Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation The Home for World Cinema lovers in Chennai
1. Wednesday, May 9 / Chaharshanbeh, 19 Ordibehesht / Iran / 2015 / 102 min
Dir: Vahid Jalilvand
An unusual advertisement in one of Tehran’s morning papers gathers a large group of people in one place. They think that what’s been advertised is the only solution to their problem. The police take care of the situation by calming the people down and having them dispersed. However, two women among these people are not giving up…
Reykjavik International Film Festival 2015 & Venice Film Festival 2015
2.Jalal’s Story / Jalaler Golpo / Bangladesh / 2014 / 121 min
Dir: Abu Shahed Emon
The story of Jalal begins as an abandoned baby rescued from the river. But the villagers are soon sorry that they did when misfortunes plague the town: Jalal is considered a curse and re-abandoned. Years later, Jalal, now 9, is living as the adopted son of a rich landowner. But once again he seems to bring bad luck, this time “causing” the man’s wife to be infertile. Ten years later Jalal is working for a gangster-cum-politician when the man’s wife dies in childbirth. Whose fault can it be now?
Jaipur International Film Festival 2015,Pusan International Film Festival 2014
3.1944 / Estonia / 2015 / 100 min
Dir: Elmo Nuganen
The film tells us about World War II in Estonia in 1944 – from the battles at Blue Hills in July until the Red Army occupied the last bit of Estonia in November.The film concentrates on human beings in the war, the effect of the war on people and the cost of war. It shows the war through the eyes of Estonian soldiers serving on both sides of the front – the Red Army and the German army.
4.Zero Point / Nullpunkt / Estonia / 2014 / 115 min
Dir: Mihkel Ulk
Johannes sensitive and restless nature will be an elite school in Tallinn, and one would expect that his life begins to go uphill. In fact, he gets down classmates’ mental terror. At home, John must cope with escalating mother’s mental illness. When the young man elupüramiidi three main aspects – home, friends, and school – will sink together, it reaches the zero point. John understands that a change to a better life for themselves and begin running it as a plan of how to achieve popularity and acceptance, and this will be the pressure of the past and the present, despite the shocks to vigorously implement.
5.Pioneer Heroes / Pionery-geroi / Russia / 2015 / 116 min
Dir: Natalya Kudryashova
1987. Olga, Katya and Andrey are going to be Pioneers. They are going to be the last Pioneers of the USSR. Nowadays in their 30’s, they are facing another reality with no place for heroic deeds.
Berlin International Film Festival 2015 & Pacific Meridian International Film Festival of Asia Pacific Countries 2015
6.Max & Lenny / France / 2014 / 86 min
Dir: Fred Nicolas
Max and Lenny is the story of a friendship between two girls fighting for survival in a northern area of Marseille. Lenny lives with her brother. Left alone, she has two obsessions : to retrieve her daughter, a child that she has had too early, and rap, the only way for her to escape from everyday life. One evening, when she sings in secret, Lenny meets Maxine, a young undocumented Congolese who stopped short in front of her voice. The two girls soon adopt each other.
Annonay International Festival of First Films 2015
7.Heneral Luna / Philippines / 2015 / 118 min
Dir: Jerrold Tarog
Set during the Philippine-American war, a short-tempered Filipino general faces an enemy more formidable than the American army: his own treacherous countrymen.In 1898, General Antonio Luna ( John Arcilla ), commander of the revolutionary army, is spoiling for a fight. The Philippines, after three hundred years as a Spanish colony, has unwillingly come under American rule. General Luna wants to fight for freedom but members of the elite would rather strike a deal with the United States. The infighting is fierce in the new cabinet but General Luna and his loyal men forge ahead even as his military decisions are met with resistance from soldiers who are loyal only to President Aguinaldo ( Mon Confiado ). Ultimately, it is the general’s legendary temper and pride that bring him to his death when a pack of presidential guards assassinate him in broad daylight. While American newspapers are quick to point the blame to Aguinaldo, the mystery has never been completely solved and the General’s killers were never put to justice.
8.K’na, the Dreamweaver / Philippines /2015 / 85 min
Dir: Ida Anita Del Mundo
When Kana, a young T’boli woman, becomes a dreamweaver, she has the chance to weave together her village’s warring clans. But, will she give up true love to do so?
Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival 2014,Toronto Female Eye Film Festival 2015
9.Under Construction / Bangladesh / 2015 / 88 min
Dir: Rubaiyat Hossain
It’s the story of a stage actress in her thirties unhappy in marriage and also with the roles she is assigned to play in the theatre. Her private dissatisfactions are set against Bangladash’s far more dire public ills: exploited factory workers, boiling-over Islamic fundamentalism. Hossain makes the daring decision — many would say, blasphemous — to allow the female protagonist to have an adulterous affair and get away with it. In fact, she does not feel guilty at all when she returns to her smug businessman husband.”
Montréal World Film Festival 2015,Seattle International Film Festival 2015
10.Ma Folie / Austria / 2015 / 99 min
Dir: Andrina Mracnikar
HANNA loves YANN and the ‘lettres filmées’ he sends her. Yann loves Hanna but mistrusts her. He leaves her but does not leave her alone. His ‘lettres filmées’ become a threat and Hanna does not know whom she can trust and whether she can still trust herself. Film starts as an ‘amour fou’ but step-by-step turns out to be a psychological thriller dealing with different ways of perception, trust and mistrust, imagination and delusion.
Max Ophüls Festival 2015
11.The Last Dance / Der letzte Tanz / Austria / 2014 / 96 min
Dir: Houchang Allahyari
Julia Ecker, a patient in the geriatic ward of a psychiatric clinic, develops a deep affection and sympathy, even love, for her new male nurse. The relationship can be precarious.
12.Life Eternal / Austria / 2015 / 120 min
Dir: Wolfgang Murnberger
Brenner returns to Graz, the city where he grew up. When confronted with his old friends, his former girlfriend and the major sin he committed when he was young, murders and a fateful gunshot to the head result. After Brenner comes out of a coma, he begins to search for the person who tried to kill him – however, everybody claims that he himself is responsible. In the beginning Brenner was at the end of his rope, but he could face a new beginning in the end.
13.Virgin Mountain / Fúsi / Iceland, Denmark / 2015 / 90 min
Dir: Dagur Kári
Fusi is in his forties and yet to find courage to enter the adult world. He sleepwalks through everyday life, where routine is key. When a bubbly woman and an 8-year old girl unexpectedly enter his life, he is forced to take a leap.
Valladolid International Film Festival 2015
14.Aferim / Romania / 2015 / 108 min
Dir: Radu Jude
Eastern Europe, 1835. Two riders cross a barren landscape in the middle of Wallachia. They are the gendarme Costandin and his son. Together they are searching for a ‘gypsy slave’ who has run away from his nobleman master and is suspected of having an affair with the noble’s wife. Whilst the unflappable Costandin comments on every situation with a cheery aphorism, his son takes a more contemplative view of the world. On their odyssey they encounter people of different nationalities and beliefs: Turks and Russians, Christians and Jews, Romanians and Hungarians. Each harbours prejudices against the others which have been passed down from generation to generation. And even when the ‘slave’ Carfin is found, the adventure is far from over … A moving parable about late-feudal Europe developed from historical documents and songs: its power structures and hierarchies, people’s idea of themselves and others, interaction with minorities and the resulting conflicts. A Balkan Western in black-and-white which brings the cacophony of the times strikingly to life and explores the thematic arcs which stretch into the present.
Berlin International Film Festival 2015
Silver Berlin Bear for Best Director
15.Two Lives / ZWEI LEBEN / Germany / 2014 / 97 min
Dir: Georg Maas
Europe 1990, the Berlin wall has just crumbled: Katrine, raised in East Germany, now living in Norway since 20 years, is a war child: the result of a love relationship between a Norwegian woman and a German occupation soldier during World War II. Katrine enjoys a happy family life, with her mother, her husband, daughter and grand-daughter. But when a lawyer asks her and her mother to witness in a trial against the Norwegian state on behalf of the war children, she resists. Gradually, a web of concealment and secrets is unveiled, until Katrine is finally stripped of everything, and her loved ones are forced to take a stand: What carries more weight, the life they have lived together, or the lie it is based on?
Seattle International Film Festival 2013,Palm Springs International Film Festival 2014,German Film Critics Association Awards 2014
16.The High Sun / ZVIZDAN / Croatia / 2015 / 123 min
Dir: Dalibor Matanic
Three different love stories, set in three consecutive decades, in two neighbouring Balkan villages burdened with a long history of inter-ethnic hatred: this is a film about the dangers – and the enduring strength – of forbidden love.
Cannes Film Festival 2015
• Won, Un Certain Regard Jury Prize,Slovene Film Festival 2015
• Won, Slovenian Art Cinema Network Award
17.Shadow Island / Korea / 2015 / 116 min
Dir: SON Seung-ung
Young-do whose father was a merciless murderer had to endure being called ‘monster’ ever since he was a child. His father’s dark shadow is constantly drawn over him despite his death by execution. Young-do vindictively lashes out to those calling him a monster, slowly becoming one himself. One day, a mysterious woman with a child shows up at Young-do’s house, claiming his father murdered her parents. When she demands for his heart, Young-do points a knife at his chest, daring her to stab him. He eventually fails to kick the woman and her child out of his house, and adding to this, he learns of a secret of hers. Shot in Busan, Shadow Island is the name of a location as well as the main character’s name. The film explains the legacy of violence passed down through three generations. The lives of a murderous father, a son addicted to violence, and the victims of violence intertwine into a surprising finale. As the film shifts through the past and present, it reveals a painful family history that eats away the soul and leads to a burdened fate of self-destruction
Busan International Film Festival (2014) – Korean Cinema Today-Vision
18.Like a French Film / Korea / 2015 / 102 min
Dir: SHIN yeon-shik
Every night, Soo-min talks to his little sister, Soo-bin, about Ki-hong. Soo-bin is frustrated because her brother is helpless when it comes to Ki-hong. Soo-min ponders on what to do with Ki-hong when he receives a call from her.
Jeonju International Film Festival (2015)
19.Granny’s got Talent / hel-meo-ni / Korea / 2014 / 108 min
Dir: Shin Han-sol
A grandmother is released from prison but her two sons are nowhere to be seen. She finds her sons by hiring a private detective and realizes that they are both married. Despite the two sons living very different lives, they both lead miserable ones. Dejected and feeling responsible for their miseries, she goes on a personal cursing rant at a nearby park where she is picked up by a TV producer, who is in search for contestants for a TV audition program. The program is a standoff audition battle where contestants curse at each other until one is rendered speechless. Though reluctant at first, she enters the program after being convinced by her younger son and the producer that she is born for this battle audition and will have no problem taking first place. The grandmother makes great progress with the help of her ‘natural skills’ but her mysterious past catches up with her growing fame. Who is this grandmother? What happened in her past? Will she manage to patch things up with her sons?
20.The Reaper / Kosac / Croatia / 2014 / 98 min
Dir: Zvonimir Juric
Haunted by his dark past, a labourer in a small Croatian village has a series of fateful encounters over the course of a single night.
Toronto International Film Festival 2014
21.You Carry Me / Ti mene nosis / Croatia / 2015 / 155 min
Dir: Ivona Juka
Ives, Nataša, Vedran, and his wife. Four people, four different destinies that cross during the filming of a soap opera entitled “Prisoners of Happiness.” Ivona Juka’s feature debut offers a colorful portrait of four strong personalities whose desire for satisfaction bumps up against seemingly insurmountable day-to-day problems.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015
22.MY2 / Czech / 2014 / 100 min
Dir: Slobodanka Radun
Hoping for change, Ema runs away from her family and leaves her husband. Even though she barely knows him, she hides at the apartment of her hairdresser, the homosexual Tony, where nobody will look for her. At the beginning they are merely two strangers, connected by their mutual desire of escaping
23.Itsi Bitsi / Danish / 2014 / 107 min
Dir: Ole Christian Madsen
1962. A young generation rebels against the Establishment. Peace activist Eik Skaløe meets Iben and falls head over heels in love, but Iben refuses to commit herself to one man only. Desperate, Eik tries to win her over by transforming from poet to writer, nomad, junkie and eventually lead singer in the destined-to-become-legendary band Steppeulvene.
24.Gold Coast / Guldkysten / Danish / 2015 / 100 min
Dir: Daniel Dencik
Young anti-colonial idealist Wullf Joseph Wullf sets out for Danish Guinea to set up a coffee plantation but not everything goes according to plan. This bold contribution to the historical film genre casts light on a dark chapter of European history, employing the music of Angelo Badalamenti to help shift the experience into a dreamlike trip that partakes in equal measure of lyric poetry and a horrifying nightmare.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015
25.Cleaner / Cistic / Slovak / 2015 / 94 min
Dir: Peter Bebjak
Tomáš leaves prison in a group of other people, at the gate parting the others, the breathes out with relief. He comes to his small modest Petržalka flat and after a bit of work-out and a protein-rich dinner, he sits down watching some popular-educative program on cable TV. In the morning he is woken up to the sound of a text message announcing him the address of his next job. As a funeral service worker, he removes dead body fluids and sanitizes the places of death. He cleans the household in absence of its residents, at work he collects his pay in cash, goes home – to wait for the next call. Tomáš is not very sociable. The claims to the psychiatrist, where he is obviously obliged to attend, that he sometimes goes out for a beer with his colleagues, but in reality, his closest people are his neighbours, whose conversations he sometimes hears through the bathroom ventilation shaft. Regular telephone calls with his mother also cannot be considered as a more significant socialization element, since they always contain the same questions and answers regarding the current state of each of them. “Fine. And you?” The stereotype of HIS days is only disrupted in a moment, when he panics and hides in one of the households as the people who live there return, so that they don´t find out he hasn´t left yet, although he should have done so a long time ago. Unnoticed he watches the family life, which is miles apart from his, and fascinated by what he has seen, at the next occasion he stays hidden at the flats of the next bereaved people on purpose. Watching other peoples´ lives becomes a hobby and the hobby turns into a passion when he falls in love in one of the flats.
Warsaw Film Festival 2015,Bratislava International Film Festival 2015
26.Murder in Pacot / Meurtre à Pacot / Haiti, France / 2014 / 130 min
Dir: Raoul Peck
Barely a couple of days after the earthquake destroys most of their villa, a man and his wife are visited by a team of foreign surveyors and given an ultimatum: fix it entirely in a few weeks, or it will be razed to the ground. The newly penniless couple rent the habitable part of the villa to Alex — a relief worker who benefits from the high remuneration granted to foreign humanitarian personnel in Haiti — in order to put his rent payments towards repairs. To their surprise, their new tenant also comes with a Haitian girlfriend, Andrémise (Lovely Kermonde Fifi), a sassy and enterprising young woman who has renamed herself Jennifer to attract foreign suitors in Port-au-Prince. As the ground rumbles with aftershocks, the once-privileged couple, now destitute and helpless, comes for the first time face-to-face with the stark contradictions of Haitian society.
Toronto International Film Festival 2014, Berlinale 2015 -Panorama
27.Chorus / Canada / 2015 / 97 min
Dir: François Delisle
A separate couple meet again after ten years when we found the body of their missing son. During their forced reunion, they both handle the death of their child in their own way. Amid the guilt of losing a loved one, they haltingly move toward affirmation of life, acceptance of death and even the possibility of reconciliation. Chorus is a love story that emerges from mourning and leads to two survivors clinging to each other as if to heal the deepest cut of all.
28.Melody / Belgium / 2014 / 90 min
Dir: Bernard Bellefroid
Melody, a modest hairdresser working from home, is ready to do anything to make her dream of opening her own hairdressing salon come true. In exchange for a large sum of money, she accepts to be a surrogate mother and in so doing encounters Emily, a rich English woman who is desperately trying to have a baby.
29.Degrade / Palestine / 2015 / 84 min
Dir: Arab Nasser & Tarzan Nasser
Gaza Strip, nowadays. Christine’s beauty salon is heaving with female clients: a bitter divorcée, a religious woman, a lunatic addicted to prescription drugs and a young bride-to-be among others. But their day of leisure is disrupted when gunfire breaks out across the street. A gangland family has stolen the lion from Gaza’s zoo, and Hamas has decided it’s time to settle old scores. Stuck in the salon, the women start to unravel…
30.Standing Tall / La tête haute / France / 2015 / 120 min
Dir: Emmanuelle Bercot
Abandoned by his mother at the age of 6, Malony is constantly in and out of juvenile court. An adoptive family grows around this young delinquent: Florence, a children’s magistrate nearing retirement, and Yann, a caseworker and himself the survivor of a very difficult childhood.Together they follow the boy’s journey and try unfailingly to save him. Then Malony is sent to a stricter educational center, where he meets Tess, a very special young girl who will show him that there are reasons for hope.
31.In her place / Korea / 2014 / 115 min
Dir: Albert Shin
A weathered woman and her odd teen-aged daughter live in isolation on a desolate farm in South Korea. An affluent city woman comes to them seeking help with a sensitive matter and the three women soon fall into a new rhythm of life together, each working to fill a void within. However, as their very different paths converge, their deal becomes more than what they bargained for.
32.The Final Lesson / La dernière leçon / France / 105 min
Dir: Pascale Pouzadoux
In this film, too, the issue of end of life is changing. After the solemn look of Haneke (Love) and severity of Stéphane Brizé (Hours spring), here’s a picture of a distraught family when the mother, 92 years, decides the day of his death. A sad note, a lighter note, a bright point, a dark moment follow one another with regularity. But the banality of staging accompanies intense narrative fragments taken from the book testimony Noëlle Châtelet, The Last Lesson. A concrete truth, useful, and finally emerges. The two actresses contribute with heart.
33.Diary of a Chamber maid / Journal d’une femme / France / 2015 / 96 min
Dir: Benoît Jacquot
A scheming servant works for a wealthy couple in France during the late 19th century.
34.Panama / Serbia / 2015 / 105 min
Dir: Pavle Vuckovic
Jovan starts dating Maja casually, no strings attached. But overtime, her mysterious and shady behavior begins to disturb him. Jovan starts to follow videos and clues over social networks that hint at Maja’s parallel life. In a web of lies, pride, jealousy and passionate sex, Jovan loses himself, desperately trying to understand who Maja really is.
35.My Skinny Sister / Min lilla syster / Sweden / 2015 / 105 min
Dir: Sanna Lenken
Just as Stella enters the exciting world of adolescence she discovers that her big sister and role model Katja is hiding an eating disorder. The disease slowly tears the family apart. A story about jealousy, love and betrayal told with warmth, depth and laughter.
36.Dora or the Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents / Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern / Germany / 2015 / 90 min
Dir: Stina Werenfels
When her mother decides to stop administering medication to her mentally challenged daughter, 18-year-old Dora awakes, as if from a deep sleep. Dora discovers her body, her sensuality and finally, sex, too. Her parents are shocked by Dora’s sudden unbridled lust for life and, when she gets involved with a man she meets at her market stall vendor job, they are furious. Seeing her relationship as unscrupulous and abusive, they demand their daughter stops seeing her lover. But their efforts are to no avail and, when Dora’s affair leads to a more serious situation, everyone has to reassess the limits of their relationship to each other, and reconsider such topics as self-determination, trust and jealousy. Courageous, necessary and sensitive – Stina Werenfels’ adaptation of Lukas Bärfuss’s stage play is a fearless and moving drama about letting go. The tender, subjective shots that capture the beauty of the world as Dora sees it are as much a part of the film’s success as is the portrait of a desperate mother, having to cope with life’s pitfalls.
37.Embrace of the Serpent / El abrazo de la serpiente / Colambia / 2015 / 125 min
Dir: Ciro Guerra
The story of the relationship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant.
38.Chasuke’s Journey / Ten no Chasuke / Japan / 2015 /
Dir: Sabu
In Heaven, scribes are busy writing scenarios for all of mankind, dictating everyone’s upcoming destiny. Celestial tea server Chasuke never misses a chance to catch up on some of the latest chapters, especially those about Yuri, for whom he has a secret crush. But when he discovers that the writers accidentally kill her off, he decides to break the rules and go down to Earth to save her. But nothing goes according to plan, since nothing has been prewritten for him…
39.Short Skin / Italy / 2014 / 86 min
Dir: Duccio Chiarini
His best friend is thinking about girls day and night. His father and even his little sister are constantly talking about sex. But it is a sore point for slender Edoardo who has a delicate problem. Beset with a congenital inability to retract his foreskin, even masturbating is an excruciating experience. Edoardo is nonetheless desperate to have sex – and he is not short of opportunities. Being a sensitive, thoughtful boy, he is popular with the girls. But when it comes to the crunch time he always begs off. Terrified of having an operation, he turns instead to creams, condoms and even octopuses in an attempt to treat his condition. He finds himself on the spot when his secret love Bianca suddenly suggests they go camping. There is nothing he wants more – but their assignation is doomed to failure. Duccio Chiarini delivers a light-hearted yet candid portrait of the desires and torments of a 17-year-old who must overcome his shame to do the right thing at the right time. His film interweaves family drama with a tender summertime love story. It also provides hope that even the trickiest of problems can be solved if the chemistry is right. Love must not always be a painful affair.
40.What’s Between Us / Unter der Haut / Switzerland / 2015 / 94 min
Dir: Claudia Lorenz
After eighteen years of marriage, Alice finds herself confronted with the fact that her husband Frank feels more and more attracted to men. Not only Frank, but also she and their three children undergo an irreversible change. The film uses simple scenes to tell of everyday family life – unspectacular, subtle and humane, sometimes sad, sometimes sanguine.
41.The Bunker / Der Bunker / Germany / 2015 / 85 min
Dir: Nikias Chryssos
A young student seeks quiet and solitude to focus on an important work but ends up as the teacher of a peculiar boy who is home-schooled by his parents in an isolated bunker mansion. THE BUNKER is a dark, twisted, and funny tale about childhood, growing up and education.
42.Lamb / Ethiopia, France / 2015 / 94 min
Dir: Yared Zeleke
Ephraim is a young Ethiopian boy. His father leaves him and his ewe, from which he is inseparable, to be looked after by distant relatives, far from his drought-ridden homeland. Ephraim isn’t very good at farming, but he has a hidden talent: he is an excellent cook. Nostalgic, he feels rejected in this new village, where there is only trouble for him. One day, his Uncle tells him that they have to sacrifice his ewe for the next religious holiday. The young boy, however, is ready to do anything to save his only friend and return home.
43.Magical Girl / Spain, France / 2014 / 127 min
Dir: Carlos Vermut
Luis is desperate to fulfill his terminally ill daughter’s last wish: to own the prohibitively expensive “Magical Girl Yukiko” dress from her favourite Japanese cartoon. Unemployed, with no prospects, and blinded with grief, Luis turns to extortion when he crosses paths with the beautiful, mentally disturbed Bárbara. Her marriage threatened by the blackmail, Barbara reluctantly complies with his scheme, even as it sends her spiralling into a world of danger and degradation. Seeking revenge on Luis, she turns for help to the only person who truly knows how damaged she is: retired math teacher Damián, who has dark secrets of his own. The trio descends into an infernal cycle of deception and double-crosses, in which the struggle between reason and instinct plays out to nerve-jangling effect.
44.The Summer of Sangaile / SANGAILĖ / Lithuania, France & Netherlands / 2015 / 88 min
Dir: Alanté Kavaïté
17 year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. Afraid of heights, she has never dared to even enter in one of the cockpits. At a summer aeronautical show, nearby her parents’ lakeside villa, she meets Auste, a local girl of her age, who unlike Sangaile, lives her life to the full with creativity and dare. As the two girls become lovers, Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret, and finds in her teenage love the only person to truly encourage her in flying.
45.The Clearstream Affair / L’enquête / France, Luxembourg & Belgium / 2014 / 106 min
Dir: Vincent Garenq
2001. The journalist Denis Robert sparked a storm in the world of finance in France by denouncing the murky operations of Clearstream, a banking firm. His quest for truth to try to reveal the “Affaire des affaires” connects with the investigation carried out by Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke, deeply committed to fighting against corruption. Their paths will lead them to the heart of a political/financial intrigue named the “Clearstream Affair,” which would rock the foundations of the Fifth Republic.
46.Tokyo Fiyancee / Japan / 2015 / 100 min
Dir: Stefan Libersk
The film concerns Amélie (Pauline Étienne), who is in love with all things Japanese, which prompts her to buy a one-way ticket to Tokyo and completely immerse herself in the culture. Amélie decides to become a French tutor, and soon finds herself enjoying a passionate relationship with her only student, the charming Rinri (Taichi Inoue). As the couple explores the joys (and awkwardness) of their first real romance and the colourful city around them, many cultural barriers fall but some still remain.This utterly charming romantic comedy played in last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and seduced audiences in Europe with its whimsical style and its playful look at misunderstandings, complications and the problems that arise from stereotypes. The pixie-like Étienne is particularly winsome and wonderful as the enthusiastic young woman on a cross-cultural adventure of the heart.
47.The Man from Oran / L’Oranais / Algeria / 2014 / 128 min
Dir: Lyès Salem
During the first heady years that followed Algeria’s independence, two friends, Djaffar and Hamid, look forward to a fine future in a free Algeria. But there comes a day when betrayal separates them.
48.My Mother / Mia Madre / Italy / 2015 / 106 min
Dir: Nanni Moreti
Margherita is a director shooting a film with the famous American actor, Barry Huggins, who is quite a character on set. Away from the set, Margherita tries to hold her life together while feeling powerless when facing her mother’s illness and her daughter’s adolescence.
49.Enclave / Serbia / 2015 / 92 min
Dir: Goran Radovanović
A Christian boy, determined to create a proper community burial for his late grandfather, crosses enemy lines and makes friends among the Muslim majority in deeply divided, war-torn Kosovo.
50.Fan / Anemistiras / Greece / 2015 / 90 min
Dir: Dimitris Bitos
In the outskirts of Athens, Alkis and Machi straggle to get by with their 11-year-old daughter, Lemonia. Lemonia is a very bright but weird kid. She often witnesses her parents fighting. Machi and Alkis are clearly unhappy with each other and have many unresolved issues. During one of their very violent fights, Lemonia appears holding a grenade in her hands. From that moment on, Lemonia starts directing their relationship under the threat of the grenade, forcing her parents to take a hard look at themselves, dictating what they should say and do. She directs them as if she was a theatre director and they were her actors. Both of them soon realize that this is a really hard game. Soon, they all end up in the family car, on the way to the place where they used to spend their summer holidays together. It is raining, the sea is rough and this family embarks on their strangest vacation yet…
51.At Home / Sto Spiti / Greece / 2014 / 103 min
Dir: Athanasios Karanikolas
For many years, Nadja has worked as a housekeeper for an upper class Greek couple and their daughter. She’s allowed to feel like part of the family. When she’s diagnosed with a serious illness, and the man of the house runs into financial difficulties due to the economic crisis, Nadja loses her job. Yet she shows no external sign of how these two traumatic events have affected her.
Berlin International Film Festival 2014,
52.Car Park / Parkoló / Hungary / 2014 / 93 min
Dir: Bence Miklauzic
Anyone can park wherever they like in the car park, except for one place; the spot where Legionaire, the owner of the lot, buries dead blackbirds. But then a man appears who wants to obtain that exact place for his 1968 Ford Mustang… at any cost
Warsaw International Film Festival 2014
53.Fever at Down / Hajnali láz / Hungary / 2015 / 110 min
Dir: Péter Gárdos
Fever at dawn unfolding 1945-1946 and deals with the parents of the film’s writer and director: Peter Gardos. The story is based on over 100 letters between Gardos parents, which was written and exchanged in Sweden, where they both came directly from the concentration camps. It is a beautiful and remarkable light love story.
54.Forever / Gia panta / Greece / 2014 / 87 min
Dir: Margarita Manda
An ode to cinema as a sensation. A train thunders through a tunnel, seagulls screech above the water. An empty station, a bleak harbour and two lonely souls in a grey town. He’s an engine driver, she sells tickets for the ferry. He sees her every day in his train and is secretly in love. Is there hope for love in Athens? Beautiful urban tableaux at the start of Forever show that Athens is a dying city, plagued by a lack of love. This is where Costas and Anna live, fixed in their rhythm of loneliness. They even seem to be satisfied with it. Costas is an engineer and Anna sells tickets for the ferry.
International Film Festival Rotterdam2015 ,Cairo International Film Festival 2014
55.The Sky Above Us / Netherlands and Serbia / 2015 / 97 min
Dir: Marinus Groothof
Every day Ana, Sloba and Bojan put their lives at great risk, simply by going to work. Their jobs are in or next to the national television building in Belgrade, which because of the war has become a strategic target for NATO bombings. All three force themselves to deal with the fear, in order to hold on to their ordinary lives. But “ordinary” has ceased to exist some time ago.
The actress Ana (35) wants to stay loyal to the theatre she loves dearly, but which is located next to the TV building. Although secretly terrified, she keeps compelling herself to go. To escape from reality, the hip youngster Bojan (23) immerses himself in the club scene with its sex, drugs and house music. Broadcast technician Sloba (46) has sent his wife and son to safety out of town, but has stayed behind to earn their livelihood. That’s his mission and nothing can deter him from it.
Every night Belgrade transforms from a vibrant city into a military target. While the bombs fall from the sky above, Ana, Bojan and Sloba struggle with the question: How can I survive, while staying sane in an insane world?
Nederlands Film Festival 2015
56.Why Me? / De ce eu? / Romania, Bulgaria & Hungary / 2015 / 130 min
Dir: Tudor Giurgiu
Based on real events, tells the story of Cristian, a young idealistic prosecutor whose career is on the rise, tries to crack a case against a senior colleague accused of corruption. The dilemma of choosing between his career and the truth weighs heavily on his shoulders. Looking further to solve the case, he enters a danger zone paved with unexpected and painful revelations.
Berlinale 2015 -Panorama, Vienna International Film Festival 2015
57.Death of the Fish / Iran / 2015 / 100 min
Dir: Rouhollah Hejazi
A mother dies. Her children gather after a while for her funeral but they find out that their mother has a strange will.
She has asked them to keep her body in the house for 3 days and not to inform any relative.
58.Story of my father bike and me / Iran / 2015 / 100 min
Dir: Fayaz Mosavi
Hamed, the 13-year-old teenager has to both study and help his mother with work after his father’s death. He carries the clothes his mother makes to her customers riding an old bicycle left for him from his father. He has to ride long distances every day. Meanwhile the ministry of education makes an announcement about a bicycle race for guidance school students. For the same reason, Hamed takes every risk to get a bicycle for the race. However, he takes part with the same old bicycle.
International Film Festival, Schlingel 2014, Germany Busan Internatonal Kids’ and Youth Film Festival , Aug 2015
59.Captivity / Captum / Ukraine / 2015 / 84 min
Dir: ANATOLIY MATESHKO
This is a story about a man, who is transforming into beast because of being driven to despair. This is a try to investigate what a person can stand, which tortures and indignity can overcome, how many people he can kill in the sake of saving one.
60.How to win at Checkers (Every Time) / Thailand,Hong Kong,USA & Indonesia / 2015 / 80 min
Dir: Josh Kim
After the loss of both parents, 11 years old Oat faces an uncertain future when his older brother must submit to Thailand’s annual military draft lottery. Unable to convince his brother to do whatever he can to change his fate, Oat takes matters into his own hands resulting in unexpected consequences. Based on the stories from the bestselling book Sightseeing by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, the film is set in the economic fringes of Bangkok and examines the joys and challenges of growing up in contemporary Thailand.
Athens International Film Festival 2015
61.Tough Love / Härte / Germany / 2015 / 88 min
Rosa von Praunheim
A man set to lose it all, former world karate champion Andreas Marquardt and his fictional counterpart recreate a turbulent past, showcasing a childhood rife with sexual abuse, a career as a pimp, and, ultimately, a lengthy jail sentence. Andreas recounts how his early life choices later led him to get treatment, enabling him to begin anew with the one woman who endured all and stayed with him during his darkest days. Today, he runs a karate school for young children, as well as a number of charities campaigning against child abuse, proving that it’s never to late to change.
Berlinale 2015 – Panorama
62.Absolution / Finland & Ireland / 2015 / 92 min
Dir: Petri Kotwica
Kiia and Lauri are speeding down a dark country road, anxious to reach the hospital with Kiia in premature labour. Their car hits something. Lauri goes to take a look and tells his wife he saw nothing. They rush to the hospital and Kiia gives birth to a healthy baby boy. While in the hospital Kiia meets Hanna, a woman whose husband is in a coma, the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Kiia befriends Hanna and tries desperately to help her without revealing her role in the accident.
63.The Paradise Suite / Netherlands, Swedan & Bulgaria / 2015 / 122 min
Dir: Joost van Ginkel
For the beautiful young Bulgarian Jenya, her trip to Amsterdam turns out to be the opposite of what she hoped for. Her gruelling captivity makes the angel-like African Yaya fight for her freedom; a dangerous fight in which he loses everything but his beloved faith. The Serbian war criminal Ivica, who has just become a father, is painfully confronted with the fact that crimes will never go unpunished. Bosnian Seka has nothing left to live for but her vengeance but as it turns out, it’s that same vengeance that brings love back in her life. And when the Swedish piano-wonderboy Lukas runs away from his new temporary home, his father Stig finally realises that their passion for music hurts their father and son relationship. The Paradise Suite is a mosaic story about six people finding each other and, sometimes with just one glance, influencing each other’s lives irreversible.
Netherlands Film Festival 2015
64.Baby Steps / Taiwan & USA / 2015 / 103 min
Dir: Barney Cheng
Danny, a Taiwanese-American man, and his partner Tate long to have a baby, but the complex world of international surrogacy is further complicated by Danny’s well-meaning but extremely meddlesome Ma who wants to control every aspect of the process all the way from Taipei
65.Flocking / Flocken / Swedan / 2015 / 110 min
Dir: Beata Gardeler
The people who live in this tiny village in northern Sweden still go to church. Days may be cold and grey here but everyone knows everyone and they stick together. That might sound idyllic and comforting, but could also be uncomfortably intimate. As it is in this story which is based on real events. Jennifer accuses one of her fellow pupils at school of having raped her. The police and judiciary are handling the case in a sober manner but the locals refuse to believe anything like this could happen in their village. The boy’s mother forces Jennifer and her son into a conciliatory embrace, but afterwards unleashes a clamour of outrage online. Before long, the collective fury of the entire village is aimed not at the accused boy but at Jennifer, whose testimony they believe has fouled their nest. Even the vicar, Jennifer’s friends and her own sister turn against her. Now the villagers have Jennifer’s whole family in their sights – a nightmare for the girl and the few people who still stand by her. The film powerfully depicts a dramatic development, at the end of which everyone is a loser.
Berlinale 2015
66.Body / Cialo / Poland / 2015 / 90 min
Dir: Malgorzata Szumowska
The intertwined stories of a criminal prosecutor, his anorexic daughter and her therapist who claims she can communicate with the dead loved ones.
Berlinale 2015 – Silver Bear for Best Director, Chicago International Film Festival 2015,Polish Film Festival 2015
67.The Tournament / Le tournoi / France / 2015 / 83 min
Dir: Elodie Namer
A tournament is being held over seven days in a chic hotel in Budapest. The favorite: Cal Fournier, twenty-two years old, French chess champion, immature genius, programmed for victory, fights his adversaries with a formidable force. Disconnected from the world, Cal gets lost in constant games and gambling with his girlfriend Lou and his acolytes Aurélien, Anthony, and Mathieu. But an adversary unlike any other will jam this well-oiled routine…
Cannes 2014 (Debut)
Berlin EFM 2015 (Premiere)
Cannes 2015 (Line up)
68.Wondrous Boccaccio / Maraviglioso Boccaccio / Italy / 2015 / 115 min
Dir: Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani
Florence, Thirteenth Century. The “Black Death” is spreading. Ten kids (three boys and seven girls) decide to escape and to seek shelter in the countryside, away from the horrible consequences of the plague. In order to kill time, each kid tells a particular story, but no matter how different their stories may be, they all have one aspect in common: love. A love that will help the characters cope with the numerous uncertainties of a very arduous age.
Brussels Film Festival 2015
69.Journey to the Shore /Kishibe no tabi / Japan / 2015 / 128 min
Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Mizuki’s husband (Yusuke) drowned at sea three years ago. When he suddenly comes back home, she is not that surprised. Instead, Mizuki is wondering what took him so long. She agrees to let Yusuke take her on a journey.
Cannes Film Festival 2015 – Un Certain Regard
70.Don’t tell me the Boy was mad / Une Histoire de fou / France / 2015 / 134 min
Dir: Robert Guédiguian
In the 80s, Aram, a young man from Marseille of Armenian origin, blows up the Turkish ambassador’s car in Paris. Gilles Tessier, a young cyclist who was passing at that moment, is seriously injured. Aram, on the run, joins the Armenian Liberation Army in Beirut. Gilles is trying to understand when Anouch, Aram’s mother, arrives in his hospital room to beg his forgiveness.
Cannes Film Festival 2015 – Special Screening, Brussels Mediterranean Film Festival 2015
71.AN / Japan / 2015 / 113 min
Dir: Naomi Kawase
Sentaro runs a small bakery that serves dorayakis – pastries filled with sweet red bean paste (“an”). When an old lady, Tokue, offers to help in the kitchen he reluctantly accepts. But Tokue proves to have magic in her hands when it comes to making “an”. Thanks to her secret recipe, the little business soon flourishes… And with time, Sentaro and Tokue will open their hearts to reveal old wounds.
Cannes Film Festival 2015,
Chicago International Film Festival 2015,
Melbourne International Film Festival 2015.
72.RAMS / Hrútar / Iceland / 2015 / 92 min
Dir: Grímur Hákonarson
In a secluded valley in Iceland, Gummi and Kiddi live side by side, tending to their sheep. Their ancestral sheep-stock is considered one of the country’s best and the two brothers are repeatedly awarded for their prized rams who carry an ancient lineage. Although they share the land and a way of life, Gummi and Kiddi have not spoken to each other in four decades. When a lethal disease suddenly infects Kiddi’s sheep, the entire valley comes under threat. The authorities decide to cull all the animals in the area to contain the outbreak. This is a near death sentence for the farmers, whose sheep are their main source of income, and many abandon their land. But Gummi and Kiddi don’t give up so easily – and each brother tries to stave off the disaster in his own fashion: Kiddi by using his rifle and Gummi by using his wits. As the authorities close in the brothers will need to come together to save the special breed passed down for generations, and themselves, from extinction.
Cannes Film Festival 2015 – Un Certain Regard,Zurich Film Festival 2015
73.The Forbidden Room / A tiltott szoba / 2015 / 130 min
Dir: Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson
A never-before-seen woodsman mysteriously appears aboard a submarine that’s been trapped deep under water for months with an unstable cargo. As the terrified crew make their way through the corridors of the doomed vessel, they find themselves on a voyage into the origins of their darkest fears
74.Prince / Netherlands / 2015 / 78 min
Dir: Sam de Jong
It is summer in the estate on the edge of town that provides the location for Sam de Jong’s feature debut Prins. And it is hot. Any lad who has money here has got to be a wide boy. And if you are driving a Lamborghini you will definitely earn respect. The film’s young director unfolds his story with ease, infusing it with a good dose of irony and grotesque exaggeration. The boys hang out on the street, cracking pumpkin seeds, talking about motorbikes, Rolex watches and how to kiss a girl. One of them is 17-year-old Ayoub. He is head over heels in love with pretty Laura who may smile at him invitingly when she passes by, but later sends him packing with a withering look. Her boyfriend is one of the really tough guys. How on earth can Ayoub compete? He has hardly any money, shares a tiny room with his sister at home; his mother is careworn and his father lives on the streets. He has to do something. Cue the guy in the pastel-hued violet Lamborghini – a complete nut that everyone says you should just stay away from. It is going to be a long, nightmarish night for Ayoub.
Berlin International Film Festival
75.Taxi / Iran/2015/82 min
Dir: Jafar Panahi
After being sentenced to six years of house arrest and a twenty-year ban on making films in 2010, the great Iranian director Jafar Panahi got around these strictures by shooting his subsequent features This Is Not a Film entirely within his apartment and Closed Curtain at his summer house. For his new film, Panahi retreats to an even more confined location: a taxi that circles the streets of Tehran, with Panahi himself in the driver’s seat. Without ever leaving the cab, Panahi quietly orchestrates a multi-layered mosaic of life in today’s Iran as he coaxes the fares he picks up to speak to him about their concerns, fears, hopes, and expectations. Welcomed with a standing ovation at the Berlinale and awarded the festival’s top prize of the Golden Bear, Jafar Panahi’s Taxi is one of the year’s essential films.
Berlin International Film Festival 2015
Won, Golden Berlin Bear, Melbourne International Film Festival 2015
Sydney Film Festival 2015
76.The Chambermaid Lynn / Das Zimmermädchen Lynn / Germany / 2014 / 90 min
Dir: Ingo Haeb
After being sentenced to six years of house arrest and a twenty-year ban on making films in 2010, the great Iranian director Jafar Panahi got around these strictures by shooting his subsequent features This Is Not a Film entirely within his apartment and Closed Curtain at his summer house. For his new film, Panahi retreats to an even more confined location: a taxi that circles the streets of Tehran, with Panahi himself in the driver’s seat. Without ever leaving the cab, Panahi quietly orchestrates a multi-layered mosaic of life in today’s Iran as he coaxes the fares he picks up to speak to him about their concerns, fears, hopes, and expectations. Welcomed with a standing ovation at the Berlinale and awarded the festival’s top prize of the Golden Bear, Jafar Panahi’s Taxi is one of the year’s essential films.
Montreal Film Festival 2014 Best Artistic Contribution, FIPRESCI Prize, Hong Kong International Film Festival 2015, Munich International Film Festival 2014,Zurich Film Festival 2014
77.About 12 / Juana a los 12 / Austria / 2014 / 75 min
Dir: Martín Shanly
Juana (Rosario Shanly) is a young girl who visited an English school in Buenos Aires. But Juana has problems at school and so her mother, otherwise to seek help begin to get the apparent indifference of her daughter against her life under control and the young girl still to pilot probably on the right path …
78.You’re Ugly Too / Ireland / 2015 / 78 min
Dir: Mark Noonan
The film stars Will, who is released from prison on compassionate leave to care for his niece Stacey, after the death of her mother. As they both head into the sleepy Irish midlands and attempt to be a family, they suffer a series of setbacks; Stacey is refused admission to the local school because of her recently developed narcolepsy; Will repeatedly comes close to breaking his prison-ordered curfew; and his attempts at being a father figure to her prove disastrous…
Berlinale 2015
79.Blue Blood / Sangue Azul / USA / 2014 / 120 min
Dir: Lírio Ferreira
Twenty two years ago, an arid, volcanic and island paradise nestled in the middle of the South Atlantic, a nine year old boy was separated from his sister. The mother, fearful of a forbidden attraction between them, decides to send his son, not daughter, for the continent. The boy was taken by Kaleb, the rider of an old circus, passing by the island. On the mainland, Kaleb instructed the boy in circus arts and spirit, where the former islet became Zolah the Bullet Man. BLUE BLOOD begins when Zolah and the circus back to paradise. The circus is established as an island within an island, and the most solitary of these isles Zolah himself, a beautiful man who seduces everyone and everything, yet remains deeply lonely, because he could not love anyone.
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2014
80.The Midwife/ Kätilö / Finland / 2015
Dir: Antti Jokinen
The Midwife is a romance-drama set during WWII in Finland’s Lapland province, a major European battle ground of the war. Based on Katja Kettu’s bestselling novel, ‘The Midwife’ turns on the love affair between a Lapp midwife and a Nazi SS officer set against the backdrop of the Lapland War, which opposed Finnish and Germany armies in 1944-45. The themes in the story are international. It’s about conquering love and war, and class boundaries that are broken down.
Shanghai International Film Festival 2015
81.Pause / Switzerland / 2014 / 82 min
Dir: Mathieu Urfer
Sami, a laid-back songwriter, is shocked when Julia, a brilliant lawyer with whom he’s been living for the last four years, decides to put their relationship on hold. Coached by his old friend Fernand, an alcoholic country musician living in a nursing home for the elderly, he tries to achieve the impossible to prove to her she’s the only woman for him.
Festival del film Locarno 2014,Swiss Film Awards 2015
82.Gods / Bogowie / Poland / 2014 / 120 min
Dir: Lukasz Palkowski
The early career of cardiac surgeon Zbigniew Religa. Despite harsh reality of the 1980s Poland, he successfully leads a team of doctors to the country’s first human heart transplantation.
Gdynia Polish Film Festival 2014
83.Warsaw ’44 / Miasto 44 / Poland / 2014 / 138 min
Dir: Jan Komasa
A story of love, friendship and the pursuit of adventure during the bloody and brutal reality of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
Polish Film Awards 2015
84.Carte Blanche / Poland / 2015 / 106 min
Dir: Jacek Lusinski
Inspired by an incredible true story “Carte Blanche” is a ilmeel-good movie about a high school history teacher who – fearing he might lose his job and dignity – decides to hide the fact that he’s losing his sight. Kacper, a beloved history teacher, begins to lose his sight. The medical diagnosis leaves little hope; due to a genetic disorder, chances are high that he’s facing permanent blindness. Initially heartbroken, he attempts to hide his health problems from his bosses. His only desire is to keep his dream job and to help his students prepare to the final exams. The only person knowing about Kacper’s problem is his best friend Wiktor. Fighting his dreary fate, Kacper becomes very close with his co-worker Ewa, and at the same time he tries to help a rebel student Klara, who hides a secret of her own. What makes this story so universal and appealing is that it’s not merely about this particular’s man struggle with a disease. It’s about every man whose world begins to fall apart and who is faced with a choice to make: to fight or to give in and remain defeated. How much strength does one need to come from their knees and keep on going? Are we capable of writing our life over again, from scratch?
Shanghai International Film Festival 2015
85.Warsaw by Night / Poland / 2015 / 99 min
Dir: Natalia Koryncka-Gruz
Four women differently aged wandering the city of Warsaw by night putting on social masks, searching for love and closeness with another human beings.
86.The Way Out / Cesta ven / Czech / 2014 / 103 min
Dir: Petr Václav
The story of Žaneta and David, and their struggle to survive. Their unemployment and their difficulty in communicating with officials are both products of the frequent prejudices against the Roma. The piling-up of debts leads David to consider committing a crime in order to help his family.
Cannes Film Festival
87.The greatest House in the world / La casa más grande del mundo / Guatemala & Mexico / 2015 / 74 min
Dir: Ana V. Bojorquez & Lucia Carreras
Rocio, a Maya Mam girl, lives in the mountains with her mother, who is pregnant and her granny. Due to an early delivery from her mother, Rocio is stuck with caring for a herd of sheep, the first time she has done it on her own. Playing in the mountains she loses one of the sheep. Looking for it, she will lose the rest of the herd. In the midst of this tragedy, Rocio will have to face her innocence, conquer her fear of fog and learn that freedom entails responsibility. Nature will teach her that you do not have to defeat your fears, you just have to experience them. The Greatest House in the World is a story of children -which we all are- when facing fears, the unknown, the uncertain… the fog.
Berlin International Film Festival 2015
88.See You in Montevideo / Serbia / 2015 / 120 min
Dir: Dragan Bjelogrlic
A football team from Belgrade, in the former Yugoslavia, gets a chance to go to the First World Football Championship, but things get complicated along the way.
89.Ranna Silence / Sokoot-e-Ranna / Iran / 2015 / 86 min
Dir: Behzad Rafiei
the story of a seven-year-old girl and her hen, Kakoli. The hen lays eggs for Ranna and she draws a chicken on the shells of the eggs with colored pencils. She, along with her brother, collects the eggs so they can have the chickens like their hen Kakoli. On a rainy night, Kakoli is hunted by a jackal and the story goes on.
2015 edition of Sharjah International Children’s Film Festival
90.The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared / Swedan / 2013 / 114 min
Dir: Felix Herngren
Based on the internationally best-selling novel by Jonas Jonasson, the unlikely story of a 100-year-old man who decides it’s not too late to start over. For most people it would be the adventure of a lifetime, but Allan Karlsson’s unexpected journey is not his first. For a century he’s made the world uncertain, and now he is on the loose again.
Chicago International Film Festival 2014
European Film Awards 2014
91.Dream Flight / Taiwan / 2014 / 147 min
Dir: Khan Lee
The movie tells the real-life love story of Lt. Col. Lee Cheng-liang, a high profile Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) jet pilot, and his visually impaired wife, who are played by Taiwanese actor Bryant Chang and actress Tiffany Hsu, respectively.
92.Jump Ashin / Fan gun ba! A Xin / Taiwan / 2011 / 126 min
Dir: Yu-Hsien Lin
Ashin loves gymnastics. As a kid, he was quickly hooked and as an adult it’s his number one love. Yes, more than girls, and this is despite looking like Eddie Peng and probably having his pick of women in his rural Taiwan town. However, Ashin’s mother (Pan Li-Li) disapproves of gymnastics and asks that Ashin give it up to run the family fruit stand for, well, eternity. Ashin does, but soon becomes a delinquent, hanging with buddy Pickles (Lawrence Ko Yue-Lun) and getting into all sorts of trouble. Pickles becomes a drug addict and the two run afoul of a gang boss’ son (Chen Han-Dian), so Ashin and Pickles flee to Taipei and continue their thug lifestyle. But gymnastics is always there, calling to Ashin like a long-lost love. Eventually, Ashin chooses to return home and back to the pommel horse, but can a loser like Ashin still find it in himself to become a medal-winning gymnast? And hey, isn’t this a totally ridiculous premise?
Taipei Film Festival 2011
93.The State-Mafia Pact / La trattativa / Italy / 2014 / 108 min
Dir: Sabina Guzzanti
What we talk about when we talk of negotiation? Concessions of the state to the mafia in exchange for a cessation of the massacres? Who murdered Falcone and Borsellino? Eternal coexistence between the Mafia and politics? Between the Mafia and the church? Between the mafia and the police? Or is there even more? A group of actors staging the most important episodes of the story known as negotiation was Mafia, playing mobsters, intelligence officers, senior officers, prosecutors, victims and murderers, Masons, honest and brave and courageous people up to a certain point. So one of the most intricate stories of our history becomes a story exciting.
Venice Film Festival 2014
94.Separation / Firak / Turkey 2014 / 97 min
Dir: Halil OZER
Orhan and Ali had lost their parents in a car accident, the two brothers who live together in a small hut in a remote mountain districts. Living with their parents’ occupations torakçılık (charcoal production) to provide. Previously Orhan’l encounters but little sister Ali in the event of changes to come home to marry rest of Spring’s daily life routine of the two brothers.Orhan and Ali are siblings who lost their parents in a car accident is far from the district and living in a small cabin built at the skirts of a mountain. They are earning their lives by pursuing them is the late father’s job. Their daily routine changes with the arrival of Spring, who met Orhan Previously this had to marry to the younger brother Ali.
95.Eksik / Turkey / 2015 / 110 min
Dir: Baris Atay
Lack; after the military coup on the 12Th of September, this is the story where the revolutionist hunt was most lived during the years 1981 – 1984 and is still continuing today.
Istanbul International Film Festival 2015
96.Crimean / Kirimli / Turkey / 2014 / 113 min
Dir: Burak Cem Arliel
Second World War, the Crimean describing Turks living in pain and Genghis Climber’s ‘Terrible Year’ based on the novel ‘Folded / Terrible Year’ film footage, Bolu Aladağlar and was in the plateau established in Afyon. In the film, played by Murat Yildirim ‘Faithful’ by Selma Ergeç character played by ‘Maria’ character of life will be described by the intersection of the developing events.
World Premieres Film Festival 2015
97.Alias María / Colambia / 2015 / 91 min
Dir: José Luis Rugeles
Maria, a 13-year-old guerrilla soldier, is given a mission to complete along with 3 other soldier-kids: bring the commander’s newborn baby to safety in a neighboring town. But nobody knows the secret she is hiding: Maria is pregnant, and having a child is forbidden in the guerrilla. During the mission her secret is revealed and she runs away to avoid being forced to abort. Through Maria’s eyes we experience the devastating results of Colombia’s armed conflict: towns ravaged by massacres, peasants trapped in the cross-fire, parents who have lost their children, and kids trying to grow up normally amid the carnage. Thanks to a new instinct born inside her, Maria will find the strength to look for a new life.
Cannes Film Festival 2015 – Un Certain Regard
98.Just Jim / UK / 2015 / 84 min
Dir: Craig Roberts
This is the story of a loner. Jim, 16, has no friends and is a bit weird. His childhood friend, Michael, has left him for the cooler crowd and Jim is pushed to the edge when his dog dies. Jim’s life changes dramatically when Dean moves next door. Dean is older, American and on the run. He has movie star good looks and is everything Jim would like to be. Dean offers Jim friendship, a makeover and lessons in how to be cool. Jim finally realizes that he is being taken to the dark side. All Jim wants is for something exciting to happen. By the end he realizes that his life was fine the way it was. And he is happy with fine.
99.Bizarre / USA / 2015 / 98 min
Dir: Etienne Faure
Maurice 17 years is a homeless boy in Brooklyn. One day he enters in the BIZARRE the trendy bar / club. Very quickly he’s « adopt » and become the « mascot » of the club. Then everyone will love Maurice. And everyone will want to be loved by Maurice. But Maurice does not love anyone He will never love anyone anymore….
Berlinale 2015 -Panorama
100.How he fell in Love / USA / 2015 / 107 min
Dir: Marc Meyers
A casual affair between a young musician and a married woman turns into an intimate and profound connection that threatens to derail their lives.
Los Angeles Film Festival 2015
101.Confessions of My Dangerous Mind / Eterefat-e Zehn-e Khatarnak-e Man / Iran / 2015 / 80 min
Dir: Hooman Seyedi
A man wakes in a wheat field with no memory. Is he dead? Is this purgatory? As he struggles to discover who he is, he is faced with startling revelations about himself and those around him. After being informed that he has a daughter, who has been taken hostage due to his part in a dangerous drug deal gone wrong. Will he be able to find the drugs, save the girl and figure out whom to trust?
102.My Mother’s Blue Sky / Aseman-e Abi-e Madaram / Iran / 2015 / 82 min
Dir: Ali Ghavitan
Amir is 8 years old. He has lost his father and lives with his mother in a hill far from their village. They have a small coal mine and are struggling to be completely independent. But, the owner of a big mine in that area is trying to take control of the whole mountain. Amir’s mother dies in the mine and the village’s council decides to bring Amir, who is living in the mountain all by himself now, back to the village. But he resists strongly against their decision since he wants to realize his mother’s intentions and wishes.
Cannes 2015
103.Something about us / Brazil / 2015 / 84 min
Dir: Petrus Cariry
The dry quarry and a forest that still beats. A very sick father reviews the daughter. Resentments are brought to the table. The memory of the dead awakened by blood, objects, shadows and dreams affects Clarisse at this scenario of beauty and agony. Husband and business are expecting she in the city for a cathartic outcome.
Kerala International Film Festival 2015,
Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival 2015
104.Love / France / 2015 / 135 min
Dir: Gaspar Noé
A sexual melodrama about a boy and a girl and another girl. It’s a love story, which celebrates sex in a joyous way.
Cannes Film Festival 2015
105.Chronic / Mexico / 2015 / 93 min
Dir: Michel Franco
David is a nurse who works with terminally ill patients. Efficient and dedicated to his profession, he develops strong and even intimate relationships with each person he cares for. But outside of his work David is ineffectual, awkward, and reserved. It is clear that he needs each patient as much as they need him.
Cannes Film Festival 2015 – Competition
Award for Best Screenplay
106.Victoria / Germany / 2015 / 138 min
Dir: Sebastian Schipper
Victoria, a young Spanish woman, dances through the Berlin scene with abandon. She meets four mates outside a club who introduce themselves as Sonne, Boxer, Blinker and Fuß. They quickly get chatting. Sonne and Victoria take a fancy to each other and slip away from the group at the first opportunity. But their tender flirting is rudely interrupted by the others because, for these pals, the night is far from over. To settle an old debt they have to pull off a dodgy deal. And because one of them is too drunk, they decide that Victoria, of all people, should take over the role of driver. What began as a game suddenly becomes deadly serious. Working from his own script, actor and director Sebastian Schipper tells the story of a breathless night on the streets of the metropolis. The camera seamlessly intertwines the passing of time and numerous locations, placing the audience right in the centre of the action. Alongside the audacious gang, we gaze out across the city from tower block roofs, saunter along deserted pavements and hide out in secluded courtyards as apparently random events coalesce into a dramatic tour de force.
Berlin International Film Festival 2015,
Melbourne International Film Festival 2015,
Norwegian International Film Festival 2015,
Sydney Film Festival 2015
107.Phoenix / Germany / 2014 / 98 min
Dir: Christian Petzold
Nelly Lenz is a concentration camp survivor who has been left severely injured with a disfigured face. Lene Winter, who works for the Jewish Agency, takes her to Berlin. Following facial re- construction surgery, Nelly begins the search for her husband Johnny. When she finally does find him, Johnny does not recognise her. Nevertheless he approaches her with a proposal. Since she resembles his wife, whom he believes to be dead, he asks her to help him claim his wife’s considerable inheritance. Nelly agrees, and becomes her own doppelganger – she needs to know if Johnny ever loved her, or if he betrayed her. Nelly wants her life back. The more similarities to her dead counterpart she reveals, the more desperate and confusing their relationship becomes. Will Johnny confess his love? Or his guilt?
Hong Kong International Film Festival 2015,
Istanbul International Film Festival 2015,
Seattle International Film Festival 2015
108.Tito’s Glasses / Titos Brille / Germany / 2014 / 94 min
Dir: Regina Schilling
With the search for her roots her constant companion, actress Adriana Altaras goes on a journey to find a country which no longer exists – and along the way discovers a whole lot more.
109.Jack / Germany / 2014 / 102 min
Dir: Edward Berger
Although he is only ten years old, Jack is responsible for himself and his little brother Manuel and this fills him with pride. Their single mother works during the day and often goes out at night. There’s no father in sight. One day, Manuel burns himself with boiling hot water while bathing and Jack is blamed for the incident. It’s reason enough for social services to put him in a home where he is dreadfully homesick. He soon gets into trouble and bolts, heading for home. He arrives back, only to find his mother is once again absent. Jack and Manuel roam the city in search of her. They sleep in parks and in an underground car park, run away from the police and encounter adults, some of whom help and others who are indifferent.
Berlin International Film Festival 2014 – In competition
110.Yona / Israel / 2014 / 100 min
Dir: Nir Bergman
“Yona” tells the story of the famous israeli poet Yona Wallach.
18-year old Yona quits school and becomes part of the art scene of Tel-Aviv in the 1960s. Fascinated by the poet-literacycycle of Yair Hurvitz und Meir Wieseltier, she confronts her texts and fantasy with the harsh reality. The result is voluntary and forced admissions to the psychiatric hospital. She manages to escape this cycle but her intervalls in life keep growing…
111.Bopem / Kazhakastan / 78 min
Dir: Zhanna Issabayeva
Teenager Ruslan is a half-orphan who lives by the dried Aral Sea. When he learns that due to serious illness he has no more than 3 months to live, Ruslan decides to punish those responsible for the death of his beloved mother.
112.Décor / Egypt / 2014 / 116 min
Dir: Ahmad Abdalla
This unique black and white film is a psychological drama about an Egyptian production designer named Maha. The film takes an unnerving turn when she finds herself transported into a completely different persona-a married housewife. This original piece remarkably captures the loneliness faced by some sufferers of mental illness, as well as the challenges faced by their loved ones. Filmmaker Ahmad Abdalla (Rags and Tatters, LFF 2013) fashions a beautiful tribute to the golden era of 1940s and 1950s Egyptian cinema. Abdalla shows plenty of aesthetic invention that has rightly seen him hailed as the leader of the critically acclaimed new independent Egyptian cinema.
113.Partisan / Australia / 2015 / 98 min
Dir: Ariel Kleiman
On the edge of a crumbling city, 11-year-old Alexander (Jeremy Chabriel) lives in a sequestered commune alongside other children, their mothers, and charismatic leader, Gregori (Vincent Cassel). Gregori teaches the children how to raise livestock, grow vegetables, work as a community – and how to kill. With the birth of a new baby brother weighing on his mind, Alexander begins to question Gregori’s overpowering influence on the children and their training to become assassins. Threatened by his increasing unwillingness to fall in line, Gregori’s behavior turns erratic and adversarial toward the child he once considered a son. With the two set dangerously at odds and the commune’s way of life disintegrating, the residents fear a violent resolution is at hand in this Sundance award-winning thriller.
London Film Festival 2015
Sundance Film Festival 2015
114.Three Windows & a Hanging / Albania / 2014 / 94 min
Dir: Isa Qosja
In a traditional village where life is gradually being rebuilt, the schoolteacher Lushe is driven by her conscience to give an interview to an international journalist. During the interview, Lushe admits that she and three other women from the village were raped by Serbian soldiers. When the men from the village find out that it was Lushe who spoke to the journalist, they start a hate campaign against her and her little boy.
Palm Springs International Film Festival 2015,
Washington DC Independent Film Festival 2015
115.The Dark Horse / Newzealand / 2014 / 124 min
Dir: James Napier Robertson
Genesis Potini, the late Gisborne speed chess champion who was widely admired for promoting the educational benefits of chess in poor communities. Battling bipolar disorder, Potini was also an advocate for Mental Health awareness, a cause this film advances by gentle implication. Bulked up for the role, Curtis never showboats. He draws us in close to a man grappling with his ungainliness and yearning to do right.
Napier Robertson’s script crystallises Potini’s struggles in a fictitious drama involving a conflicted teenage nephew, Mana (James Rolleston, barely recognisable from Boy), who’s about to be patched into his father’s gang. To Genesis there’s a compelling alternative for Mana: the local chess club, where he coaches an unruly assortment of Gisborne kids (who frequently come close to stealing the film).A tournament in Auckland becomes a testing ground for Genesis’ aspirations for his pupils, for Mana and for his own usefulness in the world. The suspense of competition runs strong in the film, but Napier Robertson’s sense of where true winnings might be found runs stronger. The modesty and grace with which his film celebrates its uncertain hero is more potently celebratory in its understatement than a stadium of air-punches.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2015,
Seattle International Film Festival 2015,
Washington DC Filmfest 2015
116.Moor/ Pakistan / 2015 / 119 min
Dir: Jami
After the death of the family’s matriarch, her husband and son must confront not only the corruption in society around them but the corruption within themselves.
117.Magallanes / Peru / 2015 / 105 min
Dir: Salvador del Solar
Magallanes recognises a woman getting into a taxi. It’s Celina, the young peasant girl he randomly arrested more than twenty years ago, when he was a soldier. They both have unfinished business. And for Magallanes, this is an opportunity to redeem himself.
Chicago International Film Festival 2015
118.The Fencer / Miekkailija / Finland / 2015 / 94 min
Dir: Klaus Härö
A postwar Soviet era drama loosely based on the story of Estonian fencing master Endel Nelis. Fleeing from the Russian secret police the young Nelis is forced to return to his homeland, where, lying low, he becomes a PE teacher in a run down local school. Determined to give his students a good education he starts an after school fencing club. The school headmaster does not approve, and attempts to ban the club on the grounds that fencing is an antiquated sport of the pre-soviet era. When the ban fails because of the overwhelming community support for the club the head decides to dig up the dirt and expose Nelis’ fugitive past. The Fencer is a finely crafted suspense drama set against the backdrop of Soviet fear and paranoia.
Munich International Film Festival 2015
119.The Black Hen / Kalo Pothi / Nepal / 90 min
Dir: Min Bahadur Bham
We are in the year 2001, a temporary ceasefire brings a much-needed break to a small war-torn village in Northern Nepal, bringing much joy among the residents. Prakash and Kiran, two young close friends, are also starting to feel the change in the air. Though they are divided by caste and social creed, they remain inseparable, and start raising a hen given to Prakash by his sister, with hopes to save money by selling her eggs. However, the hen goes missing. To find it, they embark on a journey, innocently unaware of the tyranny brought by the fragile ceasefire.
Venice Film Festival 2015
120.Mountains may Depart / China / 2015 / 120 min
Dir: Jia Zhang-Ke
China, at the end of 1999. Tao, a young woman from Fenyang, is courted by her two childhood friends, Zang and Lianzi. Zang, owner of a gas station, is destined for a promising future, whereas Liang works in a coal mine. Her heart divided between the two men, Tao must make a choice that will seal her fate and that of her future son, Dollar. Over a quarter of a century, between China undergoing profound transformation and Australia promising a better life, the hopes, loves, and disillusions of these characters confronting their destiny.
Cannes Film Festival 2015,Chicago International Film Festival 2015
121.Factory Boss / Da gong lao ban / China / 2014 / 102 min
Dir: Wei Zhang
The Dalin Toy Factory is in a state of crisis. There are no current orders, and angry workers are demanding unpaid wages. Owner Mr. Lin will do anything to save his factory, including cutting back on safety updates and equipment repairs. So he makes a desperate deal with an American toy company, contracting a low-profit job with a fast deadline that threatens to drive his workers to the brink. When a reporter goes undercover at Dalin and begins exposing oppressive conditions and safety hazards, things quickly worsen
Montréal World Film Festival 2014, IFFI Goa 2015
122.A monster with a thousand Heads / Un monstruo de mil cabezas / France / 2015 / 74 min
Dir: Rodrigo Plá
In a desperate attempt to save her husband’s life by accessing the medical treatment that he needs to survive, Sonia embarks on a chase against her corrupt and negligent insurance company and its complicit representatives — leading her son and herself into a vertiginous spiral of violence. A wounded animal doesn’t cry, it bites.
Tokyo International Film Festival 2015, Venice Film Festival 2015
123.Free State / South Africa / 2016 / 98 min
Dir: Salmon de Jager
A random act of kindness sparks a forbidden love affair between a white girl and an Indian man during the Apartheid system in South Africa.
