London Film Festival 2009

A cinematic journey across a continent.

View other London Film Festival Films by strand: Experimenta, Film On The Square, French Revolutions, Galas And Special Screenings, New British Cinema, Short Cuts & Animation, Treasures From The Archives, World Cinema

The Last Days Of Emma Blank The Last Days Of Emma Blank
The Last Days Of Emma Blank and His & Hers
Ander (Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Roberto Castón; Writer: Roberto Castón; Stars: Joxean Bengoetxa, Christian Esquivel, Mamen Rivera, Pako Revueltas, Pilar Rodriguez, Eriz Alberdi, Pedro Otaegi, Unax Martín, Leire Ucha)
When a rural farmer injures himself he develops an unlikely friendship with the farmhand he hires to help.
The Ape (Apan) (Year: 2009; Director: Jesper Ganslandt; Writer: Jesper Ganslandt; Stars: Olle Sarri, Françoise Joyce, Sean Pietrulewicz, Niclas Gillis)
A disturbed man's descent into hell.
Applause (Applaus) (Country: Denmark; Year: 2009; Director: Martin Pieter Zandvliet; Writer: Anders Frithiof August, Martin Pieter Zandvliet; Stars: Paprika Steen, Michael Falch, Sara-Marie Maltha)
An recovering addict attempts to reclaim her former life.
As God Commands (Come Dio comanda) (Country: Italy; Year: 2008; Director: Gabriele Salvatores; Writer: Niccolò Ammaniti, Antonio Manzini, Gabriele Salvatores; Stars: Filippo Timi, Elio Germano, Alvaro Caleca, Angelica Leo, Fabio De Luigi, Alessandro Mizzi, Corinna Agustoni, Alessandro Bressanello, Ludovica Di Rocco, Valentina Sussi, Andrea De Nori, Vanja Serra, Stefano Rota, Vasco Mirandola, Giuseppe Cristiano)
Thriller charting the tormented relationship between a father and his son.
The Big Dream (Il grande sogno) (Country: Italy, France; Year: 2009; Director: Michele Placido; Writer: Doriana Leondeff, Angelo Pasquini, Michele Placido; Stars: Riccardo Scamarcio, Michele Placido, Laura Morante, Luca Argentero, Jasmine Trinca, Silvio Orlando, Brenno Placido, Massimo Popolizio, Alessandra Acciai, Marco Iermanò, Federica Vincenti, Pasquale Cassalia, Susanna Musotto, Jonathan Winnicki)
A cop and wannabe actor infiltrates the 1968 Rome student protests.
My Only Sunshine My Only Sunshine
My Only Sunshine and Lourdes
Burrowing (Man tänker sitt) (Country: Sweden; Year: 2009; Director: Fredrik Wenzel, Henrik Hellström; Stars: Sebastian Eklund, Jörgen Svensson, Hannes Sandahl, Marek Kostrzewski, Bodil Wessberg)
A look at the complexities of modern family life through the eyes of a young boy.
Calimucho (Country: Netherlands; Year: 2008; Director: Eugenie Jansen; Writer: Rogier de Blok, Natasha Gerson; Stars: Dicky Kilian, Willy Soeurt, Peter Verberk, Ellie Teeuw, Tarek Hannoudi, Ralph Huppertz, Manfred Huppertz, Joshy Huppertz, Freddy Kenton, Evelyne Bouglione, Timo Soeurt)
Docudrama centring on Circus Harlekino - a wandering troupe.
Dogtooth (Kynodontas) (Country: Greece; Year: 2009; Director: Yorgos Lanthimos; Writer: Efthymis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos; Stars: Christos Stergioglou, Michelle Valley, Aggeliki Papoulia, Mary Tsoni, Hristos Passalis, Anna Kalaitzidou)
Three siblings cut off from society spend their lives trapped in their family’s home.
The Double Hour (La doppia ora) (Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Giuseppe Capotondi; Writer: Alessandro Fabbri, Ludovica Rampoldi, Stefano Sardo; Stars: Roberto Accornero, Deborah Bernuzzi, Barbara Braconi, Gaetano Bruno, Federica Cassini, Giorgio Colangeli, Michele Di Mauro, Valentina Gaia, Lorenzo Gioielli, Diegi Gueci, Giampiero Judica, Edoardo La Scala, Chiara Nicola, Chiara Paoluzzi, Lucia Poli)
A cop and a woman who hit it off on a speed date, find themselves caught up in crime and violence.
Eagle Hunter's Son (Die Stimme des Adlers) (Country: Sweden, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: René Bo Hansen; Writer: René Bo Hansen, Staffan Julén, Stefan Karlsson; Stars: Bazarbai Matyei, Serikbai Khulan, Matei Mardan, Asilbek Badelkhan)
The son of a Kazakh eagle hunter longs to shake of his heritage and embrace life in the city... but will an adventure change his mind?
Dogtooth Dogtooth
Dogtooth and Ander
Giulia Doesn't Date At Night (Giulia non esce la sera) (Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Giuseppe Piccioni; Writer: Giuseppe Piccioni, Federica Pontremoli; Stars: Sonia Bergamasco, Jacopo Maria Bicocchi, Fabio Camilli, Domiziana Cardinali, Piera Degli Esposti, Valeria Golino, Antonia Liskova, Natalia Magni, Valerio Mastandrea, Chiara Nicola, Paolo Sassanelli, Sara Tosti, Lidia Vitale, Sasa Vulicevic)
A disillusioned writer falls into a relationship with a swimming teacher with a dark past.
The Happiest Girl In The World (Cea mai fericita fata din lume) (Country: Romania; Year: 2009; Director: Radu Jude; Writer: Radu Jude, Augustina Stanciu; Stars: Andreea Bosneag, Doru Catanescu, Alexandru Georgescu, Diana Gheorghian, Violeta Haret, Bogdan Marhodin, Vasile Muraru, Serban Pavlu, Luminita Stoianovici, Andi Vasluianu)
Darkly comic look at the trouble money can bring, after a woman travels to a city to star in a commercial in return for winning a car.
Headhunter (Country: Denmark; Year: 2009; Director: Rumle Hammerich; Writer: Rumle Hammerich, Åke Sandgren; Stars: Lars Mikkelsen, David Bateson, Charlotte Fich, Charlotte Munck, Henning Moritzen, Samuel Fröler, Camilla Gottlieb, Vibeke Hastrup, Troels Lyby, Sami Darr, Andrea Vagn Jensen, Adam Brix, Maria Stokholm, Flemming Enevold, Anne Sophie Byder)
Corporate thriller centring on a journalist-turned-headhunter.
Help Gone Mad (Sumashedshaya pomoshch) (Country: Russia; Year: 2009; Director: Boris Khlebnikov; Writer: Boris Khlebnikov, Aleksandr Rodionov; Stars: Evgeny Syty, Sergey Dreiden, Anna Mikhalkova, Alexander Yatsenko)
A down on his luck man is taken in by an elderly crusader and co-opted for adventure.
His & Hers (His And Hers) (Year: 2009; Director: Ken Wardrop; Stars: 70 women), Trailer
Seventy women talk about the men in their lives.
The White Space The White Space
The White Space and Metropia
Ivul (Country: Switzerland, France; Year: 2009; Director: Andrew Kotting; Writer: John Cheetham, Andrew Mitchell, Andrew Kotting; Stars: Capucine Aubriot, Manon Aubriot, Jacob Auzanneau, Jean-Luc Bideau, Adélaïde Leroux, Aurélia Petit, Xavier Tchili)
When a teenage brother is caught kissing his sister's stomach, his father tells him never to set foot on his land again - leading him to take to the trees.
Journey To The Moon (Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Stephen Cookson; Writer: Stephen Cookson, Geraint Horwood; Stars: Jassa Ahluwalia, Jonah Cook, Mark Boggan, Emma Powell, Joshua Cheung, Joshua Ryan, Charlotte Davies, Nicholas Pearce, Fabian, Samuel Buttery, Rosanna Eaton, Patrick Watremez, David Fearn, Leonn Summers, Divine Bless)
Story of a group of Turkish villagers attempting to fly to the moon in the Fifties.
The Last Days Of Emma Blank (De laatste dagen van Emma Blank) (Country: Netherlands; Year: 2009; Director: Alex van Warmerdam; Writer: Alex van Warmerdam; Stars: Alex van Warmerdam, Gene Bervoets, Annet Malherbe, Eva van de Wijdeven, Marlies Heuer, Gijs Naber, Marwan Kenzari)
An elderly woman drives her 'servants' to distraction as they wait for her to die.
Little Indi (Petit indi) (Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Marc Recha; Writer: Nadine Lamari, Marc Recha; Stars: Marc Soto, Eulàlia Ramon, Sergi López, Eduardo Noriega, Pere Subirana)
Living on the outskirts of Barcelona, Arnau raises a menagerie of songbirds and tries to accumulate the funds to hire a lawyer for his imprisoned mother.
Lourdes (Country: Austria; Year: 2009; Director: Jessica Hausner; Writer: Jessica Hausner; Stars: Gilette Barbier, Walter Benn, Aurelia Burckhardt, Martin Habacher, Hubert Kramar, Gerhard Liebmann, Elina Löwensohn, Petra Morzé, Martin Thomas Pesl, Linde Prelog, Léa Seydoux, Sylvie Testud, Bruno Todeschini, Orsolya Tóth, Thomas Uhlir)
The story of a wheelchair-using woman's pilgrimage in search of a miracle.
The Ape The Ape
The Ape and Little Indi
The Man Who Will Come (L'uomo che verrà) (Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Giorgio Diritti; Writer: Giorgio Diritti, Giovanni Galavotti, Tania Pedroni; Stars: Maya Sansa, Claudio Casadio, Alba Rohrwacher, Vito, Eleonora Mazzoni, Timo Jacobs, Tom Sommerlatte, Raffaele Zabban, Diego Pagotto, Orfeo Orlando)
Second World War drama charts the impact of troops on small villages outside Bologna.
Max Embarrassing (Max Pinlig) (Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Lotte Svendsen; Stars: Samuel Heller-Seiffert, Mette Agnete Horn, Lars Bom, Reimer Bo Christensen, Anna Agafia Svideniouk Egholm, Rasmus Bjerg, Louise Mieritz, Faysal Mobahriz)
How do you win over the girl you fancy in class when your mum is MAX embarassing?
Men On The Bridge (Köprüdekiler) (Country: Germany, Turkey, Netherlands; Year: 2009; Director: Asli Özge; Stars: Cemile Ilker, Umut Ilker, Fikret Portakal, Murat Tokgöz)
Stories of three men in modern Istanbul, who work on the Bosphorus Bridge.
Metropia (Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland; Year: 2009; Director: Tarik Saleh; Writer: Fredrik Edin, Stig Larsson and Tarik Saleh, based on a story by Fredrik Edin, Martin Hultman and Tarik Saleh; Stars: Voices of: Vincent Gallo, Juliette Lewis, Udo Kier, Stellan Skarsgård, Alexander Skarsgård, Sofia Helin, Shanti Roney, Fares Fares, Fredrik Eddari)
Futuristic animation sees a young man begin to hear voices in his head.
Morphia (Morfiy) (Country: Russia; Year: 2008; Director: Aleksey Balabanov; Writer: Sergei Bodrov Jr., Mikhail A. Bulgakov; Stars: Katarina Radivojevic, Leonid Bichevin, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Sergey Garmash, Aleksey Istomin, Aleksandr Mosin, Andrey Panin, Svetlana Pismichenko, Irina Rakshina, Victor Vinter, Nadezhda Zharikova)
The 1917 Russian revolution provides a backdrop to a young doctors drug addiction.
My Only Sunshine (Hayat Var) (Country: Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria; Year: 2008; Director: Reha Erdem; Writer: Reha Erdem; Stars: Elit Iscan, Erdal Besikcioglu, Levend Yilmaz)
A girl endures a difficult transition to adulthood, living in poverty on the banks of the Bosphorus.
Osadné (Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic; Year: 2009; Director: Marko Skop; Writer: Marko Skop; Stars: Mikulasko, Soroka, Vico)
Documentary about a small eastern European village's attempts to get an EU grant.
Protektor (Country: Czech Republic, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Marek Najbrt; Writer: Robert Geisler, Benjamin Tucek, Marek Najbrt; Stars: Simon Schwarz, Matthias Brandt, Jan Budar, Sandra Nováková, Jana Plodková, Josef Polásek, Marek Daniel, Martin Mysicka, Klára Melísková, Jirí Ornest, Cyril Drozda, Leos Noha, Jan Rehák, Tomás Zatecka, Tomás Mechácek)
Radio journalist Emil protects his film star wife against anti-Semitism.
A Room And A Half (Poltory komnaty ili sentimentalnoe puteshestvie na rodinu) (Country: Russia; Year: 2009; Director: Andrey Khrzhanovskiy; Writer: Yuri Arabov, Andrey Khrzhanovskiy; Stars: Aleksandr Bargman, Sergei Barkovsky, Aleksei Devotchenko, Grigoriy Dityatkovskiy, Sergey Dreiden, Alisa Frejndlikh, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Aleksandr Lenkov, Nikolay Marosanov, Vladimir Rozygraev, Artyom Smola, Sergei Yursky)
A surreal portrait of poet Josef Brodsky and the postwar Soviet cultural scene.
St George Shoots The Dragon (Sveti Georgije ubiva azdahu) (Country: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria; Year: 2009; Director: Srdjan Dragojevic; Writer: Dusan Kovacevic; Stars: Lazar Ristovski, Natasa Janjic, Milutin Milosevic, Bora Todorovic, Zoran Cvijanovic, Milena Dravic, Dragan Nikolic, Branislav Lecic, Boris Milivojevic, Mladen Andrejevic, Srdjan Timarov, Predrag Vasic, Bojan Zirovic, Milena Predic, Slobodan Ninkovic)
First World War drama sees petty jealousies bubble up in a small Serbian village.
Sweet Rush (Tatarak) (Country: Poland; Year: 2009; Director: Andrzej Wajda; Writer: Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz, Krystyna Janda, Sándor Márai, Andrzej Wajda; Stars: Krystyna Janda, Pawel Szajda, Jan Englert, Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak, Julia Pietrucha, Roma Gasiorowska, Krzysztof Skonieczny, Pawel Tomaszewski, Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Marcin Luczak, Marcin Korcz, Maciej Kowalik, Jerzy Mizak, Marcin Starzecki, Andrzej Wajda)
Celebration of death, both factual and fictional.
This Very Instant (Un instante preciso) (Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Manuel Huerga; Stars: Jorge Drexler, Miguel H. Arancibia, Banda de Música del Prat de Llobregat, Víctor Calderón, Carlos Campón, Matías Cella, Oriol Farré, Roger Farré, Mariana González, Xavi Lozano, Juanjo Muñoz, Alejandro Pelayo, Natxo Tarrés, Leonor Watling, Manuel Huerga)
Documentary following a tour by Oscar-winning Uruguayan singer-composer Jorge Drexler.
Three Days With The Family (Tres dies amb la família) (Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Mar Coll; Writer: Mar Coll, Valentina Viso; Stars: Dafnis Balduz, Leonor Bonacasa, Nausicaa Bonnín, Artur Busquets, Josep Maria Busquets, Nadina Campas, Mercè Compte, Josefina Espinosa, Eduard Fernández, Greta Fernández, Ramon Fontserè, Cristina Gàmiz, Santiago Gimeno-Bayón, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, Francesc Orella)
Trouble brews for Léa when she returns home for her grandfather's funeral.
What Do You Know About Me (Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Valerio Jalongo)
Documentary shines a spotlight on Italian cinema of the past and the state of the industry now.
The White Space (Lo spazio bianco) (Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Francesca Comencini; Writer: Francesca Comencini, Federica Pontremoli, based on the novel by Valeria Parrella; Stars: Margherita Buy, Gaetano Bruno, Giovanni Ludeno, Antonia Truppo, Guido Caprino, Salvatore Cantalupo, Maria Paiato)
A middle-aged woman copes with unexpected pregnancy and the premature birth of her child.
Who Is Afraid Of The Wolf? (Kdopak by se vlka bál) (Country: Czech Republic; Year: 2008; Director: Mária Procházková; Writer: Mária Procházková; Stars: Dorota Dedková, Jitka Cvancarová, Pavel Reznícek, Martin Hofman, Jana Krausová, Matous Kratina, Marie Boková, Marek Taclík, Eva Leintbergerová)
A girl who dreams of being Little Red Riding Hood, begins to think her mum has been switched with an alien.
Wolf (Volchok) (Country: Russia; Year: 2009; Director: Vasili Sigarev; Writer: Vasili Sigarev; Stars: Andrei Dymshakov, Veronika Lysakova, Polina Pluchek, Yana Troyanova)
A woman recalls her relationship with her mother.
Woman Without Piano (La mujer sin piano) (Country: Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Javier Rebollo; Writer: Lola Mayo, Javier Rebollo; Stars: Carmen Machi, Nadia de Santiago, Tomás del Estal, Jan Budar, Esperanza De la Vega, Luis Antonio Espinosa, Pep Ricart)
Twenty-four hours in the life of a Madrid housewife.
Women Without Men (Zanan-e bedun-e mardan) (Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Shirin Neshat; Writer: Shahrnoush Parsipour; Stars: Bijan Daneshmand, Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad, Shabnam Toloui, Orsolya Tóth)
Four women search for freedom in Iran, 1953.
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