2001-2010

Police Beat is a highly unconventional crime film in which the protagonist Z is so preoccupied with his possibly unfaithful girlfriend that he never once acknowledges criminal world that swirls around him. The crimes Z encounters become mirrors of the his turbulent inner state, allowing him to philosophize about his unstable romantic relationship as well as his own development as an emotional being. While Z’s regular interactions are in English, his thoughts ­ the film’s narration ­ are in his native Wolof, the primary language of West Africa. In this way, Police Beat is an unusual portrait of an immigrant new to the United States that focuses less on the protagonist’s socio-economic difficulties than on his emotional responses to American life.Read More »

IMDB:
Balans ve Manevra is a great movie about a group of people living in one of the most beautiful Aegian coast towns who, despite the serenity and the beauty of the place, just can’t seem to find the “balance” that they all so desperately need in their lives no matter what “maneuver” they make. The low ratings and bad reviews are mainly due to the fact that this is not a movie that appeals to the common audience. It has a slow pace that focuses on character development instead of the story, because the characters are the story in the film and the performances across the board are simply amazing. Read More »

A man has to deal with a handful of crises — some of his own making — in this drama from Croatian writer and director Zrinko Ogresta. Nikolai (Leon Lucev) is an architect whose life is taking a turn for the worse on several levels at once. One of Nikolai’s business partners is attempting to frame him for some serious white-collar crime, his young daughter is demanding more time from him than he’s able to give, his wife Maya (Jandranka Dokic) makes it painfully obvious that she had no respect for him anymore, and his mistress Anna (Daria Lorenci) is growing tired of being the other woman. Anna is also one of Nikolai’s co-workers, which causes problems both at the office and at home, and when both Maya and Anna give him his walking papers, his life goes into a tailspin. Iza Stakla (aka Behind The Glass was an official selection at the 2008 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.Read More »

Synopsis
Wang runs a little noodle shop in a small desert town near Jiayu Pass not far from the Great Wall. He lives in his shop with his wife and their staff. But life with Wang is far from pleasant: he’s a real skinflint who only thinks about himself, and he sometimes doesn’t pay his staff for months on end. His wife also suffers at the hands of this domestic tyrant, although a discrete affair with Li, the shy cook, helps her to bear her lot in life. Every time she needs some more rouge, Li drives his boss lady into town where they have sex. But their regular little tryst doesn’t go unnoticed. Shortly beforehand, Li’s lover purchases a gun from a Persian carpet salesman and gives it to the cook for safekeeping. Wang, she says, must die – it’s the only way they can be happy. In the meantime, a waiter named Zhao and a policeman named Zhang inform Wang about his wife’s love affair and the gun that Li keeps hidden.Read More »

Plot Synopsis
Filmmaker Andrea Tonacci blends documentary elements with expressive visual storytelling in this study of the native peoples of Brazil in the 21st century. Carapiru is a member of one of Brazil’s remaining Indian tribes, living in harmony with nature and making wise use of the local flora and fauna. But Carapiru is suddenly forced to fend for himself under unfamiliar circumstances when an unexpected attack leaves the rest of his family dead and their village destroyed.Read More »

“The Amber Sexalogy is a suite of six interrelated but markedly different DV shorts. Charting certain stages in the relationship between Harris, a young man played by a series of different actors and Amber, a young woman played by Melissa Maureen Rizal, these very different short films work as a unified suite and eventually build up to a master narrative that unfolds fully in the moments of reflection after watching the entire 61 minutes.” (Benjamin McKay).Read More »

When her classmate Ritsuko disappears, her friend Ryoko is desperate to find her. When she discovers that Ritsuko was playing a strange game online of hide and seek, she begins to wonder if it could be related to her disappearance somehow. Ryoko then discovers that the game is more sinister than it appeared at first. It is linked to demonology and the supernatural. Will she be able to get past her fears and superstitions to discover what secrets the game of hide and seek might hold?Read More »

Plot Synopsis:
From a producer of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST comes this chilling true story. Academy Award® nominee Shorheh Aghdashloo stars as Zahra, a woman with a burning secret. When a journalist (Jim Caviezel) is stranded in her remote village, Zahra takes a bold chance to reveal what the villagers will stop at nothing to hide. Thus begins the story of Soraya (Mozhan Marnò), a kind woman whose cruel, divorce- seeking husband trumps up false charges of infidelity against her, which carry an unimaginable penalty. Soraya and Zahra attempt to navigate the villagers’ scheming, lies and deceit to prove her innocence. But when all else fails, Zahra must risk everything to use the only weapon she has left – her voice – to share Soraya’s shocking story with the world.Read More »

SYNOPSIS
The word bled in Bled Number One, the title of Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche’s follow-up to his well-regarded debut Wesh-Wesh (What’s Going On?) in 2001, translates roughly as Hicksville. Which is precisely where Kamel ends up after being deported from France to Algeria, the land of his fathers, after doing time for robbery.

Bled is a finely observed slice of life shot in a low-key semi-documentary style. The latest in a run of French-made movies dealing with Franco-Algerian cross-currents, it speaks volumes about the conditions of life in today’s Algeria and should play well in festivals and in the Arabic-speaking world.Read More »