RAY BRADBURY'S CHRYSALIS

The Story:
In the future: The world is ravaged, a third world war has left our planet in a state of decay. In a research facility a handful of scientists research ways to sustain plant life. Scientist Benjamin Rockwell (Darren Kendrick) has been called to this decaying research facility.

One of the scientists there, Smith, apparently has died. Smith lies on a table, his body transformed, his eyes and mouth grown shut. After getting over the shock, and completing an examination, Rockwell realizes that there is still a pulse within Smith... His body continues changing...a Chrysalis has grown around Smith in order to protect him. Now in earth’s darkest hours these scientists must figure out what mysteries lay inside the CHRYSALIS.

Starring:
Elina Madison, Darren Kendrick, Corey Landis, John Klemantaski, Larry Dirk, Liesel Kopp, Glen Vaughan, Danny Cameron.

Directed By:
Tony Baez Milan

Release:

2008

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OUTSOURCED

OUTSOURCED

The Story:
Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) spends his days managing a customer call center in Seattle until his job, along with those of the entire office, are outsourced to India. Adding insult to injury, Todd must travel to India to train his new replacement. As he navigates through the chaos of Bombay and an office paralyzed by constant cultural misunderstandings, Todd yearns to return to the comforts of home.

But it is through his team of quirky yet likable Indian call center workers, including his friendly and motivated replacement, Puro (Asif Basra), and the charming, opinionated Asha (Ayesha Dharker), that Todd realizes that he too has a lot to learn - not only about India and America, but about himself. He soon discovers that being outsourced may be the best thing that ever happened to him.

Starring:
Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker, Larry Pine, Asif Basra, Matt Smith, Arjun Mathur

Directed By:
John Jeffcoat

Release:
2007

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VINYAN

VINYAN

The Story:
Unable to accept the loss of their son in the 2004 Tsunami, Jeanne (Emmanuelle Beart) and Paul (Rufus Sewell) have remained in Phuket. Desperately clinging to the fact that his body was never recovered, Jeanne has convinced herself that the boy was kidnapped by traffickers in the chaos that followed the catastrophe... that her son is still alive.

Paul is sceptical, but cannot bring himself to shatter his wife's last hope. The traumatized couple embark on a quest that will plunge them through paranoia and betrayal, ever deeper into an alien universe, a supernatural realm where the dead are never truly dead, and where nightmares, obsession and horrifying reality converge.

Starring:
Emmanuelle Béart, Rufus Sewell, Julie Dreyfus, Petch Osathanugrah

Directed By:
Fabrice Du Welz

Release:
2008

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KISSING COUSINS

KISSING COUSINS

The Story:
Amir (Samrat Chakrabarti), 29, is a heartbreaker. Literally. As a relationship termination specialist, providing dumping services for disgruntled daters, Amir spends his days delivering bad news to unsuspecting lovers across Los Angeles and retrieving his clients belongings (underwear, CDs, photos, etc). Though Amir claims he is just the messenger, the job has made him hard-hearted and, as a result, he is the last bachelor in his group of friends. This becomes crystal clear on his 30th birthday, when his friend Tucker (P.J. Byrne) tells Amir he can no longer be the Best Man at his upcoming wedding because he and his bride Tina (Nikki McCauley) want someone with better relationship karma.”

When Amir returns to his familys Bay Area home for Thanksgiving, he is reunited with Zara (Rebecca Hazlewood), his charming and beautiful cousin from Britain who he has not seen in twenty years. The two cousins do not get along right away as Zara is still upset that Amir kissed her during a play wedding when they were children. With the prompting of Amirs parents, Zara hitches a ride with Amir back to LA, only planning to stay a few days. Along the way, Amir tells her about his friends and their bachelorism and she is sympathetic. When she meets them, she surprises everyone, including Amir, by introducing herself as his girlfriend. Before long the scam is in full swing as Amir and Zara go on couples outings with his friends. She even shows him how to be more sympathetic to his breakup victims. Over time, Amir starts to soften from Zara’s influence and perhaps even begins to develop... feelings?

An undercurrent of sexual tension develops between them as the charade comes dangerously close to going too far. Will his friends find out the truth? Will Amir fall for his own cousin?! Or will he become one of his own victims?”

Starring:
Samrat Chakrabarti, Rebecca Hazlewood, Rachael C. Smith, PJ Byrne, Zack Ward, Nikki McCauley, Jaysha Patel, Amy Rider

Directed By:
Amyn Kaderali

Release:
2008

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CHRYSALIS

C H R Y S A L I S (French)

The Story:
Set in Paris, in year 2020. State-of-the-art surgeon Professor Brugen is in a horrific crash which kills her daughter Manon. Meanwhile, hard-nosed, no-nonsense cop David Hoffman (Albert Dupontel) and his police partner/wife Sarah (Smadi Wolfman) are in a gun fight with Bulgarian secret service renegade Dimitri Nicolov (Alain Figlarz). Nicolov sadistically kills Hoffman's wife and escapes.

Hoffman tracks down Nicolov and, after a chase, he is arrested. But Nicolov tries to escape custody by grabbing - and threatening to kill - Hoffman's new partner Marie Becker (Marie Guillard). He's coldly shot dead by Hoffman, who hands in his badge and leaves the force.

Back at his apartment, Hoffman is attacked by the man he thought he'd just shot dead. He's captured and subjected to the Chrysalis machine which can erase, transfer and manipulate memories. It turns out Nicolov has stolen the machine, and is using Professor Brugen's hi-tech skills to operate it. Hoffman is freed on to the street with his recent memory a blank slate. Becker teams up with Hoffman to investigate his memory loss and find Nicolov.

We learn that Brugen has created a duplicate of her dead daughter Manon using an abducted girl called Elena, whose face has been surgically changed to look like Manon and whose own memories have been removed and are being replaced with those of Manon. The crash-mangled body of Manon is being kept alive by Professor Brugen as a mere shell from which she is stripping her daughter's identity to put into Elena. Meanwhile, the memory transfer into Elena is slow and imperfect and she feels unease with her identity.

Hoffman's investigation takes him all the way to the surgeon and clinic run by the iron hand of technology where all is not as it seems.

Starring:
Marthe Keller, Melanie Thierry, Albert Dupontel, Marie Guillard, Manon Chevallier

Directed By:
Julien Leclercq

Release:
2007

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PING PONG PLAYA

PING PONG PLAYA

The Story:
Christopher "C-dub" Wang (Jimmy Tsai) blames genetics for his failure to make the NBA, lives at home, works a dead-end job, and squirms in the shadow of his older brother, Michael (Roger Fan), a doctor and ping pong champion. With a family-run store devoted to all things ping pong and a mom (Elizabeth Sung) who teaches it at the local Chinese Community Center, the Wangs’ entire world revolves around the sport.

When his mom and Michael are hurt in a car accident, his father (Jim Lau) is left to watch over the store, forcing C-dub to take over his mom’s ping pong class of misfits. But when the Wang family livelihood is threatened by a rival ping pong player’s attempts to lure the kids away, C-dub begins to take things more seriously. With the National Golden Cock Tournament coming up and an injured Michael unable to defend his title, C-dub must become the player he pretends to be and defend his family’s ping pong dynasty.

Starring:
Jimmy Tsai, Smith Cho, Khary Payton, Roger Fan, Peter Paige, Jim Lau, Elizabeth Sung

Directed By:
Jessica Yu

Release:
2007

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THEM (ILS)

T H E M (ils) (French)

The Story:
French teacher Clementine (Olivia Bonamy) and her novelist partner Lucas (Michaël Cohen) have recently moved into a large rambling house in the woods on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania. Their life there seems tranquil, almost idyllic. However, one evening, without warning or reason, everything is turned upside down. The telephone keeps ringing; there are distant, whispering voices on the end of the line. Slowly, the couple realise they are not alone. They don't know it yet, but they are being spied upon, they're being surrounded. When night falls, Clementine and Lucas will come up against THEM.

Starring:

Olivia Bonamy, Michaël Cohen, Adriana Moca, Maria Roman, Camelia Maxim

Directed By:

David Moreau and Xavier Palud

Release:

2007

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