The year is 1613, Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground, and devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationships with his wife and daughters. In so doing, he is ruthlessly forced to examine his own failings as husband and father. His very personal search for the truth uncovers secrets and lies within a family at war.

Based on a Haruki Murakami short story, Korean master Lee Chang-dong’s remarkable new thriller BURNING was the most acclaimed film of Cannes, setting a record for the highest-ever score achieved in the 18-year history of Screen International’s prestigious critics’ poll. Novelistic in scope, grandeur and impact, and featuring three remarkable performances, it’s a gripping psychological study of thwarted love, ambition and obsession.

While working as a courier in Seoul, aspiring young writer Jongsu (Yoo Ah-in) encounters the lively Haemi (Jong-seo Jun), a childhood friend from his hometown. The two spend the day together, and when Haemi asks him to feed her cat while she’s away on a trip to Africa, Jongsu is convinced of a burgeoning romantic relationship. But on her return, when he arrives at the airport to collect her in his run-down truck, Jongsu is surprised and confused to find Haemi accompanied by the handsome, Gatsby-esque Ben (a superbly enigmatic Steven Yeun, Okja, The Walking Dead). The three begin an awkward friendship, with Jongsu’s feelings for Haemi growing ever stronger, even if it’s apparent she has fallen under the spell of his rich and mysterious rival’s charms.

Suddenly, after Ben makes a strange confession, Jongsu is led to question his motivations and he sets off on an increasingly desperate search to uncover the truth, even if the line between reality and imagination begins to blur.

Anchored by a peerless cast, exquisite pacing and a pulsating original score by Mowg, Lee’s masterful film creates a tantalising mood of uncertainty and complexity, with the story’s themes of class, family, rage and lust rising feverishly to the surface. Teasing and noirish, BURNING is an impossible-to-forget big screen experience, and the best film yet from one of world cinema’s most internationally celebrated auteurs.

Based on the international best-seller, THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF THE FAKIR takes us on a wild ride of coincidence and circumstance. Aja, a young fakir (magician) from the streets of India arrives in Paris in search of his past and his future. When he accidentally gets stuck in a wardrobe that is shipped in the night to the UK, Aja finds himself on the run from border police and bandits alike. Will fate and a briefcase of magic tricks be enough to get him back to Marie and the father he never knew?

Against the backdrop of the French Revolution, shy and insecure Blanche remains as a novice nun even as her family flees the Reign of Terror, torn between her duty to her convent and fear of the guillotine. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads an accomplished ensemble in Poulenc’s devastating modern masterpiece of faith and martyrdom. Isabel Leonard is the young Blanche de La Force, opposite Met legend Karita Mattila as the First Prioress.

Featuring some of the most glorious music ever written—including, of course, the Ride of the Valkyries—Die Walküre is the second of the four operas that comprise Wagner’s Ring cycle, a story of monsters, gods, and humans on a superhuman scale. When twins Siegmund and Sieglinde find each other at last, Siegmund promises to release Sieglinde from her forced marriage by killing her husband, Hunding. The god Wotan instructs Valkyrie warrior Brünnhilde to defend Hunding. But, moved by the twins’ mutual devotion, Brünnhilde refuses to obey, forging an alliance with Sieglinde that has far-reaching consequences for them both. Soprano Christine Goerke sings Brünnhilde, tenor Stuart Skelton and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek are the love-struck twins, and Ring cycle veteran Philippe Jordan conducts.

Full of wit and invention, Donizetti’s comic opera is a delight. The famous aria “Ah, Mes Amis,” with its nine high Cs, is one of opera’s most show-stopping numbers. Bel canto stars Pretty Yende and Javier Camarena take on the challenging vocal fireworks in Laurent Pelly’s hilarious staging. Orphaned as a small child and raised by an entire army regiment, the spirited Marie has grown up as the regiment’s ‘daughter’, raising morale and spreading joy. Tonio, a local man, falls in love with her and even joins the army for her sake. But a chance encounter with a noblewoman sparks a sudden revelation, and a tale unfolds of secret identities, long-lost family, and murky pasts.

In the mid-1990s, 13-year-old Stevie lives in Los Angeles with his aggressive, fitness-obsessed older brother Ian and single mother Dabney. One day Stevie bikes past Motor Avenue Skateshop, admires the boastful camaraderie of skateboarders outside the shop, and returns the following day. Back home, Stevie trades with his brother for a skateboard, brings it to the shop and befriends young skater Ruben, who introduces him to the rest of the group: Ray, "Fuckshit," and "Fourth Grade." Although an inexperienced skater, Stevie is drawn to the group and aspires to imitate their daredevil behavior and anti-social attitudes. The group nicknames him "Sunburn". Ruben begins to resent Stevie because he feels he's being replaced as the "younger kid" in the group..

ROCKABUL by Melbourne based director Travis Beard, follows Afghanistan’s first rock band District Unknown. In the war torn capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, where Rock music is forbidden by Islam.

The band put themselves in the firing line to challenge freedom of expression, youth identity and conflict with culture. We get a glimpse into the lives of young people living in the aftermath of absolute destruction and chaos, that is Afghanistan. A glimpse into the underground expat party scene, at odds with a conservative and fundamentalist society. A glimpse into the fire that ignites a young band to play music together and connect with other youth.

Stuck in an unsatisfying marriage and with teenage children who ignore her, 40-year-old Lisa Spinelli (Maggie Gyllenhaal) treads water by teaching kindergarten with quiet dispassion. One day everything changes when Lisa discovers that Jimmy, a five-year-old boy in her class, may be a gifted poet and sees him as a ticket out of her mundane life. When Lisa presents some of Jimmy’s work at her poetry class as her own work, and receives praise from her teacher (Gael García Bernal), her desire to mentor the child genius grows. As fascination turns into obsession, Lisa spirals downward on a dangerous and desperate path to channel her unfulfilled creative dreams into the protégée.

After waking up in an apartment where only the night before a party was raging, Sam is forced to come to grips with reality: He is now alone and the living dead have invaded the streets of Paris. Petrified with fear, Sam is going to have to barricade himself inside the building and organize his survival. But is he really the sole survivor?

Engaged and in love, Lauren and Ned have just ten days to find Lauren's mother who has gone AWOL somewhere in the Northern Territory, reunite her parents, and pull off their dream Top End wedding. As the couple travel through Australia’s Top End including; Darwin, Katherine, Kakadu and the Tiwi Islands, they find fulfilment for their own personal journeys through both the wild beauty of the Northern Territory landscapes, and the unbeatable charm of the characters they meet along the way.

YELLOW IS FORBIDDEN is a modern day Cinderella story where the brave, diminutive and daring heroine's dream doesn't end at the ball - China's Guo Pei is chasing every designer's fantasy - to become part of the exclusive yet savage world of Haute Couture. Set within the new China, YELLOW IS FORBIDDEN is a feature documentary encompassing contemporary global power dynamics and the opposition between art and commerce, looking back at the history of couture all wrapped around the beauty of fashion.