Black Book

Star Sand(ja)

In the closing days of World War II, Japanese-American Hiromi, a girl age 16, encounters an American deserter, Bob, and a Japanese soldier, Iwabuchi, living together in a cave on a small island in Okinawa. The two men are deserters from their armies; yet both vow never to harm another human being again. Hiromi looks after the deserters until another soldier appears and the peace of the cave is shattered. It leads to the death of three of them and a fascinating mystery that isn't solved until the present day.

Five Minutes of Paradise(sh)

Two concentration camp prisoners are taken by Nazis to disable un exploded bombs in German towns. When they work on the ruins, with their guards safely away, they enjoy a few precious moments of freedom.

The Sea Wolves(en)

A German spy is passing on information about the location of Allied ships in the neutral harbor of Goa, India, with catastrophic results. Unable to undertake a full military operation in the Portuguese stronghold, English intelligence brings out of retirement a crew of geriatric ex-soldiers, veterans from World War I, using their age as cover. These old soldiers are asked to take to the seas and pull off an unlikely undercover mission.

Fight to the Finish(en)

Marking the 75th Anniversary of the end of WWII, the documentary features the first-hand accounts of the Canadians who fought in the worst war in human history. Raw and personal experiences of the terror, pride, horror, excitement, friendship and loss – told through the eyes of the people who fought it.

A Wreath of Sonnets(ru)

A story of two boys who obstinately, in spite of everything and everyone run to the front when the war was almost over.

To the Ends of the World(fr)

Indochina, 1945. While the French are harassed by both the Japanese army and the Vietnamese rebels, private Robert Tassen, driven by the memory of a tragedy of which he is the only survivor, embarks on the search for the mysterious and cruel Võ Bình Yên, one of the leaders of the insurrection.

Hannibal Brooks(en)

A POW in World War II is put to work in a Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant. The zoo is bombed by the Americans and the director of the zoo decides it is not safe for his Asian elephant Lucy to remain there. So he sends Brooks to safety with Lucy. They escape and go on the run in order to get to Switzerland.

The Nun's Story(en)

After leaving a wealthy Belgian family to become a nun, Sister Luke struggles with her devotion to her vows during crisis, disappointment, and World War II.

For a Lost Soldier(nl)

In the occupied Netherlands near the end of WWII, a young teenager, Jeroen Boman (Maarten Smit) is sent to the Dutch countryside to avoid the war in Amsterdam. While living with his adopted family, Jeroen meets and becomes friends with a Canadian soldier named Walt Cook, who is stationed at the same town he is staying at. Joroen and Walt spend a lot of time playing around and eventually a romantic relationship develops between them. The boy’s sexual curiosity leads him to have a sexual experience with Walt, an encounter that is shown with some vague detail but without actually showing any nudity, even though sexual intimacy between the two of them is implied. Overall, the movie handles this difficult subject with an elegant style and feeling, without having the adult-child relationship overwhelm the viewer and thus allowing the movie to be seen as just a wartime relationship between two people that marks an important time in a young boy’s life.

Lenny(en)

The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the establishment as too obscene for the public.

All Things Fair(sv)

Stig is a 15-year-old pupil of 37-year-old teacher Viola. He is attracted by her beauty and maturity while she is drawn to him by his youth and innocence, a relief from her drunk and miserable husband.

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror(en)

England, at the start of World War Two. Mysterious wireless broadcasts, apparently from Nazi Germany are heard over the BBC. They warn of acts of terror in England, just before they take place. Baffled, the Defense Committee call in Sherlock Holmes.

Lion of the Desert(en)

This movie tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, an Arab Muslim rebel who fought against the Italian conquest of Libya during the second Italo-Senussi War. It gives western viewers a glimpse into this little-known region and chapter of history, and exposes the savage means by which the conquering army attempted to subdue the natives.

The Black Tulip(nl)

In 17th century Holland, a faction of royalists is scheming to restore the monarchy and jail the De Witt brothers, who control the Republic. At the same time Tulip Fever is raging, and bulb-grower Cornelis van Baerle tries to obtain the secret of black tulips. Van Baerle will soon find himself threatened by radical royalists and rival bulb-grower Isaac van Boxtel.

The Shamrock and the Rose(en)

The neighborly "feud" between a Jewish and an Irish families escalates when two of their youngsters fall in love.

Warsaw 44(pl)

City of Warsaw, Poland, August 1st, 1944. Citizens have experienced inhuman acts of terror and violence during five long years of Nazi occupation. As the Soviet Army relentlessly approaches, the youngest and bravest among them rise up as one and face tyranny fighting street by street, but the price to pay will be high and hard the way to freedom…

Fat Man and Little Boy(en)

Assigned to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Gen. Leslie Groves is a stern military man determined to have the project go according to plan. He selects J. Robert Oppenheimer as the key scientist on the top-secret operation, but the two men clash fiercely on a number of issues. Despite their frequent conflicts, Groves and Oppenheimer ultimately push ahead with two bomb designs — the bigger "Fat Man" and the more streamlined "Little Boy."

Elizebeth Friedman contre la mafia et les nazis(fr)

Shielding the Flame(pl)

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio: Pupil's Language(zh)

This film tells the story of scholar Fang Dong who endangers his life because of his greed for beauty, and his kind-hearted Ya who loves Fang Dong deeply and chooses to sacrifice herself in exchange for Fang Dong. The prodigal son Fang Dong embarks on a journey to find his true love, and encounters and rescues an oppressed kind-hearted banshee on the road. With the help of the demon catcher and others, the lovers finally get married, a poignant love story.

Black Butterflies(nl)

Confronted by Apartheid and a father who was Minister of Censorship, Ingrid Jonker searched for a home, searched for love. With men like Jack Cope and André Brink she found much love, but no home. Later, in his first speech to the South African Parliament Nelson Mandela read her poem "The Dead Child of Nyanga" and addressed her as one of the finest poets of South Africa.

Tricked(nl)

During his 50th birthday party thrown by his wife, Remco's life takes a turn for the worse. His business partners are scheming behind his back to sell him and his former mistress shows up pregnant.

Love Is All(nl)

A romantic comedy told with a set of interwoven Christmas tales about life, love, forgiveness and caring. A heroic vagrant becomes a TV sensation Santa Claws, while a prince takes a menial job at a department store to woo his sweetheart.

Alien Autopsy(en)

Humouristic reconstruction of the 1995 scandal when two British lads were accused of having faked a documentary from the Roswell incident in 1947.

White Snow(fr)

Director Christophe Blanc delivers a fast-past thriller set to a background of Finland's stunning landscape. High-end car dealership owner Maxime is pursued by Finnish gangsters over unsatisfactory cars his dead partner sold them.

The Clan of the Cave Bear(en)

Natural changes have the clans moving. Iza, medicine woman of the "Clan of the Cave Bear" finds little Ayla from the "others"' clan - tradition would have the clan kill Ayla immediately, but Iza insists on keeping her. When the little one finds a most needed new cave, she's allowed to stay - and thrive.

The Midwife(fi)

Helena has worked as a kind of midwife on the eve of the Lapland War. She wants to leave everything behind, and a suitable opportunity arises when she falls in love with a German-Finnish officer Johannes, who is leaving to German-led Titovka prison camp in the Soviet Union. Helena enlists into the camp as a nurse, where she experiences the brutality of war.

One on One(en)

Henry Steele is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he matriculates to a big city university on a scholarship, soon realizes that he has few skills outside the sport. Expected by his coach to contribute significantly to the team, Henry is overwhelmed by the demands on his time, the "big business" aspect of college sports, and the fact that he never fully learned to read. Things look bleak for Henry when Janet Hays, a pretty graduate student, is assigned as Henry's tutor. Her intellect and strength lift Henry out of his doldrums just in time to battle the coach, who attempts to rescind Henry's scholarship.

Butt Boy(en)

Detective Fox loves work and alcohol. After he goes to AA, his sponsor, Chip, becomes a suspect in his investigation for a missing kid. Fox believes people are disappearing up Chip’s butt.

Twin Sisters(nl)

1920s Germany. Two sisters aged six years, no sooner see their remaining parent buried when they are torn apart. Lotte goes to live with her upper middle class Dutch aunt in Holland, Anna to work as a farm hand on her German uncle's rural farm. The World War II impacts each of their lives and finally in old age they meet again.

Ghetto(de)

In 1942, in Vilna, the Nazi annihilate 55,000 Jews and squeeze the 15,000 survivors in a seven blocks ghetto. The twenty-two year old sadistic commander Kittel is assigned to administrate the ghetto in the capital of Lithuania, becoming the master of life or death. When he finds the gorgeous Hayyah sneaking with one kilo of beam stolen from the German army, he sentences her to death; but when he is informed that she was a former successful singer, he decides to activate the old theater and promote shows in the ghetto. The Jew Chief of Police Gens uses the theater and a sewing factory to save as much lives as he can; in his ambiguous position, he kills Jews to save lives of others.

Be Here to Love Me(en)

Chronicles the fascinating and often turbulent life of Townes Van Zandt.

Little Blond Death(nl)

The poet Valentijn Boecke meets his former teacher Mieke. They have a short relation. After a while Mieke appears to be pregnant. Valentijn is through with Mieke and leaves her...

Opposing Force(en)

A group of elite soldiers, including one woman, sign up for the ultimate training mission. The group parachutes onto a remote island, where their objective is to reach the safety zone before the "opposing force" captures them. Everything does not go as expected, and the training mission turns into the real thing.

Bootlegger(fr)

Mani, a master’s student, returns to the reserve in northern Quebec where she grew up. Her painful past resurfaces. Resolved to reintegrate into the community, she gets involved in the debate around a referendum on allowing the free sale of alcohol on the reserve. Laura, a bootlegger, pockets the profits she makes there under the protection of the band council and her partner Raymond. The latter is still angry with Mani, whom he holds responsible for the death of his daughter in a fire. Opposing forces quickly divide the community into two sides who face each other to determine the best path to independence.

The Sea Wolves(en)

A German spy is passing on information about the location of Allied ships in the neutral harbor of Goa, India, with catastrophic results. Unable to undertake a full military operation in the Portuguese stronghold, English intelligence brings out of retirement a crew of geriatric ex-soldiers, veterans from World War I, using their age as cover. These old soldiers are asked to take to the seas and pull off an unlikely undercover mission.

The Resistance Banker(nl)

In the occupied Netherlands during World War II, banker Walraven van Hall is asked to use his financial contacts to help the Dutch resistance. With his brother Gijs, he comes up with a risky plan to take out huge loans and use the money to finance the Resistance.

Mercy(en)

Brought together at their childhood home over their dying mother, an estranged family is thrust into a deadly fight for their own survival.

Michel Vaillant(fr)

Michel Vaillant is # 1 of pilots, undisputed champion in rallying in all circuits in the world. His success arouses admiration and envy. Ruth Wong, director of Team Leader, is determined to break his streak and avenge the memory of his father, founder of Leader. She is capable of anything to achieve her goal.

The Next Best Thing(en)

A comedy-drama about best friends - one a straight woman, Abbie, the other a gay man, Robert - who decide to have a child together. Five years later, Abbie falls in love with a straight man and wants to move away with her and Robert's little boy Sam, and a nasty custody battle ensues.