Browse Movies : 2023 : U

Produced in a mixed-media format including animation and storyboarded sequences, Unstuffed: A Build-A-Bear Story explores the origins of the “teddy bear” as well as the psychological importance of stuffed animals in childhood development. Sprinkled with heartwarming stories of Build-A-Bear’s lasting and emotional impact on the lives of everyday people to celebrities, the documentary is told through the eyes of a teddy bear narrator (voiced by Jon Lovitz) as it follows the furry footsteps of a single idea that reimagined not one, but two industries. The documentary starts with founder Maxine Clark’s 1997 entrepreneurial inspiration to launch an experiential mall-based retailer where kids could make their own stuffed animals, to one that has grown into a multi-generational pop culture iconic brand with a global footprint.

On her way home from work, Na-mi (Chun Woo-hee) loses her smartphone, containing everything about her. Jun-yeong (Yim Si-wan) finds Na-mi's phone and returns it to her, but after installing spyware. By tracking her everyday life, he learns all he can about Na-mi— her whereabouts, hobbies, tastes, work life, finances, and social network — and approaches her by concealing his true identity.

In the meantime, police detective Ji-man (Kim Hie-won) finds traces of his son Jun-yeong at a murder crime scene and secretly investigates Jun-yeong, suspecting the worst.

Na-mi is relieved to have found her phone, but not too long, her ordinary life turns upside down and spirals out of control.

All because she only lost her phone, her entire life is imperiled.

Two women form an unlikely connection when a depressed gas station clerk SAM (Purdy), receives a call from EMILY (Francis), a nearly blind woman who is running from her murderous ex in the woods. Emily must survive the ordeal with Sam being her eyes from afar using video call.

A couple escapes their urban nightmare to the tranquility of rural Ireland only to hear stories of mysterious beings who live in the gnarled, ancient wood at the foot of their new garden. As warned by their new neighbors, in Irish lore the Redcaps will come when called to help souls in dire need of rescue, but it’s crucial to remember that there is always a dear price to pay for their aid.

This musical comedy follows the hermit crabs who live under the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. When Armen (a land crab townie) falls in love with Ramona (a sea crab tourist) tensions between their friends and families rise. But when a storm casts the duo far from home, their love will lead them on an epic adventure which unites the divided community.

Follows music critic Bob, who is struggling with a demotion, addicted to Zoloft and trying to wrangle the menagerie of animals that his wife Amy has accumulated.They face a crossroads. Will adopting a baby cure their existential angst? Or should they rescue another duck?

UNCHARITABLE is a timely and crucial documentary that uncovers the realities of philanthropy and introduces a radical new way of giving. In an emotional call to action, this powerful film demands that charities be freed from traditional constraints so that they can truly change the world.

On a hot summer day, a crew of workers - men and women, young and old - arrive at dawn at a picturesque fig orchard in northwest Tunisia. We eavesdrop, through the sun-dappled leaves of the fig trees, on the young women stealing away precious moments from the foreman's watchful gaze. Meanwhile, the older women, tasked with the careful job of packing the tender fruit, watch and reminisce together as well. They joke, argue, debate, gossip, flirt, all the while painting an unhurried but riveting portrait of everyday life in the rural society, where class, gender, and circumstance often don't allow for such personal freedoms.

1993: South Korea begins to democratise. UFOs suddenly appear, hovering over cities across the world. 29 years later, a filmmaker interviews subjects from all over who (re)connect with people from the past and future in their dreams. Other people, no longer feeling they belong here on Earth, find solace in UFO cults. Meanwhile, the nation sees a wave of ridiculously petty assaults by ‘aliens’ on humans (or is it the other way round?). Alternating between sci-fi mockumentary and absurdist comedy, the film offers a hilarious, quirky and surprisingly moving portrait of the Korean millennial psyche. If you have ever experienced apocalyptic anxiety, cosmic homelessness, or yearned for a borderless utopia, this is for you!

Another time is possible! At least that is the case in the early days of industrial watchmaking in Switzerland in around 1877, when the disparity between the authorities, manufacturers and models gives rise to parallel temporal dimensions, each with their own timetable, values and ideology. In this proto-Taylorist society, where dignitaries and their gendarmes control the exact time and dictate the rhythms of production and community, a group of workers form an anarchist union in association with the First International federation of workers' groups. This is where Josephine, who is in charge of assembling the unrest wheel, the heart of the mechanical watch, meets the Russian cartographer Pyotr Kropotkin, who is currently in the Jura valleys. Inspired by anarchist ideas, they demand the liberation of time and counter the values of the marketplace and nationalism with solidarity and pacifism.

At 26, is Jake Paul the boxing world’s new savior or just a promoter who packs more punch in his marketing skills than in his right hand? It depends on whom you ask in UNTOLD: Jake Paul the Problem Child, an unflinching deep dive into how a wide-eyed kid from Ohio morphed from Internet sensation to most polarizing man in sports. For every high-profile critic (UFC president Dana White), there’s another supporter in his corner (former professional boxer Mike Tyson). Built on gripping interviews with the Paul brothers – along with their parents, fans, fellow boxers, and the skeptical old guard – the film culminates with a nail-biting match that will prove if Jake has what it takes to rule his new kingdom.

Peter is a misanthropic dwarf hiding from the world in his shabby New York City apartment. But an unexpected visit from his upbeat – and possibly unhinged – neighbor Winona forces him out of his shell and onto an impromptu road trip. Their destination? What she believes to be the site of an upcoming alien visitation in the wilderness of rural Canada. On their increasingly-surreal odyssey, Peter and Winona will encounter bickering lesbian cosplayers, shroom-addled survivalists, and even extraterrestrial highway cops. But the further they go and the more their trauma comes to light, it becomes clear that the only thing more nerve-wracking than being abducted is being alone in the universe.

With unique access behind-the-scenes to NASA’s ambitious mission to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, we follow a team of engineers and scientists as they take the next giant leap in our quest to understand the universe.

Users begins with a mother’s question–will my children love the perfect machines more than they love me, their imperfect mother? She pushes the button and a smart crib lulls her crying baby to sleep, flawlessly every time. This question guides her inquiry into the intimate relationship we have with technology that is increasingly driving all aspects of our society. We explore the unintended and often dehumanizing consequences of our society's embedded belief that technological progress will lead to the betterment of humanity. Is technological progress inevitable? Are we all increasingly isolated? Do we really have agency to direct its course? Is technology an expression of our humanity or is technology destroying our humanity? The film will be a critical and intimate meditation on these questions.

In South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind, Paleoanthropologist Lee Berger has found the world’s oldest graveyard – and it’s not human. If Lee and his team can prove that this ancient, small brained, ape-like creature practiced complex burial rituals – it will change everything we know about hominid evolution and the origins of belief.