Eddie and Jason, two Korean-American brothers get in over their heads when they are called to Korea to make a short film on prostitution and sex-trafficking. Things get complicated when they meet Crystal and Esther, two prostitutes who reveal just how deep the problem goes and set off on a dangerous mission to capture the truth. With the use of hidden cameras and access to pimps, johns, and sex-workers, the filmmakers explore and unravel the complexity of the sex trade in Seoul. They learn that this problem is rooted in issues far deeper than exploited girls and lustful men. Instead, it’s a consequence of a culture and government that condones and turns a blind eye to the biggest human injustice of our time.

A film director and her muse who was a student activist in the 1970s, a waitress who keeps changing jobs, an actor and an actress, all live loosely connected to each other by almost invisible threads. The narrative sheds its skin several times to reveal layer upon layer of the complexities that make up the characters’ lives.

David and Brenda are perfect for each other, and everyone knows it except David and Brenda. After a break-up, they each experience their own rough patch. For David, a self-destructive artistic endeavor and a relationship with an immature beauty—for Brenda, a failing acting career, an eviction notice, and a boyfriend who just doesn’t do it for her. A chance encounter brings them together on the streets of New York at a particularly bad time. David invites Brenda to the opening of his first photography exhibit and the stage is set for a night of drinking and flirting which leads to an untraditional proposal of how they can be together without getting back together. A sharply observed, un-romantic comedy by writer/director Mel Rodriguez III, IN STEREO is a stylish and striking first feature that offers an unflinching look at the complexity of modern relationships.

Inspired by the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol, shrewd money manager Alexis Taylor (Braxton) gets the holiday visit of a lifetime. A self-proclaimed workaholic who ‘humbugs’ love, Alexis ends up embracing the spirit of Christmas when her past, present, and future collide, forcing her to risk the one thing money can’t buy: her heart.

When an old high school crush returns to his small hometown, Reed Fish’s once simple, calculated life begins to unravel. A drunken incident prompts Reed’s fiancee (Alexis Bledel) and the entire town to turn against him. This one-of-a-kind hilariously clever comedy features an up and coming ensemble cast and an unforgettably captivating original soundtrack.

An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life’s complexities after his professional career is over.

Charles Swan III, a successful graphic designer, has it all: fame, money and devilish charm that have provided him with a seemingly perfect life. But when a perplexing beauty named Ivana suddenly ends their relationship, Charles is left heartbroken. With the support of his loyal intimates – Kirby, Saul, and his sister, Izzy – Charles begins a delirious journey of self-reflection to try and come to terms with a life without Ivana. “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III” is an unconventional melodrama told in a bold and playful style.

‘The Battle of Orgreave’ intercuts dramatic photographic stills from the clashes in 1984 with footage of the clashes re-enacted in 2001, together with moving and powerful testimonies, to tease out the complexities of this bitter struggle.

Kike, Alexis, and Arturo want to film a documentary about urban legends. When they unexpectedly interrupt a strange ceremony at an ancient cemetery, they are forced to join with Michelle and Renato, a nurse who loves to install cameras at places where paranormal activities occur. Together they will unfold a horror that should have never been revealed.

Alexis is an explosive personality, passionate about life, humanity, nature, love and beauty. That is until the breakneck rhythm, intensity, stress and convolutions of career and economic success shatter him, alienating him from everyone and everything he loves: even his children and his soul mate Maria. Alexis is jolted back to reality when the unbridled greed of the multinational conglomerate his company is involved in causes an unprecedented ecological catastrophe costing many human lives. The multinational’s Golden Boy suddenly realizes that he is nothing more than a cog in the machine he had fought so passionately against in his youth. He is determined to rediscover himself, to reclaim his soul, to rebuild the dream with Maria – but he is completely trapped. He is caught in a web of intrigue that tightens like a vice driving him to an inevitably lethal conflict with the conglomerate.

Inspired by events that took place in Massachusetts, Delphine and Muriel Coulin’s provocative debut focuses on a group of bored teenage girls who all make an irrevocable pact. When Camille (Louise Grinberg) accidentally becomes pregnant, she encourages her friends and fellow high school classmates to follow suit. It’s only a matter of time, before 17 girls in the high school are pregnant and the town is thrown into a world of chaos. Set in the writer/directors’ small, seaside hometown of Lorient in Brittany, 17 Girls is a reflection on adolescence, body image, friendship and the perplexing realities of growing up.

On the beach one night, Christine Faber, two years a widow, thinks she hears her late husband Paul calling out of the surf…then meets a tall dark man, Alexis, who seems to know all about such things. After more ghostly manifestations, Christine and younger sister Janet become enmeshed in the eerie artifices of Alexis; but he in turn finds himself manipulated into deeper deviltry than he had in mind…

How would you feel about carrying your home in your pocket or having clothes to live in? For most of us, “house” means stability, structure, and permanence. In an age of increasing population and technological gains, today’s mobile society has resulted in a demand, or perhaps a dream, for portable dwellings and dwellings in new settings and situations.
Microtopia explores how architects, artists and ordinary problem-solvers are pushing the limits to find answers to their dreams of portability, flexibility – and of creating independence from “the grid”. Modern nomads, homeless people, people in stress, people in need of privacy or seclusion. We hear about the personal reasons behind the dwellings, and to see how they actually work. On the sidewalk, on rooftops, in industrial landscapes and in nature we will see and feel how these abodes meet the dreams set up by their creators. Microtopia deals with a contemporary urgent ideas that are addressed, and solved, in a very surprising way.

Jean-François, Ronald, Alexis, Cédric, Benoit and Maxim are gladiators of modern times. From the strongman to the top-class bodybuilder, to the veteran who has become a trainer, they all share the same definition and obsession with overcoming their limitations. They are waiting for the next competition, working hard in the gym and following extreme diets.

As partners in life and professional winemaking, Frankie Baldwin and Nate DeLuca have different personality types and styles. They’ve just gotten engaged when Frankie’s cousin Lexi and Nate’s brother Marco spring the news that they are getting married – and on Valentine’s Day. Agreeing to keep their plans a secret, Frankie and Nate offer to host Lexi and Marco’s big day.

After a teenage girl’s perplexing suicide, a classmate receives a series of tapes that unravel the mystery of her tragic choice.

Alexia Bissett, ex actress turned producer, lives in New York where she now produces gay cinema. After being called to take care of a situation which involves her young mute brother Christi, she decides to send her right hand man Maxwell to deal with it instead. Alexia owns an apartment complex in California called Luna Park, where her young actors stay while on location. Christi is the apartment caretaker and has been caught hiding in the closet of one of her actors he has a crush on. Maxwell feels indebted to Alexia for taking him off the streets and accepts the task with little protest. When Maxwell and Christi fall in love, Alexia is suddenly forced to deal with the secrets of her past, one of which threatens the boys young love in a way they can’t even imagine

A woman’s journey of self-discovery and the dynamics of her zany family. Alexis Fish (Gina Rodriguez) is left broke and broken-hearted after the death of her cheating husband, working as a phone sex operator and a walking meatball hero. As she returns to her hometown of Brooklyn for a distant aunt’s funeral, she fears to admit to her family and overbearing mother (Priscilla Lopez) that her life is a mess. With help from her quirky sister Kayla (Ana Ortiz) and a new love interest (Steven Strait), Alexis realizes she must let go of her past to define her own future.

In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey is a documentary film about the legendary American guitarist, composer and provocateur John Fahey, 1939-2001. Fahey is often considered the godfather of ‘American primitive guitar’. This cinematic exploration features Pete Townshend, Chris Funk of The Decemberists and Joey Burns of Calexico. These stellar musicians, along with Fahey associates and friends such as the famous ‘Dr. Demento’, radio broadcaster Barry Hansen, explore the legacy of this profoundly influential artist. The film was recorded in the Washington D.C. area where John Fahey was born, along the Mississippi Delta from Memphis to New Orleans, in Los Angeles, Toronto, Austin, New York and in Oregon where Fahey spent his last two decades.

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)

In the history of aviation, there have been only 14 of them: sole survivors of a commercial aviation disaster. Most have never spoken publicly about the loss, the guilt, the immense pressure of feeling “spared.” Who, after all, could ever truly understand? The answer is only each other. Sole Survivor brings four of them together (George Lamson, Cecilia Cichan, Bahia Bakari and Jim Polehinke) to share their very complex, personal stories for the first time. They revisit the most harrowing moments of their lives in an effort to heal and overcome their most perplexing questions.

Alexis Bloom charts the rise and fall of the late Republican Party booster and controversial Fox News mogul who went down in flames amid multiple sexual harassment allegations.

Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin is the scientist behind more than 200 psychedelic compounds including MDMA, more commonly known as Esctasy. Considered to be one of the the greatest chemists of the twentieth century, Sasha’s vast array of discoveries have had a profound impact in the field of psychedelic research. ‘Dirty Pictures’ delves into the lifework of Dr. Shulgin and scientists alike, explores the world of these scientists; their findings and motivations, their ideas, and their beliefs as to how research in this particular field can aid in unlocking the complexities of the mind.