“OVID is the new destination for films that are largely unavailable on most other platforms. Love hard-hitting issue documentaries and international independent cinema? Ovid is the place for you…it is not just any streaming site, but a haven for cinephiles who have been left behind.” —Monica Altmayer, NONFICS
On Friday May 3, 2019 independent streaming platform OVID.tv will add 14 new titles to its growing catalog of over 350 documentaries and independent feature films from distributors including Distrib Films, First Run Features, Icarus Films, KimStim. The new additions include films by Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day, starring Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Alex Descas, and Beatrice Dalle; Heddy Honigmann’s O Amor Natural, based on erotic poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, and the newly restored version of Time Regained by Raul Ruiz, along with a doc about H.R. Giger (Alien designer). More information on each title is below, and information on all the distributors involved is here.
OVID.tv is currently available on Apple TV, Apple iPad, Apple iPhone, Amazon FireTV, Roku, and Android devices. After a free introductory 7-day trial, customers in the U.S. and soon in Canada (Fall 2019) are able to access OVID for $6.99 per month, or $69.99 annually.
Dark Star: H. R. Giger’s World
Directed by Belinda Sallin
Icarus Films/KimStim, Documentary
A glimpse into the life and art of surrealist H.R. Giger of ALIEN fame.
“Giger’s work shows us, all too clearly, where we come from and where we are going.”—Timothy Leary
Jean Rouch, the Adventurous Filmmaker
Directed by Laurent Védrine
Icarus Films, Documentary
An exploration of the role Rouch and his films played in developing cinema in Niger.
“He created a sort of film school of the streets… Even for today’s generation, Rouch’s name means something.”—Sani Magori (filmmaker)
Mademoiselle Paradis
Directed by Barbara Albert
First Run Features, Fiction Features
Starring Maria Dragus, Devid Striesow, and Lukas Miko
A gifted and blind 18th-century Viennese pianist works with an extraordinary physician to restore her sight, but she slowly begins to realize that her recovery is coming at a terrible price.
“Sensual historical drama. A fresh, engrossing portrait that feels entirely modern.”—Variety
Number One Fan
Directed by Jeanne Herry
Distrib Films US, Fiction Feature
Starring Sandrine Kiberlain and Laurent Lafitte
A divorced beautician with two children is shocked when her celebrity crush knocks on her door looking for help.
“An exceptionally well-polished French thriller.”—Variety
O Amor Natural
Directed by Heddy Honigmann
Icarus Films, Documentary
A documentary on Brazil’s relationship with the poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, and to their own sexuality.
“This warm, simple film uncovers a rich vein of ageless, grassroots sensuality and joie de vivre.”—Variety
Stefan Zweig: Farewell To Europe
Directed by Maria Schrader
First Run Features, Fiction Features
Starring Josef Hader and Barbara Sukowa
In 1936, author Stefan Zweig leaves Austria for South America to escape the specter of Nazism.
“A Masterpiece.”— The Huffington Post
The Outsider
Directed by Christophe Barratier
Distrib Films US, Fiction Feature
Starring Arthur Dupont, François-Xavier Demaison, and Sabrina Ouazani
A 31-year-old trader in one of Europe’s largest banks stages a big-money fraud.
“Slick and entertaining dramedy.”—The Hollywood Reporter
2016 Brussels European Film Festival
2016 Hong Kong – FCP
The Stopover
Directed by Delphine Coulin & Muriel Coulin
First Run Features, Fiction Feature
Starring Ariane Labed (The Lobster, Before Midnight, Black Mirror)
At the end of their tour of duty in Afghanistan, two young military women, Aurore and Marine, are given three days of decompression leave with their unit at a five-star resort in Cyprus, but it’s not that easy to forget the war and leave it behind.
“Gutsy, tense and disturbing… A cracking good film!”—The Hollywood Reporter
Winner, Best Screenplay, Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes
The Strange Little Cat
Directed by Ramon Zurcher
KimStim, Fiction Feature
Fans of Bela Tarr and Franz Kafka will find much to love in this film about an extended family-dinner gathering.
“Highly choreographed and buzzing with life; everyday actions and conversations take on a syncopated strangeness and a balletic grace.”—The New York Times
2013 Cannes Film Festival
2013 Toronto International Film Festival
2013 Berlin International Film Festival
This is Our Land
Directed by Lucas Belvaux
Distrib Films US, Fiction Feature
Starring Émilie Dequenne
Fictionalized story based on France’s right-wing resurgence.
“Essential viewing for its damning critiques.”—Film Inquiry
2017 Rotterdam International Film Festival
2017 Istanbul International Film Festival
Time Regained
Directed by Raúl Ruiz
KimStim, Fiction Feature
Starring Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich, Emmanuelle Béart, Vincent Perez, Marcello Mozzarella, and Chiara Mastroianni
A lush, elegant epic taking us on a time-swirling trip down the infinitely complex labyrinth that is Marcel Proust’s memory lane.
“A triumph of classical cinematic values.”—The New Yorker
2000 New York Film Festival
1999 Cannes International Film Festival
Trouble Every Day
Directed by Claire Denis
KimStim, Fiction Feature
Starring Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Alex Descas, and Beatrice Dalle
Score by the Tindersticks
Denis’s most controversial, divisive and under appreciated film shocked audiences for its graphic depictions of carnal lust as a cannibalistic disease.
“Denis creates a horror film unlike any other, buttressing the shocks with an eye and an ear for beauty.”—The A.V. Club
2001 Cannes International Film Festival
Until The Birds Return
Directed by Karim Moussaoui
KimStim, Fiction Feature
In Algeria, past and present collide in the lives of a newly wealthy property developer, an ambitious neurologist impeded by wartime wrongdoings and a young woman torn between the path of reason and sentiment..
“It’s heartening to see such delicate stories of ordinary people come to the fore.”—Screen International
2018 New Directors/New Films, NY
2017 Cannes International Film Festival
2017 Vienna International Film Festival
Vic + Flo Saw a Bear
Directed by Denis Côté
KimStim, Fiction Feature
Starring Pierrette Robitaille and Romane Bohringer
Lesbian ex-cons try to start anew in the backwoods of Quebec, but their idyllic life is constantly interrupted by a nosy probation officer and a strange woman from the neighborhood.
“Sumptuous cinematography… Complex and convincing characters.”—Film Comment
Alfred Bauer Silver Bear Prize, 2013 Berlin International Film Festival
