Netherlands
Set halfway through the 17th century, a church play is performed for the benefit of the young aristocrat Cosimo. In the play, a grotesque old woman gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. The child’s older sister is quick to exploit the situation, selling blessings from the baby, and even claiming she’s the true mother by virgin birth. However, when she attempts to seduce the bishop’s son, the Church exacts a terrible revenge.
23-year-old Franky is a nurse who lives with her large family in an East London borough. Obsessed with a thirst for revenge and a need to assign guilt for a traumatic event that happened 15 years before, she is unable to build any meaningful relationship until she falls in love with one of her patients – Florence. They escape to the coast where Florence lives with her more open-minded patchwork family. There, Franky finds the emotional shelter to deal with the grudges of the past.
New York, 2010. Jeff Harris, a music journalist, sets out to uncover the truth about Francisco Tenório Júnior, a young Brazilian samba-jazz pianist who disappeared in Buenos Aires on March 18, 1976.
Wilfried Wils is an auxiliary policeman in Antwerp at the start of the Second World War. The city is in the grip of violence and distrust. Wilfried does what he can for himself, avoiding paths that are too slippery. He receives attention and material support from a man who has sided with the German occupier, Meanbeard, but he also enjoys the confidence of his anti-Nazi colleague Lode, brother to Wilfried’s love Yvette. Wilfried struggles to survive as the persecution of the Jews proceeds unabated.
In a bustling Mexican household, seven-year-old Sol is swept up in a whirlwind of preparations for the birthday party for her father, Tona, led by her mother, aunts, and other relatives. As the day goes on, building to an event both anticipated and dreaded, Sol begins to understand the gravity of the celebration this year and watches as her family does the same.
In 1995, during the Angolan civil war, Nayola sets out in search of her missing husband.
17-year-old Michael dreams of a future as a pianist, but his music education is not going smoothly. In his search for inspiration, he receives help from an unexpected source: his brother Danny introduces him to the emerging Rotterdam “gabber” music scene. Michael is drawn into a world of hard beats, brotherhood and drugs. When Danny’s drug business reaches international proportions, the brothers must fight for their lives.
Sophie (30) decides to hike 500 kilometers through the Arctic region of Norway. She wants to get away from the pressure everyday life. But life at home doesn’t seem to understand her desire to go be by herself.
A teenage boy, raised by a mother who considers herself psychic, takes a bullied kid into his group of violent misfits. As the group’s troubles escalate toward life-threatening situations, an inner voice awakens in the boy and, with the help of his mother and his new friend, he manages to find his own path.
Two former lovers find themselves struggling for shared closure as one of them prepares to stage a play about the unspeakable tragedy that tore them apart decades ago.
Self-proclaimed ethical hacker Mel Bandison’s life is turned upside down when she stops a data breach on a high-tech self-driving bus that also happens to shut down an international criminal network. She then becomes a target and is framed with a deepfake video that “shows” that she murders someone.
It’s 1997. Frank Verstraeten, a computer genius with a nose for business, a fascination for nightlife and an unhealthy urge to prove himself, only wants one thing: his own disco that not only outperforms the competition but simply humiliates it. The futuristic mega discotheque Zillion is a fact and Frank turns from computer dealer to the pivotal figure of the Antwerp nightlife. He parades with the most beautiful women in Belgium and forges an alliance with Dennis Black Magic, the porn king who provides the spicy extras. Unfortunately, beautiful songs don’t last long either.
With the mayoral election approaching, the newly-appointed state prosecutor of a small Turkish town suffering from a water supply crisis gradually descends into trouble after a young local woman is raped.
Using each other as alibis, two friends sneak off to indulge in secret affairs — but their elaborate web of lies unravels when one of them goes missing.
Two thirteen year-olds have always been incredibly close but they drift apart after the intimacy of their relationship is questioned by schoolmates. An emotionally transformative and unforgettable portrait of the intersection of friendship and love, identity and independence, and heartbreak and healing.
Following a dispute with his father, a young man falls prey to cryptocurrency’s allure and an entrepreneur’s audacious promises of financial freedom.
A large family gathers in the country side for their two Grannies birthday. It’s too bad one of the gifts happens to be from their devil-worshipping nephew, and upon opening it, the two loveable grannies turn into rabid, flesh-eating monsters.
Three modern couples juggle relationships and demanding careers while navigating the unpredictable terrain of parenthood.
An ex-special forces operative wages a one man war through the streets of Amsterdam to rescue his friend’s daughter from the local crime syndicate.
A close-knit group of friends gather in French Burgundy to finally scatter ashes of their dead friend. When the widow unexpectedly brings her new boyfriend, the weekend takes a turn, and all friendships and relationships are put on edge.
The story of Dirty Lines starts in 1987’s Amsterdam, at a time when Dutch society was changing rapidly. Psychology student Marly Salomon takes on a side job working for a brand new firm: Teledutch – a company started by two brothers, Frank and Ramon Stigter, who established Europe’s first erotic telephone lines. Frank and Ramon become rich overnight and Marly finds herself immersed in this wild and rapid transformation. The final years of the Cold War sparked a sense of hope and inspired a new generation to celebrate life to its fullest. Amsterdam became the center of that cultural revolution with a radically new form of music: house and a new love drug: XTC. The erotic phone lines offer the opportunity to experience anonymous sex in a new way, changing the morality of its consumers, but also very much the people creating it.
Follow six stories about love and how love always wins when faced with life’s challenges and tough situations. From realizing a wish to have children to struggling with the challenges of an open relationship. From mourning over a lost love from the past to accepting new love and adapting to the future. Love, in all its forms, is universal.
Xatar’s way from the ghetto to the top of the charts is as dramatic as it is daring: Fatih Akin’s new film is based on the autobiographical novel »Alles oder Nix« (»All or Nothing«) of the probably most authentic exponent of German gangsta rap. From the hell of an Iraqi jail, Giwar Hajabi (Emilio Sakraya) emigrated to Germany as a young boy with his family in the mid-1980s and has to start right at the bottom. There are opportunities, but far more obstacles. Giwar’s rise from petty criminal to major dealer is swift. Until one shipment goes missing. In order to clear his debts with the cartel, he plans a legendary gold heist. But just as everything goes wrong, another door opens for Giwar thanks to his passion for music …
Matt, an influencer and young parent to newborn Julius, discovers a dark secret from his dementing father’s past. He starts an in-depth investigation, which consequently opens a Pandora’s box of secrets and unravels more family dramas than anticipated. Matt’s wife, Liv, is deeply concerned and will do everything in her power not to lose him, but is it too late..?
Elise thought she had the perfect life: an ideal boyfriend and a promising career as a ballet dancer. It all falls apart the day she catches him cheating on her with her stage backup; and after she suffers an injury on stage, it seems like she might not be able to dance ever again. A heartwarming and inspiring story that tells us how sometimes, the worst thing that could happen may turn out to be the best.
Haunted by memories of her broken marriage and a fight with her daughter, a woman joins an intense self-help retreat when her vacation goes awry.
Several years after her win with Whitestar, Megan (Britt Dekker) runs her own equestrian center. When Whitestar’s son, the young horse Silverstar, gallops into the woods in a barn fire, he is found by 16-year-old Esmee. The two have a special bond. After the fire, horse dealer Carina offers to help Megan, but can she be trusted? Esmee finds out that strange things are happening, but nobody wants to listen to her. To save Silverstar, she sees no option but to run with the horse. Together, Esmee and Silverstar must survive in nature.
The delivery of the gifts turns into a disaster and Santa Claus is in trouble. Will his grandchildren, Jules and Noor, manage to team up to save the day?
A Danish family visits a Dutch family they met on a holiday. What was supposed to be an idyllic weekend slowly starts unraveling as the Danes try to stay polite in the face of unpleasantness.
Betriek lives at the edge of a peat bog in the North of the Netherlands. When she and her family are attacked by a random stranger one night, Betriek sets out to find an explanation. The more she digs, the more she becomes convinced that she is being hunted by something ancient.
Set on the tiny inhabited island of Muck, off Scotland’s west coast, Cindy Jansen’s cinematic and haunting documentary explores how difficult it is to change the habits of a lifetime.
In FEAST, perpetrators, victims and their spectators become involved in a dramatic reconstruction of the Groningen HIV case. The film tells a story about power and surrender, the reversibility of truth and the desire to come home somewhere.
In this romantic comedy, several friends, each dealing with unhappy love lives, turn to each other for help – but not always with the best results.
An ex-MI6 agent is thrown back into the world of espionage and high stakes to uncover the shocking truth about operations conducted by unknown secret services.
A therapist loses her grip on reality when a ten-year-old boy claims he can control her future.
Jovana Fey (Sophie Desmarais) is a novelist. Her first two books received positive reviews, but were a commercial failure. Her third, Don’t Read This on a Plane, has just been released – an amusing, risqué chronicle of a woman’s dalliances with a hundred women. Jovana hopes it will bring the success she craves.
Four high school teachers launch a drinking experiment: upholding a constant low level of intoxication.
When a daughter becomes concerned about her mother’s well-being in a retirement home, private investigator Romulo hires Sergio, an 83 year-old man who becomes a new resident–and a mole inside the home, who struggles to balance his assignment with becoming increasingly involved in the lives of several residents.
Peter and Michael, raised on the streets of Philadelphia, are the children of Irish mob members, forever linked by the crimes of their fathers. 30 years later, Michael now runs the criminal organization and lusts for more power, his dangerous antics frequently held in check by his cautious cousin Peter. Haunted by the death of his sister, whose passing destroyed both his parents, Peter is caught between the dreams of childhood and the realities of his life as an enforcer. His only reprieve is a local boxing gym, a sanctuary that is quickly threatened as Michael’s desire for control escalates.
When an overly ambitious student gets invited for a submarine journey by an eccentric entrepreneur, she comes to realize that deep-down inside people are not who they pretend to be.