Desire for Beauty(2013)

Breast Men(en)

We follow the two Texas doctors who invented the modern breast implant and its surgical procedure. However, when success and money come their way, they split up and follow different paths. One becomes the surgeon of the everyday woman while the other's career freefalls and has to settle with strippers and actresses. The film covers their history and their inventions, from the sixties until today.

Dangerous Beauty(en)

Veronica is brilliant, gifted and beautiful, but the handsome aristocrat she loves, Marco Venier, cannot marry her because she is penniless and of questionable family. So Veronica's mother, Paola, teaches her to become a courtesan, one of the exotic companions favored by the richest and most powerful Venetian men. Veronica courageously uses her charms to change destiny -- and to give herself a chance at true love.

Western Eyes(en)

Two Canadian women of Asian descent are contemplating eyelid surgery. Maria and Sharon, of Philippino and Korean heritage respectively, believe their looks–specifically their eyes–get in the way of how people see them. Layering their stories with pop culture references to beauty icons and supermodels, filmmaker Ann Shin looks at the pain that lies deep behind the desire for plastic surgery.

Monstrous Beauty(en)

Barbara Field, born into poverty with a rare condition that means she is entirely covered in hair. Given the precious gift of an education, she is offered the opportunity of a place in the luxurious and decadent court of King Charles II, as a “Natural Wonder” where people with extraordinary appearances mix with the aristocracy.

The Codes of Gender(en)

Arguing that advertising not only sells things, but also ideas about the world, media scholar Sut Jhally offers a blistering analysis of commercial culture's inability to let go of reactionary gender representations. Jhally's starting point is the breakthrough work of the late sociologist Erving Goffman, whose 1959 book The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life prefigured the growing field of performance studies. Jhally applies Goffman's analysis of the body in print advertising to hundreds of print ads today, uncovering an astonishing pattern of regressive and destructive gender codes. By looking beyond advertising as a medium that simply sells products, and beyond analyses of gender that tend to focus on either biology or objectification, The Codes of Gender offers important insights into the social construction of masculinity and femininity, the relationship between gender and power, and the everyday performance of cultural norms.

Steel Magnolias(en)

A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship and welcome her into the fold.

Human Form(ko)

Feeling alone in a world where everyone looks exactly the same, a young girl decides to take extreme measures to change her appearance.

Kanaka(jv)

Mikha is a nail artist who is very passionate about her work. She works so hard that she sometimes forgets to spend time with her family. She wishes her husband could have more time for the family, so that her child doesn't need to be taken care of by his mother all the time. They argued a lot about who should take care of their children. Mikha feels that her nail art studio is not suitable for her child's growth. She wanted her daughter's life to be better than the bitter stories of her clients.

Influencer(es)

Burn After Reading(en)

When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of gym employees, Linda and Chad, they see a chance to make enough money for Linda to have life-changing cosmetic surgery. Predictably, events whirl out of control for the duo, and those in their orbit.

Vanilla Sky(en)

David Aames has it all: wealth, good looks and gorgeous women on his arm. But just as he begins falling for the warmhearted Sofia, his face is horribly disfigured in a car accident. That's just the beginning of his troubles as the lines between illusion and reality, between life and death, are blurred.

Another Face(en)

The surgeon who did the job was dead. Only the nurse knew what this gangster looked like in his new face. He learned about women from her!

Things We Lost in the Fire(en)

A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.

Death in Venice(it)

Composer Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice for health reasons. There, he becomes obsessed with the stunning beauty of an adolescent Polish boy named Tadzio who is staying with his family at the same Grand Hôtel des Bains on the Lido as Aschenbach.

Caramel(ar)

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.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall(en)

When Sarah Marshall dumps aspiring musician Peter Bretter for rock star Aldous Snow, Peter's world comes crashing down. His best friend suggests that Peter should get away from everything and to fly off to Hawaii to escape all his problems. After arriving in Hawaii and meeting the beautiful Rachel Jansen, Peter is shocked to see not only Aldous Snow in Hawaii, but also Sarah Marshall.

Eyes of Beauty(et)

In a world full of stupidity and fear, an unnaturally beautiful boy named Armin is born. Soon enough, Armin's magical nature begins to affect everything and everyone around him, leading to unexpected and dire consequences.

200 Pounds Beauty(ko)

Based on a Japanese manga, Kanna-San, Daiseikou Desu, this story revolves around Kang Han-na, an overweight phone sex employee and secret vocalist for Ammy, a famous Korean pop singer who actually lip syncs as she cannot sing. After getting humilitated publicly by an ungrateful Ammy, Han-na undergoes an extreme makeover to become a pop sensation herself.

Beauty Exists Within Our City(en)

A proof by example of the existence of beauty within Seattle.

Seconds(en)

An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity – one that comes with its own price.