Kurosawa's Way

Eleven major film makers from Europe, America and Asia talk about Akira Kurosawa and discover surprising influences on their own work.

Jamila and the President

Jamila is a prostitute serving a life sentence behind bars. She surrenders herself to the authorities after admitting she killed a high-ranking minister, and refuses to be represented by any lawyer or request a plea to ease her sentence.

Ma fille est innocente

A teenage girl spends her vacation in Asia together with her mom and dad. There she meets another guy from France, who uses her, and she is caught by the drug police, arrested and sentenced to jail. Now her parents need to do something to release their innocent girl and punish the real criminal. Conditions in prison are very bad, the authorities are corrupted and are only interested in their money.

Awakened

Samantha believes that her father murdered her mother. In her exhausting search for the truth about her young mother's untimely death 14 years earlier, Samantha receives help from beyond the grave.

The Tied Up Balloon

A barrage balloon appears unexpectedly over a Bulgarian village during World War II. The startled villagers decide to knock it down with a fusillade yet the balloon flies off to the mountains. The villagers, armed to their teeth, set off after it. But they are not alone in this undertaking...

Freak Show

The story of teenager Billy Bloom who, despite attending an ultra conservative high school, makes the decision to run for homecoming queen.

Bye Bye Victor

Friendship between two old men becomes love. Slightly-unkempt, tired, and frail, Philippe Lanctot moves into a rest home. The administrator says she wants him to be happy, but that seems far from his mind: he's waiting to die. Then, into his room, unannounced, rolls the voluble Victor Laprade, who draws out Philippe over the next few months. Victor gives Philippe the gift of experiencing the moment. In return, the well-heeled Philippe organises field trips to dinner and to a botanical garden, and, unknown to Victor, becomes the man's benefactor when Victor's children get stingy. The openly-gay Victor also pushes Philippe to acknowledge feelings he's always kept suppressed.

Peasants

Pavel's mother hates his fiancee. When Pavel serves in the Army she writes him that Nastya is no longer faithful to him. Pavel decides not to return to his native town. But many years later he returns to his fathers funeral and finds out that Nastya died sometime ago. She left three kids orphans and her elder daughter is also a daughter of Pavel.

Cherry Blossoms in March

In this mother-daughter story, a young woman explores her own mortality through art and poetry as her terminal illness holds her back from a normal life.

My Life Without Me

A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.

Open Hearts

Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the other car, Marie, and her family don’t get off lightly, either. Her husband Niels works in the hospital where he meets Cecilie and falls madly in love with her.

Italian for Beginners

Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.

The Secret Life of Words

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

My Life as a Comedian

Juha, 12, class clown in the suburb of Sävbyholm, Sweden. To be funny is the only thing he is good at and all he wants is to fit in the social peckingorder at school. When Juha as an adult performs the show – My Life As A Comedian- to sold out theatres and tells the horrid and funny stories from his childhood to the audience he gets an unexpected visit from an old friend from school which makes him return to Sävbyholm and deal with his past.

Suddenly Gina

Laurens works for the German Minister of Finance and is an extremely correct and conscientious person. He knows his way around numbers, but less so with women. One day he meets Gina, a single young woman. She is sitting alone at one of the tables and Laurens forces himself to sit with her. Hesitantly, a first conversation develops between them. This is the beginning of a seemingly impossible love story that not only throws Laurens' life into turmoil. Laurens is secretary to the German finance minister. Over breakfast, he approaches the attractive Gina and invites her to accompany him to the G8 summit. There, Gina realizes that she doesn't fit into the world of politicians and business bosses. She is the only one to say what she thinks - and causes quite a stir. Laurens has to choose between his career and the love of his life.

Mutants

Thirteen-year-old Paula lives with her mother on a well-kept estate in a small town surrounded by nice neighbours. But Paula's view of normality has been sharpened by her extensive and consistent diet of horror movies.

Earth

It's 1947 and the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl bears witnesses to tragedy as her ayah is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence.

Water

The year is 1938, and Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies are sweeping across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go to live with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.

Come Early Morning

A thirty-something southern woman searches for love, despite the burdens she carries with her.

Caramel

In a beauty salon in Beirut the lives of five women cross paths. The beauty salon is a colorful and sensual microcosm where they share and entrust their hopes, fears and expectations.

A Handful of Grass

Opening in remote Kurdistan, Eine Hand Voll Gras introduces us to the impoverished family of 10-year-old Kendal (Arman Inci). In desperate need for cash to fund his older sister's wedding, Kendal's parents allow themselves to be persuaded by Kendal's uncle (Ercan Durmaz), who lives in Germany, to let the boy go to Germany to make some money. Upon their arrival in Hamburg, the uncle is arrested and Kendal ends up in the temporary care of Hellkamp (Oliver Korittke), a cabby with a shady past. ...

Fluxes

Fluxes is Arthur Lipsett's view of the human condition and the mixed-up planet where humans are found. As in his other films (Very Nice, Very Nice; 21-87), Fluxes has a disconnected flow of images that, in their erratic way, build up into a cutting indictment of the world the way it is. The film's only commentary consists of unrelated snatches of words and sounds.

USA Holiday

Madhuri was thrilled when her brother Jimmy accepted her invitation for a holiday in the USA. Jimmy boarded a Jet Airways flight and landed at Dulles International Airport, where Madhuri greeted him with open arms. Joining them were her friends Katrina and Priyanka, ready to make the trip unforgettable. Their adventure began at the breathtaking Niagara Falls, where the misty spray left them laughing and drenched. In New York, they marveled at the city lights and strolled across the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Washington, D.C., offered monuments and history, while Las Vegas dazzled them with its neon nightlife. The journey ended with a serene hike through the stunning Valley of Fire State Park. Every moment was filled with laughter, pictures, and stories that turned into lifelong memories. As they sat under the stars on their final evening, Jimmy smiled and said, "Life is a journey, and this one has been incredible. But the journey never stops.

Soñadora

A young Caribbean immigrant mother struggling to make ends meet at her dye factory job finds a release through her abandoned dream of dance.

Mortgage on My Body

Stations throughout Connecticut and even New York City. Riding around with my father and back to the gas station.

SuicideGirls: Guide to Living

Through a series of titillating vignettes, the infamous SuicideGirls create a useful guide to their edgy lifestyle. These segments show how the provocative SuicideGirls handle life's challenges such as performing a strip tease, faking an orgasm and skinny dipping.

Those we left behind.

It's the year 2378. 30 Years ago the planet earth was deemed unlivable. Following all humans were shuttled off to bases on Mars. Yet some remain on the planet earth, living with gas masks, preserving what is left of the forgotten planet. When an Astronaut crash lands back on earth, he must work together with these people to repair his ship...

The Trip to Orion

A spaceship on it's way to Orion.

I delitti del BarLume - La carta più alta

Winter Nights

A family drama about a young woman who kidnaps a decorated WWII veteran. Their road adventure fills with quirkiness and unforeseen dangers.

Magnifica

1907. Magnifica, young Costa Rican harpist, is preparing for her concert at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where she studies with her fiancé. Inspired by the life of Pacifica Zelaya.

Isi Life Mein

Coming from a conservative family, Rajnandini moves to a city for higher studies and falls in love with Vivaan. However, he must win the heart of Rajnandini's strict father Ravimohan to take things further.

Zwölf Mädchen und ein Mann

Before the police station in Ober-Himmelbrunn is dissolved, the local landlord reports a burglary. The young gendarme Thaler is assigned to solve the case. Disguised as a holidaymaker, he goes to work. In the process, he conquers the hearts of twelve attractive girls who want to spend their holidays in an alpine hut.

The Pink Package Plot

The Pink Panther is forced by a criminal to deliver a package to the Slobvanian Embassy, but must first get past the guard dog.

Turbulent

On one wall, a singer delivers a passionate love song to a group of men. He is faced away from his audience, secure that his performance will be accepted and adored. On the opposite wall, a woman in a black chador stands silently throughout his song. Then something stunning happens…

Bunbuku Chagama

A short puppet animation movie by Tadahito Mochinaga.

Utta Danella - Lisa schwimmt sich frei

Lisa faces a difficult decision. The landscape architect is heavily in debt. The bank is urging her to sell her villa on Lake Starnberg, in need of renovation, where she lives with her two children. In this depressing situation, she meets Hugo again, her ex who left her five years ago. The former star architect is also bankrupt. But he has a surprising idea that could save them both financially: With his professional experience and their intuition, they would have a chance of winning the prize money together in a highly endowed competition.