Words and Lights

I dream with ghosts at noon(en)

Since the sudden death of her best friend, something extraordinary happens: at noon her best friend returns as a ghost that only she can see. In these ephemeral moments they revive their shared memories.

Beyond Dreams(sv)

Mirja must find her place after serving jail time. When she gets a job as a hotel cleaner she starts living a double life. She's torn between her sick mother and her old group of friends, who have always been her real family.

Mean Creek(en)

Teenagers living in small-town Oregon take a boat trip for a birthday celebration. When they get an idea to play a mean trick on the town bully, it suddenly goes too far. Soon they're forced to deal with the unexpected consequences of their actions.

The Stranger(ja)

Lane 1974(en)

At 13 years old and the eldest of three kids, Lane struggles to keep her family together as her iconoclast mother moves without warning through the communes and dusty back woods of Northern California.

Wir für immer(de)

Sixteen-year-old Jann shields his mother Lina from the outside world in a system that has been established over the years. When Jann falls in love with Selma, who is a year older than him, he is less and less able to keep his family secret. Selma and Jann's love causes his previous world to collapse, but ultimately it also gives him the strength he needs to claim a new place for himself in life.

Candle to a Crucified(pt)

A slum boy's wake and his father's efforts to give him a last moment of dignity.

Revolution(en)

A coming-of-age story about Jack, a 16-year old Iranian boy growing up in 1989 Los Angeles. With the 1979 Iranian Revolution a distant memory, the AIDS movement as a backdrop, and a haunting score by Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Jack learns how to stage his own much smaller revolution within the confines of his traditional family.

I'm Sorry, My Love(en)

A solid middle American couple meet a stranger who will have a big role in history as we know it.

Summer Romance(ja)

This delightful short is a world away from Tomomatsu's later works. It's a lovely story, told well. The reason that I tracked it down is because I'm quite a fan of Alice Sailor's music. She fronts new wave band Amaryllis and I was curious to see her acting. She has frequently supplied theme songs and other music to several of Tomomatsu's films. Indeed, the most disturbing sequence in this movie is accompanied by a psychotic Amaryllis track, 'Haha', and the closing piece is another Amaryllis song, 'Usagi'. This rip comes from the 'Eat The Schoolgirl' DVD, where it was one of the extras. Having just watched the main feature from that disc, I can say with some certainty that I found this tale far more enjoyable.

Fables of Forgotten Things(en)

A mysterious drifter and his young friend must save a frightened, forgetful old lady from a memory eating ghost.

Tooty's Wedding(en)

A young couple's marriage hilariously hits the rocks during a weekend wedding in the country.

Requited(en)

Nicolas, a young man in his mid 20s, struggles to decide whether or not to go to the wedding of his best friend from high school, Aaron, who he's always been quietly in love with. The two had a falling out years earlier after Nicolas inexplicably kissed Aaron's girlfriend. Nicolas clings to an idealized image of his former friend, unconsciously sabotaging his own happiness in the process. The film is a realistic slice-of-life that poses the question "How do you get over something you never had?"

La surface de réparation(fr)

While Pierrot, surrounded by his friends, is glued to the TV watching a soccer match, Stella, his shy girlfriend, must give up celebrating her birthday. She had planned everything but had forgotten that it was a sacred evening - the second round of the playoffs.

Jean Fell in Love(fr)

Jean, 18 years old, is the prodigy heeler of his village rugby club. While his team is defending its title, he falls madly in love with Ayoub, a player from the opposing team. The brotherly relationship he has with his teammates turns out to be more fragile than he thought.

Works of Art(en)

Art Hahn is just one actor numbed by the New York struggle. One day, an unusual proposition from his friend, John Kim, leads him to a remarkable role that jolts his system like never before.

Bones and All(en)

Abandoned by her father, a young woman embarks on a thousand-mile odyssey through the backroads of America where she meets a disenfranchised drifter. But despite their best efforts, all roads lead back to their terrifying pasts and to a final stand that will determine whether their love can survive their otherness.

RE-Artists(en)

"Memory Revival" pianist Frederick confronts the "Memory Eraser" in a soul-wrenching duet that forces them both to reckon with memories of their childhood they had long-since forgotten.

The Forged Bride(en)

Professional forger Bill Butters realizes one day that the police are closing in on him, and convinces his daughter Peggy to flee.

FLÜGGE(de)

Pariah(en)

A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak, and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

I Believe in Unicorns(en)

Feeling awkward and isolated, an imaginative and strong-willed teenage girl runs away from home with an older punk rock drifter.

Imagine(en)

A blind teacher breaks the rules to help a female student rediscover the pleasures of life.

The Girl in the Book(en)

The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.

The Short History of the Long Road(en)

Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.

Palm Trees and Power Lines(en)

A disconnected teenage girl enters a relationship with a man twice her age. She sees him as the solution to all her problems, but his intentions are not what they seem.

Smooth Talk(en)

Connie, the fifteen-year-old black sheep of her family, finds her summertime idyll of beach trips, mall hangouts, and innocent flirtations shattered by an encounter with a mysterious stranger.

The Human Voice(en)

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.

Just Charlie(en)

Football star Charlie has the world at her feet. With a top club desperate to sign her, her future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Raised as a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father's expectations and shedding this ill fitting skin.

Strange Weather(en)

Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.

Meshes of the Afternoon(en)

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

My Brother the Devil(en)

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.

Starcrossed(en)

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

Circumstance(en)

A wealthy Iranian family struggles to contain a teenager's growing sexual rebellion and her brother's newfound conservatism.

Tigertail(en)

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.

Clapham Junction(en)

Set in the Clapham district of south London, England, the film is inspired by true events. The paths of several men intersect during a dramatic thirty-six hours in which their lives are changed forever.

Sky(en)

A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film(en)

A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.

The Trials of Cate McCall(en)

In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.

Helen(en)

On the outside, Helen has it all – a loving family and a successful career – but when her suppressed mental illness resurfaces, the world crumbles around her. Crippled by depression, Helen finds solace through her friendship with Mathilda, a kindred spirit struggling with bipolar disorder.