Russian Institute: Lesson 8[2007]

Small Things Like These(en)

In 1985, while working as a coal merchant to support his family, Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent and uncovers truths of his own; forcing him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.

A(kn)

A film director fades away from the industry after the failed love with the heroine of his movie. After being rehabilitated, he learns that some people conspired his fall and decides to take revenge.

Pimpinero: Blood and Oil(es)

When Juan, a young gasoline smuggler, is forced to work for a mysterious organization in the desert bordering Colombia and Venezuela, his girlfriend Diana embarks on a journey to uncover the secrets that inhabit this no-man’s-land.

Ruthless(en)

A high school coach, whose teenage daughter was murdered, takes matters into his own hands by going after the men who kidnap his students for their sex trafficking operation.

A(en)

A young alcoholic ambient musician locks himself in his apartment on a dangerous seven day bender as he attempts to finish his upcoming album.

Meet the Barbarians(fr)

The municipality of a small Breton village has decided to welcome a family of Ukrainian refugees. To their surprise, they receive Fayad family – coming from Syria. They thwart all the clichés that the French expected: they are friendly, refined, educated… So much so that, in this small, humming village, it is no longer clear which side the barbarians are on…

Stray Dog(ja)

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.

The Naked Spur(en)

A bounty hunter trying to bring a murderer to justice is forced to accept the help of two less-than-trustworthy strangers.

National Family(es)

Don Poli, the patriarch of a family embedded in politics, faces the change of party in his state - after a hundred years in power - losing all his privileges. Humiliated and angry, he threatens to disinherit his family and leave to rebuild his life. This forces his children (Kippy, Ramses and Belén) to take extreme measures to ensure their future, causing everything that could go wrong to turn out worse.

Juliette in Spring(fr)

Juliette goes back in her hometown to spend some time with her family. She finds herself between a loving but moody father, a New Age mother, a sister in the midst of an existential crisis, and a grandmother slowly losing her mind. Buried memories and family secrets rise to the surface in this sweet, tender and sometimes extravagant family portrait.

Handling the Undead(no)

On a hot summer day in Oslo, the dead mysteriously awaken, and three families are thrown into chaos when their deceased loved ones come back to them. Who are they, and what do they want?

No, You're Stupid(ru)

Christina wants to take revenge on her blind sister, who wants to take a prize in a popular music television show. She comes up with an evil joke in which she gives out a stage play organized by her friends for a real shoot in the Ostankino television studio. The sister believes what they are trying to convince her of, and Christina's rally becomes more and more like a mockery.

The Rapture(fr)

Lydia, a midwife very invested in her work, is in the middle of a breakup. At the same time, her best friend, Salomé, announces to her that she is pregnant and asks her to follow her pregnancy. The day Lydia meets Milos, a one-night stand, while she is holding her friend's baby in her arms, she sinks into a lie, at the risk of losing everything.

Latin for All(fr)

Delphine, a disillusioned humanities teacher, makes an agreement with her students : they leave her in peace, as they get A+ grades. But these excellent results turn into a nightmare when the class is qualified for the Latin World Championships, in Naples.

Mujib: The Making of a Nation(bn)

Biopic on the father of the nation of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The film will showcase his growing up as a child to his standing up against all injustice in his youth to fighting for the independence of his country. How he led a country to it's independence with his inspirational presence and fight for the justice.

Black Dog(zh)

On the edge of the Gobi desert in Northwest China, Lang returns to his hometown after being released from jail. While working for the local dog patrol team to clear the town of stray dogs before the Olympic Games, he strikes up an unlikely connection with a black dog. These two lonely souls embark on a journey together.

Kalki 2898-AD(te)

In the year 2898 AD, around 6000 years after Kurukshetra war, Ashwatthama gears up for his final battle of redemption at the sign of hope in a dystopian world and Bhairava, a wisecracking and self-interested bounty hunter, tired of the perilous life becomes the hurdle in the process.

My Name Is Loh Kiwan(ko)

After defecting from North Korea, Loh Kiwan struggles to obtain refugee status in Belgium, where he encounters a dejected woman who has lost all hope.

The Adventures(th)

Joy, a secretary at a large multinational company, has an online shopping problem, likes to read adventure novels and watch travel and adventure shows. She daydreams about living a life of adventure.

Lowlifes(en)

The survival instincts of a road-tripping family are put to the test when they have no other choice but to stay the night at a remote homestead.

House(ja)

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip to the countryside to visit her aunt at their ancestral house. She invites her six friends, Prof, Melody, Mac, Fantasy, Kung Fu, and Sweet, to join her. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

Sweet-Smelling Movie: Be a Light to the World(ja)

A coming-of-age story about a high-school girl who wants to use magic, featuring the 11-member experimental band Vampillia

Nota de Rodapé(pt)

Schtonk!(de)

Schtonk! is a farce of the actual events of 1983, when Germany's Stern magazine published, with great fanfare, 60 volumes of the alleged diaries of Adolf Hitler – which two weeks later turned out to be entirely fake. Fritz Knobel (based on real-life forger Konrad Kujau) supports himself by faking and selling Nazi memorabilia. When Knobel writes and sells a volume of Hitler's (nonexistent) diaries, he thinks it's just another job. When sleazy journalist Hermann Willié learns of the diaries, however, he quickly realizes their potential value... and Knobel is quickly in over his head. As the pressure builds and Knobel is forced to deliver more and more volumes of the fake diaries, he finds himself acting increasingly like the man whose life he is rewriting. The film is a romping and hilarious satire, poking fun not only at the events and characters involved in the hoax (who are only thinly disguised in the film), but at the discomfort Germany has with its difficult past.

Man on Fire(en)

Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(en)

Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flits in and out of his life as she grows up to be a dancer. Though he has all sorts of unusual adventures over the course of his life, it is his relationship with Daisy, and the hope that they will come together at the right time, that drives Benjamin forward.

Freedom Writers(en)

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

Nurse Diary: Beast Afternoon(ja)

A doctor develops a new scientific breakthrough in female psychotherapy with the discovery of the “Dream Ring,” a device that is inserted into a woman to record her thoughts and dreams. But, one dark and stormy night, the doctor and his assistant end up dead… hanging by ropes from the rafters of their lab. The lovely Reiko suffers from a condition known as “genophobia” (the fear of sexual intercourse), so she is admitted to the Tachibana Clinic for observation. Another group of doctors have the “Dream Ring” device and use it on Reiko to analyze her wildly erotic, and violent, dreams and nightmares. The clinic doctors have more sinister reasons to test this device on Reiko, however, and secretly put her under hypnosis so that the ring is activated at any time she hears the sound of a bell. Can she escape the evil doctors’ experiment and, even if she does, who is that strange person, dressed all in black, following her around?

The Diary of Anne Frank(en)

The true, harrowing story of a young Jewish girl who, with her family and their friends, is forced into hiding in an attic in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

Heathers(en)

A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.

Cruel Intentions(en)

Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.

Lolita(en)

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.

A Diary of a Murderess(es)

A beautiful young woman sets her sights on an aging millionaire. She seduces him, and moves into his mansion with him. She soon tires of him, though, and after she gets rid of him, she goes after his son.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge(en)

Jesse Walsh moves with his family into the home of the lone survivor from a series of attacks by dream-stalking monster, Freddy Krueger. There, he is bedeviled by nightmares and inexplicably violent impulses.

Date Movie(en)

Spoof of romantic comedies which focuses on a man, his crush, his parents, and her father.

Charlie Bartlett(en)

Awkward teenager Charlie Bartlett has trouble fitting in at a new high school. Charlie needs some friends fast, and decides that the best way to find them is to appoint himself the resident psychiatrist. He becomes one of the most popular guys in school by doling out advice and, occasionally, medication, to the student body.

White Bird(en)

After being expelled from Beecher Prep for his treatment of a classmate with a facial deformity, Julian has struggled to fit in at his new school. To transform his life, Julian's grandmother finally reveals her own story of courage of her youth in Nazi-occupied France, where a classmate shelters her from mortal danger.

Rushmore(en)

When a beautiful first-grade teacher arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max, who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max's new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.

White Squall(en)

In 1960, a hardy group of prep school students boards an old-fashioned sailing ship. With Capt. Christopher Sheldon at the helm, the oceangoing voyage is intended to teach the boys fortitude and discipline. But the youthful crew are about to get some unexpected instruction in survival when they get caught in the clutches of a white squall storm.

Their Houses(en)

Filmmaker Cam Archer examines and explores his ordinary, suburban neighborhood in search of hidden truths, new narratives and a better understanding of his fading, creative self. Combining heavily degraded video with personal photographs and real life neighbors, Archer re-imagines the concept of 'home video'. In an attempt to distance himself from his subjects, actress Jena Malone narrates the piece as Archer in the first person.