Private Fiction

Argentina 2019, San Sebastian Zabaltegi, IDFA Masters

Documentary by Andrés di Tella

Synopsis

Over several days and nights, an actor and an actress read the correspondence between Torcuato and Kamala, the film director’s parents, he from Argentina, and she from India. The letters, encompassing the decades from the 50s to the 70s, refer to love and idealism, record world travels, talk about socialism and psychoanalysis, about pain and broken dreams. Their reading reveals a relationship between the actors, with similarities and differences. Meanwhile, with his own daughter, the director sets about solving the puzzle of the family memory, an intimate twentieth-century tale.

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The Elder One

India 2019, Toronto Special Presentations, Mumbai opening film

Feature Film by Geetu Mohandas

Synopsis

The search for Akbar brings his younger sibiling, Mulla from Lakshadweep island to the decadent underbelly of Mumbai. Continuer la lecture →

Don’t Look Down

France 2019, London BFI

Feature Film by Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martinot

Synopsis

A woman and four men who barely know each other find themselves in an apartment in the sky above Paris. They have all been the victims of the same perverse dominator who is locked in a room. That night, they decided to end it all. In turn, they tell each other memories that bind them to this man and enter the room to confront him. But what happens there between the monster and them remains their secret. Continuer la lecture →

143 Sahara Street

France/Algeria 2019, Locarno Filmmakers of the Present- Best Director, Toronto Wavelenghts, Seoul DMZDocs Grand Prize, El Gouna Silver Star Award, Montreal RIDM Special Mention, Nantes 3 Continents Silver Mongolfière, Young Jury Prize & Audience Award, Turin Doc competition- Best Film.

Documentary by Hassen Ferhani

Synopsis

In the middle of the Algerian sahara, in her relay, a woman writes her History. She welcomes, for a cigarette, a coffee or eggs, truckers, wandering beings and dreams… Her name is Malika. Continuer la lecture →

Present. Perfect.

USA/ Hong Kong 2019, Rotterdam Tiger Award, Mexico Ficunam Special Mention for Best Film, Paris Cinema du Reel Young Jury Award Special Mention, Montreal RIDM Grand Prize.

Documentary by Shengze Zhu

Synopsis

Weaving together footage filmed and broadcasted by little-known Chinese live-streaming anchors, who struggle with real-life face-to-face social interaction because of their identity, disability and social-economic status, this cinematic collage explores how individuals satisfy their cravings for human connection through virtual togetherness, and how these virtual relationships challenge standard definitions of companionship. Continuer la lecture →

Bulbul Can Sing

India 2018, Toronto & Busan 2018, Berlinale Generation 2019- special mention

Feature Film by Rima Das

Synopsis

Bulbul, Bonny and Suman live an idyllic life, playing in the rain, climbing trees and swimming in the river. On the cusp of puberty, the inseparable trio go through their schooling days as a unit, discovering love, sexual awakenings and rebellion together. When a group of villagers discover the teens engaged in acts that outrage their moral modesty, the trio’s friendship is put to the test through violent punishment and tragedy. Continuer la lecture →

Acid Forest

Lithuania 2018, Locarno First Feature Swatch Art Peace Hotel Award

First Documentary by Rugile Barzdziukaite

Synopsis

Can you imagine a tourist attraction where people come to see a dead forest? Where they are not only observers, but also the ones being observed and listened to by black birds? The forest reminds of a nuclear fallout for some visitors, while others recall Hitchcock’s The Birds. People’s observations and responses to this environment are as multi-layered and bizarre as the story of the forest itself. » Continuer la lecture →

Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream

France 2019, Berlin Forum, Curitiba Olhar do Cinema New Views Award – Feature for Best Film, DocLisboa Special Prize of the Jury

First Documentary by Frank Beauvais

Synopsis

January 2016. The love story that brought me to this village in Alsace where I live ended six months ago. At 45, I am now alone, without a car, a job or any real prospects, surrounded by luxuriant nature, the proximity of which is not enough to calm the deep distress into which I am plunged. France, still in shock from the November terror attacks, is in a state of emergency. I feel helpless, I suffocate with contained rage. I am lost and I watch four to five films a day. I decide to record this stagnation, not by picking up a camera but by editing shots from the stream of films I watch. Continuer la lecture →

Gold Is All There Is

Italy 2019, Rotterdam Signatures

Non Fiction Film by Andrea Caccia

Synopsis

A river. A young boy who plays and gets lost in the woods. A naked man who wanders among the trees. A weapon. An illegal hunter. A police officer. A crime from the past. An old gold prospector. Real people, who go about their daily lives in a natural theatre where reality takes on the qualities of a fairy tale, a crime novel, a coming-of-age story. Five men at different stages of life who never meet yet are all part of one, unique, suspended narration.

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Giacinto Scelsi. The First Motion of the Immovable

France 2018, IDFA Best First Appearance Award, Turin Special Prize of the Jury

First Documentary by Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva

Synopsis

When Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva was 10 years old, his father played him music by his cousin, the composer Giacinto Scelsi. He found it frightening. Now he attempts to penetrate the world of a composer who remained obscure for many years and whose ideas about music and sound were unorthodox.

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