In a documentary about the passion for books, surprising characters intersect and gradually call us to their unique universes. A film that proves that when you love your profession, no one retires, not really, even though continually claiming that the time has passed. Meanwhile, a young punk is trying to find the right tone in the opera aria that he studies. (P. C.)
Sir Arthur Brandão was mad! The creator of the gigantic Hotel built in Beira, Mozambique, went beyond megalomania. Built in 1955, it provided a small paradise of mammoth dimensions to its residents. It didn’t took much time till the clock turned 12 and th
Roberto and Felice survived the Aquila earthquake in April 2000. They are the last inhabitants of the abandoned village of Camarga. A double portray of deeply human and distorted minds who have to face the trauma of having lost everything, fearing closed
After the debut at the Jeonju festival, Chinese authorities tried to buy the film in order to prohibit its international circulation. The filmmaker’s family was summoned by the police and answered interrogatories. The director is currently living in exile in Hong Kong. A young man, Yang Jia, was arrested and beaten by the police in Shanghai for cycling without a license. After undergoing various pressures, he enters a police station and kills six policemen. He was sentenced to death without trial. This case concerned the Chinese activists and the Ai Weiwei studio even produced a film to denounce this tragic event. When Night Falls tells the story of this real case. Jia’s mother, played by fabulous actress Uma Nei, was detained in a psychiatric hospital for 143 days, so she wouldn’t testify in favor of her son when he got out of prison. What is wrong with this society?” she cries. It’s a question that China doesn’t want to answer. (A. I. S.) “
During the winter of 1995, Mimi, a young girl grieves her best friend, Julie, who died suddenly in a car accident. For the first time in 14 years, death is possible. It hits so close that it shook and amputates those who remain. It paralyzes, causes anxiety, anger and sadness. Where I am is rooted in the harsh winter of Quebec region, Abitibi. It’s a film about absence, about the importance of ritual farewell. A film about art as a way to express the grief.
Moullet is one of the most effective whistle blowers of contemporary cinema. “Less and Less” addresses the issue of the inexorable automation of our society and hence the consecutive dehumanisation of human relationships. In his typical surrealistic manne
Abandoned factories, buildings and offices that are not longer in use… once prosperous in the automobile industry, today the city of Detroit is a urban landscape of ruins and empty places, inhabited by the memories of the people who lived in it and red
The rhythm of a nuclear power station is monotonous. Men drive trucks with toxic wastes, women undertake the decontamination of the station. But this job, as dangerous as it is difficult, is what Sergey and Sveta do. For them there is no rest and even sex is merely operative, an action like any other. (M. V.)
The film watches the life of an Amish family, living in harmony with animals and their religion. Time dilates. Each one of them has their task from morning until the end of the day. And when the sun sets, their eyes close gently. (M. C.)
We are scum! We are barbarians ! (Jean-Gabriel Périot)
Kokou is a cleaner dreaming of becoming a football manager, Philo wants to become a business woman. Both are refugees in Israel, both learn Hebrew at night. Each has to deal with the disillusionment of facing racism in a country built up by victims of the
Yumen, situated in arid northwest China, is now a ghost town, once a prosperous city that grew because of oil exploration. Shot in 16mm, JP Sniadecki’s film, co-directed with Xu Ruotao and Huang Xiang, walks through the ruins of this city, a mixture of poetic documentary with fiction. The ghosts seem to inhabit the interiors of abandoned spaces in the aridity of the surrounding landscape. The walls that are still standing serve as canvas for artistic inspiration. The narrative collage of gestures, performance art and urban realism builds the originality of Yumen, making this film a unique work which leads us to reflect on the rampant growth of cities around industries which then decline and lead to population exodus. (C. C.)
You never know what to expect from Whateverest. Todd Terje is a Norwegian dance music producer and Inspector Norse is one of his productions. It is also the alias of Marius on the internet, a failed musician that teaches how to make homemade drugs. A current and captivating film to discover. (C. R.)
Abel Ferrara embraces his Italian origin, picks up his macho ego and his digital camera and pays an informal visit to one of the most notorious ‚at least cinematically- streets in New York, the Mulberry Street. Part of the Little Italy neighborhood, Mulbe
Maria, a Ukrainian doctor, arrives at Faro airport in Portugal, as a tourist. Of all the passengers on her plane, Maria is the only one to be detained and interrogated by the Immigration Police. The situation turns into a nightmare when the Police officer
There was a major event back in 2000, between neighboring Thailand and Burma. A group of guerrillas entered a hospital and made a series of people hostages. This memorial film looks at the consequences of this event and follows these guerrillas, in a sort of metaphysical journey between past and present, between fiction and reality. (M. V.)
A film about absurd working routines. Rafael’s story is not much different from Lidia’s. He has been cleaning the same factory for thirty years and on his last day of work he wears a new pair of shoes to celebrate the occasion, only to find out that he will not receive a pension. Lidia is a maid in a rich Mexican’s house who dies and leaves everything to her dog. The dog becomes Lidia’s new employer. José Luis Valle makes us feel close to these characters and admire their strenght.
In 2008, just before ‚ÄòLehman Brothers bankruptcy’ (the biggest loan bankruptcy in US history and according to many, responsible for the economic crisis we are experiencing) emerged, the mayor of Cleveland filed lawsuit against 21 major banks responsible f