Tag: 2006

Director: Ki-duk Kim
Stars: Jung-woo Ha, Ji-Yeon Park, Jun-yeong Jang
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: South Korea | Japan

To save her relationship, a woman puts herself through extensive plastic surgery.

Director: Satoshi Kon
Stars: Megumi Hayashibara, Tôru Emori, Katsunosuke Hori
Genre: Animation, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan

When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients’ dreams is stolen, all Hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it.

Director: Johnnie To
Stars: Louis Koo, Simon Yam, Nick Cheung
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Hong Kong

As election time nears, current Triad chairman Lok (Yam) faces competition from his godsons. At the same time, Jimmy (Koo) looks to increase his business relations with mainland China.

Director: Tarsem Singh
Stars: Lee Pace, Catinca Untaru, Justine Waddell
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA | South Africa | India

In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story of five mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality blurs as the tale advances.

Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Sima Mobarak-Shahi, Shayesteh Irani, Ayda Sadeqi
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: Iran

Struggle of Women in a country that excludes them from entering the stadiums.

Director: Erik Richter Strand
Stars: Nils Jørgen Kaalstad, Mikkel Bratt Silset, Edward Schultheiss
Genre: Drama
Country: Norway

Trouble starts when Lars, a 25-year-old with few prospects for the future, discovers that an older man is fooling around with the teenage boys in his suburb. A terrible rage is triggered in Lars, and he embarks on a crusade to stop the abuser. But it soon spins out of control, and Lars’ actions end up endangering those he set out to protect.

Director: Tom Hooper
Stars: Lee Boardman, Jim Broadbent, Tam Dean Burn
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Country: UK | USA

A portrait of Lord Longford, a tireless British campaigner whose controversial beliefs often resulted in furious political debate and personal conflict.

Director: Spike Lee
Stars: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA

A police detective, a bank robber, and a high-power broker enter high-stakes negotiations after the criminal’s brilliant heist spirals into a hostage situation.

Director: Malik Bader
Stars: Malik Bader, Wesley Walker, Frank Zieger
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA

The movie follows the life of Chicago burglar Kaspar Karr. Kaspar cases and robs stores. He counts up his score and a small interview follows where Kaspar introduces himself. He shows his expertise in social engineering, stalking, and intelligence gathering and discusses his careful, meticulous planning cycles.

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Stars: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Nazan Kesal
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Turkey | France

A dowdy university instructor Isa is an inattentive husband to his younger, TV-business wife Bahar. Self-absorbed and selfish, Isa only communicates in the most rudimentary way, while she, similarly, detaches into crying jags and juvenile behavior.

Director: James Moll
Stars: Vivian Delman, Monika Hertwig, Reinhardt Hertwig
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

“Inheritance” is the story of Monika Hertwig and her journey to accept the truth about her father, Nazi commander, Amon Goeth, who was portrayed by actor Ralph Fiennes in “Schindler’s List.” As part of Monika’s search for information, she reaches out to Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig, a woman who had been enslaved by Monika’s father during the war. More than sixty-years after Monika’s father was executed for his war crimes, in a historic and painful moment, these two women meet, bringing closure, yet raising new questions.

Director: Lucy Walker
Stars: Gavin Attwood, Sally Berg, Sonam Bhumtso
Genre: Documentary, Adventure
Country: UK

Six blind Tibetan teenagers climb the Lhakpa-Ri peak of Mount Everest, led by seven-summit blind mountain-climber Erik Weihenmayer.

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Stars: Ismail Ghaffari, Allah-Morad Rashtian, Farzin Sabooni
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: Austria | France | Iran | Iraq

Mamo, an old and legendary Kurdish musician living in Iran, plans to give one final concert in Iraqi Kurdistan. After seven months of trying to get a permit and rounding up his ten sons, he sets out for the long and troublesome journey in a derelict bus, denying a recurring vision of his own death at half moon. Halfway the party halts at a small village to pick up female singer Hesho, which will only add to the difficulty of the undertaking, as it is forbidden for Iranian women to sing in public, let alone in the company of men. But Mamo is determined to carry through, if not for the gullible antics of the bus driver.

Director: György Pálfi
Stars: Csaba Czene, Gergely Trócsányi, Marc Bischoff
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Horror
Country: Hungary | Austria | France

Three generations of men, including a pervert that constantly seeks for new kinds of satisfaction, an obese speed eater and a passionate embalmer.

Director: Dror Shaul
Stars: Tomer Steinhof, Ronit Yudkevitz, Shai Avivi
Genre: Drama
Country: Israel | Germany | France | Japan

Set in mid-70’s, 12-year old Dvir Avni navigates between the equality values of his home-born Kibbutz and the relationship with his undermined mother, whom the Kibbutz members will to denounce.

Director: Ragnar Bragason
Stars: Gísli Örn Garðarsson, Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson
Genre: Drama
Country: Iceland

Karitas is a single mother of four who desperately tries to make ends meet. Fighting a losing battle with her ex-husband for custody over her three daughters, she’s oblivious to what’s going on with her twelve year old son Gudmund, a victim of brutal bullying at school and whose life is on the fast track to destruction. Gudmund’s only friend in the world is Marinó, a schizophrenic in his forties, who lives with his mother in the same apartment building.

Director: Emanuele Crialese
Stars: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato, Vincent Schiavelli
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Italy | France

A Sicilian peasant begins the journey to the promised land and meets a beautiful Englishwoman. But neither is prepared for the harsh realities of Ellis Island. Can they make it through the golden door to the America of their dreams?

Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Stars: Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: Iceland | Germany | Denmark

A murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.

Director: Emmanuel Bourdieu
Stars: Malik Zidi, Thibault Vinçon, Alexandre Steiger
Genre: Drama
Country: France

A group of college students are duped by a charming pathological liar

Director: Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
Stars: Ali Barkai, Youssouf Djaoro, Aziza Hisseine
Genre: Drama
Country: Chad | France | Belgium | Austria

Chad, 2006. After a forty-year civil war, the radio announces the government has just amnestied the war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim, a sixteen-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father’s own gun, he goes in search of Nassara, the man who made him an orphan. It does not take long before he finds him. Nassara, who now goes straight, is married, goes to the mosque and owns a small bakery. After some hesitation Atim offers him his services as an apprentice. He is hired then it will be easy for him to gun down the murderer of his father. At least, that is what he thinks.

Director: Hae-sung Song
Stars: Nayoung Lee, Dong-Won Gang, Yuh-Jung Youn
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea

A suicidal girl started to visit a convicted murderer awaiting execution every Thursday.

Director: Ye Lou
Stars: Lei Hao, Xiaodong Guo, Xueyun Bai
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: China | France

Yu Hong leaves her home village and starts university in Beijing, where she develops a consuming and compulsive relationship with another student. The student riots from 1989 then ensue and take a toll on their lives.

Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Stars: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Spain

After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn’t resolve during her life.

Director: Pablo Trapero
Stars: Guillermo Pfening, Martina Gusman, Victoria Vescio
Genre: Drama
Country: Argentina | Italy | UK

In Patagonia, a successful interior designer’s life falls apart after he suffers a horrific accident.

Director: So Yong Kim
Stars: Carolyn Eby, Taegu Andy Kang, Madgalena Karasinska
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada | South Korea | USA

A Korean immigrant falls in love with her best friend while navigating her way through the challenges of living in a new country.

Director: Julie Gavras
Stars: Nina Kervel-Bey, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Italy | France

A 9-year-old girl weathers big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970-71 Paris.

Director: Robert Sarkies
Stars: Karl Urban, Matthew Sunderland, Lois Lawn
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: New Zealand

Based on the Aramoana Massacre that occurred on 13 November and 14 November 1990. Resident David Gray, an unemployed gun collector, went on a rampage in which 13 people were shot dead, before Gray himself was shot by police.

Director: John Jeffcoat
Stars: Josh Hamilton, Ayesha Dharker, Asif Basra
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA

After his entire department is outsourced, an American novelty products salesman (Hamilton) heads to India to train his replacement.

Director: Mira Nair
Stars: Kal Penn, Irrfan Khan, Tabu
Genre: Drama
Country: USA | India

American-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family’s unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways.

Director: Guillaume Canet
Stars: François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: France | UK

An accidental discovery near a doctor’s estate stirs up some painful memories eight years after his wife’s hideous murder, and now, things are bound to take a turn for the unexpected. Does the good doctor know more than he’s letting on?

Director: Peter Miller
Stars: Anton Coppola, Henry Fonda, Arlo Guthrie
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

The story of two Italian immigrant radicals who were executed in 1927 offers insights into present-day issues of civil liberties and the rights of immigrants.

Director: Deborah Scranton
Stars: Zack Bazzi, Duncan Domey, Ben Flanders
Genre: Documentary, War
Country: USA

Called up for service in Iraq, several members of the National Guard were given digital video cameras. This film, edited from their footage, provides a perspective on a complex and troubled conflict.

Director: Nia Di Nata
Stars: Jajang C. Noer, Shanty, Dominique Agisca Diyose
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Indonesia

This is the story of women those are live in polygamy life. It’s about their consequence to accept the status as other wife.

Director: Joachim Lafosse
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Jérémie Renier, Yannick Renier
Genre: Drama
Country: Belgium | France | Luxembourg

A divorced mother of two boys reaching adulthood decides to sell their house, find love and get on with her life away from her husband and sons; a decision that will lead to an escalating fraternal dispute.

Director: Reha Erdem
Stars: Ozen Ozkan, Ali Bey Kayali, Elit Iscan
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey

A small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, facing the immense sea, flanked by olive yards. Villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living, on a daily survival basis, out of the earth and of a few animals they feed. Just like the animals and trees around them, they have the knowledge of their temporary existence, hence a sober resignation prevails. They live according to the rhythm of the earth, air and water, day and night and seasons.

Director: Zeki Demirkubuz
Stars: Ufuk Bayraktar, Vildan Atasever, Engin Akyürek
Genre: Drama
Country: Turkey | Greece

Bekir loves Ugur, who loves Zagor, who loves to commit crimes.

Director: John Curran
Stars: Naomi Watts, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: China | USA | Canada

A British medical doctor fights a cholera epidemic in a small Chinese village, while being trapped at home in a loveless marriage to an unfaithful wife.

Director: Neil Burger
Stars: Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, History
Country: USA | Czech Republic

In turn-of-the-century Vienna, a magician uses his abilities to secure the love of a woman far above his social standing.

Director: Emilis Velyvis
Stars: Donatas Ivanauskas, Mindaugas Papinigis, Andrius Paulavicius
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Country: Lithuania

ZERO is an 0 sucking in a young deserter, a casino victim and three heroin brothers. That is a destiny, a mixture of objectives and desires of heroes. That is a lifestyle balancing on the edge – bullets, numbers and needles.

Director: Marion Hänsel
Stars: Issaka Sawadogo, Asma Nouman Aden, Carole Karemera
Genre: Drama
Country: Belgium | France

On the one hand, there’s the desert eating away at the land. The endless dry season, the lack of water. On the other there’s the threat of war. The village well has run dry. The livestock is dying. Trusting their instinct, most of the villagers leave and head south. Rahne, the only literate one, decides to head east with his three children and Mouna, his wife. A few sheep, some goats and Chamelle, a dromedary, are their only riches. A tale of exodus, quest, hope and fatality. Rahne and his family travel across hostile lands under a lethal sun, walking endlessly onwards and frequently crossing paths with death. But “Sounds of sand” is also a parable about determination and eternity that takes us in the footsteps of Shasha, a nomad child full of the joys of life, whose tenacity and strength will conquer her father’s love.

Director: Jan Hrebejk
Stars: Anna Geislerová, Josef Abrhám, Jana Brejchová
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Czech Republic

A flood in Prague has damaged Marcela and Jarda’s home. He behaves boorishly over their son’s asthma so she threatens divorce and takes the kids to her mom’s, a possessive woman whose husband is a creep. While Marcela is there, Jarda is jailed for possession of a stolen car (he’s a mechanic who’s turned his garage into a chop shop). Benes, the urbane man whose car it is, befriends Marcela, and soon she has options. Jarda’s mother and her mother push her in opposite directions. Jarda has animal magnetism, Benes offers security, and her own body and mind may be at cross purposes. The Cold War is over, Czechs are free to behave well or badly. What’s best?

Director: Ham Tran
Stars: Kieu Chinh, Long Nguyen, Diem Lien
Genre: Drama
Country: USA

Thirteen years after the end of the Vietnam War, a family who was tragically affected by the war are forced to emigrate to America.

Director: Pascale Ferran
Stars: Marina Hands, Jean-Louis Coulloc’h, Hippolyte Girardot
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Belgium | France

A French adaptation of the second (and much less well-known) version of D.H. Lawrence’s erotic tale.

Director: Nicholas Hytner
Stars: Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Clive Merrison
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK

An unruly class of gifted and charming teenage boys are taught by two eccentric and innovative teachers, as their headmaster pushes for them all to get accepted into Oxford or Cambridge.

Director: Paul Verhoeven
Stars: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman
Genre: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: Netherlands | Germany | UK | Belgium

In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.

Director: Stephen Frears
Stars: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK | USA | France | Italy

Diana, the “People’s Princess” has died in a car accident in Paris. The Queen (Dame Helen Mirren) and her family decide that for the best, they should remain hidden behind the closed doors of Balmoral Castle. The heartbroken public do not understand and request that the Queen comforts her people. This also puts pressure on newly elected Tony Blair (Michael Sheen), who constantly tries to convince the monarchy to address the public.

Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Stars: Katharina Thalbach, Dominique Horwitz, Andrzej Chyra
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany | Poland

A nearly illiterate woman becomes one of the founders of Poland’s Solidarity union.

Director: n/a
Stars: Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, Jason Russell
Genre: Documentary
Country: Lebanon

Invisible Children is an American documentary which shows the human rights abuses by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) in Uganda.

Director: Jon Einarsson Gustafsson
Stars: Andrew Rai Berzins, Gerard Butler, Martin Delaney
Genre: Documentary, Short
Country: Canada | Iceland

When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel in 2004, they expected the usual complication involved in making a movie, but what they encountered made them wonder if the Norse gods were actually working against them.

Director: Quan’an Wang
Stars: Nan Yu, Ba’toer, Sen’ge
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: China

Set in Inner Mongolia, a physical setback causes a young woman to choose a suitor who can take care of her, as well as her disabled husband.

Director: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Stars: Mamhoud Chokrollahi, Mahnour Shadzi, Karl Maass
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Country: Iran | France | India

A girl believing in God marries an atheist, who is consumed by doubt. They decide to spend their honeymoon in India. Searching the countryside for a guru called the “perfect man,” who fobs them off with a message in invisible ink. Seeking for the truth, the wife starts performing rituals by dunking herself in the Ganges river, while naked old men cavort around her…

Director: Hilary Brougher
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy Hutton
Genre: Drama
Country: USA

Pregnant forensic psychologist Lydie Crane is hired to learn the truth behind the case of 16-year-old Stephanie Daley, who is accused of concealing her pregnancy and murdering her infant.

Director: Rolf de Heer, Peter Djigirr
Stars: Crusoe Kurddal, Jamie Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: Australia

In Australia’s Northern Territory, a man tells us a story of his people and his land. It’s about an older man, Minygululu, who has three wives and realizes that his younger brother Dayindi may try to steal away the youngest wife.

Director: Louise Osmond, Jerry Rothwell
Stars: Tilda Swinton, Donald Crowhurst, Jean Badin
Genre: Documentary, History, Sport
Country: UK

A documentary about the disastrous 1968 round-the-world yacht race.

Director: Philippe Lioret
Stars: Mélanie Laurent, Kad Merad, Isabelle Renauld
Genre: Drama
Country: France

Lili returns from holidays and learns that her twin brother left the house after a violent argument with their father.

Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Stars: Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem, Sami Bouajila
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Country: Algeria | France | Morocco | Belgium

During WWII, four North African men enlist in the French army to liberate that country from Nazi oppression, and to fight French discrimination.

Director: Doug Atchison
Stars: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer
Genre: Drama, Family
Country: USA

A young girl from South Los Angeles tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee.

Director: Susanne Bier
Stars: Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rolf Lassgård
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark | Sweden | UK | Norway

A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.

Director: Michael Hofmann
Stars: Josef Ostendorf, Charlotte Roche, Devid Striesow
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Germany | Switzerland

A successful chef falls for a married woman.

Director: Marek Koterski
Stars: Marek Kondrat, Andrzej Chyra, Michal Koterski
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland

Son’s painful memories of his father’s lifelong alcohol addiction turn to be traumatic for both of them. These memories make them realise the booze inheritance in their family. Will they get out of this vicious circle?

Director: Jon Fauer
Stars: Remi Adefarasin, Russ T. Alsobrook, Howard A. Anderson III
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

110 of the world’s top cinematographers discuss the art of how and why films look the way they do.

Director: Malcolm Ingram
Stars: Jim Bishop, Terry Capps, Jackie Cox
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

The story of community in the Deep South that is forced to deal with the struggles of ignorance, hypocrisy and oppression.

Director: James Longley
Stars: Mohammed Haithem, Suleiman Mahmoud, Muqtada al-Sadr
Genre: Documentary, War
Country: USA

Stories from modern day Iraq as told by Iraqis living in a time of war, occupation and ethnic tension.

Director: Laura Poitras
Stars: n/a
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

Documentary by Oscar winner Laura Poitras about the war in Iraq.

Director: Abdallah Omeish, Sufyan Omeish
Stars: James Akins, Arik Ascherman, Bishop Barltlett Jr.
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

A thought-provoking and powerful documentary film on the current and historical root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. political involvement.

Director: Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck
Stars: Natalie Maines, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire
Genre: Documentary, Biography, Music
Country: USA

A documentary on the The Chicks in the wake of singer Natalie Maines’ anti-George W. Bush statement at a 2003 concert.

Director: Christopher Dillon Quinn, Tommy Walker
Stars: Panther Bior, John Bul Dau, Nicole Kidman
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

Four boys from Sudan embark on a journey to America after years of wandering Sub-Saharan Africa in search of safety.

Director: Sang-soo Hong
Stars: Seung-woo Kim, Hyun-Jung Go, Seon-mi Song
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea

A movie director entices his young friend to come to the beach on the pretext of writing a script. He then starts an affair with the friend’s girlfriend.

Director: Ming-liang Tsai
Stars: Kang-sheng Lee, Shiang-chyi Chen, Norman Atun
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Malaysia | China | Taiwan | France | Austria

A day laborer is badly beaten, and a young man nurses him back to health.

Director: Lars von Trier
Stars: Jens Albinus, Peter Gantzler, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson
Genre: Comedy
Country: Denmark | Sweden | France | Italy | Germany | Iceland

An IT company hires an actor to serve as the company’s president in order to help the business get sold to a cranky Icelander.

Director: Chan-wook Park
Stars: Soo-jung Lim, Rain, Seong-hun Cheon
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: South Korea

A girl who thinks she is a combat cyborg checks into a mental hospital, where she encounters other psychotics. Eventually, she falls for a man who thinks he can steal people’s souls.

Director: Sofia Coppola
Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA | France | Japan

The retelling of France’s iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 15 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen, and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: USA

The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II.

Director: Frank Theys
Stars: Jay McMahon, Osman Bakar, Michel Baudry
Genre: Documentary, Sci-Fi
Country: Belgium

Technocalyps examines transhumanism. Experts and scientists discuss whether human beings will use discoveries in genetics, robotics, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence to enhance their bodies and minds beyond their current physical and mental forms.

Director: Michael Verhoeven
Stars: n/a
Genre: Documentary, History
Country: Germany

The popular reaction to a German museum exhibit detailing the war crimes and atrocities committed by Nazi Germany’s regular armed forces is explored.

Director: Mark Verkerk
Stars: Phra Khru Bah Neua Chai Kositto, Khun Ead, Pan Sean
Genre: Documentary
Country: Netherlands | France

Buddha’s Lost Children is a feature-length documentary film about a Thai Buddhist monk who – armed only with his faith and skills and master boxer skills – wages an inspirational battle to help orphaned children, fight drug abuse, and preserve a vanishing way of life.

Director: Jasmine Dellal
Stars: Maharaja, Esma Redzepova, Taraf de Haidouks
Genre: Documentary, Music
Country: USA

A brief look into Romani culture and Rom (Gypsies) from around the globe as five famous Romani groups tour the USA. The film visits their families at home in Spain, India, Macedonia and Romania.

Director: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze
Stars: Jowita Budnik, Arkadiusz Janiczek, Ewa Wencel
Genre: Drama
Country: Poland

A story of a married couple with two children, whose housing problems, the man’s infidelity and the woman’s fragility lead the family to destruction.

Director: Luu Huynh
Stars: Thien Tu Tran, Truong Ngoc Anh, Khanh Quoc Nguyen
Genre: Drama
Country: Vietnam

Wartime epic involving a poverty-stricken family who struggle to make ends meet, and the mother who does the unthinkable to provide her daughters with the traditional silk dresses required to attend school.

Director: Radu Muntean
Stars: Paul Ipate, Adi Carauleanu, Dragos Bucur
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: Romania

Out of enthusiasm, a Militia soldier abandons his platoon and decides to fight for the cause of the Revolution. His Lieutenant and the rest of the crew look for him during the confused night of 22-23 December 1989.

Director: Linda Hattendorf
Stars: Linda Hattendorf, Jimmy Mirikitani
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

Documentary about red-beret-ed Jimmy Mirikitani, a feisty painter working and living on the street, near the World Trade Center, when 9/11 devastates the neighborhood. A nearby film editor, Linda Hattendorf, persuades elderly Jimmy to move in with her, while seeking a permanent home for him. The young woman delves into the California-born, Japan-raised artist’s unique life which developed his resilient personality, and fuels his 2 main subjects: cats and internment camps. The editor films Jimmy’s remarkable journey back into his incredible past.

Director: Zdravko Sotra
Stars: Dragan Nikolic, Zoran Cvijanovic, Petar Kralj
Genre: Documentary
Country: Serbia

Warriors from Salonica front in the First World War. The narrator tells us how much they struggled to go back to Serbia, but many of them never came back – their remains lie on the Island of Corfu.

Director: Christiane Cegavske
Stars: n/a
Genre: Animation, Fantasy
Country: USA

A handmade stop-motion fairy tale for adults that tells the tale of the struggle between the aristocratic White Mice and the rustic Creatures Who Dwell Under the Oak over the doll of their heart’s desire.

Director: Albert Maysles, David Maysles
Stars: Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale, Edith Bouvier Beale, Albert Maysles
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

Utilizing hours of unseen archival footage, The Beales is a new take on the women of Grey Gardens.

Director: Manuel Huerga
Stars: Daniel Brühl, Tristán Ulloa, Leonardo Sbaraglia
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Spain | UK

A profile of anarchist and bank-robber Salvador Puig Antich, whose 1974 execution under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco ushered in a period of unrest that helped Spain transition to democracy.

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Stars: Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Kyôka Suzuki, Genzô Wakayama
Genre: Animation, Short, Fantasy
Country: Japan

A young boy is tired of the city and escapes into the country. Two strangers trade him a strange seed. The boy accepts and the seed sprouts into a miniature planet, which continues to grow.

Director: Dong-hoon Choi
Stars: Seung-woo Cho, Yun-shik Baek, Hye-su Kim
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Country: South Korea

A guy with a talent for cards makes his way into the dangerous world of underground gambling in this crime thriller from South Korea. Go-ni (Jo Seung-woo) is a small-town guy with a big appetite for gambling. Convinced he?s on a hot streak one evening during a card game, Go-ni bets his life savings on a hand of hwatu, only to lose to a crooked cardsharp. Determined to get revenge, Go-ni sets out to find the guy who cheated him and win back his money.

Director: Asghar Farhadi
Stars: Hamid Farokhnezhad, Hediyeh Tehrani, Taraneh Alidoosti
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: Iran

On the last Wednesday before the spring solstice ushers in the Persian New Year, people set off fireworks following an ancient Zoroastrian tradition. Rouhi, spending her first day at a new job, finds herself in the midst of a different kind of fireworks — a domestic dispute between her new boss and his wife.

Director: David Leaf, John Scheinfeld
Stars: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Stew Albert
Genre: Documentary, Biography, Music
Country: USA

A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.

Director: Robert Altman
Stars: Lily Tomlin, Meryl Streep, Woody Harrelson
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: USA

A look at what goes on backstage during the last broadcast of America’s most celebrated radio show, where singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty, a country music siren, and a host of others hold court.

Director: Jonathan Demme
Stars: Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Pegi Young
Genre: Documentary, Music
Country: USA

A film shot over during a two-night performance by Neil Young at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: USA | Japan

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Director: Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan
Stars: Jesse Abbott-Dallamora, Robert Bonazoli, Tyler DiVittorio
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

A man suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease deals with the woman falling for him and a brother who becomes obsessed with finding a cure.

Director: Gisela Grischow, Volker Schlöndorff
Stars: Jean Arthur, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney
Genre: Documentary
Country: Germany | USA

Billy Wilder discusses his life and films in interviews filmed by Volker Schlondorff over two weeks in 1988.

Director: Andrew Jenks
Stars: Bill Delarm, Andrew Jenks, Dotty Shepard
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

At 19 years old, Andrew Jenks moved into an assisted living facility in Florida with two friends in order to document life there and to glean what lessons he could from the senior population. In turns moving, hilarious and disturbing, this documentary should be required viewing for every young adult with aging parents.

Director: Joe Halderman
Stars: Ruslan Aushev, Shamil Basayev, Dmitry Beliakov
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

In September 2004, Chechen rebels occupied a school in the small Russian city of Beslan, taking some 1,200 people-most of them children-hostage. At the end of three days, over 330 were dead.

Director: Jake Clennell
Stars: n/a
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

Welcome to The Great Happiness Space: Rakkyo Café. The club’s owner, Issei (22), has a staff of twenty boys all under his training to become the top escorts of Osaka’s underground love scene. During their training, they learn how to dress, how to talk, how to walk, and most importantly, how to fake relationships with the girls who become their source of income. Join us as Osaka’s number one host boy takes us on a journey through the complex and heartrenching world of love for sale in the Japanese underground.

Director: Takashi Koizumi
Stars: Akira Terao, Eri Fukatsu, Takanari Saito
Genre: Drama, Family, Romance
Country: Japan

This is the story between a single mother housekeeper and mathematics professor, who has a brain damage.

Director: Rick Ray
Stars: The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Bagdro, Bob Dole
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

How do you reconcile a commitment to non-violence when faced with violence? Why do the poor often seem happier than the rich? Must a society lose its traditions in order to move into the future? These are some of the questions posed to His Holiness the Dalai Lama by filmmaker and explorer Rick Ray.

Director: Bård Breien
Stars: Fridtjov Såheim, Kirsti Eline Torhaug, Henrik Mestad
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Norway

The local disability support group visits an involuntary member, not realizing that it will bring them to a critical mass.

Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kanako Higuchi, Kenji Sakaguchi
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan

A successful businessman’s family life is shattered by an early onset of Alzheimer’s.

Director: Simon Ardizzone, Russell Michaels
Stars: James Naughton, Bev Harris, Deanie Lowe
Genre: Documentary
Country: UK | USA

The film the voting machine corporations don’t want you to see. HACKING DEMOCRACY follows investigator/grandmother, Bev Harris, and her citizen-activists as they set out to uncover how America counts its votes. Proving the votes can be stolen without a trace culminates in a duel between the Diebold corporation’s voting machines and a computer hacker – with America’s democracy at stake.

Director: Jasmila Zbanic
Stars: Mirjana Karanovic, Luna Zimic Mijovic, Leon Lucev
Genre: Drama
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina | Croatia | Austria | Germany

A woman and her daughter struggle to make their way through the aftermath of the Bosnian War.

Director: Guy Maddin
Stars: Gretchen Krich, Sullivan Brown, Maya Lawson
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Canada | USA

Returned home to his long-estranged mother upon a request from her deathbed, a man raised by his parents in an orphanage has to confront the childhood memories that have long haunted him.

Director: Chris Paine
Stars: Martin Sheen, Tom Hanks, Mel Gibson
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA

A documentary that investigates the birth and death of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in the future.

Director: Paolo Sorrentino
Stars: Giacomo Rizzo, Laura Chiatti, Gigi Angelillo
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy | France

Geremia, an aging tailor/money lender, is a repulsive, mean, stingy man who lives alone in his shabby house with his scornful, bedridden mother. He has a morbid, obsessive relationship with money and he uses it to insinuate himself into other people’s affairs, pretending to be the “family friend”. One day he is asked by a man to lend him money for the wedding of Rosalba, his daughter. Geremia falls in love at first sight with the bewitching creature and and soon indulges in a “beauty and the beast” relationship.

Director: Corneliu Porumboiu
Stars: Mircea Andreescu, Teodor Corban, Ion Sapdaru
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Romania

A local talk show host organizes an alcoholic professor and a pensioner known for playing Santa Claus to decide whether there was ever a revolution in their town Vaslui.

Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Stars: Emily Rios, Jesse Garcia, Chalo González
Genre: Drama
Country: USA

As Magdalena’s 15th birthday approaches, her simple, blissful life is complicated by the discovery that she’s pregnant. Kicked out of her house, she finds a new family with her great-granduncle and gay cousin.

Director: Stanley Nelson
Stars: Rebecca Moore, Janet Shular, Tim Carter
Genre: Documentary, History
Country: USA

Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.

Director: Marwan Hamed
Stars: Adel Emam, Nour El-Sherif, Youssra
Genre: Drama
Country: Egypt | France

Meditations on corruption, fundamentalism, prostitution, homosexuality, and drugs in central Cairo.

Director: Tetsuya Nakashima
Stars: Miki Nakatani, Eita, Yûsuke Iseya
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical
Country: Japan

When Matsuko dies of murder, her nephew Sho gets to progressively unveil many details of her mysterious past, discovering she wasn’t only a forgotten outcast but led a very interesting yet bizarre life.

Director: Davis Guggenheim
Stars: Al Gore, Billy West, George Bush
Genre: Documentary, News
Country: USA

Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.

Director: Yimou Zhang
Stars: Yun-Fat Chow, Li Gong, Jay Chou
Genre: Action, Drama, History
Country: China | Hong Kong

During China’s Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

Director: Jirí Menzel
Stars: Ivan Barnev, Oldrich Kaiser, Julia Jentsch
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: Czech Republic | Slovakia

A look at the glamorous life at an old-world Prague hotel.

Director: Sophie Fiennes
Stars: Slavoj Zizek
Genre: Documentary
Country: UK | Austria | Netherlands

Slavoj Zizek examines famous films in a philosophical and a psychoanalytic context.

Director: Ken Loach
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Ireland | UK | Germany | Italy | Spain | France | Belgium | Switzerland | Netherlands

Against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces.

Director: Alain Resnais
Stars: Sabine Azéma, Isabelle Carré, Laura Morante
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: France | Italy

In Paris, six people all look for love, despite typically having their romantic aspirations dashed at every turn.