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The film is a lyrical exploration of a particular family situation and the human relationships within it. Devoid of any moral judgment, the eye of the director studies the boundaries of human behaviour and explores how far an individual can go, driven by love and the spirit of survival. Andrea Pallaoro was born in Trento but at the age of 17 moved to California to study filmmaking. His short film Wunderkammer was presented at the Sundance Film Festival. This year he brings his first feature-length film to the Orizzonti section.
Zed (Eric Stoltz) is an American vault-cracker who travels to Paris to meet up with his old friend Eric (Jean-Hugues Anglade). Eric and his gang have planned to raid the only bank in the city which is open on Bastille day. After offering his services, Zed soon finds himself trapped in a situation beyond his control when heroin abuse, poor planning and a call-girl named Zoe all conspire to turn the robbery into a very bloody siege.
Wes Anderson’s incisive quirky comedy build up stars complex characters like in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ with Bill Murray on in the leading role. An ocean adventure documentary film maker Zissou is put in all imaginable life situations and a tough life crisis as he attempts to make a new film about capturing the creature that caused him pain.
An attractive young woman is kidnapped, held captive and forced to endure the evils of one of the most violent homicidal maniacs in the city’s history. “The Toolbox Killer” aka TBK. It is by her will, strength and her faith that she must survive, the ordeal. Her escape is almost hopeless. Unfortunately her situation only worsens when outside supernatural forces become more difficult to contend with than TBK.
After her lousy stepfather steals her savings to buy a vicious tiger, Kelly loses all hope of going to college. But Kelly’s situation worsens when a hurricane leaves her and her autistic brother boarded up in their house with the man-eating beast. This edge-of-your-seat thriller follows the gutsy heroine and her younger sibling as they struggle to outwit the ravenous predator and find a way to survive.
Derrick De Marney finds himself in a 39 Steps situation when he is wrongly accused of murder. While a fugitive from the law, De Marney is helped by heroine Nova Pilbeam, who three years earlier had played the adolescent kidnap victim in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much. The obligatory “fish out of water” scene, in which the principals are briefly slowed down by a banal everyday event, occurs during a child’s birthday party. The actual villain, whose identity is never in doubt (Hitchcock made thrillers, not mysteries) is played by George Curzon, who suffers from a twitching eye. Curzon’s revelation during an elaborate nightclub sequence is a Hitchcockian tour de force, the sort of virtuoso sequence taken for granted in these days of flexible cameras and computer enhancement, but which in 1937 took a great deal of time, patience and talent to pull off. Released in the US as The Girl Was Young, Young and Innocent was based on a novel by Josephine Tey.
Le Ly lives in a small Vietnamese village whose serenity is shattered when war breaks out. Caught between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army, the village is all but destroyed. After being both brutalized and raped, Le Ly resolves to flee. She leaves for the city, surviving desperate situations, but surviving nonetheless. Eventually she meets a U.S. Marine named Steve Butler who treats her kindly and tells her he would like to be married — maybe to her.
Mary Fiore, San Francisco’s premiere wedding planner is rescued from an accident by the man of her dreams, pediatrician Steve Edison, only to find he is the fiancé of her latest client, wealthy Fran Donnolly. As Mary continues making the wedding arrangements, she and Steve are put into a string of uncomfortable situations that force them to face their mutual attraction.
A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak (Irons) has to manage the project and the men as they encounter the tempations of the West and loneliness and separation from their families. Nowak is the only one of the group who speaks English, and he uses this as a tool over his team. When the unrest in Poland leads to a military takeover, Nowak is faced with a much more difficult situation than he expected.
The time has come for a ski film that stands for something. Join us as we unite spectacular cinematography with creative cinematic language to fuse our passion for skiing with our potential to help the environment. In bringing the planet to life and drawing parallels between our daily existence, we find common ground between the global situation and the real individual. Epic natural cinematography, ground breaking skiing from Chile to Greenland, and an environmental engagement that creates an accessible identification point for the viewer, leaving them with an inspiring new perspective.
Two unpopular teenagers, Gary and Wyatt, fail at all attempts to be accepted by their peers. Their desperation to be liked leads them to “create” a woman via their computer. Their living and breathing creation is a gorgeous woman, Lisa, whose purpose is to boost their confidence level by putting them into situations which require Gary and Wyatt to act like men.
It’s vacation time for Carter as he finds himself alongside Lee in Hong Kong wishing for more excitement. While Carter wants to party and meet the ladies, Lee is out to track down a Triad gang lord who may be responsible for killing two men at the American Embassy. Things get complicated as the pair stumble onto a counterfeiting plot. The boys are soon up to their necks in fist fights and life-threatening situations. A trip back to the U.S. may provide the answers about the bombing, the counterfeiting, and the true allegiance of sexy customs agent Isabella.
A contemporary, ensemble drama telling the complex tale of six high school students whose lives are interwoven with situations that so many of today’s youth are faced with. The story takes place during a normal school day. At precisely 2:37 a tragedy will occur, affecting the lives of a group of students and their teachers. As the story unfolds, the individual stories of the six teenagers are revealed, each with its own explosive significance. An unwanted pregnancy unravels a terrible, dark secret; all is not as it appears for the seemingly confident school football hero; an outcast must deal with everyday taunts from his peers; a beautiful young girl battles an eating disorder; a stellar student constantly struggles to win his parents’ approval; while another uses drugs to escape from his own demons.
Quickie-mart employee Melissa and paraplegic Richie are very much in love. Supported only by Melissa’s small hourly wage, they are nevertheless thrilled to learn that Melissa is pregnant. Then their situation deteriorates, and their tenuous financial situation threatens to bring their happy life crashing down.
In 1957, a son and mother flee the East and an abusive boyfriend to find a new life, and end up in Seattle, where the mother meets a polite garage mechanic. The boy continually gets into trouble by hanging out with the wrong crowd. The mom marries the mechanic, but they soon find out that he’s an abusive and unreasoning alcoholic, and they struggle to maintain hope in an impossible situation as the boy grows up with plans to escape the small town by any means possible. Based on a true story by Tobias Wolff.
Dramatisation of the true story of the life of Neil “Nello” Baldwin. Born with a mild learning disability but without the burden of social embarrassment & how his inexhaustible ability to see the good in any situation overcame any stigma society tried to label him with.
After a cataclysmic event, five strangers sealed inside an emergency shelter with all the comforts of home must learn to cope with their situation and with each other.
Fourteen-year-old Mackenzie is sent to live with her uncle in Juneau when her mother can’t care for her anymore. The living situation quickly takes a turn for the worse, and she runs away to rejoin her mother in Seattle. While on her dangerous journey of sleeping in cars and breaking into hotel rooms, she’s drawn to Rene, a lonesome backpacker looking for tranquility in the wilderness.
Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev travels to America to make a documentary. As he zigzags across the nation, Borat meets real people in real situations with hysterical consequences. His backwards behavior generates strong reactions around him exposing prejudices and hypocrisies in American culture.
Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed in a fate worse than death – a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Unbeknown to his doctors, he remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories and unable to distinguish whether he is awake or dreaming. He remains frustrated by his situation, until one day when Joe discovers a unique way to communicate with his caregivers.
A modern retelling of Anna Sewell’s classic novel, Black Beauty explores the heartfelt story of 15 year-old Audry who makes the discovery of a lifetime whilst volunteering at a city animal shelter. Rescued from an abusive owner and recovering from a traumatic past, Black Beauty possesses a most unique quality of character, endearing itself to Audry and her Grandpa who adopt the horse in order to give it a second chance and perhaps even help revitalize their own family situation. Aided by dedicated trainer James and tested by the many challenges of equine life, Black Beauty has his work cut out for him as he embarks on a remarkable journey of discovery and friendship.
For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.
A bunch of delinquent women are shipped to an island prison run by the sadistic warden Carla. Forced into situations of sexual perversion and violence and torture, the prisoners band together to try to overthrow Carla and escape the island.
In order to get out of an extreme situation, would you consider committing murder if the victim himself is asking for it?
“Lucky” Coffee Shop is well-known for its egg tarts and tea. Waiter Sui, named as Prince Egg Tart, attracts lots of girls but only loves Candy. He and his friends, Nam, and Fok, all have love problems. At the same time, the coffee shop may collapse since the landlord is increasing the rent tremendously. Let’s see how the lucky guys of the shop can revert this situation…
A crew of seasoned criminals led by the notorious Nam, armed with high-powered weapons, pulls off another smooth and violent armored car heist in broad daylight in a crowded street. Whoever tries to get in their way, they will show no mercy. This puts the police force to shame and humiliation. A hardboiled senior police inspector Lui, hot on the trails of Nam and his tight crew, determines to put an end to this madness that causes the lives of innocent people. But he soon comes face to face with the cruel reality that the usual police tactics are too futile to send these armed thieves behind bars. Extreme crime requires extreme justice, even if it means crossing his moral line. Tou, an ex-con desperate to leave his criminal past behind, volunteers to be Lui’s snitch in exchange for a fresh start with her girlfriend Bing. But little does he know what hellish situation he’s getting himself into.
The bond of brotherhood is always stronger when you can be pitched into a life and death situation at any time and the only thing that gets you through the inferno is the trust that your brother will have your back. The firefighters of Hong Kong’s Pillar Point division who are expecting a quiet night to see off their retiring chief find their faith in each other stretched to the limits when a small fire at a liquor warehouse threatens to plunge the whole of Hong kong into darkness if it spreads to a nearby power plant supplying natural gas. Politics, rivalry, and suspicion all come into play when dubious decisions are made, warnings are ignored and colleagues start to fall. Can the Pillar Point brotherhood survive the night, if not the fire, with their trust in each other intact?
Two crew members wake up on an abandoned spacecraft with no idea who they are, how long they’ve been asleep, or what their mission is. The two soon discover they’re actually not alone – and the reality of their situation is more horrifying than they could have imagined.
Afghanistan. War correspondent Elsa Casanova is taken hostage by the Taliban. Faced with her imminent execution, a Special Forces unit is dispatched to free her. In some of the world’s most breathtaking yet hostile landscapes, a relentless pursuit begins between her kidnappers who have no intention of letting their prey escape them and a group of soldiers who risk their lives in pursuit of their single aim – to bring her home alive. This strong, independent woman and these men of duty are thrown together and forced to confront situations of great danger that inextricably bind them – emotionally, violently and intimately.
Sex is a background to examine intimacy and vulnerability. Looks at the complexity of modern day relationships told through eight separate couples. Through dialogue and compromising situations, the film takes us from the beginning of a relationship to the aftermath of one, and examines every stage in between seeing humor within the drama, heartache and confusion of it all.
Are you young, sexually confused, just trying to get by? Do you sing, dance or possess some other talent? Welcome to the Garden Party. At the center of the story is 15-year-old April. She is running from one bad situation into another, hoping to find an answer that doesn’t involve taking off her clothes.
Trapped inside his car by a mudslide, smooth talking Jackson Alder suddenly finds himself in a situation he can’t talk his way out of. With no hope of rescue, he must defy the odds; battling Mother Nature for his survival.
In Paris, the international police force and the Russian mafia are chasing Anthony Zimmer, an intelligent man responsible for laundry of dirty money in France. Zimmer had extensive plastic surgery, and his new face and voice are completely unknown. The only means to reach Zimmer is through his beloved mistress Chiara, who is under surveillance of the police and the mobsters. While traveling by train to the country nearby Nice, the common man François Taillandier, who has the same body shape of Zimmer, is select by Chiara as if he were Zimmer and used as a bait to lure those that are pursuing her. When Taillandier is chased by the professional Russian killers, he runs the French police when the real situation begins to be disclosed to him. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Doctor Zhivago is the filmed adapation of the Russian novel by Boris Pasternak from director David Lean that was an international success and today deemed a classic. Omar Sharif and Julie Christie play two protagonists who in fact love each other yet because of their current situation cannot find a way be together.
In 1948, a cross-fire erupts at an isolated stretch of Indo-Pak border, leaving only two soldiers alive. One is an Indian soldier of Pakistani origin while the other happens to be a Pakistani soldier of Indian origin. An ironic story of pride and survival begins when – in an attempt to evade danger, they bump into each other. And amidst continuous exchange of bullets, altercations and murkier situations, it evolves into a journey of human connection with an unforeseeable end.
Preppy and wealthy Whitt Sheffield is in his last semester of law school when a professor assigns him to act as an advocate for a young, single mother who needs help finding – and keeping – a job. Whitt, whose snooty father wants Whitt to follow him into corporate law, is insulted by the low-class assignment, especially after he meets Kylie Burch, the woman he has to help. Kylie and Whitt clash at first, and it looks like Whitt will never be able to help her if he doesn’t understand her situation. But when Kylie and her son’s future as a family is suddenly threatened, Whitt discovers he and Kylie may not be so different, after all.
A recent college graduate goes to Paris after breaking up with his girlfriend of five years. His life should be open-ended and full of promise, but he can’t shake his feelings of loss. Being a stranger in a strange land only aggravates his situation. When he falls in love with a young mysterious prostitute, a fateful journey begins, though we soon learn that Simon is the one with deeper secrets.
The film tells the story of a retired and widowed Chinese master chef Chu (Si Hung Lung) and his family living in modern day Taipei, Taiwan. At the start of the film, he lives with his three attractive daughters, all of whom are unattached. As the film progresses, each of the daughters encounters new men in their lives. When these new relationships blossom, the stereotypes are broken and the living situation within the family changes.. The film features several scenes displaying the techniques and artistry of gourmet Chinese cooking. Since the family members have difficulty expressing their love for each other, the intricate preparation of banquet quality dishes for their Sunday dinners is the surrogate for their familial feelings.
