Playground(2009)

way(en)

San Francisco filmmaker Konrad Steiner took 12 years to complete a montage cycle set to the late Leslie Scalapino’s most celebrated poem, way—a sprawling book-length odyssey of shardlike urban impressions, fraught with obliquely felt social and sexual tensions. Six stylistically distinctive films for each section of way, using sources ranging from Kodachrome footage of sun-kissed S.F. street scenes to internet clips of the Iraq war to a fragmented Fred Astaire dance number.

Spring(ru)

This is a story about a city guy Nikolai, who will have to go instead of his friend on a rural business trip. A series of funny events, meetings and the beauty of the Yakut village encourage Nikolai to make an important decision in his life…

The Headless Rider(es)

A mute phantom hero takes on skull-masked killers, a disembodied living hand and a corpse that won't stay in its grave. This is the first in a trilogy of horror/western hybrids that also includes the films La marca de Satanás ("The Mark of Satan") and La cabeza de Pancho Villa ("The Head of Pancho Villa").

Pound x Pound: The History of Juan Manuel Márquez(en)

Pound x Pound introduces you to the world of boxing elite through the eyes of Juan Manuel Marquez, four-time world champion. It is a ringside ticket to the professional and personal life of Juan Manuel. An unique access to the truth behind the rivalry with Manny Pacquiao. Read the story behind the Mexican idol, who through work, effort, sacrifices and frustrations, has established itself as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.

OVERLOAD(de)

O Encontro do Sol e a Lua(pt)

Alvar Aalto: Technology and Nature(fi)

The Finnish architect Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) is one of the great figures of modern architecture, ranked alongside Gropius, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. This film analyses Aalto’s uniquely successful resolution of the demands and possibilities created by new technology and construction materials with the need to make his buildings sympathetic both to their users and to their natural surroundings. His inventive use of timber in particular represents both a reference to the forest landscape of Finland and a building material that is ‘warm’ and extremely adaptable. Filmed in Finland, Italy, Germany and the USA, this documentary shows how the Finnish natural environment and art traditions were essential elements in Aalto’s pioneering harmonization of technology and nature.

A Castle in the Air(ar)

Sahar and Rady are in love, but when he asks Sahar to marry him, she turns him down because she's really a poor girl. Rady joins the navy, while the musician Aziz discovers Sahar's talent for singing and trains her. She works at the school of Bahr El-Baqar and survives when the Israelis bomb it.

Rest in Pieces(en)

This short machinima horror movie tells the escape story of Chris Edwards, inner voice dubbed by Aaron Landon Jackson, who wakes up in the middle of the night, at the cemetery, by a nameless grave that reads "Rest In Pieces."

Matrix(en)

"MATRIX is a flicker film which utilizes 81 still photographs of my wife's head. It is a film dependent upon variation of intense light changes by calculated combinations of black and white frame alternations with exposure changes. Throughout, the light intensity rises and falls as the head rotates in varying directions within a 360 degree frontal area." — James Cagle

Red(ja)

A married woman with a lovely daughter lives a carefree life, until she meets her ex-lover at a friend’s wedding. They haven’t seen each other in ten years, but they begin an affair.

A Trip to Paramountown(en)

Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, featuring dozens of stars captured candidly and at work.

Storm Over Georgia(en)

In the middle of Sherman's March, in eastern Georgia, Confederate infantry, cavalry, and artillery make a bold stand against the overwhelming numbers of the Union army as it tears across Georgia.

MAR(es)

Raymundo is constantly tormented during his vacation at the beach by a painful memory from his past that he had not wanted to face.

The Sisters S-Scandal(ko)

Yoo-jin is rough and manly while Yoo-jeong is feminine and cute. Yoo-jeong works in an office until she finds out she's getting fired. The chairman uses this against her to provide sexual service and Yoo-jeong has no choice but to spend a night with him. Yoo-jin finds out about this and makes a plan to make him pay back...

Mojin: Longling Misty Cave(zh)

Second part of Ghost Blowing Lantern.

Pornography(fr)

Everything you always wanted to know about pornography (but were afraid to ask).

Minor Leaguer(en)

A minor league hockey player struggles with the massive ego of his team's new owner, a hockey legend who was once his childhood hero.

November Child(de)

Malchow, German Democratic Republic, 1980. 20-year-old Anne is hiding Juri, a deserter of the Red Army. The two fall in love with each other. But their love is threatened: there is an arrest warrant and possibly a death sentence waiting for Juri. The two leave the country and flee to the West, leaving Anne’s six-month-old daughter Inga behind. Inga grows up with her grandparents and thinks that her mother died during a swimming accident. 25 years later she meets the literature professor Robert, who sends her on the trail of her past. He met Inga’s mother Anne during one of his seminars. At first Inga is resistant, but then she asks for Robert’s help. Together they take off on a journey through Germany, in search of Inga’s mother Anne...

Aaltra(en)

In this pitch black comedy the rivalry between two neighbors escalates into an all out war. Through a maintenance error on a tractor they both end up, paralyzed, in a wheelchair. It seems they are doomed to stay together. They no longer focus their rage on each other but on the manufacturer of the tractor, in Helsinki. So get ready for a hilarious wheelchair road movie.

Delphyne(en)

Delphyne (meaning ‘womb’) discusses the stigma around menstruation. Addressing shame and acceptance, taboos around menstrual blood are told through a fabric-themed metaphor, and the conflict between a mother-daughter relationship; to find a shared unity and language to beat the conflict which projects itself in the shame metaphor that they’ve unwound and removed from their life. The historical connotations of staining, feminine purity and the divide between private and public space as well as ownership of the body come into play. The coming of age theme is reflected in reference to her struggle with the self (alter-ego), struggle with the ‘other’ (male influence) and struggle with the home (her Mother).

No Thank You(fi)

Heli Valkonen is desperately in love with her husband. But Matti is just not in the mood. He is only interested in playing computer games, dressed in worn out fleece pants. For him, a shoulder massage is the highest form of intimacy. When subtle hints, nice words and fetching clothes won't help, Heli resorts in direct, and increasingly direct action - in vain.

Bread and Tulips(it)

An endearing light comedy about a woman who spontaneously becomes a resident of Venice after her family left her behind. While enjoying the wonderful people she meets she achieves a new life and the first time independent of her family.

The Cuckoo(ru)

September of 1944, a few days before Finland went out of the Second World War. A chained to a rock Finnish sniper-kamikadze Veikko managed to set himself free. Ivan, a captain of the Soviet Army, arrested by the Front Secret Police 'Smersh', has a narrow escape. They are soldiers of the two enemy armies. A Lapp woman Anni gives a shelter to both of them at her farm. For Anni they are not enemies, but just men.

Sabbatical(en)

After his mother suffers a stroke, Ben Hardin returns to his rural hometown to care for her and complete his most recent book. While home, his relationships with family and friends are strained and tested.

Die Anruferin(de)

A lonely woman's prank phone call leads to an unexpected friendship with a grieving widow.

Beatriz(es)

A child is witness to an assault on a monk by the gang of Lorenzo the Fifth. The monk escapes and takes refuge in the estate of Doña Carlota, a countess who lives with her son Juan and daughter Beatriz. Basilisa, the maid, conjures the devil to free her son from an irreversible illness, but to do so the evil must be transmitted to an innocent soul, and for that she chooses Beatriz. The child begins to be the victim of a possession, for which everyone blames the monk.

Mrs Lowry & Son(en)

An intimate portrayal of the relationship between one of greatest artists of the 20th century, L.S. Lowry and his unhappy and controlling mother, Elizabeth, whom he lived with all his life.

Lucy(de)

A young teenage single mother (Maggi) struggling to raise her baby daughter (Lucy) finds the weight of responsibility bearing down on her shoulders. Maggy was forced to grow up before her time. Thankfully for Maggi, her mother is always willing to help though Maggy still lives at home with her mother, it's obvious that she longs to gain some independendence. Meeting Gordon at a local club, who is a few years older, makes a living and has his own apartment. One night, after a heated argument with her mother, Maggi makes the decision to move in with Gordon. Though the pair subsequently make a sincere attempt to be good parents.and do what's best for Lucy, they soon find that taking on the responsibilities of adulthood aren't so easy when you've barely moved past childhood yourself.

Evening(en)

As Constance (Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) gather at the deathbed of their mother, Ann (Vanessa Redgrave), they learn for the first time that their mother lived an entire other lifetime during one evening 50 years ago. In vivid flashbacks, the young Ann (Claire Daines) spends one night with a man named Harris (Patrick Wilson), who was the love of her life.

Let the Sunshine In(fr)

Isabelle, Parisian artist, divorced mother, is looking for love, true love, at last.

Without a Kiss Goodbye(en)

True story of a middle class mother charged with murdering her baby, despite her denials. Re-tells the story of the medical and police investigations, the later court proceedings and the final outcome.

Email to Bill Gates(de)

Young German boy whose father tells him that Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates can solve anything. His father dies and the little boy makes a trip to Seattle with his grandfather to find Bill Gates.

Abre Alas(es)

Report to Mother(ml)

Purushan, a student on his way to Delhi, becomes obsessed with the tragic suicide of a young drummer. He collects many people to go with him to tell the boy’s mother.

It's Winter(fa)

Unemotional, restrained cinematographic poem, situated in a wintry and poor suburb of Tehran. A man is dismissed and his lack of prospects for the future make him decide to seek his happiness abroad. He leaves his wife and child behind and for a long time nothing is heard of him. Then a stranger turns up, a car mechanic looking for a job. The attractive single mother can’t resist his attentions. Very subtly, a struggle ensues that reflects that of a whole generation of young doubting Iranians who may want to leave the country, but hardly know how to start.

Voyager(de)

Walter Faber has survived a crash with an airplane. His next trip is by ship. On board this ship he meets the enchanting Sabeth and they have a passionate love affair. Together they travel to her home in Greece, but the rational Faber doesn't know what fate has in mind for him for past doings.

Tove(fi)

Helsinki, 1945. The end of the war brings a new sense of artistic and social freedom for painter Tove Jansson. While focusing her artistic dreams on painting, the enchanting tales of the ‘Moomin’ creatures she told to scared children in bomb shelters, rapidly take on a life of their own, bringing international fame.