From Cannes: Le Cinema Club, Global Free Streaming Platform with Uniquely Curated One-Film Weekly Format Relaunches

Le Cinéma Club, the essential, highly curated global streaming destination for film lovers around the world, will relaunch on June 14, 2019 with a brand new, redesigned site and expanded editorial content, with support from CHANEL.

Founded in 2015, Le Cinéma Club celebrates new talent, rare gems, and important discoveries by providing one film every week for free, and offering a dynamic online cinema space for diverse and original voices.

"It has been exciting and immensely gratifying to see Le Cinéma Club grow, and to work with so many talented filmmakers," said founder Marie-Louise Khondji. "With Le Cinéma Club my wish has always been to create a distinctive, dynamic and contemporary space for cinema online, and to address the need for new avenues of film distribution and promotion in a rapidly shifting media landscape. We're delighted to bring Le Cinéma Club 2.0 to our global audience, and we couldn't be more honored or grateful for CHANEL's support."


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An incredible rediscovery toplines the opening lineup: Claire Denis' long unseen early work Keep It for Yourself (1991, 40 min) about a lovestruck young French woman adrift in New York (the only film Denis ever made in the U.S.), with appearances by Vincent Gallo and Sara Driver, a score by John Lurie, and luminous black and white cinematography courtesy of Agnès Godard. Le Cinéma Club found the long-thought-lost film and digitized it with the support of Denis, exclusively for the site.

The opening weeks of programming are completed with other streaming premieres, rarities and films by new talents including: a restoration of Chris Marker's The Koumiko Mystery (1965, 54 min), a beguiling portrait of a young woman of Tokyo set against the backdrop of the 1964 Olympics; a new restoration of Yasujiro Ozu's early A Straightforward Boy (1929, 22 min) that returns eight newly rediscovered minutes to this key work of Japanese silent comedy; Adepero Oduye's To Be Free (2017, 13 min), a portrait in miniature of Nina Simone as played by director-actress Oduye and lensed by Bradford Young; and cinematographer Shabier Kirchner's (Skate Kitchen, Sollers Point) short Dadli (2018, 14 min), shot in his home island of Antigua.

Le Cinéma Club operates on a strictly promotional basis -- films are presented for free and for a week only with the permissions of the rightsholders. The platform's foremost goal is to bring visibility to new talents and rare works in independent cinema.


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The revamped editorial section will include exclusive photo galleries, beginning with archival images from legendary photographer Brigitte Lacombe's on-set work from Alan J. Pakula's iconic All the President's Men, and selections from the notebooks of late master cinematographer Harris Savides (Birth, Zodiac, Somewhere); interviews with the next generation of filmmakers, including Mati Diop (Cannes Competition title Atlantics) and Joe Talbot (Sundance winner Last Black Man in San Francisco).

Le Cinéma Club's curated lists of recommended films will also return, with Claire Denis and Chloë Sevigny joining esteemed past contributors including Wes Anderson, Luca Guadagnino, Isabelle Huppert, Bong Joon-ho, Lynne Ramsay, and many others.

The platform will also build a more robust physical presence, with theatrical screenings and exciting collaborations with some of the world's most revered venues, including a month-long takeover of the site by the Cinémathèque Française in the fall. Past institutional collaborations have included the Centre Pompidou, the Academy Film Archive, Film at Lincoln Center, MoMA and the Metrograph.

Sign up for newsletter and updates at www.lecinemaclub.com.


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JUNE / JULY PROGRAMMING

June 14-20
KEEP IT FOR YOURSELF - STREAMING PREMIERE
CLAIRE DENIS
JAPAN/USA, 1991, 40m


This long-unseen early short by one of cinema's great iconoclasts is a perfect New York story - centered around a young French woman set adrift in a foreign city and language, and involving car robberies, police chases, an unexpected romance and a breakfast song. It features performances by Vincent Gallo and Sara Driver, a score by John Lurie and luminous B&W cinematography courtesy of Agnès Godard. The only film Denis ever made in the U.S.

June 21-June 27
THE KOUMIKO MYSTERY - RESTORATION
CHRIS MARKER
FRANCE/JAPAN, 1965, 54m



Having just made his iconic La Jetée and Le Joli Mai and filming in Japan for the first time, Chris Marker unexpectedly found a subject in the stands at the Olympic games: a charming, elusive and inquisitive young woman named Koumiko Muraoka. Their mutually fascinated dialogue about nationality, identity and, of course, cats is at the heart of this rare, rapturously shot early jewel by the great documentarian.

June 28-July 4
DADLI - STREAMING PREMIERE
SHABIER KIRCHNER
USA, 2018, 14m


After shooting 16mm film tests in his Antiguan hometown for a feature project, rising cinematographer Shabier Kirchner (Skate Kitchen, Sollers Point) reworked the footage into a vivid portrait of a vibrant and at-risk community, enriched by the intimate and empathetic eye of a fellow islander.

July 5-11
TO BE FREE - STREAMING PREMIERE
ADEPERO ODUYE
USA, 2017, 13m


Actress and filmmaker Adepero Oduye, known for her breakthrough role in Dee Rees' Pariah, plays Nina Simone singing "My Way" in this remarkable portrait in miniature, shot in ecstatic black-and-white and color 35mm by celebrated cinematographer Bradford Young (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Arrival).

July 12 - 18
A STRAIGHTFORWARD BOY - STREAMING PREMIERE OF NEW RESTORATION
YASUJIRO OZU
JAPAN, 1929, 22m

A kidnapper finds himself at the mercy of his own 8-year old hostage in this rambunctious comedy from master filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu, here screening in a new restoration that returns 8 long-lost minutes to one of the key works of Japan's silent comedy.

ABOUT LE CINÉMA CLUB
Le Cinéma Club is an online streaming platform that presents one hand-picked film every week, available for seven days and free to all visitors around the world. The site celebrates new and established filmmakers, rare gems and discoveries - providing a dynamic online cinema space for diverse and original voices. These highly-curated selections vary in genre and length with a special attention to short formats.


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Alongside the films are annotated movie lists by your favorite filmmakers, interviews with cinema's next generation, illuminating picture galleries, and dispatches from the sets of anticipated productions. Rooted both in NY and Paris, Le Cinéma Club is deeply engaged with the international film landscape and community as a whole, connecting through the platform, new media, events and partnerships.

Since its founding in 2015, the site has released 180 films by emerging and established filmmakers including: Gabriel Abrantes, Khalik Allah, Kenneth Anger, Andrea Arnold, Ari Aster, Olivier Assayas, Bertrand Bonello, Janicza Bravo, Andrew Bujalski, Bong Joon-ho, Antonio Campos, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Brady Corbet, Alfonso Cuarón, Jonathan Demme, Mati Diop, Sean Durkin, Robert Eggers, Philippe Garrel, Louis Garrel, Yann Gonzalez, Alain Guiraudie, Dustin Guy Defa, Andrew Haigh, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Eliza Hittman, Christophe Honoré, Hong Sang-soo, Barry Jenkins, Spike Jonze, Emily Kai-Bock, Harmony Korine, Yorgos Lanthimos, Francis Lee, Mike Leigh, David Lowery, Martin McDonagh, Albert & David Maysles, Terence Nance, Ruben Östlund, D. A. Pennebaker, Lynne Ramsay, Josh & Benny Safdie, Amy Seimetz, Sebastián Silva, Justine Triet, Gus Van Sant, Trey E. Shults, Agnès Varda, Virgil Vernier, William Wegman and Andrei Zvyagintsev.

Exclusive film lists have included recommendations from Wes Anderson, Bong Joon-ho, Robert Eggers, Alex Garland, Debra Granik, James Gray, Luca Guadagnino, Jonah Hill, Isabelle Huppert, Léa Seydoux, Robert Pattinson, Pierre Rissient and Benh Zeitlin, among others.

ABOUT MARIE-LOUISE KHONDJI
Born and raised in Paris, France, LCC founder Marie-Louise Khondji worked in film distribution and production before moving to New York City in 2015 to launch Le Cinéma Club as a free, curated streaming platform.

As founder of Le Cinéma Club, Khondji was invited to be on the short film jury at Champs-Elysées Film Festival 2018, a distribution mentor at SXSW 2018, and a speaker at Festival Lumière 2018. Prior to Le Cinéma Club, Khondji worked at Celluloid Dreams/MUBI, and as head of development at Iconoclast Films.

She is an associate producer of Heaven Knows What (dirs. Josh and Benny Safdie, 2014), Simon Killer (dir. Antonio Campos, 2012) and From a Mess to the Masses, a documentary about the band Phoenix (dirs. Antoine Wagner and Francisco Soriano, 2011). She also worked at creative agency M/M (Paris) as head of special projects. She graduated with a masters in Media & Cultural Management from the prestigious French university Sciences Po, which she completed with training experiences in film production companies and on sets in the U.S. Since launching Le Cinéma Club, she has steadily built its audience and scope, and is now overseeing its relaunch in expanded form.

ABOUT CHANEL
CHANEL has partnered with Le Cinéma Club to support its mission of celebrating cinema and promoting its new generation, through an innovative and highly-curated film platform offering weekly discoveries internationally.

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