Festivals >> Sundance >> 2009 >> World Dramatic Competition

An Education (Country: UK; Director: Lone Scherfig; Writer: Nick Hornby, based on a memoir by Lynn Barber; Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, Matthew Beard)
In the early Sixties, a sharp 16-year-old with sights set on Oxford meets a handsome older man whose sophistication enraptures and sidetracks both her and her parents. World Premiere. Winner of World Dramatic Award.
Full Review See: Sundance Diary: Day Eight View Trailer

Before Tomorrow (Le Jour avant le lendemain) (Country: Canada; Director: Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu; Writer: Susan Avingaq, Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu, Jørn Riel; Cast: Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq, Madeline Ivalu, Paul-Dylan Ivalu, Mary Qulitalik, Tumasie Sivuarapik)
A wise old woman fights to survive impossible circumstances with her young grandson in the Canadian arctic. US Premiere.
Official Site

Bronson (Country: UK; Director: Nicolas Winding Refn; Writer: Brock Norman Brock; Cast: Tom Hardy, Matt King, Terry Stone, Amanda Burton, Jonathan Phillips, Hugh Ross, Kelly Adams, China-Black, Joe Tucker, Edward Bennett-Coles, Katy Barker)
Story of the self-named "most violent prisoner in Britain". Initially jailed, at 19, in 1974, for stealing just over £25, his offences on the inside have seen his sentence repeatedly extended. A study of the prison culture as well as the man. North American Premiere.
Full Review See: Sundance Diary: Day Five Official Site, View Trailer

Carmo, Hit The Road (Country: Spain, Brazil, Poland; Director: Murilo Pasta; Writer: Murilo Pasta; Cast: Fele Martínez, Mariana Loureiro, Seu Jorge, Márcio Garcia, Paca Gabaldón, Rosi Campos, Norival Rizzo, Kiko Bertholini, Nanda Costa, Thaís Fersoza)
A lonely, handicapped smuggler and a beautiful girl embark on a reckless ride through a South American border landscape. World Premiere.
See: Sundance Diary: Day Eight

The Clone Returns Home (Kuron Wa Kokyo-Wo Mezasu, The Clone Returns) (Country: Japan; Director: Kanji Nakajima; Writer: Kanji Nakajima; Cast: Akemi Fuji, Akiko Hayashi, Takahiro Hirano, Chieko Ichikawa, Eri Ishida, Hiromi Nagasaku, Akira Ogata, Mitsuhiro Oikawa, Kôzô Satô, Masato Shibazaki)
A Japanese astronaut who dies during a mission is subsequently resurrected as a clone and returns to his childhood home. North American Premiere.
Full Review See: Sundance Diary: Day Two

Dada's Dance (Country: China; Director: Zhang Yuan; Writer: Li Xiaofeng, Zhang Yuan; Cast: Li Xinyun, Li Xiaofeng, Gai Ge, Chen Jun)
Dada is a flirtatious young woman who lives with her mother in a small town. Having to fend off the constant advances of her mother's boyfriend who tells her she is adopted, she undertakes a journey in search of her birth mother. North American Premiere.

Five Minutes Of Heaven (Country: UK; Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel; Writer: Guy Hibbert; Cast: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca, Niamh Cusack, Conor MacNeill, Lalor Roddy, Barry McEvoy, Richard Dormer, Paul Kennedy, Jonathan Harden)
Two men from the same town but from different sides of the Irish political divide discover that the past is never dead - in fact it isn't even past. World Premiere.
Full Review

A French Gigolo (Cliente) (Country: France; Director: Josiane Balasko; Writer: Josiane Balasko, Josiane Balasko; Cast: Nathalie Baye, Eric Caravaca, Isabelle Carré, Josiane Balasko, Catherine Hiegel, Marilou Berry, Félicité Wouassi, George Aguilar, Sandrine Le Berre, David Rousseau)
An attractive, successful 50-something woman regularly treats herself to the sexual services of young men selected from internet sites. When one particular escort becomes a habit, the relationship gets a bit more complicated. North American Premiere.
Full Review Official Site, View Trailer

Heart Of Time (Corazón del tiempo) (Country: Mexico; Director: Alberto Cortés; Writer: Hernann Bellinghaussen, Alberto Cortés; Cast: Rocío Barrios, Francisco Jiménez, Marisela Rodríguez, Doña Aurelia, Leonardo Rodríguez)
Is love stronger than duty in the heartland of Mexico's rebel community? Full Review Official Site

Louise Michel (Country: France; Director: Gustave de Kervern, Benoît Delépine; Writer: Gustave Kervern, Benoît Delépine; Cast: Yolande Moreau, Bouli Lanners, Robert Dehoux, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Katerine, Kafka, Benoît Poelvoorde, Catherine Hosmalin, Christophe Salengro, Pierre Renverseau, Siné)
Odd-couple comedy about a factory worker out for revenge and the inept hitman she bonds with. North American Premiere.

Lulu And Jimi (Lulu und Jimi) (Country: Germany, France; Director: Oskar Roehler; Writer: Oskar Roehler; Cast: Jennifer Decker, Ray Fearon, Katrin Saß, Rolf Zacher, Udo Kier)
Bright garish colors, rock and roll and wild dance numbers mark this road movie about lovers fleeing from the evil powers of a Fifties deeply bigoted German society. World Premiere.
Full Review See: Sundance Diary: Day Two Official Site

The Maid (La Nana) (Country: Chile; Director: Sebastian Silva; Writer: Sebastián Silva, Pedro Peirano; Cast: Catalina Saavedra, Claudia Celedón, Mariana Loyola, Alejandro Goic, Anita Reeves, Del?na Guzmán)
A servant goes to extreme lengths to stay with the family she's obsessed with - and to get rid of the competition. Full Review

One Day In A Life (Un Altro Pianeta) (Country: Italy; Director: Stefano Tummolini; Writer: Antonio Merone, Stefano Tummolini; Cast: Tiziana Avarista, Chiara Francini, Francesco Grifoni, Lucia Mascino, Antonio Merone)
One languid summer day, a man heads to the beach in search of sunshine and bit of peace, but finds himself tangled up in the dramas of an eclectic group of nearby sunbathers. World Premiere.
Official Site

Unmade Beds (Country: UK; Director: Alexis Dos Santos; Writer: Alexis Dos Santos; Cast: Fernando Tielve, Déborah François, Michiel Huisman, Iddo Goldberg, Richard Lintern, Katia Winter, Leonardo Brzezicki, Alexis Dos Santos, Lucy Tillet, Al Weaver)
Two young foreigners find romance in the vibrant, artistic underground of London's East End. World Premiere.
Full Review Official Site

Victoria Day (Country: Canada; Director: David Bezmozgis; Writer: David Bezmozgis; Cast: Mark Rendall, Sergiy Kotelenets, Nataliya Alyexeyenko, Holly Deveaux, John Mavrogiannis)
Over the course of one week in 1988, the search for a missing teammate, parental expectations, a burgeoning sexual awakening and the rock concert of the century all threaten to jolt a 16-year-old into adulthood. World Premiere.
See: Sundance Diary: Cold Souls, When You're Strange, Victoria Day, 500 Days Of Summer Official Site

Zion And His Brother (Country: Israel, France; Director: Eran Merav; Writer: Eran Merav; Cast: Reuven Badalov, Ronit Elkabetz, Tzahi Grad)
The disappearance of a young boy sends a wedge between two teenage brothers whose loyalty had been unshakeable, in this gritty story of a working class Tel Aviv single-parent family. World Premiere.
Official Site

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