Donkeyote

Spain/Germany/UK, Rotterdam Big Screen Competition 2017

Chico Pereira

Synopsis

Manolo leads a simple life in Southern Spain. He has two loves: his animals, in particular his donkey Gorrión (“Sparrow”), and wandering through nature. Against the advice of his doctor, he decides to plan one last walk in the US, the brutal 2200 mile Trail of Tears. But not without his donkey.

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Newton

India, 2017 Berlin Forum, Hong Kong Jury Prize, Tribeca competition, Indian entry for Oscar Awards

Amit V Masurkar

Synopsis

As India, the world’s largest democracy, braces itself for another general election- with 9 million polling booths, more than 800 million voters, and costing nearly $5 billion- Newton Kumar, a rookie government clerk finds himself entrusted with a task that appears deceptively simple: conducting elections in a remote village in the jungles of central India.

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Loving Pia

Denmark, Berlin Forum 2017

Daniel Borgman

Synopsis

A work of fiction, the film is developed from the life of – and starring – a real woman, Pia, who is intellectually disabled. Pia is 60 years old and she lives in rural Denmark in the care of her mother Guittou, 84.In the story, Guittou is getting old, and Pia worries about what will happen when her mother dies. She is afraid of being left alone.

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Antonio Um Dois Três

Portugal/Brazil, Rotterdam Bright Future Award Competition 2017

First feature film by Leonardo Mouramateus

Synopsis

António runs away from home and spends the night at his ex-girlfriend’s apartment. There he meets an unexpected guest, a Brazilian girl. Johnny is struggling to stage his first play in Lisbon. The friendship with a young lightning technician leads him to face his own questions.

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The Pot and The Oak

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.

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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.

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