless, it’s refreshing to see works of such sweep and ambition.”
—Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine

Apr. 17-30 | In 1936, as the British Empire tightens its grip on Palestine, Yusuf is caught between his village home and his work in Jerusalem. Amidst an anti-colonial revolt, and Jewish refugees fleeing persecution from Europe, all sides converge in a decisive moment for the entire region.

THE WORLD

Adrift On The Other Side Of The World: Early Films By Jia Zhangke

Directed by Jia Zhangke | China/Japan/France
2004, 2h 23min, DCP, In Mandarin and Jin Chinese with English subtitles.

“Suggesting at different moments a backstage musical, a failed love story, a surreal comedy, and even a cartoon fantasy, this beautiful, corrosive, visionary masterpiece by Jia Zhangke is a frighteningly persuasive account of the current state of the planet.”
—The Chicago Reader

Apr. 21, 25 | Just outside of Beijing lies The World, a surreal theme park featuring wondrous replicas of iconic monuments, where tourists roam, and a dancer (Zhao Tao) and a security guard (Cheng Taishen) tessellate in a riveting simulation of modern globalization.

SHAPE OF MOMO

Indie Meme Film Festival - 10% off with code: COMMUNITY

Directed by Tribeny Rai | India
2025, 1h 54min, In Nepali with English Subtitles

Busan International Film Festival (Vision Section) - Songwon Vision Award and Taipei Film Commission Award
Kolkata International Film Festival - Best Film
Singapore International Film Festival

Apr. 24 | Bishnu, 32, returns to her ancestral Himalayan village after quitting her city job, only to face mounting family pressures and rigid societal expectations. Awaiting her are her grandmother, who hopes her son will return from Dubai; her mother, eager to see Bishnu settled and married and her pregnant sister Junu, who has come seeking refuge due to tensions at her in-laws’ home. As old conflicts resurface with Junu’s arrival and a tentative relationship develops with Gyan, a “suitable” local architect, Bishnu is caught between tradition and her desire for independence. Navigating this fragile web of expectations and defiance, she must choose whether to conform or forge her own path.

THE CYCLE OF LOVE

Indie Meme Film Festival - 10% off with code: COMMUNITY

Directed by Orlando Von Einsiedel | UK/Sweden
2025, 1h 38min, in English and Hindi

Telluride Film Festival, Hamptons Film Festival - Winner Social Impact Award
Middleburg Film Festival - Winner Audience Award for Best Documentary
Jackson Hole Film Festival

Apr. 25 | In 1977, PK, a 23-year-old Delhi street artist from a poor, ‘untouchable’ family, picked up a handful of paintbrushes and a second-hand bicycle and set off on a 6000-mile cross-continent mission - to find Lotta, the woman who had captured his heart.
A love story like no other, THE CYCLE OF LOVE is an inspiring, heart-warming, epic true-life adventure about the search for self-belief and risking everything for what your heart tells you.

FAMILY SHORTS BLOCK

Indie Meme Film Festival - 10% off with code: COMMUNITY

Apr. 26 | A gentle, thoughtful collection of stories told through children’s eyes—exploring love, loss, fear, and connection across generations. Bring the kids and experience these stories together.

A carefully curated selection of four incredible independent short films: AASMANI, Deva Aaj Pan Vhay, Little Fishies, and Waagh (The Leopard).

LIVE Q & A with Sayani Gupta & Amol Jadhav post screening

STILL LIFE

Adrift On The Other Side Of The World: Early Films By Jia Zhangke

Directed by Jia Zhangke | Hong Kong/China
2006, 1h 48min, 35mm, In Mandarin, Sichuanese, and Jin Chinese with English subtitles.

Screening in 35mm on April 28. Encore screenings will be DCP. 

Apr. 28, May 2 | A miner and a nurse arrive in Fengjie, a town upended by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, to search for long‑lost spouses. As the old neighborhood disappears and a new one rises in its place, both must decide what to reclaim from their pasts and what to leave behind.

THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE

The Maiku Hama Trilogy

Directed by Kaizo Hayashi | Japan
1993, 1h 32min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles.

May 10, 13 | Launching the trilogy with a mix of black-and-white noir and pop‑art swagger, THE MOST TERRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE channels the wild energy of Seijun Suzuki and the gumshoe grit of Mickey Spillane. When Maiku Hama saves a Taiwanese immigrant, he’s dragged into a spiraling pan-Asian, brother‑against‑brother gang feud, turning Yokohama’s backstreets into a battleground of divided loyalties — in deadpan style. Featuring special appearances by Shinya Tsukamoto (dir. TETSUO, THE IRON MAN) and Joe Shishido (star of BRANDED TO KILL).

THE STAIRWAY TO THE DISTANT PAST

The Maiku Hama Trilogy

Directed by Kaizo Hayashi | Japan
1995, 1h 41min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles.

May 17, 20 | The trilogy’s second entry finds Maiku Hama now in full color, without a car, cash‑strapped but undeterred and taking on small‑time cases, including searching for missing dogs, only to land squarely in the middle of a turf war on the Yokohama waterfront. When a famed exotic dancer tied to his past resurfaces, the city’s criminal undercurrents threaten to pull him back into danger. Featuring Shirô Sano (TO SLEEP SO AS TO DREAM) and Eiji Okada (WOMAN IN THE DUNES, HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR).

THE TRAP

The Maiku Hama Trilogy

Directed by Kaizo Hayashi | Japan
1996, 1h 46min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles.

May 24, 27 | In this trilogy’s final chapter, Masatoshi Nagase (MYSTERY TRAIN, P.P. RIDER) pulls double-duty as a wave of murders leaves Yokohama on edge and Maiku Hama the prime suspect. Forced into hiding, he races to unmask the real killer while evading the city’s increasingly hostile police force. A tense, stylish finish to Hayashi’s delightfully offbeat trilogy. Featuring a special appearance by Joe Shishido (star of BRANDED TO KILL and YOUTH OF THE BEAST) and Tetta Sugimoto (PORNOSTAR).

THE HEIGHT OF THE COCONUT TREES

Directed by Du Jie | Japan
2024, 1h 40min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles.

“THE HEIGHT OF THE COCONUT TREES is enigmatic and elliptical, but it’s delivered with utmost confidence and beauty by Du, who makes an impressive feature debut rife with truths that speak a universal language.”
—In Review

“The visuals from Chinese-born writer/director Du Jie are as graceful and inventive as you might expect from an established cinematographer with the likes of MOON MAN and THE WASTED TIMES on his CV.”
—Screendaily

May 25, 27 | A ring found inside the belly of a fish connects two couples separated by time in Chinese cinematographer Du Jie’s Japan‑set debut. Both ghostly and tender, it transforms sorrow into narrative and offers a deep reflection on the lasting imprint of those we’ve lost.

DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST

Directed by Satyajit Ray | India
1970, 1h 57min, DCP, In Bengali with English subtitles.

“Satyajit Ray’s seriocomic delight DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST sharply demonstrates that even when getting away from it all, you can never escape your own hopelessly wretched self.”
—4Columns

“DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST… the very title rings with enchantment, and the old Ray magic is soon at work again … A poetic masterpiece.”
—Sight and Sound

Jun. 1, 3, 6 | One of writer-director-composer Satyajit Ray’s best and heretofore least accessible films is back in a new restoration. Four cosmopolitan sophisticates from Kolkata attempt to go “back to the garden” — a popular pursuit in the Age of Aquarius. The quartet finds many of their assumptions about rural/urban divisions (and, importantly, caste divisions) shattered in this breezy but multilayered comedy of manners and self-discovery. Free Member Monday — free admission for all AFS members on Monday, June 1.

TAKE CARE OF MY CAT

Directed by Jae-eun Jeong | South Korea
2001, 1h 52min, DCP, In Korean with English subtitles.

“Compassion, a keen eye for urban landscape, and a dollop of whimsy … an enrapturing turn on an old theme.”
—Newsday

“A WINNER.”
—Screen International

Jun. 3, 5, 10 | To be free … to find success … to never be apart … When you were twenty, what did you dream of? Five school friends cling to their bond as they face uncertain futures in the port city of Incheon, especially when one girl’s big city ambitions take her to Seoul. Determined not to drift apart, they communally adopt a cat and share caregiving responsibilities, passing it from girl to girl in an attempt to stay connected. But can the promises of youth survive the realities of adulthood? Starring Bae Doona (LINDA LINDA LINDA) and celebrating its 25th anniversary, this female‑written and directed debut sprang from a desire to portray modern women rarely seen on screen. Decades on, it still feels groundbreaking.

MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS

Directed by Paul Schrader | Japan
1985, 2h 1min, DCP, In Japanese and English with English subtitles.

Jun. 11, 15 | Paul Schrader’s homage to the great, doomed Japanese author Yukio Mishima is told in great, mad, colorful sequences that depict stories from Mishima’s oeuvre and which contrast with the realistic sequences that show the troubled Mishima’s conflicted life and death. A startling, ambitious project that has come to be appreciated as one of the best films of its era.

RUBBER’S LOVER

Directed by Shozin Fukui | Japan
1996, 1h 31min, DCP, In Japanese with English subtitles.

Jun. 12, 13 | Like a twisted cousin to the cyberpunk classic TETSUO: THE IRON MAN, Shozin Fukui’s RUBBER’S LOVER is a chaotic, grotesque, and unrelenting eruption from the mind behind 964 PINOCCHIO. When an underground research team abducts unwitting subjects in a bid to unlock their psychic powers, using chemical and sensory overload to push the limits of the body and mind, they usher in a new world where all boundaries are meant to be broken. A visceral piece of extreme cinema on par with SINGAPORE SLING and the works of Gaspar Noé. Not for the faint of heart. Now remastered in 4K.

PURANA MANDIR

Directed by Tulsi Ramsay and Shyam Ramsay | India
1984, 2h 55min, DCP, In Hindi with English subtitles.

Jun. 13, 17 | Even many enthusiasts of Bollywood cinema are unfamiliar with the Ramsay Brothers, who are kind of like the Hindi-language equivalent of Sam Raimi, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, and George Romero rolled into one. This is a wild one and one of their biggest hits. There is a family curse. There is a half-man, half-latex monster. There is a terrifying haunted temple. And, since this is a Bollywood film, of course there’s an outstanding music score with song and dance sequences.