Iran, Rotterdam Bright Future Award Competition 2017
First feature film by Kiarash Anvari
Synopsis
After finding out that he has no sperm and can’t impregnate his wife, an Iranian man suffers an existential crisis.
La Soledad
Venezuela, Venice Biennale College 2016, Miami Audience Award 2017
First feature film by Jorge Thielen Armand
Synopsis
Already struggling to survive in the urban jungle of Caracas, José discovers that the decrepit mansion he occupies with his family will soon be demolished. Driven by a desire for a better life and guided by the ancestral spirits of the house, José embarks on a mystical search for a cache of gold that is rumoured to be buried in the walls of the mansion. This film is based on a true story and played by the real characters.
Atlal
Algeria/France, FID Marseille 2016- Best First Feature Film
First feature film by Djamel Kerkar
A poetic discipline that involves facing the ruins and bringing one’s memory back to the surface and one’s memories from the visible to the invisible. Algeria, in the grip of terrorism, officially experienced the loss of over 200,000 lives between 1991 and 2002.
Isola
France, Cannes ACID selection 2016
Fabianny Deschamps
Synopsis
A story made of dreams without fairies, at the heart of a contemporary world where individuals must reinvent themselves to survive. On an island lost between two worlds, Dai, a young Chinese woman, survives alone in a cave, waiting for the baby that swells her womb day after day. By the harbour which, every day, flurry with the arrival of hundreds of migrants, she searches tirelessly the face of the man she loves, her husband. One night her wish is to be fulfilled…
Heaven Sent
France/Lebanon, Cannes ACID selection 2016
First feature film by Wissam Charaf
Synopsis
After 20 years apart, Samir a former militiaman who was presumed dead, reappears in the life of Omar, his little brother who has become a bodyguard in Beirut. Between drama and comedy, Samir has to come to terms with a country he no longer recognizes.
Life after Life
Hong Kong, Berlin Forum 2016, Hong Kong Firebird Award 2016, Tokyo Filmex Grand Prize 2016
First feature film by Zhang Hanyi
Synopsis
Industrial development and the migration of population have seen the gradual desolation of the village with few people left and houses collapsed. Some people die, and some ghosts return. Xiuying’s spirit who has wandered for over a decade returns to the village by borrowing her son’s body.
Oscuro Animal
Colombia. Rotterdam Tiger competition 2016, Guadalajara 2016 Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actress
First feature film by Felipe Guerrero
Synopsis
Oscuro animal tells the story of three women forced to flee their homes in a war-torn region of Colombia. Each woman’s journey, marked by terror, takes her on a trek from the depths of the jungle to the outskirts of Bogotá, where each must gather the strength needed to start a new life.
Rio Corgo
Switzerland/Portugal, Berlin Forum 2016
Documentary by Maya Cosa & Sergio da Costa
Synopsis
Silva has trodden many paths over the course of his life, paths that criss-cross the north of Portugal. Now his steps echo in the narrow streets of a remote village, where he has moved into an empty house.
Dust Cloth
Turkey, Berlin Forum 2016, Istanbul IFF- Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay
First feature film by Ahu Öztürk
Synopsis
Nesrin and Hatun are two Kurdish cleaning women living in Istanbul. While Nesrin tries to survive with her little daughter in the big city, trying to understand why her husband left her, Hatun dreams of buying a house in the districts where she goes to clean.
I, Olga Hepnarova
Czech Rep, Berlin Panorama Opening Film 2016
First feature film by Tomas Weinreb & Petr Kazda
Synopsis
Olga Hepnarova was a young, lonely lesbian outsider from a coldhearted family who couldn’t play the part society desired of her. Her paranoid self-examination and inability to connect with other people eventually drove her over the edge of humanity when she was only twenty-two years old.