March At MUBI Will be A Month Of Justice And Chaos

March will be with us very soon and MUBI promise it will be a month of Justice and Chaos.

MUBI RELEASES: HOLY SPIDER

Following its theatrical release at the beginning of the year, Ali Abbasi’s latest feature Holy Spider (2022) arrives exclusively to MUBI next month. Set in the holy city of Mashhad, Holy Spider (2022) follows journalist Rahimi (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), as she investigates the murders of several sex workers by the ‘Spider Killer’, who believes he is on a divine mission to cleanse the city of sinners.

The film received its World Premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival where Zar Amir Ebrahimi won the Best Actress award.

Based on the real-life case from 2002 of serial killer Saeed Hanaei, whose crimes were dubbed the “spider killings” by the Iranian media, Holy Spider (2022) is both a terrifying crime procedural drama and a disturbing expose of hypocrisy and misogyny which shows that there can be very different interpretations of what justice actually means.

Holy Spider (Ali Abassi, 2022) – 10th March

MUBI SPOTLIGHT: SAINT OMER

MUBI announce Alice Diop’s first fiction feature Saint Omer (2022) will be arriving exclusively to the platform following its theatrical release in February. Named after the French town in which it is set, Saint Omer (2022) takes inspiration from Diop’s experience of the 2016 trial of Fabienne Kabou, which saw a young woman charged with the murder of her baby after leaving her on a beach. Rama, Diop’s alter ego, is a novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly at the Saint-Omer Criminal Court, and uses her story to write a modern-day adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea, but things don’t go the way they’re expected. Awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival in 2022, Diop’s courtroom drama is not to be missed when it arrives on the platform this March.

Saint Omer (Alice Diop, 2022) – 22nd March

MUBI SPOTLIGHT: MR. BACHMANN AND HIS CLASS

Arriving to the platform this March, is filmmaker Maria Speth’s compelling German documentary, Mr. Bachmann and His Class (2021). The film intimately chronicles a year in the life of a primary school class in Stadtallendorf, with a focus on teacher Mr. Bachmann, and his unconventional yet effective teaching methods. Many of the students come from diverse backgrounds and have faced significant challenges in their lives, such as poverty, discrimination, and familial issues. Bachmann, who is deeply committed to his students, encourages them to work together, to learn from one another, and to each other.

Through a series of poignant and thought-provoking vignettes, this beautiful film delves into complex themes of education, socialization, and individualism within the classroom, while also illuminating the challenges and rewards that come with being a teacher. Mr. Bachmann and His Class (2021) premiered to widespread acclaim at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival and received high praise for its honest and authentic portrayal of the modern classroom experience.

Mr. Bachman and His Class (Maria Speth, 2021) – 7th March

GERMAN FEMINIST CINEMA

Starting on International Women’s Day, we’ll be presenting a season of films over the coming months providing an overview of feminist filmmaking in from the 1960s up to the 1990s. Looking to break from the male canon, the restorations of works by luminary directors such as Ula Stöckl explore the place of women as mothers within patriarchal families, women’s professional independence, sexual liberation, and political struggles – reflecting the concerns of the feminist movement of the time.

The Cat Has Nine Lives (Ula Stöckl, 1968) – 8th March

REFRAMING: WOMEN DIRECTORS

Image: Still from Flatland
Throughout film history, women have been making their mark. Alice Guy-Blaché, who rose through the ranks at Léon Gaumont’s studio, paved the way by directing one of the very first narrative films in 1896, The Cabbage Fairy. Fast forward to today, and a growing number of talented women directors are finally breaking through in an industry that has hindered their progress for far too long. In celebration of their remarkable achievements, our Reframing: Women Directors collection features a diverse array of themes, styles, and genres, showcasing the exceptional work of female auteurs.

Mr. Bachmann and His Class (Maria Speth, 2021) – 7th March
Flatland (Jenna Cato Bass, 2019) – 9th March
Slalom (Charlène Favier, 2020) – 11th March
One Way or Another (Sara Gómez, 1977) – 15th March
I’m Going to Santiago (Sara Gómez, 1964) – 16th March
Ava (Léa Mysius, 2017) – 23rd March
The Capsule (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2012) – 28th March

AKIO JISSÔJI: THE BUDDHIST TRILOGY

Image: Still from Mandara
Continuing into March is our Akio Jissôji: The Buddhist Trilogy. Akio Jissôji was a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and Buddhist priest known for his imaginative and visually stunning works that explored philosophical and religious themes. One of his most notable contributions to cinema is The Buddhist Trilogy, a series of three films that delve deeply into Buddhist concepts and practices. The first film in the trilogy, This Transient Life (1970), tells the story of a young man’s journey towards enlightenment through his encounters with various people and experiences. The second film, Mandala (1971), explores the complex relationships between two monks in a Japanese temple, touching on themes of desire, ego, and spiritual growth, whilst the final film Poem (1972), follows a young woman’s spiritual journey as she navigates the challenges of everyday life. The films are widely regarded as some of the most important works of Japanese cinema, and showcase Jissôji‘s unique style and creative vision.

This Transient Life (Akio Jissôji, 1970) – Now Showing
Mandara (Akio Jissôji , 1971) – 13th March
Poem (Akio Jissôji , 1972) – 27th March

CHAOS REIGNS: THE FILMS OF LARS VON TRIER

Image: Still from Nymphomaniac Volume I
This March we bring our Chaos Reigns: The Films of Lars von Trier series to the platform. When Lars von Trier was accepted to the National Film School of Denmark in the late 1970s, he claims to have spray-painted a wall in the institution with the insolent words “film school is dead”. In the four decades since then, the Danish director has continued his fearless dance on the grave of received wisdom, creating a cinema that asserts itself forcefully with each new film as if with an exclamation mark. With stories built around such staggeringly grand themes as morality, depression, and democracy, von Trier soon became one of the most prominent and volcanic voices in contemporary cinema. Chaos reigns in the anarchic cinema of von Trier, but ion in the end, outsizes whatever hoax is at play.

Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996) – Now Showing
The House That Jack Built (Lars von Trier, 2018) – Now Showing
The Element of Crime (Lars von Trier, 1984) – Now Showing
Nymphomaniac: Volume I (Lars von Trier, 2013) – 4th March
Nymphomaniac: Volume 2 (Lars von Trier, 2013) – 5th March
Melancholia (Lars von Trier, 2011) – 24th March

MUBI RELEASES
Exclusive streaming premieres from the most prestigious international film festivals and rediscovered classics selected by MUBI’s curators

Image: Still from One Way or Another
[Brief Encounters] From her studio, Sara Cwynar uses her computer and various studio setups to make sense of her visual archive – luscious pictures of food, political figures, Instagram models, grand artworks, among many other images, content for our attention. Glass Life (2021) explores themes of consumer culture, capitalism and identity materialised in sharp, colourful form.