Tanna

Martin Butler & Bentley Dean : 2015

In a traditional tribal society in the South Pacific, a young girl, Wawa, falls in love with her chief's grandson, Dain. When an inter-tribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. The young lovers run away, refusing her arranged fate. They must choose between their hearts and the future of the tribe, while the villagers must wrestle with preserving their traditional culture and adapting it to the increasing outside demands for individual freedom. Set on a remote Pacific island, covered in rain forest and dominated by an active volcano, this story, enacted by the Yakel tribe, tells of a sister's loyalty, a forbidden love affair and the pact between the old ways and the new. Documentary filmmakers Martin Butler and Bentley Dean's first dramatic feature was winner of the Audience Award Pietro Barzisa and the FEDEORA Award for Best Cinematography when it premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2015.

Light Years

Esther May Campbell : 2015

Mum is in the hospice and 8-year-old Rose wants to visit. But nobody will take her. Ever. Moving like a ghost at dawn, her father disappears from the isolated house. Meanwhile sister Ramona waits for a boy who never comes and brother Ewan, anxious inside and online, communes with apparitions while the real world forgets him. But Rose reckons a family is like a constellation, all connected, even when actually they are light years away from each other. Esther May Campbell's feature debut premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2015.

À peine j'ouvre les yeux

Leyla Bouzid : 2015
As I Open My Eyes

Tunis, summer 2010, a few months before the Revolution. Farah, 18 years old, has just graduated and her family already sees her as a future doctor. But she doesn't have the same idea. She joins "Joujma", a political rock band, has a passion for life, drinks, discovers love and her city by night, all against the wishes of her mother Hayet, who knows Tunisia and its dangers all too well. But in her love life as on the scene, Farah goes further and further, without suspecting the danger of a regime that watches and infiltrates her privacy. Hayet will do anything to protect her, even revive the wounds of her own youth. Leyla Bouzid's feature debut was winner of the Europa Cinemas Label Prize and the People's Choice Award when it premiered in competition at Venice Days 2015.

The Return

Green Zeng : 2015

Wen is a political detainee who is released after many years of imprisonment. Arrested for being an alleged communist, he returns, an old man, to an uneasy reunion with his daughter and son. Wen also wanders through the city to see how his homeland has transformed into a shining metropolis. He is philosophical about his long detainment without trial and is ready to move on. But as the past collides with the present, unforeseen circumstances force his journey to take a tragic turn. Green Zeng's feature debut premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2015.

Banat (Il viaggio)

Adriano Valerio : 2015
Banat (The trip)

Bari, a city caught in the relentless economic crisis. Ivo is an agronomist, but the lack of opportunities pushes him to accept a job in the fertile region of Banat in Romania. Clara has just ended a relationship and is about to lose her job at the Bari harbour. Ivo and Clara meet by chance and seem to immediately understand each other. They spend only one night together before Ivo's departure, but that is enough to create a bond and leave them wanting to meet again. When Clara visits him in Romania, they fall in love. But is exile their only way to happiness? Adriano Valerio's feature debut premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2015.

Ana yurdu

Senem Tüzen : 2015
Motherland

Nesrin is an urban, upper middle class woman recovering from a divorce. She's quit her office job, abandoned her house in İstanbul, and come to the village house in Anatolia of her deceased grandmother to finish a novel and live out her childhood dream of being a writer. When her conservative and increasingly unhinged mother turns up uninvited and refuses to leave, Nesrin's writing stalls and her fantasies of village life turn bitter as the two are forced to confront the darker corners of each other's inner worlds. Senem Tüzen's feature directorial debut premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2015.

La memoria del agua

Matías Bize : 2015
The Memory of Water

A moment of inattention is all it took to change the lives of Javier and Amanda forever: lives that are now divided between "before" and "after", between how everything was and should have been. All because of an accident that neither of them could have prevented. It will take a long time to reach closure on the death of their four-year-old son. Amanda can't bear the daily ache of seeing her home – and Javier. Everything reminds her of her child, and so she decides to leave her husband and plunge into her work as an interpreter, whilst Javier, who continues to work as an architect, can't accept the separation and seems unable to face the loss of his son. The love story of a young couple who are forced to question their lives and their relationship. But when the possibility of a second chance for both of them arises, they know that a decision will change the direction of their lives forever, and realise that the past they share should not be forgotten. Matías Bize's feature premiered in competition at Venice Days 2015.

Montanha

João Salaviza : 2015
Mountain

A hot summer in Lisbon. David, 14, awaits the imminent death of his grandfather, but refuses to visit him, fearing this terrible loss. Meanwhile, his mother, Mónica, spends her nights at the hospital. The void already left by his grandfather forces David to become the man of the house, where he lives with his three-year-old sister. David doesn't feel ready to assume this new role, but without realising it, the more he tries to avoid adulthood, the closer he gets to it. João Salaviza's feature debut premiered in competition at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2015.

Jia

Liu Shumin : 2015
The Family

Liu and Deng are a couple both in their seventies who have been married for nearly half a century and lived in a small inland city in China. The family of Liu and Deng is a typical, ordinary Chinese family. The eldest daughter Liquin, divorced with a teenage son, lives with them. The second daughter Xiaomin and youngest son Xujun live in far away cities, married and with their own families. They are also too busy to visit the parents, therefore the old couple decide to travel a long way to visit them. It will be a special journey where they will do everything they can to keep the family tied together despite the distance, the family being their sole purpose in life. The film follows the old couple's movements and everyday rituals, relationship subtleties with their three children, their common worries and the threats of old age, throughout the long voyage to visit their children. With them, we discover a country in profound transformation, balanced between tradition and modernity. Liu Shumin's feature debut premiered at Venice International Film Critics' Week 2015.

Roukli

Veiko Õunpuu : 2015

Out of the blue, two fugitives, in rags and miserable, arrive at the farm by the sea, on the edge of the primeval, gloomy Roukli oak grove. One of them is badly wounded and their lives are in peril – a self-appointed vigilante Peedu and his gang of horsemen are following on their trail. As tension builds, repressed impulses surface and events become unhinged and dreamlike. Can we perhaps question the tragic nature of all of our dramas if we are able to question the very foundations of our reality, our selves, our beginnings and the ends? Veiko Õunpuu's feature premiered at European Film Festival Palić 2015.

Butterfly

Cathal Black : 2014

Leonard Doyle, a lonely probation officer, estranged from his wife, is faced with the difficult task of writing a report on Teri, a young, hot-tempered graphic designer who has convictions for minor theft. A clash of personalities in their first meeting sets the tone for what's to come, and, over the course of their series of meetings, Leonard's need to help her brings about more conflict as Teri stubbornly rejects his methods and uses his personal failings to keep him at arm's length. As his patience runs out, Leonard drops his professional approach and makes one final attempt to break through to her. Teri's acceptance or rejection of his helping hand will see her released from the dark past she has lived with for years, or condemn her to continue in her downward spiral. Cathal Black's short screened at Galway Film Fleadh 2015.

La belle saison

Catherine Corsini : 2015
Summertime

It's 1971, Delphine is 23 years old. A country girl and farmer's daughter, she moves from her rural roots to Paris in order to gain financial independence and dreams of owning her own business, an inconceivable notion at that time. Carole is a Parisienne. She's 35 years old, a teacher of Spanish and in a relationship with Manuel. She is also an activist involved in the stirrings of the feminist movement. When Delphine and Carole meet, they become involved in an all-consuming romance. However, when Delphine has to return home after her father's stroke, the couple find it difficult to square this new life with the less liberal attitude of the village and Delphine's family. A passionate and sensual tale of sexual and political awakening. Catherine Corsini's feature was winner of the Variety Piazza Grande Award when it premiered at Locarno Film Festival 2015.

My Name is Emily

Simon Fitzmaurice : 2015

It's Emily's 16th birthday and it's been a long time since she received a letter from her father, a writer who has spent the last two years in a far off psychiatric institution. Emily, a lonely, thoughtful girl, is consumed by fragmented memories of her happy childhood, her loving mother and her charismatic father. These memories are darkened by her mother's untimely death and her father's subsequent psychological breakdown. Now Emily is living in a bleak estate with foster parents. After meeting a fellow outsider at her new school, Emily and her handsome ally, Arden, decide to embark on a road trip adventure across Ireland to find her missing father. They are an odd couple, this pale girl and the boy in the velvet suit. Along the way, they find love as well as some hard and unexpected truths, and Emily learns that she must face her father's madness in order to come to terms with the past that binds her. Simon Fitzmaurice's feature debut won the award for Best Cinematography when it premiered at Galway Film Fleadh 2015.

Cosmos

Andrzej Żuławski : 2015

One night in July, Witold, a law student, slips away from the city with a friend in order to see different things and have new experiences in a remote part of the countryside. They end up in a guesthouse run by a retired couple who live there with their daughter, Lena, and a maid. While the daughter's mouth is beautiful and pristine, the maid's is misshapen and unsightly. Immediately captivated by the sight of their lips, Witold starts to become obsessed with the two girls. He also gets drawn in by a series of strange, interlinked signs in an atmosphere that grows ever more stifling and sinister. A bleak and metaphysical noir thriller, based on the novel by Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz. Andrzej Żuławski's feature was winner of the Leopard for Best Director when it premiered in competition at Locarno Film Festival 2015.

L'astragale

Brigitte Sy : 2015
Astragal

On a night in April 1957, Albertine, a brilliant and rebellious 19-year-old girl, jumps from the wall of a prison where she's serving a sentence for a holdup. She breaks her anklebone: the astragalus. She is rescued by Julien, a fugitive from justice, and a burning passion between them ensues. He takes her to Paris and hides her. But while he leads his gangster life, pulling off robberies in the provinces, and Albertine walks the streets of Montmartre to make a few francs, the young woman struggles for her freedom and against the wounds inflicted by Julien's absence. Eventually she reunites with Marie, a former lover and partner in crime – a liaison that will result in the girls' arrest and imprisonment. Adapted from Albertine Sarrazin's autobiographical novel, Brigitte Sy's second feature screened in competition at Odessa International Film Festival 2015.

Dem Leibe dieses Todes

Rudolf Domke : 2015
The Body of this Death

An ethnic German colony in Paraguay is in ruins. Although this colony has existed for less than 10 years, its dream of a social utopia belongs to the past. Nikolai Neufeld, founder of the colony, is imprisoned for economic fraud, he has 60 million euros of debt and 1,700 creditors. About 15 years ago he bought a lot of land in the remote area of Paraguay and started aggressively to promote settlement there. His audience was a minority in Germany, known as Russian-Germans, most of whom have German roots and have moved since the late 1980s from the former Soviet Union to Germany and lived there already for 10 to 20 years. His great promise was a municipal, carefree life in the rural idyll away from all disappointments and constraints of modern civilisation. Most of the houses in the colony are abandoned now. The film is about the people who stayed there and try to survive, as self-sufficient farmers, as ranchers and missionaries. Rudolf Domke's documentary premiered at Filmfest München 2015.

All We Share

Jerry Carlsson : 2014
Allt vi delar

One day arborists Samir and Sara are hired to perform a seemingly ridiculous job: cut down a perfectly healthy tree in a family's backyard. The urgency of the request makes them suspicious: something serious must have happened in connection with it, but this impression is only confirmed by the odd behaviour of the homeowners and in their inability to talk about the real reason. None are privy to their thoughts, however, and thus the concrete outlines of the tragedy remain hidden behind the walls of the house and the pervasive silence. Jerry Carlsson's short was winner of the Next Nordic Generation Award at the Norwegian International Film Festival 2014, and screened at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015.

Czerwony Pająk

Marcin Koszałka : 2015
The Red Spider

Karol is an ordinary young man, living in 1960s Kraków. Poland is under the communist regime, times are dark and murky, while the city is empty and morose. After winning a diving tournament, Karol and his teammates go to a local funfair to celebrate his success. Leaving them momentarily, Karol discovers the body of a murdered boy, presumably the new victim of Red Spider, a terrifying serial killer, prowling the streets of Kraków. On his way back to the fairground, Karol passes an ordinary-looking man in his forties, wearing a dark coat and a beret, holding a leather briefcase in his hand. Karol is strangely drawn to the man, who turns out to be a vet. He follows him and tries to get closer to the silent, mysterious man, whom he believes to be the infamous Red Spider. In the meantime Karol is approached by Danka – a slightly older photographer at the local newspaper. Tempted by love, fascinated by death, Karol will soon have to make the most important choice of his life. Inspired by actual mass murders committed in the 1960s, a precisely constructed psychological thriller and chilling examination of obsession and death. Documentary filmmaker Marcin Koszałka's feature debut premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015.

AKA Nadia

Tova Ascher : 2015

Maya Goldwasser is happily married to Yoav, a senior official at the Ministry of Justice. She is a successful choreographer and they have two lovely children. But one evening Maya spots a figure from her past and her world starts to unravel. She is scared and panicked but doesn't dare say a word to anyone, terrified that her past has caught up with her. She once was Nadia Kabir, a 17-year-old Arab girl just graduated from the Jewish-Arab girls' school in Jerusalem. She was having a secret affair with Nimer, an activist in a Palestinian Liberation Movement. When Nimer is sent to London on assignment, they secretly marry. In London, Nadia realises the meaning of the step she has taken, severing her ties with her family and beloved mother, as she embraces a life of exile and escape. When the authorities catch Nimer, Nadia is left on her own. She knows there is no option of returning to Israel: she's a terrorist to the authorities and a disgrace to her family. But she meets a man who is able to create a new life and a new identity for her as Maya. Now, more than 20 years since she abandoned her previous identity, her past rears its head again. Can a person reinvent herself without dealing with consequences from her past? The connection between the two lives, Maya and Nadia, forms the core of the film. It raises questions of identity: about when the private becomes political and the political becomes private, without the means to separate the two; about the ability of society to accept the Other and forgive their Otherness. It's a story about innocent individuals who pay a terrible price, the victims of a society that has gone awry, and how life seems to repeat itself and not learn from past mistakes. Tova Ascher's directorial debut was winner of the Israel Critics' Forum Award for Best Feature Film when it premiered in competition at Jerusalem Film Festival 2015.

Peur de rien

Danielle Arbid : 2015
Parisienne

Lina is eighteen years old, serious, and strong-willed. She's just arrived in Paris from Beirut to start university and had planned to stay with her uncle, but he turns out to have an unhealthy interest in her. She flees and finds herself on the street. Luckily, she has a magnetic charm that draws people to her. It's not long before new school friends offer her a place to stay and Lina begins her immersion in Paris life. Three decisive encounters, varied and unusual, will show her a side of this still fantasised country – and a side of herself. Three men, as generous as they are complementary, will become the mirror of her transformation. Danielle Arbid's fourth feature premiered at La Rochelle International Film Festival 2015, and had its North American premiere at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.

Snow Paths

Kim Hee-jung : 2015
Seol haeng

Jeong-woo, a young alcoholic arrives for treatment at a sanatorium run by nuns. Although not normally permitted, his mother arranged an exemption that allows him to spend the winter there. As the only patient, he soon succumbs to a sense of loneliness – the convent's strict rules do not offer much in the way of stimulation and he fails to become friends with the nuns. Eventually, however, one of them grows close to him. But Maria is no ordinary individual. She has visionary dreams and betrays signs of saintliness. A second patient is then admitted, a strange hunter who violates the convent's rules and leads Jeong-woo down the wrong path. Kim Hee-jung's dark, dramatic and dreamlike tale, her third feature, premiered at Jeonju International Film Festival 2015, and had its European premiere at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015.

Taksu

Kiki Sugino : 2014
Yokudô

Suffering from an incurable disease, Chihiro is always thinking about death, worrying all those around him. He struggles as his desire to live wanes over time. Chihiro and his wife, Yuri, decide to go on a trip to see his sister Kumi's home in Bali, which Yuri hopes will be a healing trip for both of them. But instead of calmness, Chihiro's encounter with the exotic Balinese culture and nature brings to the surface long-hidden tensions in their relationship. Exhausted by the stubborn melancholy of her husband, Yuri succumbs to a sensuous one night stand with beach boy Wayang. Chihiro sinks deeper into the void, placing increasing pressure on both their own relationship and that with Kumi and her Dutch partner Luke who are preparing for the birth of their child. The film questions whether there is hope for the possibility of communication and a level of understanding among them, when in truth they are all separated by needs and desires that essentially are driving them apart. Kiki Sugino's feature premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2014, and had its German premiere at Filmfest München 2015.

Im Zweifel

Aelrun Goette : 2015
Doubt

In her capacity as an emergency pastoral worker, clergywoman Judith Ehrmann is called to a serious accident. Sixteen-year-old Lisa has been killed and her gravely injured boyfriend Oliver pulled from the wreck. A black station wagon had driven them off the road before fleeing the scene. When Judith and Inspector Minow bring Lisa's unsuspecting parents the news of her death that night, she does not yet suspect that the accident will also wreak havoc upon her own life: her husband Christoph drives a black station wagon, her 17-year-old son Paul is practising for his driving licence, and both share a secret – although not with her. Aelrun Goette's feature premiered at Filmfest München 2015.

Zhyva vatra

Ostap Kostyuk : 2014
The Living Fire

The snow is starting to melt and spring has announced its arrival. Three Carpathian shepherds, just like their fathers and grandfathers before them, set off with their flock into the mountains on a lonely journey lasting several months. Ten-year-old Ivanko spends his childhood in harmony with nature – in complete contrast to his peers. Vasyl, Ivanko's 39-year-old godfather, for whom sheep herding is almost a religious calling, contemplates his wasted youth. Then there's 82-year-old widower Ivan, who speaks nostalgically about the lonesome life-journey he travelled for decades on end. A nostalgic, mystery-tinged essay about an ancient profession that unbridled civilisation may soon swallow up. Ostap Kostyuk's documentary feature debut had its European premiere in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2015.

Rendez-vous

Antoinette Beumer : 2015

Simone, a 34-year-old Dutch woman, needs a change. She buys a dilapidated farmhouse in the south of France and moves there with her husband, Eric, and their two children to turn the old property into a home and B&B. While the hectic pace of the renovation gets underway, Simone flees into a thrilling affair with one of the French construction workers, the gorgeous twenty-year-old Michel. Getting caught up in the romance and chaos of it all, she slowly loses sight of her goals and control of her life. And as the perfect French dream turns into her worst nightmare, she must find her way back to the ideals and ambitions which brought her there in the first place.

Silence is Broken

Hans Steinbichler : 2015
Das Dorf des Schweigens

Things go bad when a woman no one has heard from in decades returns home. Lydia is out for revenge and accuses Christian, the fiancé of her younger sister Eva, of having raped her when she was fourteen, an incident she never recovered from. Gossip spreads throughout the village fast. The accusation hits Eva the hardest. And Christian, who, it seems, will probably lose his job. And then Christian's dead body is pulled out of the river rapids. The police assume it is suicide and want to close the case. But Eva is convinced that her sister has driven Christian to his death and tries to prove it. The more Eva delves into her sister's past, the more realistic the accusations become. What really did happen? Eva starts unravelling the history of the family. Hans Steinbichler's thriller premiered at Filmfest München 2015.

Open Cage

Siniša Galić : 2015
Otvoreni kavez

Anna, a young photojournalist from Berlin travels to Serbia for a photo documentary about refugees. Arriving in Belgrade, Anna finds out that she can't realise her task the way she intended. Through the cabdriver Džeki she encounters the withdrawn but nevertheless interesting young woman Maja who works at the nearby fast-food restaurant. Miserable with her living circumstances, Maja is dreaming of a new beginning somewhere abroad. In an attempt to successfully finish her project, Anna starts to photograph Maja, secretly making a documentary about her. Driven by the wish to change her life, Maja doesn't realise Anna's true intentions. Focusing on the two women, from Germany and Serbia, facing their personal and social conflicts, a story about European societies that, besides their frequently exposed differences, have a great number of similarities. Siniša Galić's feature debut premiered at Küstendorf International Film and Music Festival 2015, and screened in competition at Cinema City International Film Festival 2015.