NO FEAR, NO DIE

Film description: Claire Denis has always been what's new and next. From her debut feature as director, 1988's Chocolat (no, not the one with Johnny Depp) through masterworks like Beau Travail and 35 Shots of Rum and bold recent experiments like the star-studded A24 sci-fi feature High Life, her work has pulsed with pure cinema and a dreamlike sense of discovery even as it tackles interrelated topics of violence, colonialism, and poverty.

In No Fear, No Die, Dah and Jocelyn (played by frequent Denis collaborators Isaach De Bankolé and Alex Descas) come from Benin, Africa, to coach their rooster, "S'en fout la mort," for an illicit cock-fight in the basement of a restaurant. This second feature has remained obscure in the U.S. since the VHS era, but is available for rediscovery now thanks to a new restoration offered by The Film Desk. Note: while the depictions of animal violence in this film may be too graphic for some viewers, the violence is simulated.