Oscar-nominated animated film Memoir Of A Snail has finally slithered its way to The Frida Cinema! And after the film, stick around for a pre-recorded Q&A with filmmaker Adam Elliot & George Miller!

Grace Pudel is a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love for books. At a young age, when Grace is separated from her twin brother Gilbert, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst. Despite a continued series of hardships, inspiration and hope emerge when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman named Pinky, who is full of grit and lust for life. Memoir of a Snail is a poignant, heartfelt, hilarious chronicle of the life of an outsider finding her confidence and silver linings amongst the clutter of everyday life. 

Adam Elliot is an Academy Award winning independent animator and visual artist based in Melbourne Australia. His animated films and imagery are what he calls, Clayographies, clay animated biographies based on the bittersweet lives of his family and friends. He has created seven animated films including, Memoir of a Snail, Mary and Max, Harvie Krumpet, Ernie Biscuit, Brother, Cousin and Uncle.

Please note: Memoir Of A Snail is rated R for Restricted! 

Wind up the tension with The Monkey, a new horror film from Longlegs’ Osgood Perkins!

The film follows twin brothers Hal and Bill, portrayed by Theo James and Bill Skarsgård, who reunite to settle their late father’s estate. Among his belongings, they discover an eerie wind-up monkey toy with cymbals, an artifact tied to a series of tragic deaths from their childhood. As the monkey’s sinister influence resurfaces, the brothers are drawn into a horrifying battle to break its curse before it claims more lives.

Come on out for Universal Language, a new absurdist comedy-drama from Matthew Rankin!

Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-strange walking tour of Winnipeg historic sites. Matthew (Matthew Rankin) leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother.

As a part of our ongoing tribute to cinema legend David Lynch, we are adding three encore screenings of Blue Velvet, his surrealist 1986 masterwork.

The film follows Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), a college student who returns to his small hometown of Lumberton after his father is injured. While walking, he discovers a severed human ear and becomes involved in investigating its origins. As Jeffrey dives deeper into the dark world of crime, voyeurism, and desire, he struggles with the blurred lines between innocence and corruption, while also developing a romantic relationship with Sandy (Laura Dern), a local cop’s daughter. Isabella Rossellini and Dennis Hopper also star in this unforgettable trip into the dark underbelly of suburban life, a trademark attributed directly to David Lynch to this very day.

Blue Velvet is a touchstone for modern surrealist cinema and is widely discussed in film studies for its exploration into its psychological complexity, and the intersection of innocence and corruption. It garnered Lynch an Oscar nomination for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, but its grip on modern pop culture branches far beyond its accolades.

Kick off March with us as we present brand new 2K restoration screenings of the rarely-screened Japanese film Love & Pop! 

July 1997. Tokyo schoolgirl Hiromi and her friends spend the summer going on dates with older men for money. Armed with only a cellphone, Hiromi sets out to date her way to ¥128,000 in order to purchase an expensive topaz ring before the mall closes for the day.

Based on the novel by Ryū Murakami, Love & Pop is the live action feature debut from Hideaki Anno, creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of the most celebrated anime series of all time. The film is radical in its stylistic approach to teenage ennui, taking to the seedy streets of Shibuya with handheld digicams, distorted lenses, and a barrage of unconventional camera angles. Criminally underseen for years, Love & Pop remains a singular portrait of Japanese youth coming of age in the approach to the 21st century.

All screenings will be presented the original Japanese language with English subtitles.