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.