John William ‘Will’ Cooper is a modern-day rancher, maintaining his ranch in hard times along with his friend and foreman Amos Russell. When Will’s estranged daughter Jake returns to the ranch for her grandfather’s funeral, father and daughter clash over how to run the ranch and over the death years before of Jake’s mother, which she blames on Will. Crisis comes in the form of insurmountable debt, and it is only by working together that Will and Jake have any chance of saving their home and their family.

A wealthy couple from the Pacific Palisades discovers homeless young lovers have moved into their home.

A bestselling female novelist, suffering from writer’s block, hires an innocent young woman to watch over her twin children. As the novelist dangerously indulges in her new best seller, the line between the life she’s writing and the one she’s living becomes blurred.

From New York City to the farmlands of the Midwest, there are 50,000 Chinese restaurants in the U.S., yet one dish in particular has conquered the American culinary landscape with a force befitting its military moniker—“General Tso’s Chicken.” But who was General Tso and how did this dish become so ubiquitous? Ian Cheney’s delightfully insightful documentary charts the history of Chinese Americans through the surprising origins of this sticky, sweet, just-spicy-enough dish that we’ve adopted as our own.

When the Hulk becomes too dangerous for the Earth, the Illuminati trick Hulk into a shuttle and launch him into space to a planet where the Hulk can live in peace. Unfortunately, the Hulk’s struggle to escape makes a malfunction in the shuttle causing Hulk to land on the planet Sakaar where he is sold into slavery and trained as a gladiator.

The ostensibly simple story of a sympathetic veteran teacher giving Italian lessons to a weekly class of diverse immigrants is given infinitely more depth and complexity by the manner in which director Daniele Gaglianone renders his story. Blurring the lines between fact and fiction, truth and artifice, and between documentary and drama, Gaglianone has created a film within a film. You see the apparent artifice of Gaglianone’s crew using professionals, including the noted film actor Valerio Mastandrea as the teacher, interlinked with ‘real’ immigrant protagonists, studying the language to improve their chances of employment and of gaining a permanent residence permit. Thus in the course of the lessons there is simultaneously the painful and upsetting relation of the students’ personal stories but also humour, as they interact and share their humanity, bridging cultural differences, united in their striving to make a better life for themselves. (Source: LFF programme)

Twenty-six-year-old Hiroto Suwa; his wife, Naho; and their old high school classmates—Takako Chino, Azusa Murasaka, and Saku Hagita—visit Mt. Koubou to view the cherry blossoms together. While watching the setting sun, they reminisce about Kakeru Naruse, their friend who died 10 years ago. Mourning for him, they decide to visit Kakeru’s old home, where they learn the secret of his death from his grandmother.

A US Fighter pilot’s epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.

Imagine making a feature length film with a budget equal to the cost of a small motorcycle. With a cast and crew of 32 (plus extras) this 86 minute film was shot in 14 days at 12 unique locations within south-east Texas. This is First Step Cinematics LLC’s abridged 86 minute version of Frankenstein’s Monster. The art-house special edition was screened exclusively at over 30 film festivals, science fiction and steampunk conventions across the U.S.A., Canada, and the UK. Frankenstein’s Monster Synopsis: Drama, 86 minutes. A steampunk film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s literary masterpiece. In his obsession over Prometheus’ flame, Victor Frankenstein abandons those he loves to create a living being. Leaving behind his abominable work, Victor hopes to escape judgment and return to a peaceful life. He soon discovers all secrets have their price.

Luana is a 12-year-old girl struggling to grasp the world collapsing around her, as her parents separate and her estranged Grandfather falls ill. It takes one unlikely person to help her find her way.

David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In order to escape a hectic stateside lifestyle, David and his wife relocate to the small town in rural Cornwall where Amy was raised. There, David is ostracized by the brutish men of the village, including Amy’s old flame, Charlie. Eventually the taunts escalate, and two of the locals rape Amy. This sexual assault awakes a shockingly violent side of David.

Vada Sultenfuss has a holiday coming up, and an assignment: to do and essay on someone she admires and has never met. She decides she wants to do an assignment on her mother, but quickly realises she knows very little about her. She manages to get her father to agree to let her go to LA to stay with her Uncle Phil and do some research on her mother.