Yamakasi – Les samouraïs des temps modernes is a 2001 French movie written by Luc Besson. It demonstrates the skills of the Yamakasi, a group of traceurs who battle against injustice in the Paris ghetto. They use parkour to steal from the rich in order to pay off medical bills for a kid injured copying their techniques.

In December 2016 a remarkable chapter in music history was closed as the Finnish punk rock band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät (PKN) retired. Punk Voyage is a feature length documentary film about the last years of the band, with all the ups and downs included. After becoming celebrities in Finland, this incredible quartet continued to conquer new fans around the World. In its seven years run PKN played nearly 300 gigs in 16 countries. In 2015 the band was selected to represent Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest, where they played to over 100 million television spectators. However, the busy traveling and success created a lot of pressure within the band: Kari struggled with the temptations and responsibilities brought by publicity; Sami extended his territory to politics and religion; Toni’s and the band’s roadie Niila’s crush to the the same girl caused conflicts; and Pertti, tired of this all, decided to retire.

Turkish director Hasan Karacadag is something of an unusual case. In a nation that appears uncertain how to feel about its own history with exploitation film and generally reluctant to embrace genre film – though there are obvious exceptions – Karacadag has jumped headlong into the horror pool. The director first came to attention with the J-horror influenced D@BB, a surprise hit in Turkey that allowed Karacadag to move on to the more visually ambitious – and effects heavy – effort, Semum. Both film showcased Karacadag’s growing ability to shock and terrify his audiences by taking the rich folklore of his country and pushing it to its dark extremes. And he’s at it again with D@BB: Bir Cin Vakasi. The sequel to his original hit, this latest efforts puts away the Japanese influence in favor of a more Paranormal vibe, but the underlying mythology remains purely regional with the story following a Turkish family whose home is possessed by angry jinns

A Korean horror film about an adopted young boy with a strange link to an old, dead acacia tree. As the boy settles in to his new home, the tree comes to life. When the family who adopted him becomes pregnant, he is to go back to the orphanage, and horror ensues.

Kasie, stuck in LA’s Koreatown, works as a karaoke hostess getting paid for her companionship by drunken men. When her dad’s hospice nurse quits she reconnects with her estranged brother, Carey, forcing them to enter a period of intense self-reflection as their single father who raised them nears death.

Elena (Kasia Smutniak) and Antonio (Francesco Arca) seem not to be made for each other. They are too different in terms of character, life choices, worldview, and the way they relate to others. They are total opposites. However, they are overwhelmed by a mutual attraction they’re trying hard to avoid; but to which they succumb to. This dramedy on relationships also gets a very credible performance from Paola Miraccione, who plays the tragic, albeit funny, character Egle.

In Center Stage: On Pointe, Jonathan Reeves (Gallagher) is tasked with infusing more contemporary styles and modernism into the American Ballet Academy, and enlists his his top choreographers Charlie (Radetsky), Cooper (Stiefel) and Tommy (Wormald) to recruit dancers to compete at a camp where the winners will be selected to join the Academy. Bella Parker (Muñoz), who has always lived in the shadow of her hugely successful sister Kate, finally gets her chance to step into the limelight as one of the dancers recruited for the camp. Chloe Lukasiak plays Gwen, a talented dance prodigy who competes at the camp. – Denise Petski