Following our lists of the best and most underappreciated movies of 2023 and our overall favorites, we now focus on those that should always have a place to call home. 

We aim to attract distributors’ interest by showcasing these titles and leading to a future release. Let’s see the movies’ titles that will be coming to your screens.

Close Your Eyes

Genre: Mystery/Drama

Run Time: 2h 49m

The 2023 Spanish-Argentine drama film Close Your Eyes stars Manolo Solo, José Coronado, and Ana Torrent. Víctor Erice directs it based on a screenplay by Erice and Michel Gaztambide.

What is the Movie About?

In 2012, a sensationalist TV program resurrected the case approximately two decades following the perplexing vanishment of actor Julio Arenas near the sea while filming The Farewell Gaze in the 1990s. 

It involves Miguel Garay, a close friend of Arenas, who speaks with Ana, Julio’s daughter, Max, the movie’s editor and archivist, and Lola, their mutual friend and lover.

On May 22, 2023, it made its international debut in the Cannes Premiere section of the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

Gonzo Girl

Genre: Drama/Comedy

Run Time: 1h 47m

Gonzo Girl is an American drama film from 2023 that stars Patricia Arquette, Willem Dafoe, and Camila Morrone. Rebecca Thomas and Jessica Caldwell wrote it. 

It is based on Cheryl Della Pietra’s 2015 book of the same name. On September 7, 2023, the movie had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

What is the Movie About?

It’s 1992. But at the exuberant—or rather, “Walker Reade’s”—Colorado complex of Hunter S. Thompson, it feels like 1975 all the time. 

And Camila Morrone, who plays the radiant and intensely sensitive young Alley Russo, is set to return in time. Will she be able to return, though?

Hollywoodgate

Genre: War/Documentary

Run Time: 1h 31m

Ibrahim Nash’at is the writer and director of the German-American documentary Hollywoodgate, released in 2023. At the 80th Venice Film Festival, it made its world premiere outside of competition.

What is in the Movie?

Documentary filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at from Egypt visited Afghanistan in 2021, a few days after the withdrawal of the US Army, accompanied by a camera and an interpreter. 

He saw, to use his own words, whose hands the nation had been left in. He obtains authorization to pursue a Taliban leader who has taken control of Hollywoodgate, purportedly an abandoned CIA facility. 

The Taliban is in the process of becoming a military government instead of just a guerilla group.

How can you perform most effectively for a company like this, where you are only a tool in their propaganda?

Lee

Genre: War/Drama

Run Time: 1h 56m

Ellen Kuras, making her feature directing debut, helms the 2023 British biographical drama, Lee, based on a narrative by Hume, Collee, and Lem Dobbs and a screenplay by Liz Hannah, John Collee, and Marion Hume. 

Starring Kate Winslet as war correspondent Lee Miller, it is an adaptation of Antony Penrose’s 1985 novel The Lives of Lee Miller.

What is the Movie About?

The biography of fashion model and photographer Elizabeth “Lee” Miller, who rose to prominence as a World War II war correspondent for Vogue magazine.

On September 9, 2023, the movie premiered internationally at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero

Genre: Documentary/Music

Run Time: 1h 35m

The film, co-directed by Carlos López Estrada and Zac Manuel, goes above and beyond the typical cinematic concert experience to demonstrate how the young rapper has already improved lives in the short time he has been in the spotlight.

What is the Movie About?

Trailblazing rapper, singer, and songwriter Lil Nas X sets out on his first-ever tour, which Long Live Montero follows. 

An intimate depiction of an artist negotiating identity, family, expectations, and acceptance can be found in this diary-style film.

Solo

Genre: Romance/Drama

Run Time: 1h 43m

Sophie Dupuis is the writer and director of Solo, a romantic drama film from Canada released in 2023. 

Théodore Pellerin plays Simon in the movie, a young, up-and-coming drag queen in Montreal who falls in love with Olivier (Félix Maritaud) and develops a difficult, passionate relationship with him.

Jean Marchand, Vlad Alexis, Tommy Joubert, Alice Moreault, and Marc-André Leclair are featured among the movie’s cast.

What is the Movie About?

The story follows Simon as he struggles to deal with the disappointment of two impossible loves. 

A cold and distant relationship with his mother, Claire, who has recently returned home after a 15-year absence, and a passionate but destructive crush on Oliver.

Before its commercial distribution in September 2023, the movie had its world premieres in September 2023 at the Toronto International Film Festival and an opening-night screening at the Quebec City Film Festival.

Parachute

Genre: Romance/Drama

Run Time: 1h 37m

In her first-ever directing role, Brittany Snow is the director of the 2023 American drama film Parachute. Snow and Becca Gleason collaborated on the screenplay. 

Courtney Eaton and Thomas Mann are the film’s leads, and Yale Entertainment is producing it. 

What is the Movie About?

Follow Riley, a woman who battled food and body image problems before being released from rehab recently. 

She’ll meet Ethan and walk the tightrope between falling in love and picking up a new addiction.

In March 2023, Parachute premiered globally at the SXSW Film Festival.

The Undistributed Films, Seeking Platforms

You still have time to choose a meaningful present for the individuals in your life, including distributors of motion pictures. 

Even though a large portion of Hollywood is closing for the holidays, many moviegoers are working hard in the hopes that their well-deserved films will find their way under the tree.

Furthermore, there are many gifts to give because even while the distribution environment keeps changing and evolving.