Spotlight
Wondering which films to watch? Spotlight presents thematically grouped, must see films, hand-picked by Fandor's curators.
Script to Screen
Before anything unfolds on-screen, every movie begins with a script. That script is its foundation, and to truly captivate us it must showcase a distinct, fresh voice and tell an original story. Join Fandor as we honor excellence in screenwriting with the films in this Spotlight: Whether acknowledged by the Academy or by a prestigious festival as top-notch, these dramas and comedies all boast nominations or accolades for “Best Screenplay.”
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Selected Films
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The Messenger
Co-written by Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon, THE MESSENGER is a powerful and tender story about a returned war hero making his first steps toward a normal life. In his first leading role, Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq...Watch Movie
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A Coffee in Berlin
Jan Ole Gerster's wry and vibrant feature debut A COFFEE IN BERLIN, which swept the 2013 German Oscar Awards, paints a day in the life of Niko, a twenty-something college dropout going nowhere fast. Niko lives for the moment as he drifts through the streets of Berlin,...Watch Movie
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Alps
ALPS is a mysterious and moving investigation into the process of mourning, a stunningly original follow-up to director Yorgos Lanthimos' Academy Award®-nominated debut, DOGTOOTH. An oddball group of four people (made up of two hospital employees, a gymnast and her coach) form a secret society...Watch Movie
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Natural Selection
Winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW and nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Actress for Rachael Harris, NATURAL SELECTION is a wonderfully irreverent comedy about a devoted Texas housewife whose carefully ordered world is turned upside...Watch Movie
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Hard Core Logo
The THIS IS SPINAL TAP of Canadian punk mockumentaries is about a legendary (but fictive) Canuck hardcore unit that reunites years after its acrimonious breakup to play a one-shot benefit and play such ramalama hits as "Something's Gonna Die Tonight," "Rock 'n' Roll is Fat and Ugly" and "Who the...Watch Movie
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Home
Switzerland's official entry for "Best Foreign Language Film" at the 82nd Academy Awards®, HOME is a mesmerizing fable of modern family life starring internationally renowned actress Isabelle Huppert. Huppert plays Marthe, a happy-go-lucky mother whose family enjoys an idyllic existence in their...Watch Movie
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The Guatemalan Handshake
One of the Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film, writer-director Todd Rohal charts strange new cinematic waters with his madly innovative feature debut, THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE. Winner of Special Jury Prizes at Slamdance and Torino, Rohal's vivacious feast...Watch Movie
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Ida
From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski comes IDA, a moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, makes a shocking discovery about her past. Eighteen-year-old Anna (stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised...Watch Movie
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Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
An Israeli woman seeking to finalize a divorce (gett) from her estranged husband finds herself effectively put on trial by her country's religious marriage laws, in this powerhouse courtroom drama from sibling directors Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz. In Israel, there is neither...Watch Movie
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Séraphine
The true story of Seraphine Louis aka Seraphine de Senlis, a simple and profoundly devout housekeeper who in 1905 at age forty-one (self-taught and with the instigation of her guardian angel) began painting brilliantly colorful canvases. In 1912 Wilhelm Uhde, a German art critic and collector,...Watch Movie
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The Arbor
Instead of making a conventional documentary or adapting Andrea Dunbar's play "The Arbor" for the screen, director Clio Barnard has crafted a truly unique work that transcends genre and defies categorization. Following two years conducting audio interviews with Dunbar's family, friends and...Watch Movie
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Nothing Bad Can Happen
Inspired by atrocious true events, NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN follows Tore, a young lost soul involved with an underground Christian punk movement who falls in with a dysfunctional family curious to test his seemingly unwavering faith. After a chance encounter helping Benno, a...Watch Movie
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Monsieur Lazhar
Nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film, MONSIEUR LAZHAR tells the poignant story of a Montreal middle school class shaken by the death of their well-liked teacher. Bachir Lazhar, a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, offers the school his services as a substitute teacher and...Watch Movie
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Boy
During summer break in 1984, eleven-year-old Michael Jackson fanatic "Boy" (James Rolleston) has the adventure of his life. With his mother dead and father AWOL, Boy becomes the head of a household full of kids when his Nana leaves town for a funeral. It starts as just another few weeks of...Watch Movie
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A Touch of Sin
A TOUCH OF SIN was inspired by four shocking (and true) events that forced the world's fastest growing economy into a period of self-examination. Written and directed by master filmmaker Jia Zhangke, this daring, poetic and grand-scale film focuses on four characters, each living in different...Watch Movie
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Lady Chatterley
Robbed of intimacy by her blueblood husband's war injuries, Constance Chatterley longs for the emotional fulfillment and physical passion that her marriage lacks. When she espies the gamekeeper Parkin (Jean-Louis Coullo'ch) unselfconsciously bathing, stripped to the waist amidst the beauty of...Watch Movie
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A Star Is Born
Esther Blodgett (Janet Gaynor) comes to Hollywood with dreams of stardom only to have them shattered by a ruthless, cold-hearted town without pity, where the chances of finding fame are one in a hundred thousand. Enter falling (and falling down drunk) movie star Norman Maine (Fredric March), whom...Watch Movie
