Motel the Operator

Man of Iron(pl)

In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers - particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an independent labour union leader whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews the people surrounding Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka.

Billy Elliot(en)

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Gandhi(en)

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

Karanlıkta Uyananlar(tr)

A group of paint worker can’t take their salary from the fabricator and they go on strike.

Lady Caliph(it)

La Califfa's husband was killed during the strikes so she takes the side of the strikers. Her conflict with the plant owner Doverdo gradually turns into a love relationship.

The First Shot(ko)

Jo Dal-hwan plays Lee Ho-yeon, a salesman from a pharmaceutical company who is very people-shy.

Beddua(tr)

Story of a famous singer from a small rural village, making it big in the city by following their passion.

Animal Factory(en)

Suburbanite Ron is spoiled, young and not overly worried about the marijuana charges leveled against him. But, after being made out to be a drug dealer, he faces a five-year jail sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Physically frail and unaccustomed to his rough surroundings, Ron is primed to fall victim to sexual predators and bullying guards – that is, until he's befriended by Earl, a veteran inmate who finds meaning in protecting the vulnerable new kid.

Happiness(en)

The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.

Beauty Parlor(en)

Film follows the romantic exploits of two depression-era manicurists, one of whom is being woo'd by a true gentleman of means, the other of whom lets herself become a pawn of operators of a call-girl ring.

The Man Without a World(en)

The Man Without a World is credited to the legendary (and imaginary) 1920s Soviet director, Yevgeny Antinov. But the film is anything but old. In fact, Antinov himself is the creation of contemporary filmmaker Eleanor Antin. Her film is a moving, comic melodrama set in a typical shtetl (village) in Poland. The Jews’ struggle against poverty and racial hatred is complicated by their own division into hostile political factions of the religious orthodoxy, assimilationists, socialists, Zionists, anarchists and survivors. While the Jews of the shtetl pursue their loves, politics, religion, business and dreams for the future, the Angel of Death is ever near...

Autumn Weddings(ru)

A poetic story about the first love of the village girl Natasha, loyal to the memory of the deceased fiancé. In peacetime, the heroine's fiancé blew up on a land mine that remained on the collective farm field since the war, and her life turned into a nightmare. But sooner or later, dreams end and the world opens again. Pregnant Natasha goes to the institutions, seeking to be signed with the father of the unborn child who died tragically. At the end, after long ordeals, she comes to the conclusion that writing in the marriage book will not change anything in her life.

A Matter of Sex(en)

Dramatization of the true story of the so-called Willmar Eight, a group of Minnesota bank workers who braved freezing conditions whilst picketing their branch in a struggle for union rights.

Men Call It Love(en)

Pre-code melodrama about high society marriage and fidelity.

Queen for a Day(en)

Adapted from the TV and radio series of the same name, the producer of said show reads letters from three woman providing the framing story for this melodrama anthology film. The tales focus on parenting and family struggles.

A Room in Town(fr)

Set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike, a worker falls in love with the middle-class daughter of his landlady.

Tin Gods(en)

In a mountain village in South America, Dr. McCoy and the padre watch Roger Drake enter a small chapel near a towering bridge, and McCoy recounts the story of Drake's life: As a rising engineer, he marries Janet Stone, the ambitious daughter of a wealthy family, and neglects his career while Janet becomes a candidate for the State Assembly. Drake comes into conflict with her political friends, and when their baby falls from its nursery window, the couple remorsefully decide to separate. Drake, degenerated by drink, goes to South America to construct a bridge; there he is stricken by fever and is redeemed by the love and care of Carita, a dancer. Carita, however, learns of Janet's political defeat and her attempt to effect a reconciliation with Drake; thinking he still loves his wife, she leaps from the bridge. Drake returns each year to the chapel he has erected in her memory. A lost film.

Tout Va Bien(fr)

A strike at a French sausage factory contributes to the estrangement of a married filmmaker and his reporter wife.

Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing?(zh)

A poor army veteran in Taiwan adopts a daughter. She grows up and leaves him to enter show business. When she becomes famous she shuns her father and friends.

Éternel amour(fr)