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A documentary filmmaker captures the final days of the last standalone cinema in Thailand as former employees return to help close it down.
This feature-length big screen documentary tells the riotous inside story of the infamous sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll repertory cinema which inspired a generation during Britain’s turbulent Thatcher years.
A killer stalks a composer staying at a posh Tuscany villa while writing the score to a horror film which has an incriminating clue to the killer’s identity.
Andi joins her husband Tim on a tropical island to help him with the capturing of poisonous sea snakes for their venom. Her flagrant sensuality attracts the attention of hired hand Dak, and when Tim becomes bitterly obsessed with his faltering job, Andi shares an intimate afternoon with the obsessed crewman, but then refuses to continue the affair, which leads the jilted lover to begin a series of escalating violent events.
An autobiographical film taken from the experiences of writer-director Rob Moretti, CRUTCH is a coming-of-age tale about a young man’s struggle with family problems and substance abuse. Behind a facade of suburban middle class perfection, David’s home life is falling apart. As he tries to cope with the impossible situation, the troubled and impressionable teenager falls under the spell of Kenny, a georgous, thirty-something, has-been actor turned theatre coach. When Kenny’s “support” escalates into seduction, David slowly decends into an abyss of drinking and drug addition from which he must escape if he is to survive. CRUTCH is a dramatic tale of the confusion of youth and the difficulties in finding oneself.
Cold War adversaries Col. Jack Knowles and his Russian counterpart, Col. Valachev, are stationed on opposite sides of the German-Czech border. Both men are responsible for a group of troops in their remote settings, and both have been shaped by their combat experiences and a shared aversion to their superiors’ ways of doing things. After a defector is killed, things escalate into a full-fledged battle with serious geopolitical ramifications.
The Order of Rights is a pro-life film. The story centers around Emma Stein, a pregnant single girl who has been advised by her mother to have an abortion. Despite the objection of the child’s father, Ethan Carpenter, and his promise to help her, she decides to go ahead with the procedure. When Ethan and his family file a lawsuit on behalf of the child’s right to life, the drama escalates as Emma’s mother, Kerri, contacts a friend in the Associated Press. Before long, the case is mired in media frenzy. The court has to decide whether the child in Emma’s womb is a person or not, and if so, if it is endowed with the unalienable rights as enumerated in the Declaration of Independence. The title, “Order of Rights” refers to the order in which the categories of rights are deliberately listed in the document: Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness.
When a quiet group of pensioners learn that their homes are to be torn down to make way for a block of flats, they decide to take action. What starts as an attempt to discourage the developers soon escalates into wholesale murder of both the developers and the construction workers.
Mia, an ex-prostitute, is trapped in a loveless marriage with the abusive Quan (Sunny Pang, who also stars in Headshot in this year’s Festival lineup), a butcher who runs a roast meat shop. When she meets sensitive funeral director Wu, their passion for one another escalates into an affair. But the path to true love is fraught with jealousy, forcing someone to make a deadly move.
Upon turning eight-teen, Salih leaves the orphanage to find his lost family and begins working in a Serbian farm. Suddenly, at the most unexpected moment he has found a home. Will he ever be able to let go of the ghosts of his past and be happy in this new life? As tension escalates disquieting secrets surface. A gripping tale of family, love and identity, My Mother’s Wound follows Salih as he searches for a trail of hope amongst war-torn lives.
From a bland tract house on the outskirts of Los Angeles, Simon Geist (with occasional help from his platonic girlfriend Darla) wages war against all of modern American popular culture. Geist starts up a magazine called “The Next Big Thing”, which he uses to confront and insult upcoming actors, comics, models and rock bands. As Geist’s mysterious Underground Agenda escalates, will he become the “last big thing”, or be co-opted by the very forces he is railing against? Written by Van Film Fest
When a dim-witted widower and his teenage son offer a beautiful young woman refuge on their farm, their living situation escalates from hysterical comedy to maddening horror once they discover she’s not who she says she is.
A masked maniac targets cast members at a suburban Halloween haunt attraction, turning their staged injuries into gruesome real-life horrors. As the terror escalates, the lines between performance and reality blur.
After discovering a strange statue in the Catskill Mountains, two hikers become the target of chilling paranormal phenomena. As the activity escalates, occult museum curators Greg and Dana Newkirk are called to uncover the startling truth behind the haunted artifact before it’s too late
Pat Baker is a small town sheriff. His son, Kurt, is a deranged young man with a dark secret. Sheriff Baker’s worst nightmare comes true when Kurt escapes from a psychiatric hospital where he was locked away for the brutal murder of his mother thirteen years earlier. Gary, a hospital security guard, sets out into the woods to stop him, but soon finds himself relentlessly hunted by the deranged psychopath intent on killing him and anyone who crosses his path. Sheriff Baker launches an intense search to find his son, only to discover that his daughter, Sara, and her friends are camping in the same woods where Kurt has escaped. Kurt’s psychosis escalates, as does his vengeful killing spree, culminating in a terrifying, climactic confrontation with Kurt, the sheriff and his family.
The three Hammett brothers, Cain, Harry and Dale are caught in a conflict that escalates rapidly and the old farmers facing against new farmers who have settled in the green grasslands.
When Mary and her teenage son, Fergal, move to yet another new home, it soon becomes clear they live their lives on the run, hiding from someone or something, terrified of being found. Their hunter, Cathal, soon picks up the trail. Intent on tracking Mary and Fergal, he will go to any lengths to succeed in his quest, often using dark arts to aid him. Mary’s only defence is to use an ancient form of her own magic to protect her only son. When local residents begin to be brutally murdered by an unknown life force, the sense of fear escalates. Is Cathal the beast responsible for the killing? Or is it the beast that he is trying to destroy?
Matt and Karen have inconsiderate neighbours whose lawn sprinkler drowns their flowers. A feud errupts and a series of tit-for-tat actions develop and escalate.
Pinocchio and his friends, a glow worm and a marionette, search for a magic music box, putting them in danger from the evil Scalawag and the Emperor of the Night.
At a Shanghai apartment, Mr Hou, a Nationalist official, gets ready to move to Taiwan upon the imminent defeat of the KMT during the Civil War. Mrs Hou gives an ultimatum to the rest of the tenants to move out on behalf of her husband, who is the “owner” of the flat and who is now planning to sell it. From the conversations with the rest, we find out that Hou has been a Hanjian during the Sino-Japanese War and that he has since taken over the apartment by force from the old landlord, Mr Kong. The tenants, including Mr Kong, Mrs Xiao, Little Broadcast (alias Mr Xiao, played by Zhao Dan) and a schoolteacher, Mr Hua, and his wife, initially plan to band together, but circumstances force them to find other ways out. Mr Hua tries to find a place to stay at the KMT-sponsored school he is teaching in. Little Broadcast and Mrs Xiao invest in black market gold. As the situation escalates, Mr Hua gets arrested by KMT agents and his young daughter falls desperately ill.
London police officer DC Hana Li is escorting Dr Matthew Nolan back to Beijing where he has been accused of a crime. However, on board flight 357, she finds herself embroiled in an escalating conspiracy and a growing number of murders.
A former cop returns to challenge a plot to escalate gang violence in the streets of Los Angeles.
With its armies sweeping across the continent, the Empire seems unstoppable. After securing victory over the remnants of the Republic’s army, the Empire’s ultimate victory is finally within reach. However, dark clouds are gathering in the East. The communist-led Russy Federation is mustering troops on its western border, preparing to enter the war. Supported by a detachment of Allied volunteer magicians—among whom is Mary Sioux, the daughter of a soldier killed by Tanya—the Federation is determined to spread the communist creed and bring the Empire to its knees.
Meanwhile, Tanya and her battalion return to the imperial capital from the southern front. Upon their arrival, they are tasked with investigating troop movements on the border with the Federation. Any escalation of violence at this point may lead to new conflicts, plunging the world into a global war.
Will the Empire eventually emerge victorious from its struggle, or will it crumble in the face radically different ideologies?
Ricky is just out of a young offenders institute, heading home to Hackney and determined to go straight. Instead, he heads straight for trouble when he becomes involved in a street confrontation, siding with his best friend Wisdom against a local rude boy. The trouble escalates into a series of tit-for-tat incidents that threaten to spiral out of control. Ricky’s 12-year-old brother Curtis, hero-worships Ricky, though he appears smart enough to know he doesn’t want to follow his example. Yet, despite the stern warnings from his mother and support from her friends in the community, might Ricky’s bad boy allure be too attractive for Curtis to resist?
Due to a traumatic childhood experience Anna is estranged from her family and hasn’t returned home for many years. With her ailing grandmother and only living relative, Lucy, suffering from increasingly worse symptoms of dementia, Anna moves home to look after her. Soon after, strange things begin happening. Though benign at first, events soon escalate into a nightmarish fight for her life against a malevolent presence. She discovers the ordeal is linked to a dark family secret, a tragic past that’s haunted Anna her whole life… and Lucy’s fading memories could be the key to solving the mystery and surviving the nightmare.
Shy sixteen-year-old Stacy Collins can’t believe that the most popular guy in school, an attractive athlete named Bobby Tennison, is interested in her. At first she is flattered by his constant attention, but then he becomes possessive and jealous-telling her who she can speak to and what she can wear. Threats escalate into violence when Bobby thinks Stacy has stepped out of line. Soon she is walking on egg shells and living in fear. Having seen the tell-tale bruises, Stacy’s best friend convinces her to break things off with Bobby-but in a moment of weakness, Stacy goes to meet him. It will be the last time she is seen alive.
Former yakuza underling Kazuma Kiryū has recently been released from prison after a lengthy incarceration and is trying to piece his life together and distance himself from his yakuza past. Unfortunately, Kiryū’s problems slowly escalate as he is pursued by a former associate, the baseball-bat-wielding psycho Gorō Majima, who has a grudge to settle with Kiryū.
After an escalation of blunders, Toopy and Dorothy, a comical genie, accidentally make Binoo’s beloved stuffed animal, Patchy-Patch, disappear. The trio immediately set out to find the fabulous land of “The Lost and Found” where Patchy-Patch is surely to be found. Along the way, the group meets twin seagulls looking for their father, and a magnificent Princess who has lost her dance partner. Together, and despite Toopy’s bumbling ways, they will try to find Patchy Patch and their lost loves.
Jolene is supposed to please a customer in her trailer – a somewhat cocky man who is accompanied by an Asian man. But while the suitor is having fun with Jolene, the Asian slits his throat. When Jolene’s pimp bursts into the scene, the situation escalates completely.
Set in the maligned western suburbs of Sydney, Lebanese-Australian John gets out of gaol to discover his younger brother Charlie is caught up with drugs, hookers and crime. Charlie oscillates between the streets and school. Daily clashes between Scott and Charlie’s gang escalate. This feud spills into the streets in a territory and identity battle that turns bloody.
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
It’s the 1890’s, and Donald is riding his penny-farthing bicycle to see Daisy when Chip ‘n Dale make fun of him. It quickly escalates into a full-fledged war between Donald and the chipmunks.
Roy Walsh is a brash and enterprising thug who bullies his friends into subservience. He and his gang assault and rob people on the street, but things get increasingly dangerous when their behavior escalates to larger crimes.
A group of wealthy teenagers commit crimes that escalate from petty mischief to dangerous plots, causing chaotic consequences — but not for them.
Vincent, a wealthy real estate agent, is invited to dinner by his sister Elizabeth and her husband Peter, both professors in Paris. Claude, a childhood friend and trombonist in a symphony orchestra, is also present. Vincent brings news from the prenatal examination of his and his wife Anna’s unborn son. The name chosen by the soon-to-be parents strongly offends the others for many reasons. The dispute between the guests quickly escalates and before long the resurgence of old grudges and hidden secrets is unavoidable …
10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape and they start to make their living by a life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.
