Le grand jeu

Nicolas Pariser : 2015
The Great Game

One evening, on the terrace of a casino, Pierre Blum, a one-time best-selling author, meets a mysterious man called Joseph Paskin. Pierre agrees to work as a ghost writer for Joseph – a man who commands the political influence at the heart of the French State. Influential, charismatic and manipulative, Joseph is fomenting a conspiracy against the Interior Minister and will take advantage of his new protégé to achieve his own ends. Soon realising the life-threatening implications linked to his new job, Pierre will be seduced by Laura, a young extreme left militant. But is she really as harmless as she looks? Delicately navigating the mysteries of the misinformation of the secret back rooms of the State, and the portrait of a young forty-something man forced to exceed the faded revolutionary delusions of his youth. Nicolas Pariser's feature directorial debut premiered in competition at Locarno Film Festival 2015, screened at Festival de Cinéma Européen des Arcs 2015, and was winner of the Louis-Delluc Prize for Best Debut Film 2015.

Lovesong

So Yong Kim : 2016

Sarah, a young mother, raises her precocious daughter in their country home whilst feeling abandoned by her husband, who perpetually travels for work. When Sarah's old friend Mindy comes to visit, they decide to take a road trip, and after an alcohol-infused heart-to-heart, a long unspoken intimacy emerges between the two best friends. Later Sarah is unable to articulate her thoughts about her husband or Mindy, and Mindy decides to leave the trip and go home. Three years later, the two women are reunited for Mindy's wedding, and Sarah is forced to reconcile the reality of her feelings. So Yong Kim's feature premiered in competition at Sundance Film Festival 2016.

Wild

Nicolette Krebitz : 2016

On the way to work Ania has a strange encounter. Crossing the park she comes upon a wolf, and looking directly into his eyes, she suddenly discovers a new meaning to her existence. She seizes it, just like the idea to find the wolf again, and never to let it go. Ania is the Slayer, she lays tracks and manages to catch the wild animal. Revoking the tacit contract with civilisation, she fearlessly opts for a life without hypocrisy or an obligatory safety net. Ania is a woman who gradually sets herself free with each step into the Wilderness. Equally disturbing and fascinating, a love story of animalistic radicality, freedom and intransigence. Nicolette Krebitz's third feature premiered in competition in the World Cinema section at Sundance Film Festival 2016.

Amina's Letters

Jacob Bitsch : 2016
Aminas breve

When 21-year-old Janus is released from a secure psychiatric hospital, he has only one thing in mind – to find a girl named Amina. She means everything to him and her letters gave Janus faith and consolation while in hospital, but they suddenly stopped coming. Janus fears that Amina has come to grief and embarks on an investigation that leads him through the city's shadowy streets to find her. His journey takes him into a paranoid and violent world, where anyone who knows her seems to have something to hide. He becomes increasingly convinced that Amina is living in a violent marriage, from which he must save her. He becomes so obsessed by the notion of Amina's tragic fate, that only when it is too late does he realise that the person who needs saving is himself. Jacob Bitsch's second feature is based on Jonas T Bengtsson's award-winning debut novel.

Mammal

Rebecca Daly : 2016

Margaret, a separated woman living alone in Dublin, learns that her teenage son has been found dead. Enduring her unsettling grief privately, she escapes daily to the local swimming pool. One day at the pool she runs into Joe, a homeless youth she found injured late one night in the deserted laneway behind her work. Margaret offers Joe a room in her house and an unorthodox relationship starts to develop between them. Margaret's ex-husband Matt begins to turn up randomly in Margaret's life. As Margaret and Joe's mutual reliance grows their tentative trust is threatened by the escalation of Matt's grieving rage and Joe's involvement with a gang of violent youths. Rebecca Daly's second feature premiered in competition in the World Cinema section at Sundance Film Festival 2016.

Moira

Levan Tutberidze : 2015

After Mamuka is released from prison, he tries to rescue his family from poverty. His mother is working abroad, his father is wheelchair-ridden, and his unemployed younger brother appears to be attracted by criminals. Mamuka takes out a loan and buys a small fishing boat, eager to work and bring his mother back. The brothers name the fishing boat after Moira, a goddess of fate. But fate is often blind and merciless. Levan Tutberidze's feature premiered at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2015, and screened as the opening film at Tbilisi International Film Festival 2015.

Don't Look at Me That Way

Uisenma Borchu : 2015
Schau mich nicht so an

Hedi is the new neighbour of Iva, who is raising her young daughter, Sophia. Iva is struggling with being a single parent whilst trying to lead a semblance of a personal life, and Hedi seems to be a breath of fresh air. Iva falls desperately in love with Hedi and the two women begin a complex relationship. When Iva's father appears out of the blue, Hedi finds herself strongly attracted to him. It seems that only one world exists for Hedi – her own. Soon their worlds will all collide. Uisenma Borchu's feature debut was winner of the FIPRESCI Prize when it premiered at Filmfest München 2015, and had its international premiere in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2015.

Puppet Syndrome

Elena Hazanov : 2015
Sindrom Petrushki

Since early childhood Petya has been obsessed with the world of puppets, but his greater obsession is with a girl named Liza. He crafts his perfect woman out of her. But Liza is a real woman. She'd never submit to him completely. Their love is tested in the most brutal way – by the death of their son born with a severe genetic disease nicknamed Happy Puppet Syndrome. As Liza suffers, Petya creates himself a new muse – a sophisticated doll, Alice, a hauntingly identical copy of Liza. Petya has to make a choice: Liza or Alice? Life or art? Petya matches his talent against Fate, and wins his own happiness. Elena Hazanov's feature premiered in competition at Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival 2015, and screened at Tbilisi International Film Festival 2015.

A Simple Goodbye

Degena Yun : 2015
Gaobie

The story of two generations unfolds through apparently disconnected moments. The story of Shanshan, who was sent to England to study when she was young and finds herself living a solitary life, involved in virtual relationships which pain her but which she can't do without; and that of a middle-aged father, who left his hometown as a young man, moved to Beijing and is now facing death. His feelings of helplessness involve the condition of the state-run film studio where he works, while his illness increasingly undermines him. Slowly but surely, the daughter begins to know her father, while the man remembers his past, his roots and his dreams. Degena Yun's second feature premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival 2015, and was winner of the Best Screenplay Award ex-aequo at its European premiere at Torino Film Festival 2015.

Hall

Jürgen Volmer : 2015
Grey

The forest is older than us, the parent of us all. In many nations' mythology the wolf is often a king of the forest, who hears, sees and knows everything. Little boy Mart lives in a cottage at the edge of the forest and something awful has happened in his family. The mother's efforts to save the daughter could bring success, but little Mart is too young to understand the ritual and puts at risk the fate of his family. A wolf always gets its share. Jürgen Volmer's short premiered in competition at Sleepwalkers International Short Film Festival 2015.

Hevn

Kjersti Steinsbø : 2015
Revenge

Rebekka's beloved younger sister has just committed suicide. Grieving, angry and seeking justice, Rebekka travels under false identity to an idyllic hotel situated in the majestic fjords of Western Norway. She is going to meet Morten Holand, the innkeeper and the town's "Golden Boy", with whom she shares a dark secret surrounding the death of her sister. Fixated on plotting her revenge against Morten, Rebekka sets out to destroy his perfect family life, turning his friends and the townsfolk against him. Soon it becomes apparent that Rebekka's actions have consequences for more than just Morten himself, as life in the village begins to unravel, and Rebekka must determine how far she will go to seek revenge. People often say that the end justifies the means, but are we really aware of the consequences of our actions, of the collateral damage, once we set in motion certain mechanisms in which lies and blindness, bad faith and hypocrisy play an essential role? Kjersti Steinsbø's feature debut is based on the novel The Doll in the Ceiling by Ingvar Ambjørnsen.

Barash

Michal Vinik : 2015

Seventeen-year-old Naama Barash enjoys alcohol, drugs and hanging out with like-minded friends. Her activities are an escape from a home where her parents always fight, and a rebellious, army-enrolled sister, who, one day, disappears. As a new girl, Hershko, shows up at school, Barash falls deeply in love for the first time, and the intensity of the experience at once confuses her and gives her life new meaning. An authentic and sensitive reflection of a contemporary youth that is bored and tired, extremely well-connected in its social bonds but clumsy in its human relations. Michal Vinik's film, her feature debut, premiered at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2015, and was winner of the Script Award, Best Actress and Best Actor for Israeli feature film at Haifa Film Festival 2015.

Hija de la laguna

Ernesto Cabellos Damián : 2015
Daughter of the Lake

Nélida is a young rural woman in the Andes who speaks with nature. She feels that she is the daughter of the lakes that the town depends on for life. But right below the waters, Yanacocha, the biggest mining corporation in Latin America, has discovered a gold deposit worth billions of dollars. The company comes with the support of the Peruvian government, in spite of the knowledge that the project implies the destruction of various lakes. The majority of the farmers in the area oppose this project because they fear they will lose their water. It is a fight for life or death. Ernesto Cabellos Damián's feature documentary premiered in competition at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2015, and had its European premiere at Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid 2015.

La adopción

Daniela Féjerman : 2015
The Adoption

Daniel and Natalia are a Spanish couple that have invested not only their savings, but also boundless enthusiasm and hope, in their plan to become the parents of an adopted child. Providing the necessary support for one another, they embark on a voyage to a country to the east, where they have been promised a healthy child. However, things do not work out as they had expected. As soon as they arrive, they come up against theft, corruption and a lack of communication. Finding themselves powerless and faced with growing hostility, their own latent conflicts come to the fore. The dream they came with threatens to turn into a nightmare, bringing out the worst in each of them and shaking the foundations of what they had thought was a solid, cast-iron relationship. Daniela Féjerman's feature premiered in competition at Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid 2015.

Bolesno

Hrvoje Mabić : 2015
Sick

At the age of sixteen Ana was locked up in a psychiatric hospital by her parents, who arranged the treatment to cure her homosexuality. After all she went through, she longs for a girl who won't think of her as insane. She finds all that in Martina, her new love. Ana arranges a wedding with her girlfriend. They are to get married in Amsterdam. Martina knows that Ana's difficult mental states are the consequence of a trauma caused by her parents and the psychiatrist and believes in her recovery. She is convinced Ana will be a perfect partner and that it is now up to Ana to exorcise the hell of the past which still burns inside her. However, Martina's patience wanes with time as she finds Ana more obsessed with her traumatic past than with the life they're sharing together. Hrvoje Mabić's second documentary feature premiered at ZagrebDox 2015, and screened in competition at Mostra Internacional de Cinema, São Paulo 2015.

Alaska

Claudio Cupellini : 2015

The story of two people who have nothing to their name but themselves. They have no roots, they don't even have a place they can call home. They meet by chance on the rooftop of a hotel in Paris, and recognise each other at first sight: fragile, alone and obsessed with the idea of happiness that seems unattainable to them. Fausto is Italian but lives in Paris, and works as a waiter in a grand hotel. Nadine is a young Frenchwoman, who possesses the heart-rending beauty of a 20-year-old. She is fragile yet determined, alive and vibrating as only a 20-year-old can be. Guided by instinct and making mistake after mistake, many are the obstacles and surprises that lie ahead for these young lovers. A story of love, solitude, ambition and violence, halfway between a fairy tale and a tragedy. Claudio Cupellini's third feature premiered at Rome Film Festival 2015.

Nacimiento

Martín Mejía : 2015
Delivery

The Colombian forest, a distant and painfully beautiful place, almost inescapable for its inhabitants. Life there is quiet and pure. We follow the pregnancy of Helena as the year's path, from the midst of daily life emerge stories of pain and solitude, relationship with environment and brotherhood. The film captures the ordinary actions – some people dry fish, others harvest their crops – in such organic way, with silent and observational discipline. A thin but essential story filmed with a strong personality, in an elegant style that brings the reality on screen to a new beautiful dimension. Martín Mejía's feature debut was winner of the Tridens First Features Competition and the FIPRESCI Award when it premiered at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2015.

Orizont

Marian Crişan : 2015

After many years working abroad Lucian and Andra, husband and wife, take shelter in а remote cottage hidden somewhere in the Apuseni Mountains. All is seemingly well until they realise everything that happens on the mountain, including their life, is controlled by Zoli, an outlaw involved in illegal deforestation. The family and their guest house named Orizont will soon get caught up in the conflict between the lawmen and the illegal logging mafia. Based on Ioan Slavici's classic novella Moara cu noroc, "The lucky mill", the film is a low-key thriller focused on the family topic, the 'peacefulness of the hut', as Slavici puts it, underlining what we do in order to make this so-called peacefulness last, and how we hide the past and the secrets in a family. Marian Crişan's third feature premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2015.

Land of Mine

Martin Zandvliet : 2015
Under sandet

Taking place in May 1945, only a few days after the end of the war, the story of a group of German prisoners of war who were brought to Denmark and forced to disarm the two million land mines that had been scattered along the west coast by the German occupying forces. In charge of the enfeebled young men performing the dangerous task is Sergeant Carl Leopold Rasmussen. Like so many of his fellow Danes, he has a deep hatred for the Germans after having suffered five years of hardships during the occupation. He takes his anger out on the prisoners, until one day a tragic incident makes him change his view of the enemy, even if it may be too late. A little-known chapter of German-Danish post-war history, having been kept out of sight, conveniently forgotten, repressed. A film about revenge and forgiveness. About a group of young men forced to do penance on behalf of an entire nation. Martin Zandvliet's feature premiered in competition in the Platform section at Toronto International Film Festival 2015, and had its European premiere in competition at Filmfest Hamburg 2015.

Departure

Andrew Steggall : 2015

Elliot is a wispy dreamer who, with his mother Beatrice, is packing up their French country house in preparation to sell it before coming back to England. There is a melancholic air to their efforts, with forced companionableness from Beatrice who insists on dinners with her distant son. Elliot takes breaks to wander into the local village bar, where he writes romantic poetry, wearing a vintage French army coat and eyeing up the rough beauty of local boy Clément. Clément is as natural as Elliot is awkward and they strike up an unlikely friendship. Elliot struggles with his nascent sexuality and increasing alienation from his mother. She in turn is confronted by the realisation that her marriage to his father is coming to an end. When the enigmatic Clément quietly enters their lives, both mother and son are compelled to confront their desires and, finally, each other. An intimate story beginning at dawn on the first day and ending at night on the sixth, charting the end of a summer, the end of a childhood and the end of an otherwise nuclear, middle class family. Andrew Steggall's feature debut premiered at London Film Festival 2015, and had its European premiere in the Alice nella Città section at Rome Film Festival 2015.

Nakhodka

Viktor Dement : 2015
The Find

In the forgotten taiga village lives Trofim Rusanov, a gloomy and unsociable senior fishery control inspector. He considers all people around him are criminals and is unforgiving of even a slightest deviation from fishing rules and norms of humanity. He is used to the fact that each day is filled with routine. But one day, during his usual route Trofim gets into conflict with a local fishermen and loses his boat. On his 20km way home around the huge lake he finds an abandoned baby in a hunter's lodge. For several days he wanders around the severe uninhabited taiga, fighting both for his life and the life of the little child. Finally, Trofim finds his way home. He wants to trace the woman who left the baby in the forest. But this long quest leads him to another, completely different find – and maybe for the first time in his life Trofim feels compassion. Viktor Dement's feature debut was winner of the prize for Best Cinematography when it premiered at Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival 2015, and had its international premiere in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2015.

Road-Movie

Martin Jelínek : 2015

Jakub, co-owner of the agency Dolce Travel, leaves Prague and takes a weekend off from work to go back to his hometown Telč and celebrate his mother's birthday together with his family. Here he meets Ilona, an old childhood friend he hasn't seen in many years and with whom he goes on an intense and intimate road trip through Czech Republic and Austria. Their journey is the intersection between Jakub's pragmatism and Ilona's spiritual freedom. During the course of the weekend Jakub's entire life is thrown into confusion and Ilona's explosive love for the simple joys in life forces him to re-evaluate his whole down-to-earth approach. Martin Jelínek's feature directorial debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2015.

Anna

Jacques Toulemonde Vidal : 2015

Anna is a young, free-spirited Colombian woman living in Paris, daily struggling with her emotional frailty. More than anything else in the world, she loves her little son Nathaniel over whom she has joint custody with Philippe, her ex-husband and the child's father. One night, after Anna has dismissed the child's private teacher, and wandered around the city for half the night with the boy, Philippe is no longer willing to suffer Anna's repeated promises to act responsibly, and threatens her with going to court. Just a few days later, she packs Nathaniel's things and decides to flee to her homeland, Colombia, with her son and Bruno, her new boyfriend. During this journey, Anna will strive to build a new family, and will face the difficulty of being a mother. Jacques Toulemonde Vidal's feature directorial debut premiered in competition at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2015.

Lost in the Living

Robert Manson : 2015

Oisín, a musician from Dublin, travels to Berlin with his band, buzzing with the potential for adventure. He leaves behind the weight of losing his mother and an anger towards his absent father. Oisín meets Sabine, a pretty young Berliner, who shows him the secret places that belong to the people who live in the city; hot parks, uninhabited stations, and lakes in the countryside where the free body culture is still active. But this time of simple pleasures is based on illusions. Oisín's wilful escapism is thrown into a tailspin when Sabine reveals that she has a boyfriend and must return to her real life. His band have left, he's lonely, homesick, homeless and broke. He embraces the darkness, tumbles through the void and out the other side. Robert Manson's feature debut premiered at Cork Film Festival 2015.

Memories of the Wind

Özcan Alper : 2015
Rüzgârın hatıraları

World War II. Turkey is working with Nazi Germany and using similarly brutal methods against minorities and members of the opposition. For Aram, an Armenian dissident, painter and poet, life in İstanbul is growing more dangerous by the day. In the winter of 1943, he flees to the Turkish-Georgian border, where Mikhail and his young wife Mereyem give him shelter in a hut in the forest. Here, Aram waits for the papers he needs to escape to the Soviet Union. But the city-dwelling intellectual can't handle life in the woods. He's scared and feels lost in nature, with all its unexplained sounds and noises. The documents take a long time and Aram and Mereyem grow closer, making the situation for all concerned unbearable. Özcan Alper's third feature premiered in competition at Montréal World Film Festival 2015, and had its European premiere at Filmfest Hamburg 2015.

Mountain Cry

Larry Yang : 2015

In 1984, in a remote village in the Taihang Mountains, a recent immigrant, La Hong, dies after stepping on explosives that young villager Han Chong set up to catch a badger. In order to avoid a scandal, instead of reporting the case to the police, the elders of the village force Han Chong to provide for La Hong's mute wife Hong Xia and her two small children. As Han Chong's attraction towards Hong Xia grows, a conflict between the villagers and the widow Qin Hua, who envies their relationship, continues to increase, and both he and the villagers discover that Hong Xia has a dark story to tell, and the power to tell it wordlessly. Along with Hong Xia's past, the secrets of her impairment and how she came to the village with La Hong are systematically revealed. The developing relationship between Han Chong and Hong Xia is also kept hidden, but ultimately their love will end in sacrifice. A tragic tale built around a closed-structured society, where love and jealousy in the human mind conflict and intertwine. Larry Yang's feature premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2015.

West North West

Nakamura Takuro : 2015

Kei and Ai are a lesbian couple. Kei works at a cocktail bar, while Ai works as a fashion model. Fearing she'll be ostracised by society, Kei chooses not to admit her sexual orientation to anyone, and as a result, she becomes distressed and lonely. One day, Kei gets close to Naima, a shy, withdrawn Iranian student studying art in Japan. Ai quickly becomes jealous of them and their budding friendship. Kei gradually becomes pessimistic as she thinks about a future with Ai, and Ai worries that she will lose Kei. In the meantime, Naima is having a hard time understanding what Kei wants despite growing closer to her. All three of them are embarrassed and insecure but eventually they begin to share their feelings. Capturing their turbulent emotions, fragile as glass, the film portrays the unstable lives of these young people who have lost a sense of direction in their lives. Nakamura Takuro's second feature premiered in the New Currents section at Busan International Film Festival 2015.

Go Home

Jihane Chouaib : 2015

Nada, who lives in France, returns to rural Lebanon as a stranger in her own country. She camps out in the ruins of her abandoned family home. The ghost of the little girl she once was guides her through her fragmented memories. Her grandfather, who went missing during the civil war, has been murdered by people in the village, and she thinks his body is buried somewhere within his empty house. But her brother Sam, obeying the wishes of their father, is trying to sell the home. As they quarrel, Nada begins to recover her memory, and, along with her brother and Jalal – a young man from the village – she embarks on a journey to find out the truth of what happened to her grandfather, finally discovering the reason why her memory is so distorted. Jihane Chouaib's feature debut premiered in the New Currents section at Busan International Film Festival 2015.

Au temps des monstres

Sophie Farkas Bolla : 2015
When Monsters Were Real

It is said that long, long ago, the wild children were bestowed with the gift of eternal youth. But one day, one of them started growing up and according to legend, grew so much he turned into a monster. Ravenous, he ate the smallest children and spread terror in his wake. Forced to seek protection, the village chief decided to banish the children who had become too tall before they had a chance to transform. The forest emu would come to get them and escort them to the world of monsters, where they disappeared forever. Sophie Farkas Bolla's short premiered in the P'tits Loups programme at Festival du nouveau cinéma, Montréal 2015.

Hitorerut

Guy Meirson : 2015
Awakening

A pickup truck runs along a road in rural Galilee. A cow crosses the road. The driver hits the brakes. Just in time. Or maybe too late. Nothing will be the same again. He tries to return to his old life, his home, his wife; but all that was hidden beneath the surface is now out in the open. Death is everywhere, in his chicken coop, in his marriage, inside of him. With three chickens on his shoulder and a forged Louis Vuitton suitcase he leaves for the outdoors, in order to find either his life or his death. Guy Meirson's feature debut premiered at Haifa Film Festival 2015.

Hitorerut – trailer (vimeo)

The Saver

Wiebke von Carolsfeld : 2015

Fern is a 16-year-old aboriginal girl. She lives with her mother, who works hard as a cleaning woman for well-off clients. When her mother dies of a sudden heart attack, Fern finds herself isolated from the world and runs away from social services. Inspired by a self-help book, she saves every penny, does every little job she can get, hoards anything she can find with some value. Her goal is to get rich, maybe even a millionaire, to escape her situation and a life like her mother's. Some people help, others try to sabotage her, but nothing can deter her. Rejecting victimhood, Fern mourns her mother in her own obstinate way, defying social expectations and reductive clichés. Wiebke von Carolsfeld's feature premiered in the Focus section at Festival du nouveau cinéma, Montréal 2015.

Malgré la nuit

Philippe Grandrieux : 2015
Despite the night

Lenz leaves England and returns to Paris in search of Madeleine who disappeared in uncertain circumstances. He meets Helena, a nurse still struggling with the loss of her infant son. Thus begins a fevered love story venturing into the meanderings of a tormented psyche to feed his feelings of despair, set against a backdrop of sorrow, passion, jealousy and self-destruction. Experimental filmmaker Philippe Grandrieux's fourth feature was presented as a special screening at Festival du nouveau cinéma, Montréal 2015.

Black Horse Memories

Shahram Alidi : 2015
Bîranîna hespa reş

Aseke is a member of a group of young people who are trying to teach Kurdish in Turkish Kurdistan, a land where the teaching of the language is forbidden by Turkish authorities. Part of their work is to print clandestine schoolbooks in underground schools and distribute them. While taking part in this dangerous activity, Aseke meets her untimely death. In an attempt to fulfil her last wish – to meet Mandana, a black horse she grew up with – her friends set out to return Aseke's body to her mother. Before she is buried, though, one hears the end of the story about the great Kurdish hero, Dervishi Abdi. Aseke's friend, Zerya, finds and brings Mandana from the Anatolian mountains to where Aseke has been laid to rest. And here something surprising happens: Mandana recalls her time with Aseke; memories are seen through the mare's eyes and, poignantly, end in her tears. Shahram Alidi's second feature premiered in the New Currents section at Busan International Film Festival 2015.

Black Horse Memories – trailer (YouTube)

Amama

Asier Altuna : 2015
When a Tree falls

A family tale of conflict between the urban and rural worlds, past and present, parents and children. Opposing ways of life struggle against one another whilst, in deeply eloquent silence, the grandmother, Amama, observes the world and watches her family's destiny unfold. A heart-rending drama with powerful imagery dealing with determinism in the family, imposed roles and self-sufficient worlds that are on the verge of extinction. Asier Altuna's feature was winner of the Irizar Basque Film Award when it premiered in competition at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2015.

Three Days in September

Darijan Pejovski : 2015
Tri dena vo septemvri

Having killed a man in self-defence, Marika, a prostitute, wants to get out of the city. On a train she meets Jana, a shy woman in her late 30s who is travelling to her cottage in the mountains. Just what Marika needs. The house, empty for years, was where Jana grew up with her twin sister Kristina. Their father Josif, a prominent politician, built a hotel on the property, but after several incidents he committed suicide. The hotel, now in ruins, belongs to Jana. But there is someone else in the village who would like to change that: Genz, the village policeman. Genz, is suspicious about Jana's new friend and soon discovers that Marika is wanted for murder. Long wanting the hotel property for himself, he now blackmails Jana, threatening the two women with jail. Jana, having no choice, accepts. Perhaps too easily. Why has she returned to the village after all these years? It isn't long before Marika herself discovers a few secrets. Darijan Pejovski's feature debut premiered in competition at Montréal World Film Festival 2015.

Evolution

Lucile Hadžihalilović : 2015

10-year-old Nicolas lives with his mother on a remote island, in a village inhabited solely by women and young boys. In a hospital overlooking the ocean, all the boys are subjected to a mysterious medical treatment. Only Nicolas questions what is happening around him. He senses that his mother is lying to him, and is determined to find out what she does with the other women at night, on the beach. What he discovers is the beginning of a nightmare into which he is helplessly drawn. But in Stella, a young nurse at the hospital, Nicolas finds an unexpected ally. A journey into a mysterious world of childhood dreams, fantasies and fears. Lucile Hadžihalilović's second feature premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2015, and was winner of the Special Jury Prize and the Jury Prize for Best Cinematography at its European premiere in competition at San Sebastián International Film Festival 2015.

Wir Monster

Sebastian Ko : 2015
We Monsters

Paul and Christine know that their daughter Sarah is going through a difficult phase. Fourteen years old, and angry with her parents for separating, she's been playing one against the other and making things unpleasant for their respective new partners. But then Sarah confesses to an act far beyond the realm of teenage rebellion, something so awful that her father's first impulse is to turn her in. Paul makes it as far as the car park of the local police station – but can't quite bring himself to go in. He shares the horrifying news with Christine and together they decide to keep Sarah's crime a secret. But when a classmate's father starts coming around looking for clues, things get complicated. And violence has a way of begetting more violence. Sebastian Ko's feature premiered at Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis 2015, and had its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Orage

Fabrice Camoin : 2015
A Stormy Summer Night

In the south, the heat, a storm. A vacation, a crime, adultery. Maria, Pierre, their daughter Judith and a friend, Louise, are forced to stop for the night in a small village, the summer deluge putting their final destination out of reach. A rumour. On the same night, in the same village, a man, Nabil Malek, has killed his wife and her lover. He has gone missing. As her marriage is on the verge of collapsing, Maria accidentally meets the fugitive. Together, they embark on a fatal escape to the coast with the hope of changing their destinies. Based on the novel Dix heures et demie du soir en été by Marguerite Duras. Fabrice Camoin's feature directorial debut premiered in competition at Montréal World Film Festival 2015.

Cinzento e Negro

Luís Filipe Rocha : 2015
Grey and Black

Maria and David live together in a modest housekeeper's room at José's house. Maria does cleaning jobs at several public institutions and looks after José, an elderly university lecturer afflicted with a degenerative disease. David merely survives. One day, David complies with an insistent request of José's and runs off with a big bag of money. Maria asks Lucas, a policeman, to find David, offering as a reward the money he stole. In the Azores, David withdraws from the world in a small cottage high up on the mountain of Pico Island. On his way there, on Faial Island, he becomes involved with Marina, a free-minded loner. They fall in love. Maria and Lucas track David to the Azores, look for him in Faial, where they come across Marina, and finally find him in Pico. When the quartet meet on the summit of Pico Island's volcanic mountain there will be a showdown. Luís Filipe Rocha's feature premiered in competition at Montréal World Film Festival 2015.

Félvilág

Attila Szász : 2015
Demimonde

In January 1914, a horrific murder shakes the city of Budapest to its core. Elza Mágnás, the most high-profile courtesan in the city, has just been strangled and her body thrown into the icy waters of the Danube. Through the eyes of Kató, a young and naïve chambermaid, the film depicts the last four days in Elza's life, her complex relationship with her governess, her patron and her lover. A period mystery drama based on a true story, a tale of love, passion, sex, power and murder. Attila Szász's second feature premiered in competition at Montréal World Film Festival 2015.

Rainbow Without Colours

Nguyễn Quang Tuyến : 2015
Cầu vồng không sắc

It was a full moon day in July, a day on which many Vietnamese believe spirits of the dead can return home. Mrs Yen was sleeping and she dreamt about Hung – her elder, adopted son, who died many years ago. Why is Hung's spirit returning? Is it to seek revenge for his death? Mrs Yen's dream is a consequence of the relationship between her biological son and her adopted son. When they announced their love to the family, Mrs Yen was devastated. She could not accept it and her efforts to keep them apart may have driven Hung to his death. In Vietnam, as elsewhere, parents are sure they know what's best for their children. But the spirits may not be convinced. Nguyễn Quang Tuyến's feature debut premiered in competition at Montréal World Film Festival 2015.

Kang Rinpoche

Zhang Yang : 2015
Paths of the Soul

A group of Tibetan villagers leave their families and homes to make a "bowing pilgrimage" – laying their bodies flat on the ground after every few steps – along the 2,000-kilometre road to Lhasa, the holy capital of Tibet. Though equally devoted to the trip, they all have different reasons: one traveller needs to cleanse bad family karma; another, a butcher, wants to wash the animals' bloodstains from his soul; and another pilgrim, sensing the end is near, hopes that prayers and prostrations will break the chain of cause and effect determined by his life's actions. During their months on the road, a baby is born, they meet fellow travellers, and their resolve is put to the test by harsh snowstorms and physical fatigue. But no hardship can deter them from their ultimate goal – not even the threat of death, a very real danger in this high altitude where a common cold can take one's life. A fictional portrayal of an actual event, shot in documentary style over the course of an entire year with non-professional actors. Zhang Yang's feature premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

ma ma

Julio Medem : 2015

Her heart already bruised by her husband's decision to spend the summer away from Madrid with his young lover, Magda is informed that she has breast cancer. Her kindly doctor holds out hope for Magda's survival, but she'll need painful radiation treatments and a mastectomy. The very day Magda learns of her diagnosis, she attends her little boy's soccer game. It's there that she meets Arturo, a scout for the legendary Real Madrid soccer team. Arturo receives a phone call with terrible news: his wife and daughter have been in an accident. Arturo collapses, Magda rushes him to the hospital where his wife lies in coma. These twin catastrophes give birth to a very special bond between Magda and Arturo – one that will endure as the courses of their lives take further twists and turns. Julio Medem's feature had its international premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Les êtres chers

Anne Émond : 2015
Our Loved Ones

Back in 1978, in a small village in Bas-Saint-Laurent, Guy's tragic death is a shock for the Leblanc family. Protected by his well-intentioned siblings from the truth about his father's death, the sensitive David has grown into a loving husband and father of two, living a seemingly fulfilling life with his wife Marie. But as the years go by, his relationship with his wilder brother toughens and his kids grow into young adulthood. David starts to struggle with an insuppressible melancholia that gradually threatens to engulf him. Meanwhile, when his daughter Laurence begins to recognise herself in her father, she sees that she'll need to reckon with her emotional inheritance if she is to break the cycle and take on the future. Following a Québécois family over a thirty-year period, the story reveals the most profound complexities of love and loss as their effects are transmitted from one generation to the next. Anne Émond's second feature premiered in competition in the Concorso Cineasti del presente section at Locarno Film Festival 2015, and had its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Campo Grande

Sandra Kogut : 2015

When a little girl turns up on her doorstep, fifty-year-old Regina is unsure what to do. Regina lives in Ipanema, one of Rio de Janeiro's wealthier neighbourhoods, and the five-year-old Rayane is clearly not from around here. She says her mother has told her to stay put until her return. Soon Rayane's nine-year-old brother Ygor arrives too, and Regina wants to take the children directly to an orphanage, but she's convinced by her teenage daughter to let them spend the night. The children are in awe of Regina's enormous home, and as they huddle together to sleep, it becomes obvious that they have only each other to rely on. Regina decides to help them find their family – a plan that will bring her into contact with a world that she barely knew existed. Sandra Kogut's second feature premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Beasts of No Nation

Cary Fukunaga : 2015

Torn from his family, the young Agu is forced to join a group of guerrilla soldiers as civil war engulfs his West African country. After seeing his family killed at the hands of a military junta that has overthrown the country's government, Agu flees his village. Lost in the jungle and nearing starvation, he is captured by a rebel faction, the Native Defence Forces, led by the charismatic but lethal Commandant. Under Commandant's control, Agu is forced to fight battles and commit acts beyond his comprehension. He develops both a revulsion for and fascination with a war that is slowly consuming him, yet, throughout, Agu clings to his fragile humanity. Based on the eponymous novel by Uzodinma Iweala, a heart-wrenching tale of a young boy's strength and loss of innocence. Whilst the story does not name the African country it takes place in, the narrative location is considered to be that of Nigeria. Cary Fukunaga's feature was winner of the Marcello Mastroianni Prize and the CITC-UNESCO Award when it premiered in competition at Venice International Film Festival 2015.

Behemoth

Zhao Liang : 2015
Bei xi mo shou

Everyday life in a Mongolian community turns into a Dantesque journey. A documentary offering a dissecting view on contemporary society and economic development and, at the same time, a tragedy of the absurd and a commentary on human imprudence and avidity. With camera in tow, filmmaker Zhao Liang travels through the prairies of Mongolia's vast plateau. Unfolding before his eyes are the signs of controversial upheaval due to an aggressive modern economy. Heavenly green grasslands are being covered by the gloomy dust of a growing mining industry. Confronted with the ash and infernal din of incessant mining, herdsmen and their families have no choice but to move away as grazing meadows dwindle. Day and night, miners are busy picking out coals from mountains of rocks. In nearby ironworks, men bake in the scorching heat like the condemned in Inferno. In a sort of Purgatorio, sufferers of work-related illnesses await death in hospital. A genuine Paradiso has been destroyed in exchange for an urban mirage, the empty new buildings of modern ghost town Ordos. Zhao Liang's documentary was winner of the SIGNIS Award and Green Drop Award when it premiered in competition at Venice International Film Festival 2015.

Pored mene

Stevan Filipović : 2015
Next to Me

Olja is a high school history teacher in Belgrade, married to Uglješa, a painter whose latest exhibition provoked violent reactions from Serbian nationalists. One night, a group of masked hooligans attacks her. They film the attack and upload the clip to YouTube. The next day Olja discovers that some of her students were responsible. She takes away their mobile phones, and in the heat of the moment decides to lock them in the school building, also disconnecting the school phones and the internet. In order to solve the problem together, and with inability to leave the school, students begin to communicate. During that night, a generation that was written off before they were ever given a chance will learn more than they ever expected about themselves and their classmates. Stevan Filipović's third feature won the Golden Arena for Best Feature Film in the international competition when it premiered at Pula Film Festival 2015.

The Daughter

Simon Stone : 2015

Christian returns to his family home, after a long absence, for his father Henry's lavish wedding to a much younger woman. Henry is the owner of the local timber mill, which he is closing down, causing much hardship in the area. Whilst home, Christian reconnects with his childhood friend Oliver, an employee at the timber mill who is now out of a job. As he begins to bond with Oliver's wife Charlotte, daughter Hedvig and father Walter, he unearths a long-buried secret and starts piecing together a puzzle that will have devastating consequences. A heart-rending contemporary drama about two intertwined families, adapted from Ibsen's play The Wild Duck. Simon Stone's feature debut premiered in competition at Sydney Film Festival 2015, and had its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

7 Sheep

Wiktoria Szymańska : 2015

A lonely little girl tries to create a new world for herself and an equally lonely man. In a visually stunning dreamscape, she finds that freedom and home are synonymous – and that they come at a steep cost. Wiktoria Szymańska's short premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.