Stella Does Tricks

10,000 Saints(en)

A sweeping multigenerational story set against the backdrop of the raw, roaring New York City of the late 1980s; adoption, teen pregnancy, drugs, hardcore punk rock, the unbridled optimism and reckless stupidity of the young—and old—are all major elements in this heart-aching tale of the son of diehard hippies and his strange odyssey through the extremes of late 20th century youth culture.

The Promise(en)

Lisa's husband, Bill, abuses her. With her sister's encouragement, she takes their three kids and leaves her husband. Bill keeps interfering with Lisa's attempts at a new life. She gets an order of protection against him, but the police can't do anything else to help her. One night Bill breaks into Lisa's apartment and shoots her. As she dies in the hospital, Lisa asks her sister to promise to take care of her three children. The sister takes the kids into her home, but Bill is still on the loose, an ever present threat.

Stephanie's Image(en)

A documentary filmmaker investigates the murder of a former model and finds that everything she's been told about her death is false.

The Pinkie(ja)

Since they were both five, Ryosuke has been stalked by Momoko - the ugliest girl in the village. Her love for Ryosuke is so boundless that she has her face surgically altered to suit his taste - but still he wants nothing to do with her. Ryosuke goes in for fleeting romance - for example, with the girlfriend of a gangster boss. But when he finds out about their affair, he has Ryosuke's little finger hacked off. Magically, the finger falls into Momoko's hands, and she uses it to clone Ryosuke, so she can finally have him (or almost him) for herself. And this is just the first five minutes of Lisa Takeba's short-but-powerful feature debut. Just like in her previous short films, the director - who cut her teeth in the advertising world and as the writer of a video game - throws a lot of genres and techniques into the mix: from science fiction to gangster films, from hospital eroticism to animation. Hectic and absurd, but with its heart in the right place. © IFFR

Lost in Translation(en)

Two lost souls visiting Tokyo -- the young, neglected wife of a photographer and a washed-up movie star shooting a TV commercial -- find an odd solace and pensive freedom to be real in each other's company, away from their lives in America.

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself(da)

The strange comedy film of two close brothers; one, Wilbur, who wants to kill himself, and the other, Harbour, who tries to prevent this. When their father dies leaving them his bookstore they meet a woman who makes their lives a bit better yet with a bit more trouble as well.

Boys Don't Cry(en)

A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.

Young Adam(en)

A young drifter working on a river barge disrupts his employers' lives while hiding the fact that he knows more about a dead woman found in the river than he admits.

About a Boy(en)

Will Freeman is a good-looking, smooth-talking bachelor whose primary goal in life is avoiding any kind of responsibility. But when he invents an imaginary son in order to meet attractive single moms, Will gets a hilarious lesson about life from a bright, but hopelessly geeky 12-year-old named Marcus. Now, as Will struggles to teach Marcus the art of being cool, Marcus teaches Will that you're never too old to grow up.

Oliver Twist(en)

An adaptation of the classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.

Lemon(en)

A man watches his life unravel after he is left by his blind girlfriend.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence(en)

David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.

Belle de Jour(fr)

Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre. When her lovestruck friend Henri mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais, Séverine begins to work there during the day under the name Belle de Jour. But when one of her clients grows possessive, she must try to go back to her normal life.

The Piano(en)

When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited daughter to the wilderness of nineteenth-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.

Faces(en)

Middle-aged suburban husband Richard abruptly tells his wife, Maria, that he wants a divorce. As Richard takes up with a younger woman, Maria enjoys a night on the town with her friends and meets a younger man. As the couple and those around them confront a seemingly futile search for what they've lost -- love, excitement, passion -- this classic American independent film explores themes of aging and alienation.

Little Miss Sunshine(en)

A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.

The Butterfly Tree(en)

Evelyn, an ex-burlesque queen, bewitches single dad Al and his teenage son Fin with her zest for life. When father and son discover they are competing for the affections of the same woman, it reopens old wounds over the death of Fin's mother.

The Other ½ & the Other ½(cn)

Clara Law's debut feature deals with her common theme of emigration as two people, man and woman, from separate couples, have to room together while their spouses are in America to finalize the Canadian citizenship process.

They Call Me Joy(tl)

When asked for her real name, the feisty woman in a rural whorehouse would quip, "Ligaya. It means joy. And that's what I sell." Yet the small-town prostitute is not resigned that she would be in the flesh trade forever. She still harbors the dream of getting out of the job someday. She saves money and fancies that someone would come and marry her as if she were clean and never been a whore. That becomes almost a reality when a hardworking farmer enters her life. Under some problematic circumstances, her chances get blown away-but not exactly of her sole doing.

Light in Darkness: The Return of Red Light Bandit(pt)

Jorge, bastard child of the infamous Red Light Bandit, decides himself to pursuit a life of crime after meeting with his father, who has been incarcerated for the last 30 years.

Women Talking Dirty(en)

A lively, outspoken single mother develops an unlikely friendship with a shy cartoonist.

Under the Skin(en)

Although married and pregnant Rose has always been mother's favorite, it is younger sister Iris whose life is shaken up by mother's death. Suffocating, Iris spirals out of control and copes by losing herself in sexual oblivion.

Tully(en)

Tully Jr. and Earl live on their father's Nebraska ranch, proud and independent to a fault. While the shy, reclusive Earl spends his free time watching movies, the cockier Tully works his way through a succession of short-term affairs and an off-again, on-again relationship with April, a stripper in town. When their childhood friend Ella returns to town to start a veterinary practice, however, Tully falls for her — although the townsfolk have their doubts that he could ever commit to one woman.

Poor Liz(ru)

Joe Sokoloff, a sergeant with the Canadian police, travels to the remote country to carry out his beloved grandmother's last wishes, but all his plans fail almost immediately on arriving in his historic homeland when he is robbed while traveling on the train. Ready to embrace his traveling experience, he misses his train and finds himself in a small village region. Viewed by the villagers as 'an eccentric in a white Stetson', he finds himself settling into an unfamiliar world of very strange people. Here the people really do drown newly-born puppies, eat the fish they catch in the river and even smack their children. But it only takes a few days before Joe begins to understand the villagers and, after accepting them into his heart, he falls in love with Liza, a beautiful local girl.

Tracey Emin C.V. Cunt Vernacular(en)

Emin's video CV is an accompaniment to her work on paper, Tracey Emin CV 1995 (Tate T07632), which is a potted history of the artist's professional and emotional life from conception until 1995. This CV, read aloud by Emin, constitutes the sound-track to the video and provides contrasting background to the visual information on display. As Emin narrates her story of trauma and abuse, mixed with pleasure and success, the video takes the viewer on a journey through the artist's home. The artist is not visibly present in person until the last frames when she appears curled up naked on the floor of her sitting-room at the feet of her mother (who wears black sunglasses and looks away from both her daughter and the camera). Like Emin's handwritten CV, the video constitutes her self-portrait, in this instance adding the component of a journey around the space of her apartment to her narrating voice. -Tate

Brothers in Arms(en)

Charlie Sheen narrates, as cast and crew share their personal experiences making the Academy Award winning film, Platoon. This non-union, low budget, independent film was cast almost exclusively with young, unknown actors making their first film. Together they share their first hand accounts of the grueling boot camp, Oliver Stone's "unique" directing style, and the brutal filming conditions that together forged their eternal brotherhood.

Zombie Fight Club(zh)

It's the end of the century at a corner of the city in a building riddled with crime - Everyone in the building has turned into zombies. After Jenny's boyfriend is killed in a zombie attack, she faces the challenge of surviving in the face of adversity. In order to stay alive, she struggles with Andy to flee danger.

La Face cachée(fr)

Sunset Carson Rides Again(en)

Sunset Carson is trying to raise money for a new school and his partner Sam Webster is out to stop him. When Carson plans a benefit prize-fight, Webster plans to make off with the proceeds.

Bread(en)

Presented without voiceover, various kinds of breads are displayed and broken in a joyous celebration of starch, seed and salt.

Verdi: La Traviata(it)

Live from La Scala Saturday 07 July 2007. In this live performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Violetta, a courtesan much wooed by Parisian society, organises a grand party that is attended, amongst others, by the young Alfredo Germont. He confesses his feelings to Violetta, who is already suffering from consumption. She vacillates between genuine affection and a realistic assessment of her situation as a "fallen woman", which precludes any lasting relationship with a man.

Danmark er lukket(da)

In the future, Denmark has been made a nuclear waste dump and the Danish language is banned.

Tito on Ice(en)

To promote their book Bosnian Flat Dog, Swedish comics creators Max Andersson and Lars Sjunnesson tour the countries of former Yugoslavia with a mummified Marshal Tito in a refrigerator. They encounter a number of artists, musicians, publishers and other characters populating the post-Yugoslav indie cultural scene. As the journey continues through increasingly improbable surroundings, the protagonists begin to question themselves and the reality they find themselves in. Watching border controls turn into improvised snapshot sessions, admiring mutant iron-curtain Disney toys, buying souvenir grenade shell handicrafts and discovering sniper art in blown-out apartments, they find that truth may indeed be stranger than fiction.

Home(en)

On a hot summer night in Brooklyn, singles and couples converge in a brownstone apartment to flirt, fight, hook up and break up. A dreamy comedy-drama about sex, love and freedom, "Home" packs a lot of stories into just two floors.

The Weight of Home(en)

A new Australian short film illustrating the harrowing guilt that comes along with being overseas whilst a loved one is dying back home. Staring Jessica Rookeward, Connor Delves and Hannah Bailey.

The Scary Tennis Ball part 2(en)

In the first movie, a character named Jimmy was having one of his best days ever until he found a tennis ball in the park and everything went wrong. Now it’s time to find it again! Join him as he explores the ball .

Los Asesinos(es)

Starring Nick Adams in his final role, a lone cowboy rides into a small Western town that is besieged by a gang of hoodlums in search of treasure. The search leads to an all out war between the town bosses, a family of crooked ranchers and other unsavory characters. But when Shannon (Nick Adams) enters the picture, they may have met their match...

Les Trésors de Marcel Pagnol(fr)

The works of Marcel Pagnol are a veritable monument of French cultural heritage. Based on previously unseen archive material, film extracts, novels, plays, interviews and letters, the film pays tribute to the major author and popular filmmaker, who made his life a work and his work a life's project.