Films Coming To Mubi This July

MUBI, the curated streaming-platform of international independent films, has an exciting new line-up of films coming up this July. Expect a 24-hour free virtual preview, exclusive premieres and cult films from across the world this month.

For subscribers, the schedule of films differs in each country, so I’ll concentrate here on the highlights of films showing in the U.S. and the U.K., but some of these films will also be shown in other countries.

Werner Herzog’s Family Romance, LLC

MUBI will repeat its cinematic online event, which it started with Pablo Larrain’s Ema back in May, by showing a virtual preview of Werner Herzog’s latest film, Family Romance, LLC, on July 3. In Partnership with Film Constellation, the film will be available to stream for free on MUBI for 24 hours in more than 150 countries, including the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. for subscribers and non-subscribers alike. The preview will also include a 15-minute long interview with Herzog. The film will then be available for subscribers from July 4 in the U.S., Canada, Germany, LATAM (excl. Brazil), Turkey, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

Ever since Ema’s live preview, in fact, the streaming platform has kept this Live/Free functionality active. Non-subscribers to MUBI can catch a film for free, as there is always a film running.

Two Bill Gunn Films

MUBI will be presenting a special double bill of the pioneering artist Bill Gunn in the U.S. On July 5, Gunn’s vampire thriller Ganja & Hess will become available to stream. Personal Problems will air on July 6. His cult film Ganja & Hess was a genre-defying experimental horror film, which was remade by Spike Lee in 2014, Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus. Gunn’s next feature, which was to be his last, Personal Problems, is an experimental soap opera shot on video. Gunn was a filmmaker, playwright, actor and author who was angered by the whitewashing of Hollywood, and rejected this system that categorized individuals according to the color of their skin. These are two films not to be missed.

Three Madeline Anderson Films

The platform will be showing three documentaries from the trailblazing filmmaker and artist Madeline Anderson from July 10. Anderson is credited as the first black woman to produce and direct a documentary in the U.S. MUBI will be showing Intergration Report 1, which documents the civil rights movement with footage by documentary filmmakers Albert Maysles and Richard Leacock; Tribute to Malcom X, a short film that includes an interview with the activist’s widow, Betty Shabazz; and I am Somebody, a short documentary from 1969 about black hospital workers on strike in South Carolina.

La Flor

In the U.S., subscribers will have the chance to watch the exclusive online premiere of La Flor, a 14-hour epic film by the Argentinian director Mariana Llinás. It will be divided into three parts, beginning July 17. The film was praised by critics, especially in France, deemed a visual experience. This is a film whose story sounds impossible to summarize, comprising of many films within one. This looks like a must-see!

The Portuguese Woman

MUBI will throw a spotlight on the works of Portuguese director Rita Azevedo Gomes in July and August, showing The Portuguese Woman on July 20 in the U.S. and the U.K. The other two films, A Woman’s Revenge and Correspondences, will be released on the platform in August. A period drama, The Portuguese Woman tells the story of a young woman, newly married, waiting for her husband, gone to war, to return home to their castle.

The Invicibles and Transit

Two German films will arrive on MUBI at the beginning of July, showing in both the U.S. and the U.K. An exclusive online premiere of Dominik Graf’s director’s cut of The Invicibles will be released on July 2. Graf’s film was a big flop in the box office upon its theatrical release in 1994. The extended version of the film premiered in 2019 at the Berlinale. This dark thriller is now regarded as one of Graf’s most ambitious work.

The platform will also be presenting Christian Petzold’s much acclaimed 2018 film Transit, on July 3. Set during the Second World War, Georg, a German refugee in Paris, flees to Marseille as the Nazis invade France. Everything changes when he meets Marie, and falls in love with her. The film is based on a novel by Anna Seghers.

The Truth

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film The Truth, starring Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke will arrive on MUBI U.K. on July 10. This is Kore-eda’s first feature set outside of Japan, and was previously shown on Curzon, at the beginning of the lockdown. As Curzon was no longer able to release the film theatrically in the U.K., it was made available on their streaming platform, Curzon Home Cinema, where it became the platform’s most-watched film back in April.

Two Pedro Almodóvar Films

In the U.K., MUBI showed exclusively the legendary Spanish director’s latest semi-autobiographical film, Pain and Glory, from June 19. In July, the platform will make available to stream two more films by Almodóvar. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! starring a younger Antonio Banderas will air from July 11, and Live Flesh from July 24.

The Best of Indian Cinema

Two more films from India’s commercial masterpieces will become available this month. Raj Kapoor’s Awaara, an 1951 hindi film which competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953, will be shown from July 8. Raja Nawathe’s Gumnaam, a 1965 Bollywood thriller based on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, will be on MUBI from July 30.