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| The King Of Ping Pong and Love And Other Crimes |
3 Women (3 zan, Three Women)(Country: Iran; Director: Manijeh Hekmat; Writer: Naghmeh Samini, Manijeh Hekmat; Cast: Niki Karimi, Pegah Ahangarani, Babak Hamidian, Reza Kianian, Maryam Boubani, Atila Pesiani, Shahrokh Foroutanian, Saber Abbar, Mehran Rajabi)
Gripping story of a single mother with difficulties in her job, and looking after the family. UK Premiere.
The Appeared (Aparecidos)(Country: Spain/Argentina/Sweden; Director: Paco Cabezas; Writer: Paco Cabezas; Cast: Ruth Díaz, Javier Pereira, Pablo Cedron, Leonora Balcarce, Luciano Caceres, Hector Bidonde, Isabela Ritto, Damasco Conde)
Siblings are terrified by tortured ghosts and a brain dead father's legacy in Argentina.
UK Premiere. Full Review
The Black Balloon(Country: Australia; Director: Elissa Down; Writer: Elissa Down, Jimmy Jack; Cast: Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette, Erik Thomson, Gemma Ward, Lloyd Allison-Young, Nathin Butler, Lisa Kowalski, Firass Dirani, Aaron Glennane, Andy Meritakis)
An insightful family drama, about a young man who must deal with more than his fair share of troubles, like his autistic brother. Also, young love and being a new boy in school.
UK Premiere. Full Review
Captain Abu Raed(Country: Jordan; Director: Amin Matalq; Writer: Amin Matalq; Cast: Nadim Sawalha, Hussein Al-Sous, Rana Sultan, Uday Al-Qiddissi, Ghandi Saber)
An ageing airport janitor who is mistaken for an airline pilot by a group of poor neighborhood children weaves fantastical stories to offer hope for a sad, and sometimes unchangeable, reality.
UK Premiere. Full Review See: Sundance Film Festival 2008: Day Eight
Eden(Country: Ireland; Director: Declan Recks; Writer: Eugene O'Brien; Cast: Aidan Kelly, Eileen Walsh,Padraic Delaney, Edna Oates, Lesley Conroy, Karl Shiels)
Taking a frank look at the slow disintegration of a marriage during the week before a couples 10th anniversary, Recks catapults an intimate story from O'Briens award-winning play onto the big screen while only enhancing its emotional impact.
European Premiere. Full Review
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| Fujian Blue and The Black Balloon |
Enlightened Blood (La Sangre iluminada)(Country: Mexico; Director: Iván Ávila Dueñas; Writer: Iván Ávila Dueñas, José Ignacio Valenzuela; Cast: Gustavo Sánchez Parra, Joustein Roustand, Enoc Leaño, Flor Payán, Jorge Zárate, Joaquín Cosio, Leticia Gutiérrez, Pilar Padilla, Raúl Méndez, Ari Brickman, Octavio Castro)
A rupture in time and space unites six characters in huge life-altering ways.
UK Premiere. Full Review
The Fall(Country: India, UK; Director: Tarsem Singh; Writer: Dan Gilroy, Nico Soultanakis, Tarsem Singh, Valeri Petrov; Cast: Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell, Lee Pace, Kim Uylenbroek, Aiden Lithgow, Sean Gilder, Ronald France, Andrew Roussouw, Michael Huff, Grant Swanby, Emil Hostina)
Tarsem Singh's visually opulent fantasy epic borrowing the narrative device of The Princess Bride to widen and scorch the eyes.
UK Premiere. Full Review
Fujian Blue (Jin Bi Hui Huang)(Country: China; Director: Robin Weng; Writer: Robin Weng; Cast: Luo Jin, Zhu Xiaopeng, Chen Shu, Wang Yinan, Lin Yile, Liu Haochen, Li Zhaolin)
Dual stories analyse societal breakdown in modern China.
UK Premiere. Full Review
God Man Dog (Liu lang shen gao ren)(Country: Taiwan; Director: Singing Chen; Writer: Singing Chen, Yi-an Lou; Cast: Tarcy Su, Jack Kao, Han Chang, Jonathan Chang, Ka-yi Mo, Hsiao-han Tu)
Multi-strand emotional drama.
UK Premiere. Full Review
Good Dick(Country: US; Director: Marianna Palka; Cast: Marianna Palka, Jason Ritter, Eric Edelstein, Mark Webber, Martin Starr, Charles Durning, Tom Arnold, Jesse Garcia, Katherine Waterston, Elisabeth Waterston)
The tale of a lonely girl drawn from her isolated life and solitary apartment by a doting young video store clerk who strives to capture her affections.
International Premiere. Full Review See: Sundance 2008: Day Three
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| Enlightened Blood and Life Track |
Goodnight Irene(Country: Portugal; Director: Paolo Marinou-Blanco; Writer: Paolo Marinou-Blanco; Cast: Robert Pugh, Nuno Lopes, Rita Loureiro, Amadeu Caronho, Virgilio Gança)
Two very different men join forces to find the object of both their obsessions, the beautiful young painter Irene. Despite their differences, they forge a deep friendship. UK Premiere.
Left Bank (Linkeroever)(Country: Belgium; Director: Pieter Van Hees; Writer: Christophe Dirickx, Dimitri Karakatsanis, Pieter Van Hees; Cast: Eline Kuppens, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sien Eggers, Marilou Mermans, Frank Vercruyssen, Robbie Cleiren)
Atmospheric horror film in the vein of Rosemary's Baby, with a descent into obsession and madness with the previous occupants of her boyfriend's flat.
International Premiere. Full Review
Life Track(Country: South Korea/China; Director: Jin Guang-hao; Writer: Jin Guang-hao; Cast: Chui Jing-hu, Jang So-yeon)
A disabled man allows a mute girl into his private space.
UK Premiere. Full Review
Love And Other Crimes (Ljubav i drugi zlocini, Liebe und Andere Verbrechen)(Country: Serbia, Germany; Director: Stefan Arsenijevic; Writer: Stefan Arsenijevic, Srdjan Koljevic, Bojan Vuletic, Bojan Vuletic; Cast: Anica Dobra, Vuk Kostic, Milena Dravic, Fedja Stojanovic, Hanna Schwamborn, Ljubomir Bandovic, Ana Markovic, Dusica Zegarac, Semka Sokolovic-Bertok, Josif Tatic, Anita Mancic)
"What happens if you fall in love on the very day you intend to leave forever?"
International Premiere. Full Review
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| 3 Women and Eden |
Mermaid (Rusalka)(Country: Russia; Director: Anna Melikyan; Cast: Masha Shalaeva, Evgeniy Ciganov, Maria Sokolova, Nastya Doncova)
The fanciful tale of an introverted little girl who grows up believing she has the power to make wishes come true. She must reconcile this belief with reality when, as a young woman, she journeys to Moscow and grapples with love, modernity and materialism. UK Premiere.
Milky Way Liberation Front (Eunha-haebang-jeonseon)(Country: South Korea; Director: Yoon Seongho; Writer: Yoon Seongho; Cast: Ji-Gyu Lim, Young-ju Seo, Eun-Seong, Bo-kyeong Kim, Yukie Mori, Hyung-keun Yu)
Writer’s block may be the least of rookie filmmaker Ryu Young Jae’s problems. His girlfriend ditched him, his first feature production is falling apart, and things are looking like they’ll only get worse in this absurd adventure from one of South Korea’s edgiest young filmmakers.
European Premiere. Full Review
Máncora(Country: Spain, Peru; Director: Ricardo De Montreuil; Writer: Angel Ibarguren, Juan Luis Nugent, based on a story by Diego Ojeda and Ricardo De Montreuil; Cast: Jason Day, Elsa Pataky, Enrique Murciano, Phellipe Haagensen, Liz Gallardo)
A young man mourning the death of his father sets out with his estranged stepsister and her arrogant husband for adventures in the lush, picturesque beach town of Máncora, Peru.
International Premiere. Full Review See: Sundance 2008: Day Four
Sleep Dealer(Country: US, Mexico; Director: Alex Rivera; Writer: Alex Rivera, David Riker; Cast: Luis Fernando Peña, Leonor Varela, Jacob Vargas)
Set in a nearfuture, militarized world marked by closed borders, virtual labor and a global digital network that joins minds and experiences, three strangers risk their lives to connect with each other and break the barriers of technology.
UK Premiere. Full Review See: Sundance Film Festival 2008: Day Seven
Son Of A Lion(Country: Australia, Pakistan; Director: Benjamin Gilmour; Writer: Benjamin Gilmour; Cast: Niaz Khan Shinwari, Sher Alam Miskeen Ustad)
Father and son's ideologies clash in their Pashun tribe.
UK Premiere. Full Review
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| Wellness and Sleep Dealer |
Warsaw Dark (Izolator)(Country: Poland; Director: Christopher Doyle; Writer: Maciej Pisarek; Cast: Anna Przybylska, Leslaw Zurek, Violetta Arlak, Jan Frycz, Adam Ferency, Jacek Poniedzialek, Lukasz Simlat, Jerzy Bonczak, Jan Frycz)
A night club dancer becomes embroiled in a political assassination.
World Premiere. Full Review
Wellness(Country: USA; Director: Jake Mahaffy; Writer: Jake Mahaffy; Cast: Paul Mahaffy, Jeff Clark)
Thomas, a salesman more like a modern day Willy Loman stakes the last of his cash on a wonder-drug in a savage deconstruction of the American Dream. UK Premiere.
