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Saturday, March 09, 2019

2019 Cannes Possible Films - The Buzz


As happens every single year, Cannes buzz starts during the Berlinale and gets louder when Berlinale ends.  But this year there are good news, buzz seems to be a lot more intersting than last year as there are some strong filmmakers with movies ready to be screen in competition, out of competition, any other fest section or parallel section.

Then we have to consider that after 2018 fiasco, smaller changes could make fest a lot more interesting and well, better.  No one will forget that thanks to French movie theaters owners, Netflix was banned and Roma was not accepted.  So, Roma went to La Biennale only to win the Golden Lion and the rest is history.  Much buzz (or is just plain gossip?) is going around about the discussions between festival organizers and Netflix but know problem is not Thierry Fremaux, who almost lost his job in 2017 due to this issue; problem is with the board of directors where there are a few movie theaters owners.  Soon we will see the end to current year discussions and hopefully, Neflix films are included in competition and elsewhere or the 2018 story will repeat and films will again end-up in Venice to their truly delight.

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Friday, June 29, 2012

15th Shanghai International Film Festival Award Winners


Recently the fest that run from June 16 to 24 had their award ceremony and here are the award winners.

Golden Goblet Award
Best Feature Film: Khers (Bear), Khosrow Masoumi, Iran
Jury Grand Prix: Pour l'amour de Dieu (For The Love of God), Micheline Lanctôt, Canada

Best Director: Gao Qunshu for Shen Tan Heng Te Zhang (Detective Hunter Zhang), China
Best Screenplay: Kenji Uchida for 鍵泥棒のメソッド Kagi Dorobō no Method (Key of Life), Kenji Uchida, Japan
Best Cinematography: Shi Luan for 萧红 Xiao Hong (Falling Flowers), Huo Jianqi, China
Best Music: Avshalom Caspi for De Tu Ventana a la Mía (Chrysalis), Paula Ortiz, Spain

Best Actress: Ursula Pruneda in El sueño de Lu (The Dream of Lu), Carlos Sama, Mexico
Best Actor: Vladas Bagdonas in Дирижер Dirizhyor (The Conductor), Pavel Lungin, Russia

To read the official announcement go here.

Asian New Talent Award
Best Film: Kshay (Corrode), Karan Gour, India
Jury Prix: 大藍湖 Big Blue Lake, Jessey Tsang (aka Tsang Tsui Shan), Hong Kong and China
Best Director: Peng Li for 乐队 Follow, Follow, China

To read the official announcement go here.

China Movie Channel Media Award
Best Picture: 一八九四•甲午大海战 Jia Wu Da Hai Zhan, Feng Xiaoning, China

To learn winners in other categories, best director, lead and supporting actors, go here.

This year I followed very close the fest via twitter which has become an invaluable tool to get serious and not-so-serious reactions to everything that happened in fest.

Cheers!

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Saturday, October 10, 2009

4th International Rome Film Festival Lineup


The other Italian festival will start next Thursday and this year the best news is that the Golden Marc’Aurelio Acting Award goes to none other than Meryl Streep and I suggest you read the official release if you feel like refreshing the amazing accomplishments of this great actress, like for example holding a record-breaking number of nominations 15 for the Oscars and 23 for the Golden Globes.

The fest will run from October 15 to 23 and here are the films in some of the competitive sections.

Official Selection Competition

After, Alberto Rodriguez, Spain
Alza la Testa (Raise Your Head), Alessandro Angelini, Italy (with Sergio Castellitto)
Broderskab (Brotherhood), Nicolo Donato, Demmark (gay interest)
Chaque jour est une fête (Every Day Is a Holiday), Dima El-Horr, Lebanon, France, and Germany
Dawson Isla 10 (Dawson Island 10), Miguel Littin, Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela
L' uomo che verrà (The Man Who Will Come), Giorgio Diritti - Italy
Les Regrets (Regrets), Cédric Kahn, France
Plan B, Marco Berger, Argentina
Qingnian (Youth), Jun Geng, China
The Last Station, Michael Hoffman, Germany and Russia (with Helen Mirren must be seen)
Triage, Danis Tanovic, France, Ireland, and Spain
Up in The Air, Jason Reitman, USA
Viola di Mare (Sea Purple), Donatella Maiorca, Italy (WOW! Now really becomes must be seen! Yep totally lesbian interest)
Vision, Margarethe von Trotta, Germany

Jury
Milos Forman
Assia Djebar, director
Gabriele Muccino, director
Gae Aulenti, theatrical stage design
Jean-Looup Dabadie, screenwriter
Pavel Lungin, director
Senta Berger, actress

Out of Competition

A Serious Man, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, USA
Christine Cristina (Christine), Stefania Sandrelli, Italy
Concerto di Mozart
Io, Don Giovanni, Carlos Saura, Italy, Spain
Julie & Julia, Nora Ephron, USA
Lang Zai Ji (The Warrior and the Wolf), Tian Zhuangzhuang, China
Le Concert, Radu Mihaileanu, France, Romania, Belgium, and Italy (Must be seen for me)
Oggi sposi (Just Married), Luca Lucini, Italy
The City of Your Final Destination, James Ivory , USA (great cast: Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexandra Maria Lara, Norma Aleandro)

Alice Nella Città

Competition

A Boy Called Dad by Brian Percival - U.K.
Dear Lemon Lima, by Suzi Yoonessi - U.S.A.
Eleanor's Secret by Dominique Monféry - Italy, France
La Régate by Bernard Bellefroid - Belgium, Luxembourg, France
Last Ride by Glendyn Ivin - Australia
Marpiccolo by Alessandro di Robilant - Italy
Mille Neuf Cent Quatre-Vingt-Un by Ricardo Trogi - Canada
Oorlogswinter by Martin Koolhoven - Netherlands
Prinsessa by Teresa Fabik - Sweden
Skellig by Annabel Jankel - U.K.
The Be All and End All by Bruce Webb - U.K.
Vegas by Gunnar Vikene - Norway

Out of Competition
Turtle: The Incredible Journey by Nick Stringer - Austria, U.K.

Anteprima- Alice Nella Città
Astro Boy, David Bower, USA.
Hachiko: A Dog's Story, Lasse Hallström, USA
The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Chris Weitz, USA

To check the Special Events and Screenings go here. To check docs, Encounters, Fisheye, Retrospective on Meryl Streep and on Luigi Zampa go here. To check the films in the Focus section go here.

The fest this year has interesting films that seem to me more mainstream than the regular non-mainstreams films that we find in prestigious festivals.

Watch trailers @ Movie On Companion

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Thursday, July 09, 2009

Остров Ostrov (The Island)


Sometimes you expect a movie to be good and I was really hoping that this movie by Pavel Lungin was good. How wrong I was. This movie is not good, is Outstandingly Excellent!!! The best I have seen in a long, long time and one that I strongly recommend to everyone that loves great storytelling with extraordinary visual and tech specs that create a true cinema masterpiece that has something not common in great cinema as is also surprisingly very entertaining.

I really don’t want to tell you what is about as I believe that knowing anything about the story will help you to experience the surprise of how amazing the story is (especially because is a Russian story). But I can tell you that the story happens in a small Russian Orthodox monastery with some constructions built in small islands connected by man made fragile bridges. Just watching the amazing location is superb with an unbelievably good and visually poetic cinematography. Many things happen in this story that mainly is the story of a very unusual Holy Man that can foretell the future, heal and even do exorcisms. But, you have to remember that this is not Hollywood, this is what I can call Great Russian cinema, so the Holy Man will not likely be as you can imagine. Last, some can see it as a religious story, but not me. I see it as an amazing (and very entertaining) spiritual story.

All right the film is not for all audiences, as has a very slow pace that allows you to gloriously contemplate the magnificent location to the minimal detail. Besides when is in the WWII moment is really dark with the minimum light possible and is really in black and white; then when moves in time to the 70’s lighting gives the impression that the film is still in black and white (which is not) and makes the monks look like branchless trees, dark and tall, just like the famous Russian icons. Really Fabulous! But what is really masterful is the incredible succession of one after another excellent visual compositions. Last, the palette slightly changes to be more real full color as the story reaches the end and the finale is in crescendo with a light saturation take. I simply love directors that take such good care of little details to make the film outstanding.

But the performance by former Russian rock star Pyotr Mamonov is unbelievably outstanding, superb! He really makes Father Anatoli a truly colorful character. Chapeau to Mamonov and Lungin!

Yes, this movie really excited me and definitively makes me extremely happy that Pavel Lungin has 12 movies that I haven’t seen and hopefully I will see eventually. But now more than ever the wait for being able to watch Tsar will be hard to endure.

This is a movie that I strongly recommend to everyone that enjoys serious and great cinema. Bravo!!!

BIG ENJOY!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

31st Moscow International Film Festival


The festival will run from June 19 to 28 and here are the movies in the competition programs.

Official Competition

Beauty, Toshio Goto, Japan, 2007
Bibi, Hassan Yektapanah, Iran, 2007
ЧУДО Chudo (Miracle), Alexander Proshkin, Russia, 2008
Cinco Días Sin Nora (Five Days Without Nora aka Nora’s Will), Mariana Chenillo, México, 2008
Come Dio Comanda (As God Commads), Gabriele Salvatores, Italy, 2008
Happy New Year, Christoph Schaub, Switzerland
Jeo Nuk Ui Game (Today and the Other Days), Wee An Choi, Korea
Mala Moskwa (Little Moscow), .Waldemar Krzystek, Poland
Mediadori (The Mediator), Dito Tsintsadze, Georgia and Germany
Melodiya Dlya Sharmanki (Melody for a Barrel Organ), Kira Muratova, Ukraine
Mooki Bo’era (Burning Mooki), Lena Chaplin and Slava Chaplin, Israel
Palata Nomer 6 (Ward No. 6), Karen Shakhnazarov, Russia
Petia Po Doroge V Tsarstvie Nebesnoye (Pete on the Way to Heaven), Nilkolai Dostal, Russia
Raci (Crayfish), Ivan Tscherkelov, Bulgaria
The Missing Person, Noah Buschel, USA
Tréfa (Prank), Péter Gárdos, Hungary

Perspectives Competition

Aya Seyahat (Journey to the Moon), Kutluğ Ataman, Turkey
Bonded Parallels, Hovhannes Galstyan, Armenia, France and Norway
Die Dame Mit Dem Hündchen (Lady with the Little Dog), Julij Koltun, Germany
Dilber'in sekiz gunu (Dilber Eight Days), Cemal San, Turkey
Faasuto Sukuwaddo (The First Squad), Yoshiharu Ashino, Russia, Japan, and Canada
Je Te Mangerais (You Will Be Mine), Sophie Laloy, France (Must be seen)
Koma (Coma), Ludwig Wűst, Austria
Konphliktis Zona (Conflict Zone), Vano Burduli, Georgia
Last Conversation, Noud Heerkens, Netherlands
Metastaze (Metastases), Branko Schmidt, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Moon, Duncan Jones, USA
Perfidia (Pefidy), Rodrigo Bellott, Chile and USA
Sobytie (The Event), Andrey Eshpay, Russia
Sukunat (Silence), Yolqin To'ychiyev, Uzbekistan

To check the press release go here. Pavel Lungin will chair the Main Competition Jury and his latest film Tsar will be the Opening Night Film.

As the fest says, last year’s success of Bulgarian ZIFT by Yavor Gardev made selection committee of the MIFF look closer to Bulgaria. This interest found expression in this year’s festival program Bulgarian Focus. The program combines the most successful Bulgarian films of the last few years and brand new ones – this year’s A Farewell To Hemingway and the first Bulgarian omnibus 15. I’m really looking forward to explore some of the movies in the Focus on Bulgaria program.

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Friday, April 24, 2009

62nd Festival de Cannes - Un Certain Regard Lineup


This one of the sections of the fest where I always find excellent movies and this year seems that it will also screen great films. Here are the twenty films in competition.

A Deriva (Adrift), Heitor Dhalia, Brazil, 2009 (with Vincent Cassel!!!) IMDb
Spending summer vacation with her family in Buzios, Filipa, a fourteen-year old girl, suffers through the rite of passage into adulthood while discovering love for the first time. A rite filled with anguish when she learns that her father, a famous author, is betraying her mother with a foreign woman who lives in the small seaside town. But, this secret is to be only the first in a series of others, both enchanting and painful, which she discovers about her family and herself as well.

Amintiri Din Epoca de Aur (Tales From The Golden Age), Hanno Höfer, Rãzvan Mãrculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu and Ioana Uricaru, Romania, 2009 (as I imagined these are the urban legends from the last years of communism in Romania, great and of course, a must be seen for me.) allocine Mobra Films
An unconventional personal history of the late communist period in Romania, told through its urban myths from the perspective of ordinary people. Comic, bizarre, surprising, these myths drew on the often surreal events of everyday life under the communist regime. Humor is what kept Romanians alive, and "Tales from the Golden Age" aims to re-capture that mood, portraying the survival of a nation having to face every day the twisted logic of a dictatorship. The film is composed of five short stories - connected by mood, narrative pattern and the details of the historical period: the only car you can see on the streets is the locally produced Dacia, everybody survives by stealing from the state, party orders must be obeyed no matter how illogical or absurd. The people appear grim yet deep inside they are alive, they desire to love and to beloved.

Demain des l’Aube, Denis Dercourt, France, 2009 (with Vincent Perez) allocine
The relationship between two brothers, the younger of whom is so enthralled by historical battles that he has lost touch with reality. At his mother’s request, Mathieu, the older brother, tries to free his kid brother Paul from his addiction...

Einaym Pkuhot) (Eyes Wide Open), Haim Tabakman, Israel, Germany and France, 2009 (1st film) (gay interest) Movie Info
A gay love story in the heart of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem. Aaron (38), a respectable butcher in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community, is married to Rivka (28) and a dedicated father to four children. After his father's death, Aaron is looking for assistance in his business when a handsome and homeless Yeshiva (religious school) student, Ezri (19), comes upon the butcher shop by chance. Aaron decides to be Ezri's patron: he hires him, teaches him the craft of slaughtering, and houses Ezri in the shop's back room. Aaron invites Ezri to meals in his home and introduces him to the community. When they go together to a remote "Mikve" (a sacred ritual bath), an intimate moment occurs between them. From this moment onwards, Aaron knows no peace. Spending more and more time with Ezri, Aaron starts neglecting his family and community life until he is completely swept away in a whirlpool of love and lust for Ezri. While Rivka suspects that something is wrong with Aaron, Rabbi Vaisben, (56) a family friend and the head of the community, tries to warn Aaron of the future to come if he won't expel Ezri. But Aaron refuses. Unwilling to tolerate Ezri's presence, the "Modesty Guards", a radical authority in the Ultra-Orthodox community, threaten Aaron. Under enormous pressure that Rivka and the community operate on him, Aaron comes to a decision to commit an irreversible act…

Independencia (Independence), Raya Martin, Philippines, France, Netherlands, and Germany, 2009 (Interesting) IMDb Movie Info
Early 20th century Philippines. The sounds of war signal the arrival of the Americans. A mother and son flee to the mountains, hoping for a quiet life. One day, the son discovers a wounded woman in the middle of the forest, and decides to bring her home. Years pass. Man, woman and child live in isolation from the growing chaos all over the country. But a coming storm soon threatens their existence, and American troops draw nearer.

Irène, Alain Cavalier, France, 2009 allocine Movie Info
Irène and the filmmaker. A powerful relationship but full of gray areas. Irène disappears. A private journal left behind resurfaces years later. A freshness. An attraction. A danger. How to make a film?

Kasi Az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh (No One Knows About the Persian Cats), Bahman Ghobadi, Iran (he’s the director of Turtles Can Fly) IMDb allocine
A leur sortie de prison, une jeune femme et un jeune homme musiciens décident de monter un groupe. Ils parcourent Téhéran à la rencontre d'autres musiciens underground et tentent de les convaincre de quitter l'Iran. N'ayant aucune chance de se produire à Téhéran, il rêvent de sortir de la clandestinité et de jouer en Europe. Mais que faire sans argent et sans passeport ...

Kûki Ningyô (Air Doll), Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 2009 (yes is the one about the inflatable sex doll that develops a soul) IMDb
Hideo, who lives alone, owns a life-size “air doll”, which suddenly finds herself with a heart. Everything is new to her in the world outside Hideo's house. She meets all kinds of people. The world is filled with so many beautiful things, but everyone seems to have some kind of hollowness, just as she has. In the morning, she pumps herself up, and takes a walk. One afternoon, she meets Junichi who works at a rental video store, and instantly falls in love with him. A first date. New words she learns from him. She starts working with him at the store, enjoys talking and being with him. Everything seems to be going perfect, until something unexpected happens to the doll. A sad yet happy fantasy. This is a story about a new form of love.

Kynodontas (Dogtooth), Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece, 2009 IMDb
The father, the mother and their three kids live in a house at the outskirts of a city. There is a tall fence surrounding the house. The kids have never left the house. They are being educated, entertained, bored and exercised in the manner that their parents deem appropriate, without any influence from the outside world. They believe that the airplanes flying over are toys and that zombies are small yellow flowers. The only person allowed to enter the house is Christina. She works as a security guard at the father’s business. The father arranges her visits to the house in order to appease the sexual urges of the son. The whole family is fond of her, especially the eldest daughter. One day Christina gives her as a present a headband that has stones that glow in the dark and asks for something in return.

Le Père de mes Enfants, Mia Hansen-Love, France and Germany, 2009 (nice casting and great director) IMDb allocine Movie Info
Grégoire Canvel has everything a man could want. A wife he loves, three delightful children and a stimulating job. He's a film producer. Discovering talented filmmakers and developing films that fit his conception of the cinema—free and true to life—is precisely his reason for living. His vocation. It fulfills him and Grégoire devotes almost all his time and energy to his work. He's hyperactive, he never stops. Except on weekends, which he spends in the country with his family—gentle interludes, as precious as they are fragile. With his bearing and exceptional charisma, Grégoire commands admiration. He seems invincible. Yet his prestigious production company, Moon Films, is on its last legs. Too many productions, too many risks, too many debts. Storm clouds are gathering. But Grégoire plows on at all costs. Where will his blind obstinacy lead him? One day, he is obliged to face the facts. In one word: failure. He is overwhelmed by fatigue. Which soon, secretly, turns into despair.

Los Viajes del Viento (The Wind Journeys), Ciro Guerra, Colombia, Argentina, Germany, and Netherlands, 2009 allocine
Movie Site Trailer
Ignacio Carrillo travelled all his life throughout the villages and regions of northern Colombia, carrying music and traditional songs on his accordion, a legendary instrument that is said to be cursed, because it once belonged to the devil. As he became older, he got married and settled with his wife in a small town, leaving his nomadic life behind. When she suddenly dies, he decides to make one last journey to the Northern edge of the country, to return the accordion to the man who gave it to him, his teacher and mentor, so he will never play it again. On the way, he is joined by Fermín, a teenager who dreams of becoming a “juglar” like Ignacio, and to travel all around playing the accordion like he did. Tired of his loneliness, Ignacio accepts to be accompanied, and together they start the journey from Majagual, Sucre, to Taroa, beyond the Guajira desert, finding on the way the enormous diversity of the Caribbean culture and surviving all kinds of adventures. Ignacio will try to convince Fermín to take a different path in his life, having learned that his only led to solitude and sadness, but he will have to face the fact that destiny has different plans for him and his pupil.

Morrer como un Homem (To Die Like a Man), João Pedro Rodrigues, Portugal, 2008 (wow this must be something, is a gay interest film) allocine Movie info Movie Site
Once upon a time there was a war… In the darkness of the night, a young soldier goes AWOL. Tonia, a veteran transsexual in Lisbon’s drag shows, watches the world around her crumble. The competition from younger artists threatens her star status. Under pressure from her young boyfriend Rosário to assume her female identity, the sex change operation that will transform her into a woman, Tonia struggles against her deeply-held religious convictions. If, on the one hand, she wants to be the woman that Rosário so desires, on the other, she knows that before God she can never be that woman. And her son, whom she abandoned when he was a child, now a deserter, comes looking for her. Tonia discovers that she’s ill. To get away from all her troubles she travels to the countryside with Rosário, on the excuse of visiting his brother. Rosário takes the road of his childhood but will never find the right way. Lost, they find themselves in an enchanted forest, a magical world where they come across the enigmatic Maria Bakker and her friend Paula. And that meeting will turn their whole world on its head…

Mother, Bong Joon-ho, South Korea, 2009 IMDb
Widowed for a long time, a mother lives alone with her only son, Do-joon. He is 28 years old, a shy and quiet young man. In the aftermath of a terrible murder, the woman’s hopeless, helpless son becomes the prime suspect. There is no real evidence against him, but the police throw groundless suspicion at him simply because there is no way he can prove his innocence. Eager to close the case, the police are happy with their cursory investigation and arrest the boy. His defense attorney turns out to be incompetent and unreliable, making a conviction seem inevitable. Faced with no other choice, his mother gets involved, determined to prove her son’s innocence.

Nang Mai (Nymph), Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Thailand, 2009 (is horror) allocine
A LONG TIME AGO IN AN UNNAMED FOREST a beautiful young woman was wandering alone when she fell prey to two men. Shortly thereafter, the lifeless bodies of the two attackers were found floating down the nearby stream. No one knew what happened to the men or where the woman was, or who or what might have saved her life. Flash forward to today. May is a city woman who has everything she could ask for. Things are looking stellar: her career is on the rise, and her long-time husband, Nop, a professional photographer, showers her with love and attention. But fate or desire play tricks on the couple who watches as their lives drift by without much thought or reflection, and soon May starts an affair with Korn, another married man.One day Nop is assigned to take a trip into the forest to film the wildlife. He decides to bring May along. But the journey slowly reveals how the invisible weight of their urban lifestyle haunts them like a spectre, since May insists on behaving as if she were still in the city. Her sole concerns are her laptop and her phone, and instead of working from the office she now works from the tent in the middle of the jungle. Meanwhile, Nop treks into the forest to take pictures of wild deer and forgotten cobwebs, and along the way he stumbles onto a sad-looking tree – a lonely, mysterious specimen deep in the heart of the woods. The tree, it seems, is calling out to him, pulling him closer to it, and Nop finds himself spellbound and can’t resist its attraction. When her husband fails to return to the tent, May sets out to look for him but only finds his phone and a sandal. Only then does she realize how precious their marriage is, and how desperately she needs Nop’s warmth and companionship. Yet when May returns home believing she’s lost her husband, Nop returns. But the forest has changed him into someone else, perhaps forever…

Politist, Adjectiv (Police, Adjective), Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania, 2009 (obviously a must be seen for me even whe is about a police man that loses faith in the law…) allocine Movie Info
Cristi is a policeman who refuses to arrest a young man who offers hashish to two of his schoolmates. “Offering” is punished by the law. Cristi believes that the law will change, he does not want the life of a young man he considers irresponsible to be a burden on his conscience. For his superior the word conscience has a different meaning…

Precious, Lee Daniels, USA, 2009 (this is the one formerly known as Push, the one that won Sundance and is the ONLY lesbian interest film up to this moment that I have found) IMDb Trailer
When Precious, who is sixteen, learns to read and write at an Alternative School,
she discovers a new world. A world where she can at last express herself in a way she never could before. A world where each girl can become beautiful, strong, independent. Just like Precious…

Samson & Delilah, Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009 (1st film) IMDb Movie Site with Trailer
Samson, a cheeky 15-year-old boy, and Delilah live in an isolated Aboriginal community in the Central Australian desert. In amongst a tiny collection of houses, everything here happens in a cycle. Day in and day out – nothing changes, everything stays the same and no one seems to care. The two teenagers soon discover that life outside the community can be cruel. Though hungry and rejected Samson and Delilah fall in love. It is all they have. It is real. And when tragedy strikes they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone they discover that life isn’t always fair, but love never judges.

Сказка про темноту - Skazka pro Temnotu (Tale in the Darkness), Nikolay Khomeriki, Russia, 2009 allocine and I think is this one IMDb Movie Info Koktebel
Angelina lives in a big city on the sea cost, where handsome men and beautiful women are strolling the streets with only one purpose: to have fun, flirt and love. But Angelina, being pretty, intelligent, and nice, finds herself lonely. She is police officer and her job is helping abandoned kids, orphans, and troubled youngsters. One day one of her charges, a little boy, explains Angelina how lonely, dull and useless she is. Those words have been bothering her ever since, and she decides to change herself… Angelina starts her way through the darkness…

Wit Litcht (The Silent Army), Jean van de Velde, Netherlands, 2008 (Could it be the also known as White Light or Wit Licht?? - yes it is!!!) cineuropa IMDb Movie Scenes
Life as a restaurant owner in an eastern African country is not easy for the 40 year old, African born and bred Eduard Zuiderwijk after the sudden death of his wife. He now stands for the task of raising his 9-year-old son Thomas all by himself. The young Thomas seeks and gains support from his friend Abu, son of Mafillu, one of the female black staff members in the restaurant. One day Abu disappears suddenly together with at least ten other children, after a nightly and violent raid of his village by the rebel army. Abu’s father and many other villagers were killed and the missing children are nowhere to be found. Young Thomas cannot be consoled. He wants Abu back, and Eduard, who feels he is failing as a father, decides to try to find Abu and save him from the hands of the rebel leader.

Tzar, Pavel Lounguine, Russia and France, 2009 (the director is also known as Pavel Lungin, another story of Ivan The Terrible… great!!!) allocine Movie info
The year of 1565.Russia is ravaged by famine and war. Ivan Grosny, the first tsar of Russia, invites his childhood friend Abbot Philip to become a Metropolitan of Russia. Despite of their friendship the new Metropolitan rebels against the cruelty and tortures of the tsar's policy. He asks the tsar to stop the blood. But the tsar doesn't want to take advice, not even from God. The opposition of these two Shakespearian characters ends by the murder of Philip.

Un Certain Regard Jury

Paolo Sorrentino (director/screenwriter), Italy – President
Juliet Gayet (actress), France
Piers Handling (TIFF director), Canada
Uma Da Cunha (journalist, festival programmer), India
Marit Kapla (journalist, Goteborg Festival), Sweden

Another interesting jury that in my opinion totally fits the type of films in this section. To read more about each movie please go here.

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