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Paul is a sweet man-child, raised — and smothered — by his two eccentric aunts in Paris since the death of his parents when he was a toddler. Now thirty-three, he still does not speak. (He does express himself through colourful suits that would challenge any Wes Anderson character in nerd chic.) Paul’s aunts have only one dream for him: to win piano competitions. Although Paul practices dutifully, he remains unfulfilled until he submits to the interventions of his upstairs neighbour. Suitably named after the novelist, Madame Proust offers Paul a concoction that unlocks repressed memories from his childhood and awakens the most delightful of fantasies.
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)
The brutality of winter and the power of the mind are aptly portrayed in this dark comedy set in Northern Quebec. Bruce (Thomas Haden Church) is merely trying to survive a harsh winter when he meets Jean. Conflict leads to an accidental death, and Bruce finds himself in a complicated and unexpected place. Grappling with his guilt, Bruce creates a prison from which he cannot escape. Haden Church perfectly utilizes his comic talent in this wry, well-crafted film.
A family’s decision to sell its 210-year-old Cape Cod summer home, which has seen five generations of the family pass through its doors, spurs one of its members, filmmaker Nick Fitzhugh, to preserve the memories it holds for future generations; and, too, to ask whether a family makes a house or if the house makes the family.
The film follows “Dylan White” who works as a cook in Baton Rouge. He is also in a solid relationship with his girlfriend “Brandy”. Things are great until strange events prompt him to seek out the truth about himself — following clues, Dylan discovers a dark past in New Orleans. Can he right his past wrongs and find redemption for his sins?
The ambitious punk rocker Max and the eco-activist Inge cannot stand each other, ever since Max publicly exposed her by singing the offensive song “When Inge is Dancing” in front of the whole school. But for Max and his classmates Fabio, Joscha and Lukas this song in particular has become a real hit at school as well as in the regional music scene: Their band called Systemfehler is on the verge of a breakthrough. But just before the important gig, which could get them a record deal, guitarist Josha is injured and can’t play. Inge happens to be an excellent guitarist, and the only person who can fill in at such short notice. But when Max asks for her help, she imposes one non-negotiable condition: If she decides to play with the band, they will not perform the song “Wenn Inge tanzt”.
College students exploring an abandoned insane asylum accidentally shatter canisters holding the cremains of former mental patients. Inhaling the dusty ash filling the air, they’re soon possessed by the souls once held within them. One is a convicted serial killer from 1950.
A film crew led by stuntman Donnie come to witness a Gangland hit, and have to fight for their lives to survive the night.
Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie’s world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.
A bold, feminist film about how the vagina has shaped our view of the world and the shame around female sexuality. Women from 19 to 77 years old talk about puberty, menstruation, birth, motherhood, infertility, menopause, pleasure, sex, pain, trauma, gender, sexuality, cancer, rape and FGM.
The Edhi children’s shelter is a rare safe haven for Karachi’s runaways. Over three years, its cranky founder, a spirited child, and a gold-hearted ambulance driver are filmed, creating a tender portrait of where a city’s most vulnerable and dedicated souls meet.
Charlie Bradford, an aspiring filmmaker in his 30s, is doing the best he can to distance himself from the chaos of his childhood home. But his eccentric mother Linda, a compulsive hoarder who suffers from depression punctuated by spells of manic consumption, has a tendency to keep the people and things she loves close at hand. Charlie’s younger sisters still live at home with Linda: Lisa, the older of the two has a history of petty theft and works as a home healthcare aid, and Penny, who is trying to overcome her agonizing shyness is starting a a new career as a home stager in a beleaguered real estate market.
Matt, with the assistance of his new friend Riley, is moving out to Los Angeles California to fulfill his dream of making movies. Everything is off to a good start! That is until Matt’s childhood best friend Chaps decides to crash the road trip and invite himself along. When old friends don’t mix well with new friends, jealousy enters the picture. And if that wasn’t enough to put a damper on the road trip, a menacing hitchhiker turns their world upside down leading to a maddening chase that spins wildly out of control.
Flora Lau’s debut feature is a beautifully formed, subtle film that focuses on the lives of two people with very different prospects – a wealthy Hong Kong woman and her mainland Chinese chauffeur – both trying to cope with life’s unexpected dramas. Anna (Carina Lau) struggles to maintain appearances with her status-conscious friends after her husband mysteriously vanishes. Fai’s (Chen Kun) wife is heavily pregnant with their second child, has no health care entitlements in Hong Kong and cannot give birth in their homeland without incurring penalties for breaching the one-child policy. While their daily routines intersect, their fates only momentarily converge and Lau elegantly critiques the social contradictions at play by paralleling their predicaments rather than constructing drama between the two protagonists. (Source: LFF programme)
An ensemble film about four everyday people: a store manager, a security guard, a fire fighter and a clerk who struggle in the aftermath of trauma.
A small-town crim finds an ancient Chinese time-travel device that can help him pull off a heist and start a new life-but he may not survive the consequences of tampering with time. The Castle meets Looper, Mega Time Squad is a study in high-meets-low, combining elements of the sci-fi, the crime thriller and the comedy to make a comedy heist film with a time-traveling twist.
This animated Japanese film is a dark, adult-oriented thriller. A peace treaty between the Earth and the Black World, a parallel universe of spider-like aliens is coming to an end. Two cops, Taki, a human male, and Maki, a female alien, are assigned to protect a diplomat who will help secure another treaty. A radical group of aliens from the Black World are out to assassinate the diplomat and prevent the treaty; only the bond that forms between the two cops can save the Earth from destruction. Sex is strongly associated with violence in many graphic scenes; although this is intended to play a symbolic role, this theme is used excessively. The story is effective, but the film is definitely not for children or anyone easily offended.
How did a college dropout who was arrested for a DUI twice in the same year become the single-most-powerful nonpresidential political figure in American history? Filmmakers R. J. Cutler and Greg Finton answer that question and others in what is sure to be the definitive film about the fascinating life and legacy of Dick Cheney.
In March 1963, a black mass was held at a ruined church in Clophill, Bedfordshire by a coven of dark witches. Tombs were looted, animals sacrificed and human bones arranged during a macabre ceremony. Further defilements continued at Clophill in the following years, with cattle in nearby fields found mutilated, evidence of necromancy discovered and perpetual sightings of paranormal activity witnessed at the isolated ruin. 50 years on from the original incident, the Clophill legend remains etched on the psyches of the local populace. In 2010, a documentary team was assembled to investigate the legend of the Clophill witches and to try and uncover the truth behind the paranormal events. What followed during that long weekend at Clophill was a terrifying journey into the unknown.
Thousands of participants in a San Francisco-based alternate reality game end up getting more than they bargained for. Told from the players’ perspectives, the film looks over the precipice at an emergent new art form where the real world and fictional narratives merge to create unforeseen and often unsettling consequences. Examining counter-culture, new religious movements and street art, this film takes the viewer on a journey into a secret underground world teeming just beneath the surface of everyday life.
Have you ever read the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policies connected to every website you visit, phone call you make, or app you use? Of course you haven’t. But those agreements allow corporations to do things with your personal information you could never even imagine. This film explores the intent hidden within these ridiculous agreements, and reveals what corporations and governments are legally taking from you and the outrageous consequences that result from clicking “I accept.”
The Pink Panthers have stolen over £270m in diamonds in more than 241 robberies in cities from Paris to Tokyo. The film explores the rise of the group during the 1990s Balkan conflict when economic sanctions imposed on Serbia fueled illegal activities. The criminals reveal an underworld driven by fast wealth and paranoia, while the detectives and inspectors, who are working with Interpol, are on a mission to stop their crime spree with growing success.
A kindergarten principal finds a series of morbid cartoons drawn by a docile pupil. A porn actor struggles to rise to the occasion while filming his first porno. A middle-aged nightclub bouncer faces off with a rebellious teenage stripper. Director Ken Kwek tells three iconoclastic stories in a short film that pitches political correctness out the window of Singapore mainstream cinema.
The film is based on a series of immensely popular Swedish children’s books, about the boy Bert, who is just hitting puberty and having the usual problems with it. But that’s where the usual ends abruptly.
Nordvest is a gangsterfilm set in the suburbs of Copenhagen. Casper (18), the oldest of 3 siblings, survives life on the streets by committing burglaries for the neighbourhood boss, Jamal. When Casper gets an offer to work for Jamal’s rival Björn, he jumps at the chance for a better life, making his way into a world of drugs and prostitution. As things escalate between Björn and Jamal, Casper finds himself and his family dead center of a conflict, that threatens to destroy them.
Singer Stan Walker makes his acting debut playing the lead role in feature film Mt Zion, shot in Pukekohe, Auckland. Walker stars as Turei, a talented young musician with a dream – for his band to win the audition to be the support act for Bob Marley’s 1979 concert in Auckland. Set amongst a Maori family of contract potato pickers in Pukekohe, in which Turei’s desperate ambition clashes with traditional whanau values, leading to an emotional showdown and powerful change. Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors), plays Turei’s father, the hard-working head contractor who has some lost ambitions of his own. Mt Zion is written and directed by Tearepa Kahi, who made the international award-winning short film Taua. Stan Walker won the 2009 Australian Idol singing contest and is now signed to Sony Music as a recording artist and EMI publishing as song writer.
Filmed at the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, AZ on February 15th and 16th, 2013, Oh My God is Louis C.K.’s fifth stand-up special, his first for HBO since 2007’s Shameless, and his first since winning a Emmy Award for writing on his acclaimed show on FX, Louie. Performed in the round in front of a live audience, he discusses such topics as the food chain, animals, divorce, strange anecdotes, broken morality, murder and mortality.
A giant beanstalk brings Jack to a land in the clouds filled with snarling, evil beasts. When the creatures make their way to the ground, Jack must figure out how to get back down before they destroy earth and everyone in it.
Hollywood PR maven Adrienne takes pride in her low profile and good reputation. Yet she risks both to help a fading action star accused of killing his ex-wife. She believes he’s innocent because she knows him better than most; they were college sweethearts. But whoever the real killer is, no one in Gareth’s life is safe, and once again… that includes Adrienne. Shara Connolly, Mark Lawson, Anna Hutchison star.
Four student filmmakers set out to explore an abandoned building famous for its connection with the occult, but as their journey becomes littered with strange behavior and unexplained phenomena, it becomes clear the horror they are attempting to document may already be lurking among them.
When once-up-and-coming indie film starlet Halley Feiffer loses her boyfriend, her agent and her career in one fell swoop she finally realizes that something in her life has got to change… she has to become WAY MORE FAMOUS! Armed with a stolen script and two pitchers of sangria, Halley enlists the help of her brother Ryan and his boyfriend to make her own movie, starring herself (of course) as herself, and any A-list celebrity she can land along the way.
Gippi is a coming-of-age story of an ordinary, overweight girl, who, through the course of the film, learns to love herself for exactly who she is. It is also a tale of an underdog, who picks herself up from nothing and finds herself at the top of her own little world.
Anthony Wonke directs this documentary marking the 25th anniversary of the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster. Re-examining the events that led to the drilling platform, at the time the largest and oldest in the North Sea oilfield, exploding on the night of the 6th July 1988, killing 167 men, the film includes testimonies from rescuers and some of the 61 survivors, many of whom were forced to jump hundreds of feet into a flaming, oil-covered sea, and discovers what the physical and psychological legacy of the disaster has meant for those involved.
FMGG’ is a romantic-comedy story revolving around an aspiring actor ‘Jassi’ (Roshan Prince) who dreams of making a movie and launch himself as a ‘hero’. So that he could get to marry his love of life ‘Roop’ (Bhanushree Mehra) and to fulfill his dreams, he starts doing immoral activities and makes quick-money by creating dramas.
During one such ‘drama’, he ends up breaking the marriage of ‘Geet’ (Japji Khaira) and incidentally gets married to her forcefully by the village community… And now he has “Two” girls in his life…
Will he end up with his love or his unexpected life partner?????
A magician competes in an international magic competition where he goes head to head with a female street magician he has fallen in love with. This film shows great magic performed by a cast of professional magicians. Like a great musical where the songs and the story are seamlessly intertwined, Desperate Acts of Magic does the same, mixing story and magic as one.
DEFCON is the world’s largest hacking conference, held in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 2012 it was held for the 20th time. The conference has strict no-filming policies, but for DEFCON 20, a documentary crew was allowed full access to the event. The film follows the four days of the conference, the events and people (attendees and staff), and covers history and philosophy behind DEFCON’s success and unique experience.
9 years ago Wali Khan (Irrfan Khan) was sent into Karachi, Pakistan by the Chief of RAW Ashwini Rao (Nasser) to report the activities of The Most Wanted Man in India. 9 days ago Rudra Pratap Singh (Arjun Rampal) Indian Armed Forces, MARCOS unit, Zoya Rehman (Huma Qureshi) RAW Explosives expert, and Aslam, a petty thief from the streets of Mumbai recruited by RAW, infiltrated Pakistan to join Wali Khan and carry out the mission to bring back The Most Wanted Man in India. The man who was going to break all ISI protocol and security and attend his own son’s wedding. The man who could on that day be abducted and brought back to India to face justice. 1 day ago everything went according to plan until it all failed. The team sent in to bring The Most Wanted Man in India, did the unthinkable – they carried out the most daring operation and almost got away with it. Almost because, something went horribly wrong.
