A young, French, opera-loving mail courier, Jules, becomes inadvertently entangled in murder, when a young woman fleeing two mob hit-men drops an incriminating cassette into his mailbag just before she is murdered. Jules has just recently recorded American opera star Cynthia Hawkins at her latest concert, something of a coup as Hawkins refuses to make recordings of any kind. Soon the unwitting Jules finds himself being pursued by Taiwanese bootleggers and a thuggish gang of drug dealers who will do anything to get their hands on the cassettes.

Passionate about dance, young Merab has trained at the National Georgian Dance Ensemble since childhood. His sole aim in life is to join the Main Dance Ensemble, break free from the confines of Georgian society and travel the world. When Irakli, a virile, talented male dancer joins his group, Merab fears the newcomer is the only thing standing between him and his dreams. As they compete, Irakli becomes both Merab’s fiercest rival and strongest desire – a desire that, in conservative Georgian society, threatens to throw his dance career, livelihood and family into turmoil. With a breath-taking central performance from its breakout stars, Levan Akin’s luminous film explores forbidden desire, ambition and liberation set against the backdrop of traditionalist Tbilisi where screening of the film sparked protests, due to its portrayal of an illicit love affair.

Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones, a female version of James Bond and drug agent for the United States government. She wears sleek clothes, drives a fast car with a submachine gun compartment in the front door and travels all over the world to stamp out drugs at their source, including Turkey to oversee the destruction of poppy fields owned by drug dealer Mommy (a very camp Shelley Winters) who becomes upset at their loss. Our first ‘blaxploitation’ film, Cleopatra Jones was made following the success of the Shaft series. It opened at a time when the Black Arts Movement and an increasingly growing black feminism were all prevalent. From this social context emerged the desire for a black heroine who appealed to women through a combination of alluring femininity, female strength and combat skill. The character of Cleopatra would later serve as the inspiration for Foxy Cleopatra, played by Beyoncé in Austin Powers: Gold Member.