Visions of Europe

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Perfect Obedience

The fictional Father Ángel de la Cruz is based on Legion of Christ founder Marcial Maciel, whose long history of child abuse was not addressed until 2006 and only publicly acknowledged in 2009. But director Luis Urquiza chooses to structure his film through the largely uncomprehending, wondering eyes of 13-year-old Julián, who travels from the arms of his loving pastoral family into the austere, hallowed halls of the seminary. Singling out the boy as his intimate disciple, installing him in his palatial private quarters and redubbing him “Sacramento Santos,” Father Ángel begins Julian’s instruction into the mysteries of “perfect obedience,” whose cardinal rule is: Never question a superior’s actions.

Two Friendly Ghosts

James Dean and Donald Turnupseed, the man whose car killed Dean, meet again for the first time... at the very same intersection where the accident occurred.

I Am Syd Stone

While shooting a film in a small town, a famous actor puts his personal life and career in jeopardy by starting an intense affair with another man.

A Round Trip to Love

College sweethearts Lu Feng and Xiao Chen are torn apart by family and prejudice. Years later, they reunite as boss and employee, still in love—but their second chance comes at a cost neither saw coming.

I'm an actrice

Baba, a preteen from Belleville, Paris, must deal with her mother's determination to turn her into an actress.

A Round Trip to Love 2

Five years apart, they reunite as lovers, but when family-demands force Xiao Chen to marry, Lu Feng feels betrayed—and vows revenge.

The Billionaire

A young billionaire of South Asian descent is bound by the conditions set by his beloved, deceased father in order to get married.

Caramel

A teenager comes to terms with his place in the world when he learns of his mother’s immoral past the day before his grandfather’s funeral.

Night Session

When a burglar unexpectedly runs into a homeowner during a theft, the robbery morphs into a makeshift therapy session, with the burglar helping the homeowner process his impending divorce - all while the homeowner helps to rob his own apartment.

Milkshake Girls

After being 'talent scouted' outside of an ice cream store, teen cousins Jess and Stella find themselves enslaved in the illicit world of sex trafficking.

The Lyric

An aspiring singer discovers the lyrics in a song written for her could lead her to the killer of the writer who wrote it.

Sixty Egyptian Pounds

A struggling family is attempting to deal with the consequences of a horrible catastrophe.

In the Shadowlands

Animals

Brahim is a young man, and secretly gay. At his mother’s birthday party, tensions around his unaccepted sexuality become unbearable. Brahim flees the oppressive family home into the night, where a terrible encounter awaits...

The Seagull

After agonizing for weeks, Valéria finally comes to terms with being in love with another woman and confesses her love for her best friend, Laurence. Short film from the series "L'@mour est à réinventer: dix histoires d'amour au temps du SIDA" ("Love Reinvented: Ten Love Stories in the Age of AIDS").

Level 34

Sometimes the story preceding the making of a film is just as important as the work itself. Zach Breder, a young man living with a serious heart defect, had always wanted to shoot a movie and, with the aid of the Georgia Chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, he managed to do just that. This adventure story about a boy named Chris who, with the help of his friends, solves the mystery of his eccentric uncle, began as a “mere” dream and ultimately became a professional film which now celebrates its international premiere at the Karlovy Vary IFF.

Harvey's Dream

Inspired by the short story "Harvey's Dream" by Stephen King.

Apt Pupil

One day in 1984, Todd Bowden, a brilliant high school boy fascinated by the history of Nazism, stumbles across an old man whose appearance resembles that of Kurt Dussander, a wanted Nazi war criminal. A month later, Todd decides to knock on his door.

The Wedding Banquet

A Taiwanese-American man is happily settled in New York with his American boyfriend. He plans a marriage of convenience to a Chinese woman in order to keep his parents off his back and to get the woman a green card. Chaos follows when his parents arrive in New York for the wedding.

My Brother the Devil

Fourteen-year-old Mo is a lonely, sensitive boy whose hunger for the rant and banter of buddies makes him prone to tread dangerous territories. He idolizes his handsome older brother, Rashid, a charismatic, well-respected member of a local gang, whose drug dealing enables “Rash” to provide for his family. Aching to be seen as a tough guy himself, Mo takes a job that unlocks a fateful turn of events and forces the brothers to confront their inner demons. It turns out that hate is easy. It is love and understanding that take real courage.

The Yin-Yang Master: Dream of Eternity

Every few hundred years, the most powerful demon on earth—a snake demon—awakens, and the Yin-Yang Masters are summoned to the capital. Meanwhile, the Princess of the realm has her own plans, as she conspires to claim the demon’s power.

August

August tells the story of two former lovers, Troy and Jonathan, who reunite after a long ago painful breakup. After spending several years in Spain, Troy returns to Los Angeles and decides to phone Jonathan and meet for coffee. A seemingly innocent rendezvous turns into an attempt to revive passions past. Only this time it's not that simple as Jonathan has a new beau, Raul, and is trying to make the right decision a second time around.

Starcrossed

Two brothers develop a sexual attraction to one another amid the unkind world around them.

As You Are

Set in the early 1990s, "As You Are" is the telling and retelling of a relationship between three teenagers as it traces the course of their friendship through a construction of disparate memories prompted by a police investigation.

Flow

A filmmaker talks about his work and love life with an unseen friend behind the camera. We also watch four of his short films.

Moonlight

The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

The Boys in the Band

At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a surprise guest and a drunken game leave seven gay friends reckoning with unspoken feelings and buried truths.

One Second

A movie fan escapes from a labour camp during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and strikes up a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991. High school freshman Charlie is a wallflower, always watching life from the sidelines, until two senior students, Sam and her stepbrother Patrick, become his mentors, helping him discover the joys of friendship, music and love.

Babylon

Drama telling the story of Blue, a young man of Jamaican descent living in Brixton in 1980, as he hangs out with his friends, fronts a dub sound system, loses his job, struggles with family problems and has his friendships tested by racism.

Pretty Boy

Sean is taken to a motel and is given a prostitute for his 18th birthday by his father. He must sleep with her to "fix" his questionable homosexuality. "Pretty Boy" is a coming of age story of a young bullied teen, Sean, struggling with his sexuality and the hardships of high school. After his father finds some questionable magazines in his room, this devout Christian will go to any lengths to get his son to find the light and "perform" the way a man should. Sean is introduced to Katie, a prostitute that understands the stigmas of modern society and helps him see the true light that is within him.

Tigertail

A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

The Little Prince(ss)

When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.

The Human Voice

A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him.

Long Day's Journey Into Night

Luo Hongwu returns to Kaili, the hometown from which he fled many years ago. He begins the search for the woman he loved and whom he has never been able to forget.

Lighting Up the Stars

Having been released after serving his sentence, a funeral director accidentally crosses paths with a girl which brings about an unexpected change in his attitude towards life.

The Death & Life of John F. Donovan

A decade after the death of an American TV star, a young actor reminisces about the written correspondence he once shared with the former, as well as the impact those letters had on both their lives.

No Night Is Too Long

A chance meeting, a stolen kiss and a sudden flare of passion sets a handsome young university student on a journey of betrayal, heartbreak and murder.

Giant Little Ones

Two popular teen boys, best friends since childhood, discover their lives, families, and girlfriends dramatically upended after an unexpected incident occurs on the night of a 17th birthday party.