Laughter and Punishment

Stand Up for Your Friends(en)

An Irish anti-homophobic and transphobic bullying advertisement, created as part of BeLonG To Youth Services annual Stand Up! LGBT Awareness Week.

A Darkness Swallowed(xx)

“A Darkness Swallowed opens on a pair of faded photographs showing an old dented car, one with a child standing beside it and the other without. Speaking in voice-over, Bromberg references a past event, one that will forever haunt her although it occurred before her birth. The film then sinks downward, dipping below the surface of the rational world to mine the seemingly infinite layers of the past stored within the fleshy entrails, chalky bones, sinewy spider webs and gnarled ligaments of both the body and the Earth. Noises – of clanging metal, bells, heartbeats and jazz music, to name only a few – combine to create a dense sound environment, a seemingly immense, three-dimensional space for contemplation." – Holly Willis, L.A . Weekly

The Kidnapping of Arabella(it)

Precocious seven-year-old Arabella convinces troubled young woman named Holly to take her on a road trip, accidentally faking her own kidnapping—and leaving her father in a panic.

Mirror Mirror(en)

A curator at a high-profile art gallery finds herself drawn to a young, polyamorous artist who introduces her to a lifestyle that reflects a part of herself she had once abandoned.

The Clock(en)

A resilient 75-year-old woman, haunted by a clock counting down in her dreams since childhood, confronts her mortality during a home invasion, sparking an unexpected conversation with a her neighbor that blurs the line between fate and free will as midnight approaches.

Princess Party P.I.(en)

Bella and Maggie are hired to dress up as princesses and perform at a kid’s birthday party. Upon arrival, the mom informs them that she believes her husband is cheating, and needs their help to uncover his lie.

The Sower(fr)

In 1852, the mountain village in Provence where Violette lives is brutally deprived of all its men after the repression of the republicans ordered by Napoleon III. Women spend months in total isolation, desperate to see their men again. In this situation, they make an oath in case a man arrives in the village.

Scary Mother(ka)

A 50-year-old housewife, Manana, struggles with her dilemma - she has to choose between her family life and her passion, writing, which she had repressed for years - she decides to follow her passion and plunges herself into writing, sacrificing to it mentally and physically.

A Letter to the President(ar)

Soraya, a low-level government official, is imprisoned when she defends a woman from village lords. Behind bars, she writes the Afghan President for help.

Meherjaan(bn)

During the war in 1971, Meher falls in love with a soldier from the enemy side. When her love is discovered, she is shamed and silenced by her family and society. Today 38 years after the war, Meher has a visitor she cannot turn down.

Posthumous(en)

After false reports of his demise put him and his work on the map, an artist decides to continue the charade by posing as his own brother. Soon, a reporter enters his life and has a profound effect on him.

The Stand-In(it)

A small film crew is wandering about Marrakesh and the surrounding desert. They are looking for locations for the remake of an American film in which a man swims his way home, passing through the houses and pools that he finds along the route. Corrado is the stand in used to test the shots, locations and the swimming pools in which the lead will be filmed. While we watch his attempts to get into the part, the real actors and a real crew burst onto the scene, on a set in which no one is in the right place. A film with a crisis of identity, in a surreal search for itself.

O orgasmos tis ageladas(el)

Two young women, who live in a provincial town in Thessaly, come of age in their own unique ways. Through flirtations, unrequited love, sexual urges, misunderstandings, and excesses, the two friends quickly realize that their future lies far away from their provincial town. Armed with hope and dreams, they set off for the big city and its opportunities.

Land Where My Fathers Died(en)

When a fiercely independent young African American woman and her nouveau-nationalist photographer boyfriend decide to visit the father she hasn't seen in years, the tragicomic reunion shatters her illusions and provokes the two lovers to reveal that they are both the wounded children of alcoholics. The revelation changes their perception of themselves and each other and serves as a springboard to a new way of relating. This award winning short narrative co-stars Daresha Kyi and Isaiah Washington in his first film.

Royal New Year's Eve(en)

An aspiring fashion designer falls in love with her socialite client's prospective fiance, Prince Jeffrey.

Dich schickt der Himmel(de)

Plain Devil(en)

On the tough streets of Seattle, a girl gang of she-devils takes on an Eastern European immigrant, in the style of John Waters-meets-Perfect Strangers. A new girl must prove herself worthy of joining the ranks of the ferocious gang by prevailing in cat fights and wars of words. Jam-packed with tattoos, street cred, arcade brawls, hater shades, astounded immigrant parents, bow-tied nerds, matching jackets and loitering, for a camptastic good time.

Voilà l'enchaînement(fr)

With two actors and no sets, master filmmaker Claire Denis traces the arc of a strained relationship, with a focus on race and language. In this fraught arena, words omitted can be as potentially devastating as words used, and what is not seen can have greater political consequences than what is.

The Whistleblower(ko)

Lee Jang-hwan receives widespread acclaim and media attention after successfully cloning human embryo stem cells. A TV news program PD, Yoon Min-cheol, receives a phone call from an anonymous source who says he has worked with Dr. Lee on the stem cell project. The source blows the whistle on Lee's work, revealing how Lee fabricated research results and engaged in unethical practices.

Trouble & the Shadowy Deathblow(en)

No man is an island, but there are always exceptions. Meet Jim Funkle, played by Tony Hale. A once promising food scientist, his career came to an end with a catastrophic failed experiment involving spray-on cheese. Ostracized, unemployed, and middle aged, Jim Funkle was American mediocrity at its best until he one night he was given the chance to become omnipotent. Trouble & the Shadowy Deathblow follows one man's fight against being a mediocre man.

Mr. Morgan's Last Love(en)

A widowed professor living in Paris develops a special relationship with a younger French woman.

The Crisis(fr)

Victor is a legal advisor who finds himself abandoned by his wife and fired the same day. He tries to seek comfort from different friends and family members, but everyone he meets is concerned with their own problems. His morale begins to falter when he realizes that no one cares about him.

Number One Fan(fr)

Muriel Bayen, a divorced beautician and mother of two, loves to tell stories. She is a huge fan of this singer Vincent Lacroix, in fact she is a dedicated fan. One day Vincent knock on her door and ask for her help.

Macadam Stories(fr)

Improbable encounters bring tenderness, laughter and compassion to a world of urban alienation.

The Salamander(fr)

Pierre and Paul, journalist and writer respectively, team up to write a screenplay based on the real story of a young woman accused by her uncle of trying to kill him. They decide to meet her.

Skylab(fr)

It is 1979 and Albertine, 10, and all her family members have gathered in Brittany to celebrate the birthday of her grandmother. Everyone thinks that the Skylab space station from NASA will fall on their heads this summer. The meeting turns into a crazy weekend full of revelations, love and song.

Uranus(fr)

After World War II, a small French village struggles to put the war behind as the controlling Communist Party tries to flush out Petain loyalists. The local bar owner, a simple man who likes to write poetry, who only wants to be left alone to do his job, becomes a target for Communist harassment as they try and locate a particular loyalist, and he pushes back.

My Little Princess(fr)

Young Violetta and her mother Hannah are a peculiar couple. Ten-year-old Violetta lives a quiet life with her grandmother, while her mother Hannah is an unpredictable photographer who lives off of the generosity of others. When Hannah forces her daughter to pose as a model, Violetta finds her life with her loving grandmother turned upside down.The resulting pictures quickly become a sensation for the trendy 70's Paris art scene, and Violetta finds herself caught in between her new stature as an art muse and her dull childhood.

Age of Panic(fr)

May 6, 2012. Cable news reporter Laetitia is covering the French presidential elections, while Vincent, her ex-husband, demands to see their two young daughters. It's a manic Sunday in Paris: two agitated girls, a frazzled babysitter, a needy new boyfriend, a grumpy lawyer and France cut in half!

TalhotBlond(en)

Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.

On My Way(fr)

Deneuve plays sassy grandmother Bettie who takes to the road after being betrayed by her lover and learning her business is on the verge of bankruptcy on the same day. During a weeklong odyssey across France, she spends time with a grandson she hardly knows and reconnects with her past as former Miss Brittany through a reunion for former beauty queens.

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle(fr)

Two young girls meet, Reinette from the countryside and Mirabelle from Paris, and decide to take a flat together in Paris where they attend University. Four successive stories about their daily lives illustrate the very different views, characters and relation to the world of these two friends.

The Astronaut(fr)

An aeronautical engineer at Ariane Espace, Jim has devoted himself for years to a secret project: building his own rocket and accomplishing the first manned space flight as an amateur. But to realize his dream, he must learn to share it.

Lulu in the Nude(fr)

After a job interview gone wrong, Lulu sets sail leaving her husband and three children behind. But being an adventurer is easier said than done.

One Hundred and One Nights(fr)

Monsieur Cinema, a hundred years old, lives alone in a large villa. His memories fade away, so he engages a young woman to tell him stories about all the movies ever made.

The Truth About Emanuel(en)

A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.

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.

Sweetheart(fr)

A working woman, mother a three children, realizes that, when her youngest one is about to go to Canada to continue her education, she will end up out of her most precious goal, being a mother.

Heaven Will Wait(fr)

Mélanie, 16 years old, lives with her mother. She likes going to school, her friends, playing the cello, and she wants to change the world. But when she meets a boy on the Internet and falls in love with him, her world changes as she is gradually recruited by Daesh. Sonia is 17 years old, and she almost did something irrevocable to “guarantee” her family a place in paradise. These teenage girls might be called Anaïs, Manon or Leila, and one day they all might go some way down the recruitment process. But can they ever come back from it?

Ride Away(fr)

From the Atlantic to the Black Sea, Mathias and Philippe, two old friends, embark on a bicycle journey that Mathias’s son made before his tragic death. The two men ride through the ordeals with tenderness, humor and emotion.