(Be) Longing (Volta a Terra)

Portugal, Cannes ACID 2015

Documentary by Joao Pedro Placido

Synopsis

The story of an endangered community: farmers who practice subsistence farming in a mountainous village of northern Portugal, deserted because of immigration. Between the evocation of the past and their uncertain future, we follow the 49 inhabitants through four seasons, from the wintry fallow until the return of the prodigal sons in August. Among the inhabitants is António – a former emigrant who fulfilled his dream of returning home – who prepares the village festivities for the coming summer, and Daniel, a young shepherd who dreams of love at dusk.

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Ivy

Turkey, Sundance World Cinema competition 2015

Tolga Karacelik

Synopsis

After months without pay, the already disgruntled crew on a Turkish cargo ship arrives in an Egyptian port and learns that the port authority is foreclosing on them. Continuer la lecture →

Until I lose my breath

Turkey, Berlin Forum 2015

A first feature film by Emine Emel Balci

Synopsis

Serap is a quiet but hot-headed adolescent who is working long hours in a cramped clothing workshop as a runner. Fed up with her abusive brother-in-law and detached sister, the only thing that keeps Serap going is the hope of moving into an apartment with her father who is a long distance truck driver. Since the father is quite indifferent to Serap’s wishes, however, she decides to take matters in her own hands.

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Violencia

Colombia, Berlin Forum 2015

A first feature film by Jorge Forero

Synopsis

A man in chains, a young man who dreams of being part of something and a militant from an armed group who must wield a cruelty in which he may not believes in. All of them in the center of a violence that they don’t understand. The film, through three successive stories, gives unique faces, not interchangeable, to the tragic reality of the war.

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Impressions of a drowned man

Cyprus, Rotterdam Tiger award competition 2015

A first feature film by Kyros Papavassiliou

Synopsis

Totally disconnected from his past and memory, the Passenger tries to define himself, confronted by his pre-determined fate, a fate that he has to re-live upon every anniversary of his death.

 

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Labour of Love

India, Venice Days 2014- Fedeora Award for Best Debut Film, Rotterdam 2015

A first feature film by Aditya Vikram Sengupta

Synopsis

Set in the crumbling environs of Calcutta, LABOUR OF LOVE is a lyrical unfolding of two ordinary lives suspended in the duress of a spiralling recession. Continuer la lecture →

Between 10 and 12

Netherlands, Venice Days 2014, Rotterdam 2015

First feature film by Peter Hoogendoorn

Synopsis:

BETWEEN THE HOURS OF TEN AND TWELVE A PIECE OF NEWS STOPS A FAMILY IN ITS TRACKS, WHILE AROUND THEM LIFE GOES ON AS BEFORE.

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A Corner of Heaven

China, Busan 2014- A window on Asian Cinema, Rotterdam 2015

Miaoyan Zhang

Synopsis

A boy is in search of his mother in the estuary of the dirty Yellow River. He finds pollution, oppression, drugs and violence and yet he does not loose his will to live. Continuer la lecture →

Song of my Mother

Turkey, Best Film & Best Actor at Sarajevo 2014

First feature film by Erol Mintas

Synopsis

Young teacher Ali lives with his aging mother Nigar in Istanbul’s Tarlabaşı district; home to many Kurdish immigrants since the 90’s. When the ongoing gentrification of the old city forces them to move for a second time, they end up in the soulless concrete desert of the city’s furthest outskirts.

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Blood Cells

UK, Venice 2014 Biennale College Programme

Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore

Synopsis

Adam has lived a rootless existence since his family’s farm was destroyed by the Foot & Mouth epidemic of 2001. His life imploded and he abandoned his family after a single devastating incident. He has spent the years since on the nomadic fringes of British society, cycling through transitory jobs and transitory relationships, adrift from his family and past.

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