Festival films

They live with their mother in Arcueil, a Paris suburb. Loïc takes the train. He wants to get to Paris, fast. Sophie doesn't know what she wants, but she wants something. She walks into Loïc's life, just to take a Loïc. Here, on the other side, is Vincent, LÔïc's friend. Sophie will want him, Loïc will never forgive himself. She moves forward; so does he, but in the wrong direction. They share the same fighting spirit. Out by Arcueil, Tony and Virginie have also learned to fight. And even if they haven't a choice of arms, they resist. "Our life is a journey into winter and night. We are looking for our way through the sky where nothing shines". Sophie calls that love.

This moving, yet unsentimental tale of love spans four decades in the lives of Konstantin and Elena, two Yugoslavs trapped inside a paranoid and brutal Communist-era Albania. The film opens in 1950. An unconscious Konstantin is pulled out of a dinghy on the Albanian side of Lake Ochrid. His rescuer, Ramadan, leads him to the local authorities. Konstantin is interrogated. He explains that he has crossed the lake simply to find his beloved fiancée Elena. The authorities don't believe him. They accuse him of being a Yugoslav spy and sentence him to prison. When he is released for good behaviour, he finally manages to find Elena. This is a visually and aurally poetic film of rare beauty.

Irini has chosen to stay near the front lines, so she can be close to her husband, lieutenant Costas. At the same time, she is having an affair with one of her husband’s men, sergeant Stratos. When Costas is injured and has to stay in hospital for four days, Stratos will tell Irini that her husband has been killed, and will ask her to leave with him, far away from the war...

An irreverent homage to the cinema of the sixties, the film is both a broad physical comedy and a witty deconstruction of a unique period in pop culture. Fashion photographer by day, Austin Powers is the consummate gentleman-spy by night. After being cryogenetically frozen at the height of his fame in 1967, Austin is now, thirty years later, being defrosted to match his wits with his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil, who once again holds the world at ransom. Austin is joined in his fight by Agent Vanessa Kensington, who is sometimes vexed, but always charmed by Austin's anachronistic affections.

Saverio Mazzacoli has an ambitious plan to build a village resort. He has ideas, enthusiasm, friends in high places and political connections; all he’s missing is the money. In an effort to get it, he begins to flirt with a rich countess, but, in order to participate in the venture, she demands a huge percentage of the profits. Saverio believes he will have better luck with the countess’ daughter who is mentally retarded, and whom he asks to marry him.

Four women prisoners, very different in character, form a rock band named «The Bandits». When they are invited to play at the annual policeman's ball, they use it as an opportunity to escape. With the media hot on their trail, their music begins to get radio play, and the group develops a huge following, the four women suddenly becoming cult figures. The escape from prison, the rise to fame of a rock group, the doomed female friendship, and the music video: all these genres are masterfully combined in this relentless, thrilling first feature by Katja von Garnier.

During 1993-'94, Vesna Ljubic displayed remarkable personal courage and solidarity with her fellow citizens, by remaining in the besieged city of Sarajevo to direct and produce her latest documentary film, Behold the Man: Ecce Homo, depicting the life and death of Sarajevo and its inhabitants. The hauntingly lyrical and, at times, existential quality of this film, stands as a tribute to Ljubic's artistic sensitivity, even amidst the struggle for day-to-day survival. In a city whose citizens face random death or maiming by mortar and sniperfire daily to obtain even the barest essentials, like water and firewood for cooking, the task of producing such an epic documentary on 35mm film becomes virtually unthinkable except for the most determined and stout-hearted of film artists.

The film captures images of the four months of demonstrations by citizens and students in Belgrade, against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, following the rigged elections of November 17th, 1996. Hundreds of people found themselves united in the struggle for freedom and democracy. We are presented with scenes of the work being done at Radio B92, the only independent medium in Serbia; the counter-demonstrations by Milosevic supporters; the cordon surrounding the Belgrade students as they resisted the police for eight days in one of the city's busiest streets; the violence of those in authority against the demonstrators on February 2nd, 1997; people «gone mad».

Set amidst the decadence of pre-war Nazi Germany, Bent is above all a powerful and moving love story, illustrating how the selfless love of one person for another can lead to a new freedom, which denies the oppressor his assumed power. Max and Rudy are led into the hands of Hitler's men and are exposed as homosexuals. The couple spends two years on the run, but they are finally caught and sent by train to a detention camp. On the train, Rudy is beaten and tortured, and Max is forced to collude in his death. At the camp, Max is befriended by Horst, who wears the pink triangle of the homosexual. Max pretends to be a Jew, wearing a yellow star, to escape persecution handed out by guards and prisoners alike to homosexuals. Max and Horst find a way to express their feelings for each other without being detected, and Max recognizes his overwhelming feelings for another person.

Spanning the late 70's and early 80's, Anderson follows the exploits of a hardcore adult film outfit, and especially its most famous star, from the troupe's beginnings, through its meteoric rise and its inevitable decline and fall. In a classic 70's disco, teenager Eddie Adams is discovered by porn director Jack Horner. Horner believes that the adult film can be made into an art form that can both titillate and entertain, and his loyal crew follow him down any path. But it is Adams who comes up with the greatest concept of them all: a porno James Bond, complete with action sequences and explicit sex scenes. The series is a great success and makes Adams a household name. But drugs and the bizarre mechanisms of this disfunctional family take their toll, and the group begins to break apart. The film is a powerful exploration of what happened to decent people when the greedy 80's took control.

When is an enemy not an enemy? when is an ally not an ally? The answer to these questions determines the fate of a man. Simon's struggle is played out against the rugged landscape of northern Norway. Raised in a close-knit community, he bears the scars of a childhood haunted by rumors. During World War II, the Russians and Americans become a presence in this remote landscape, which will have far-reaching consequences. Victimized by rumor and Norway's shifting political allegiances, Simon is denied the final reconciliation he longs for with his community and with himself. When the Berlin Wall falls, his life is once more turned upside down.

An intimate story of two women caught in a war where rape was as much an everyday weapon as bullets and bombs. Jadranka Cigelj and Nustreta Sivac, childhood friends and legal professionals, lived the lives of «ordinary modern women» in Bosnia-Hercegovina, until one day their neighbours became their tormentors. Calling the Ghosts chronicles the transformation of these women as their personal struggle for survival develops into a larger fight for justice. Putting rape into the international lexicon of war crimes becomes their mission. Due to their brave efforts, their very torturers now stand indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal.

An old man who lives by himself in the countryside, decides to give up farming and move to the city. However, once there, he has a difficult time settling in and eventually ends up in an old folks' home. He meets an old flame of his who dreams of being buried on the farm where she grew up, which has now been deserted for years. One night they flee together in search of adventure. Children of Nature received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film for 1992, and was also awarded the Félix European Film Prize in 1991 for best original musical score. It received Public and Critics' prizes at film festivals all over the world.

It is summertime. Lola is twenty years old. One night, she falls asleep on a bus, gets off at the last stop, and not knowing where she is, wanders into a nightclub. In this alien world which is immersed in music, lives Emir, a former boxer who can't love anyone. The dancer SaÞda loves Emir, but this love is curtailed by their drug habits. Ismaël is as close to his brother as he is to their childhood. He wants Emir to get back into the ring and earn money to pay back debts. Lola moves in on all these relationships, and when she meets Emir, she also finds love. Because of her desire for Emir, Lola exposes her body –and, unwittingly, the bodies of the others– to a forgotten warmth. The warmth is painful to their frozen skin, but brings them back to life.

Atsushi Hirata, a young employee in a Tokyo fish company, is forced to give up his vacation in Hawaii, to perform a memorial service for his parents. The ceremony can only be held at the place where they died: a river in a remote corner of Iceland. Consequently, this urbane young man will have to endure bizarre adventures in this «very strange country», in order to realize his musical quest. «It was inspired by a news report I saw on Icelandic TV», Fridriksson recalls. «Some Japanese scientists doing research in a remote corner of Iceland drowned when their jeep overturned in a river, Incredibly, years later, the families of the victims arrived from Japan, travelled across Iceland and perform a simple, but very touching, ceremony by the river... This is the only way to guarantee that the spirits of the dead will be at peace».