GENOVA

GENOVA

The Story:
A young American mother Marianne (Hope Davis) is driving in winter when she suffers an accident which kills her. Left behind are husband Joe (Colin Firth) and two girls, 16-year-old Kelly (Willa Holland) and ten-year-old Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine).

Five months later, Joe accepts a year long teaching job in Genova (Italy) and moves there with his two daughters. The Italian city is also home to an old college friend Barbara (Catherine Keener) who helps them settle in but may also have thoughts of rekindling an old college crush on Joe.

As they adjust to life in a new city, Mary feels responsible for the accident and is haunted by nightmares.Barbara and Mary bond over local history, while Kelly,rapidly makes new friends, proving a hit with the local boys. Joe arranges for both girls to have piano lessons but, as he is teaching during the day, cannot be there to look after them. Tired of babysitting her little sister, Kelly often stomps off leaving Mary to her own devices and it is on one such occasion that Mary thinks she sees Marianne for the first time. .

With Joe distracted by both his new job and the attentions of an attractive student Rosa (Margherita Romeo) and Kelly enjoying la dolce vita, Mary is plagued by nightmares, but after this sighting she sees Marianne regularly and is comforted by the fact, though of course she doesn’t tell anyone. Barbara, however, proves sympathetic and Mary plucks up the courage to confide in her. In the meantime Kelly is spending more and more time with her new friends, to Joe’s concern; she is out every night and becoming more and more defiant, reacting with hostility to any rules.


Starring:
Colin Firth, Catherine Keener, Hope Davis, Willa Holland, Perla Heny-Jardine, Monica Bennati, Dante Ciari, Gherardo Crucitti, Alessandro Giuggioli, Demetri Goritsas, Kyle Griffin.

Directed By:
Michael Winterbottom

Release:
2009

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KANDIDATEN

KANDIDATEN (The Candidate) (Danish)

The Story:
Jonas Bechmann (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), defence lawyer working hard to achieve his goals. His dad died under mysterious circumstances, and that bothers him, but now he is aiming to get his job at the big advokat office. Everything goes wrong at the job interview though. The boss, who is also Jonas' godfather, discovers his obsession of his dad's unsolved case, and rejects to give him the job.

Frustrated and disillusioned he takes a wild night out, drinking his brains out and ends up in bed with a girl he doesn't know. When he wakes up he finds himself in a rented hotel room, and the girl is laying dead on the bathroom floor. Brutally murdered. He doesn't remember anything of what happened the night before, and soon he is charged for a murder he didn't commit. Or did he? His best friend and his girlfriend begin to doubt, and he has to flee alone. He is being dragged deeper and deeper into a criminal underworld, where nothing is what it seems to be.

Starring:
Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Ulf Pilgaard, Laura Christensen, Tuva Novotny, David Dencik

Directed By:
Kasper Barfoed

Release:
2008

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I'LL NEVER DIE ALONE

I'LL NEVER DIE ALONE (NO MORIRÉ SOLA)

The Story:

Four attractive university students, Leonor (Marisol Tur), Moira (Andrea Duarte), Carol (Gimena Blesa) and Yasmin (Magdelena De Santo) are driving home through the sub-bleached rural community of the La Plata region in Argentina. There journey is interrupted when they pass a mortally-injured woman beside the road. Not far into the undergrowth they spot the perpetrators; three men illegally hunting the wild life. The four girls manage to rescue the semi-conscious woman and swiftly drive to the local village and its police station, but the woman dies in the backseat.

The sergeant (Rolf Garcia) starts the paperwork when the van with the hunters arrives. It turns out they’re his plain-clothes superiors. The girls quietly panic and after being released they skip town pronto. But the van is in hot pursuit and the police order them to stop at gun-point. The girls try to escape but Yasmin is shot and wounded. The girls are forced into the bushes and while Yasmin is tied to a tree and beaten the other three girls are each stripped naked and raped.

After Yasmin is abducted the remaining three, in a state of shock, manage to trudge through the undergrowth until they reach an abandoned cottage. But the nightmare isn’t over. The three men surprise them and further shocking violence ensues. The uniformed sergeant arrives, but he is entirely ineffectual. It’s up to Leonar and Moira, who’ve become almost mute through shock and steely determination, to settle the score.

Starring:

Julissa Erretegui, Sofia Urosevich, Magdalena De Santo, Gimena Blesa, Marisol Tur, Leonardo Cuchetti, Leonardo Alfredo Canga, Andrés Aramburu, and Rolf García Puga.

Directed By:

Adrian Garcia Bogliano

Release:

2008

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HUMAINS

HUMAINS (French)

The Story:
Professor Schneider (Philippe Nahon) and his two closest assistants travel to a remote Alps valley region in Switzerland for an essential anthropology expedition, as they found strong evidence about the origin of the human race that could actually alter all existing evolution theories as we know them. Shortly after their arrival, and after picking up a stranded and constantly bickering family of three, their minivan dramatically crashes down a mountain.

The survivors are first subjected to a devastating showdown with nature itself before facing a rough and deadly confrontation with the greatest anthropological discovery in history.

Starring:
Dominique Pinon, Philippe Nahon, Sara Forestier, Lorant Deutsch, Elise Otzenberger, Manon Tournier, Marci Olinger

Directed By:
Jacques-Olivier Molon and Pierre-Olivier Thevenin

Release:
2009

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MUM & DAD

MUM & DAD

The Story:
A Polish cleaner Lena (Olga Fedori) get drawn into a nasty home life of a twisted family. Mum (Dido Miles) and Dad (Perry Benson), together with their children Birdie (Ainsley Howard) and Elbie (Toby Alexander) live off whatever they can scavenge from cargo holds, offices and hotels – including transient workers who popular the airport.

They imprison their victims in a house full of murder and perversity, and Lena is lured one night after finishing the late shift when she misses her last bus. As soon as she arrives, she realises something is amiss with locked doors and odd sounds coming from the other side. Lena's only options appear to be to become part of the family, and join them in their insanity - or die.

Starring:

Perry Benson, Dido Miles, Olga Fedori, Toby Alexander, Ainsley Howard

Directed By:

Steven Sheil

Release:

2008

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PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND

PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND

The Story:
Phoebe Lichten (Elle Fanning) a troubled suburban schoolgirl experiencing symptoms that include obsessive compulsive step climbing and handwashing till her skin bleeds, uncontrollable hurling of insults and spitting at schoolmates when they tease her, and a fixation on roof ledges while trying to keep herself from jumping off them. Her parents (Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman), who seem to have their own fixations on their writing careers, are more often than not into denial about Phoebe's behavior, dismissing her episodes as phases she'll grow out of eventually. Or, perhaps the result of a child with a creative mind of her own, mirroring her own parents as dedicated nonconformists.

Always on the verge of being thrown out of school, Phoebe, who does indeed have the family DNA of a gifted imagination, is drawn to the new drama teacher, Miss Dodger (Patricia Clarkson), who is intent on mounting a student production of Alice In Wonderland. The two rather whimsically minded kindred souls for whom everyday reality is merely an impediment to creative inspiration, magically bond when Phoebe is chosen to play Alice, a situation which sparks maternal jealousy in her alienated mom, and overall exasperation on the part of the school authorities, who assess in the teacher's captivating influence over these children, a pathological loon.

Starring:
Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Elle Fanning, Bill Pullman, Campbell Scott, Peter Gerety, Ian Colletti

Directed By:
Daniel Barnz

Release:
2008

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THE COMBINATION

THE COMBINATION

The Story:
Set in the maligned western suburbs of Sydney, Lebanese-Australian John (George Basha) gets out of gaol to discover his younger brother Charlie (Firass Dirani) is caught up with drugs, hookers and crime. Charlie oscillates between the streets and school.

Daily clashes between Scott (Vaughn White) and Charlie's gang escalate. This feud spills into the streets in a territory and identity battle that turns bloody. The Combination dares to shed light on the racial tension that has often boiled over into incidents like the Cronulla riots. Suburban stereotypes are challenged when John falls for an Australian girl named Sydney (Clare Bowen). She presents an opportunity for a new start - yet with each step closer to her he is made painfully aware of the choice he will have to make - family or love.

Starring:
George BashaCast: Firass Dirani, Doris Younane, Firass Dirani, Clare Bowen John Brumpton, Vaughn White, Ali Haider, Michael Denkha, and Rahel Abdul Rahman

Directed By:
David Field

Release:
2009

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LA LINEA

LA LINEA (THE LINE)

The Story:
A veteran assassin Mark Shields (Ray Liotta) tracks down, Pelon (Easi Morales), the elusive head of the Salazar Crime Cartel. Through twists of fate, Shields ends up with a local woman, Olivia (Valerie Cruz) who is also fighting her own demons for the sake of her daughter. Set in the rich and atmospheric backdrop of Tijuana, Mexico.

Starring:
Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Esai Morales, Armand Assante, Joe Morton, Bruce Davison, Jason Connery, Michael DeLorenzo, Valerie Cruz, Danny Trejo,

Directed By:
James Cotten

Release:
2008

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