Still from <i>Keep It To Yourself</i>, courtesy Le Cinéma Club
Still from Keep It To Yourself, courtesy Le Cinéma Club

Film geeks aren’t hurting for options when it comes to feeding their addictions. Between theatrical releases and streaming services (Criterion Channel, Netflix, Hulu, Kanopy, Shudder, etc., etc., ad infinitum), the only thing stopping them from a nonstop torrent of moving pictures is having to work lousy jobs that exist solely to pay for movie tickets and high-speed internet.

At the risk of adding yet another item onto their streaming pile, the wonderful streaming site Le Cinéma Club is gearing up for a big relaunch on June 14 that promises a redesign, additional editorial content, and even more rare films from across the globe.

“It has been exciting and immensely gratifying to see Le Cinéma Club grow, and to work with so many talented filmmakers,” site founder Marie-Louise Khondji said in an official statement. “With Le Cinéma Club my wish has always been to create a distinctive, dynamic, and contemporary space for cinema online, and to address the need for new avenues of film distribution and promotion in a rapidly shifting media landscape.”

Before you start hyperventilating about the thought of scrolling through yet another goddamn website trying to decide what to watch or putting even more strain on your bank account, there's nothing but good news: Le Cinéma Club offers only one short film per week, and what you see is what you get. Thankfully, the curators of the site know their stuff and bring some truly great films to the site each week. And best of all, IT’S FREE. You have the lovely-smelling people at Chanel to thank for that, as they're providing the bulk of the financial support for this endeavor.

Le Cinéma Club isn’t messing about when they make their big return next month, as their first offering will be Keep It To Yourself, an early, rarely-seen short from director Claire Denis starring Vincent Gallo and featuring a score from avant-jazz musician John Lurie. The film was apparently thought to be lost before LCC got a hold of a print and digitized it for the site.

In future weeks, the site will be featuring some equally great films like Yasujirō Ozu recently-rediscovered 1929 film A Straightforward Boy and a restoration of Chris Marker’s The Koumiko Mystery. They’ll also be updating the editorial side with photo galleries and interviews with young directors, as well as offering film recommendation lists from filmmakers and actors like Lynne Ramsay and Isabelle Huppert. Ooh la la!