Chiisai ouchi

Yamada Yoji : 2014
The Little House

Following the death of the unmarried and childless Taki, Takeshi, a young relative of hers, discovers several pages of closely written lines in which the old lady has recorded her memories. This is how he learns the truth about her youth working as a housemaid and nanny for the Hirai family in a little house in Tokyo with a red gabled roof. Masaki is both head of the house and head of department at a toy factory. Whilst he has visions of his company expanding in the wake of Japan's aggressive expansionist policies of the early 1940s, his wife Tokiko falls in love with his young colleague, art school graduate Shoji, whom she visits in secret. Their housemaid remains loyal to Tokiko and devotedly takes care of the family. However, growing increasingly aware of the furtive love affair that is developing, she is eventually forced to make a heartrending decision. A tender, subtle depiction of the characters' emotional lives unfolding in front of the backdrop of Japanese politics and society before and during the Second World War. Winner of the Silver Bear for Best Actress at Berlin International Film Festival 2014.

Aloft

Claudia Llosa : 2014
No llores, vuela

A story about responsibility and radical new beginnings and of a struggling mother who encounters the son she abandoned 20 years earlier. Accompanied by a young documentary filmmaker, Ivan penetrates deeper and deeper into an unknown, frozen landscape. A network of flashbacks reveal the reasons behind this journey. When Ivan is a boy his mother Nana works on a farm where she also takes care of Gully, Ivan's younger brother whose mental health is deteriorating as a result of a debilitating illness. Nana tells Ivan to support his brother but he defiantly withdraws into a world of his own instead where he follows his falcon Inti's manoeuvres in the air. One day a healer arrives at the place where they live. Through him, Nana discovers her own healing powers. Together they build fragile tents from twigs where they help heal other people's children. But then a tragic accident occurs which tears Nana's family apart. Years later, Ivan sets off in search of his mother. He is a father himself now and he has heard Nana has set up her tent at the end of a frozen lake. Claudia Llosa's third feature premiered at Berlin International Film Festival 2014, and was winner of the Biznaga de Plata for Best Cinematography at Festival de Málaga de Cine Español 2014.

I won't come back

Ilmar Raag : 2014
Ya ne vernus

Anya, an aloof and love-spurned graduate student, is on the run from the police, falsely accused of committing a crime. Her teenage looks help her to hide in a orphanage without arousing any suspicion. Whilst there she encounters Kristina, a 13-year-old homeless person like herself, who is determined to find the only family she has left. When Kristina offers Anya a solution to her desperate situation, Anya reluctantly agrees. Together they embark on a harrowing and unpredictable odyssey, hitchhiking across the intimidating Russian terrain, to a small town in Kazakhstan where Kristina's grandmother lives. A visceral look at survival, the exploration of friendship and the meaning of acceptance. Ilmar Raag's fifth feature received its international premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2014.

The Canal

Ivan Kavanagh : 2014

Cinema archivist David Williams lives with his wife, Alice, and their 5-year-old son, Billy. All seems well until David begins to suspect that Alice is cheating on him. His anxiety is then compounded by a bizarre coincidence at work: cataloguing a film-reel from 1902, he learns that his home was the site of a brutal series of murders by a man named William Jackson, who slew his wife for being unfaithful and drowned both of their children in the nearby canal. This sinister history then ripples into the present and casts a shadow over life as he knows it, and as David's suspicions grow, a terrifying shadowy figure of a man, who resembles Jackson, starts to appear to him. In his drive to unveil the shadows hidden in the walls, David begins to descend into insanity, threatening the lives of everyone around him. Ivan Kavanagh's sixth feature, an Irish ghost story, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2014.

Une histoire banale

Audrey Estrougo : 2014
An ordinary story

Nathalie, 32 years old, is an ordinary woman with a simple and enjoyable professional life. Happy, dreamy, romantic, she is preparing to move in soon with her fiancé. But her life will totally change when her co-worker rapes her one evening after a party. Life is now a struggle where every detail is a fight to get back a normal life. Through this 'ordinary' story, Natalie becomes the spokesperson for all those women condemned to silence. The director explains her desire to raise awareness about a crime that often goes unpunished in France, usually because rape victims fail to press charges against their aggressors. "I wanted to film the invisible evil that eats away at and destroys people. If rape is a taboo, it's because it's an act that is largely based on men's supremacy over women, and recognising it as a crime (which is not always the case, since it's an act that is judged as a misdemeanour and not as a serious crime) would be tantamount to calling into question the very founding principles of our society." Audrey Estrougo's third feature portrays how rape is as much a psychological crime as it is a physical one, leaving the victim both terrorised by men and feeling that she should share in the guilt simply by being a woman.

Gittiler 'Sair ve Meçhul'

Kenan Korkmaz : 2014
Gone 'The Other and the Unknown'

The story follows the village headman and his two sons as they live in the village of Aynvert where the ancient Upper Mesopotamian nation of Syriacs have always lived, and discusses the pains of both leaving and returning. As terror reigns over their land, the majority of fellow villagers leave their home and country. The village headman, however, refuses to leave despite oppression. Joseph, one of his sons, decides to leave while Yuhan, the other, will stay with his father. From that moment on, both sons will question the decisions they have made: one for having left, the other for not. Most often the question will arise as they gaze at a picture of the sky that they have drawn on the ceiling in their house, the silsel. They long for freedom but they will always crash on a wall. Kenan Korkmaz's second feature premiered at İstanbul Film Festival 2014.

TIR

Alberto Fasulo : 2013

Branko has been a truck driver for only a few months, a choice that is quite understandable, given that he now earns three times as much as he did as a schoolteacher. But everything has a price, which is not always quantifiable in terms of money. As children we were told: "work ennobles man". But here the opposite seems true: it is Branko, with his efficiency, his obstinacy, his good will, who ennobles a job that grows more and more alienating, absurd and enslaving. Rather than a film about a truck driver, this is a film about a paradox. The paradox of a job that makes you live far away from the people you care about, and for whom you are actually working. Instead of focusing on a sociological point of view, the film examines the character under the skin, in a moment of personal crisis which forced him to make a decision that was not only practical, but ethical and existential as well. Documentary filmmaker Alberto Fasulo's first fiction feature was winner of the Golden Marc'Aurelio Award when it premiered at Rome Film Festival 2013.

Silsile

Ozan Açıktan : 2014
Consequences

Cenk has just arrived back in İstanbul from the United States. Suppressed love slowly begins to resurface after he encounters Ece, a woman with whom he had a romantic relationship in the past. Suddenly, there is a robbery attempt in this quiet and gloomy house, which results in a crime being committed. Ece flees, and in comes Faruk. The three struggle to keep their secrets hidden from each another. An intertwining chain of events follows as these three urban lives are put to the ultimate test; their sufferings and disappointments being exposed to the surface for all to see, the consequences of which will change Cenk, Faruk and Ece's lives forever. Ozan Açıktan's third feature premiered at İstanbul Film Festival 2014.

Yes and Yes

Valeriya Gai Germanika : 2014
Da i Da

Sasha is a young, inquisitive girl living in an apartment block with her family on the outskirts of Moscow. After a chance meeting with Antonin, an ambitious yet unrecognised bohemian artist, she falls in love. Their short-lived, passionate romance pulls her down to the bottom of her subconscious. But an ugly incident causes them to part: he will hardly remember it; she would like to forget about it. Overwhelmed with beautiful and frightening visions, she begins to paint, violently. His world will change her vision, forever, making her the artist. An unusual coming-of-age adventure of first love and innocence lost. Valeriya Gai Germanika's second feature premiered at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2014, and was winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Moscow International Film Festival 2014.

Ice Poison

Midi Z : 2014
Bing du

A young farmer and his father are barely able to survive on their meagre corn harvest and so they make their way down from the mountains to the village to borrow money from their relatives working in jade mines or on opium plantations. But missing paperwork, deceit and corruption have left them impoverished too. Finally, the father pawns his cow for a scooter so that his son can earn a living as a taxi driver. His first fare is Sanmei, who has returned to Burma to bury her grandfather. She's desperate to earn her and her son's way out of China, and to get out of an arranged marriage in order to begin a new life in her old country. When Sanmei accepts a job as a drug runner she persuades the young farmer to be her driver and the pair teams up to mule crystal meth (ice poison) around the city. Midi Zhao's third feature quietly observes two people's sense of alienation and their fear of losing their livelihood. His film premiered at Berlin International Film Festival 2014.

Forma

Sakamoto Ayumi : 2013

Back at school, Ayako and Yukari used to be friends. Ten years later, Ayako is an office manager, while Yukari has a menial job on a construction site. A chance meeting rekindles their friendship, with Ayako even offering Yukari a job at her company. Yet once they are colleagues, Ayako is quick to belittle her supposed friend, undermining her at every turn while carefully preventing her aggression from becoming overt. As Yukari herself puts it, there's something strange going on here. Were they really such good friends back then? How do teenage animosities play out in the world of work? How long can past tensions remain buried? As Ayako and Yukari's relationship grows ever more complicated, so too does the film itself, gradually leaving its linear beginnings behind until very little remains certain. Sakamoto Ayumi's slow-burning thriller, her directorial debut, premiered at Tokyo International Film Festival 2013, and was winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlin International Film Festival 2014.

Exit

Chienn Hsiang : 2014

A Kaohsiung garment worker in her mid-forties, Ling juggles redundancy, a hospital-bound mother, a crumbling flat, menopause and a rebellious daughter. Caring for her mother introduces Ling to her ward mate, a man whose distress Ling alleviates – even for just a bit – in return for his silent reminder that she is still a vibrant, living woman. A sharply observed chronicle of an average woman's struggle against despair. Chienn Hsiang's feature directorial debut premiered at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2014.

Sivil

Levent Çetin : 2013
Civilian

Having recently returned from compulsory military service, Emrah, who lives with his mother, refuses to socialise, and strolls alone on highways. He hides two letters in a drawer: one that he has written when he was in the army to his former lover, Sevgi, and another that he has found by the side of the dead body of a guerrilla whose life he has taken. Following the address on the letter, Emrah reaches the house of Zeynep, the guerrilla's lover, and leaves the letter there. But this will not relieve his nightmares. With the help of his uncle, he finds a job as a night watch. Forced to spend the whole night in a small room, Emrah will go through troubled times and the nightmares will become all the worse leading into ever more confusion. Levent Çetin's feature debut premiered at İstanbul Film Festival 2014.

Grand Central

Rebecca Zlotowski : 2013

Gary is young, agile and a quick learner. He's one of those who's never been promised anything. After a succession of odd jobs, he's taken on as a decontamination sub-contractor at a nuclear power plant in the lower valley of the Rhône. Inducted into the workforce by supervisor Gilles and veteran Toni, Gary discovers that radiation contamination is not just a risk factor but an everyday hazard. There, amongst the reactors and their high doses of radioactivity, he finally finds what he's been looking for: money, a team, a family. But the team also includes Karole, Toni's fiancée, with whom he falls in love and the two begin a passionate and illicit affair. The naively romantic Gary falls deeper into a web of fear and deceit, caught between his feelings for Karole, his friendship with Toni and the pressure of working in the radioactive conditions at the plant. Rebecca Zlotowski's second feature was winner of the François Chalais Prize when it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2013.

Bez doteku

Matěj Chlupáček : 2013
Touchless

Jolana's family life is dominated by the tension stemming from her stepfather's open sexual advances. The girl cannot defend herself against him, nor is she able to resolve her problems within her family. She also loses the ability to communicate with her friends and sinks further and further into the closed world of her imagination. Jolana is afraid, but she also allows herself to play submissive erotic games. The intolerability of the situation and a number of dramatic circumstances drive her to begin working as an escort at a luxurious bordello, where her situation continues to escalate. A young policeman comes to her rescue, yet the border between hope and humiliation proves just as uncertain as the connection between the girl's dreams and her real life. But the question is what does Jolana actually want? Isn't an escape into her dreams better than the harsh reality that surrounds her? Matěj Chlupáček's directorial debut premiered at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2013.

Miss Violence

Alexandros Avranas : 2013

On the day of her birthday, eleven-year-old Angeliki jumps off the balcony and falls to her death with a smile on her face. While the police and Social Services try to discover the reason for this apparent suicide, Angeliki's family keep insisting that it was an accident. What is the secret that young Angeliki took with her? Why does her family persist in trying to "forget" her and to move on with its life? These are the answers that the people from Social Services look for when they visit the family's clean and orderly home. The father has made sure nothing is missing and that everything is where it belongs. It seems as if nothing can betray them. But Angeliki's younger brother unintentionally reveals clues which will gradually shatter the family's well polished world, forcing them to come face to face with that which, for so many years, they have been hiding or could not bear to see. One by one they will break down, until finally violence will once again offer the solution, keeping the family united and the secret safe. Alexandros Avranas's second feature was winner of the Silver Lion for Best Director when it premiered at La Biennale di Venezia 2013.

The Major

Yuri Bykov : 2013
Майор

On a cold winter's day Sergey Sobolev, a major at the local police office, is driving to the hospital where his wife is about to give birth to their child. High from happiness, he's driving too fast and runs down a boy on a passage walk who dies. Now the major has only two options: go to prison or conceal the crime. Sobolev decides to compromise with his conscience, and he calls on a colleague to help him out. But the case turns out to be messy and he understands that this choice resulted in many people's deaths. He finally changes his mind and tries to make up for his deed, but now he has to oppose the system and it's already too late. All the characters in this story have to choose: to cross or not to cross the line, when the price for your choice is life – yours and of the ones you love. Yuri Bykov's second feature premiered at Semaine de la Critique du Festival de Cannes 2013.

Name in the Dark

Agnė Marcinkevičiūtė : 2013
Vardas tamsoje

A small town in Lithuania back in 1995. Life is quiet here. But one day, a mysterious incident changes the everyday routine, when a teenage girl is found murdered at a local hotel. The town is shocked by the incident, but the hardest work goes to the melancholic Investigator in the local police department. The suspect in the murder is her former music teacher, who was also her lover back in the school times. While the Investigator is working on this mysterious crime, her memories bring her back to the days of their dramatically finished relationship. Just when the case seems to be revealed, the chief of the department warns her: "Don't disclose a crime too early, you may never know what the answer is bringing to you". Based on the bestselling detective novel by Renata Serelytė, Agnė Marcinkevičiūtė's feature debut screened at Vilnius International Film Festival 2014.

Wolfskinder

Rick Ostermann : 2013
Wolf children

Today nine million children all over the world are on the run. They are the innocent victims of war and banishment. Many of these children lose their parents and their home. During the turmoil of the Second World War they have also become known as the so-called "wolf children" who desperately fought for survival in what was then East Prussia and in the Baltic region. Set in an East Prussian village under Russian occupation in the year 1947, the 14-year-old Hans and his 9-year-old brother Karl lose their mother who dies of starvation during a hard winter. On her death bed the mother asks Hans to look after his younger brother. Even though Hans seems less capable of coming to terms with the challenges to be faced than his young brother, he is given all the responsibility: they need to make their way through to Lithuania where some farmers are sympathetic to German children. On their way Hans loses Karl whilst crossing a large river under attack. This marks the beginning of an odyssey in which Hans, driven by the desire to find his brother, joins a group of children on a journey to a foreign land and a fight against hunger, adverse weather and illness. Together they seek refuge in the enchanted forests of Lithuania in order to escape the turmoil of post-war anarchy. Rick Ostermann's feature directorial debut premiered at La Biennale di Venezia 2013.

A Most Wanted Man

Anton Corbijn : 2014

When a brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg's Muslim community, laying claim to his father's ill-gotten fortune, both the German and US security agencies take a close interest. German spy Günther Bachmann tracks down Issa Karpov, the suspicious Chechen-Russian immigrant who is on the run in Hamburg. Pressured by his German and American colleagues to capture and interrogate his suspect as an Islamist terrorist, Bachmann instead asks for more time to carefully track Issa's movements and his relationship with his German immigration lawyer, Annabel Richter. Using his secret contacts and keen skill, Bachmann uncovers a connection between a world-renowned Muslim philanthropist and a terrorist group and devises a plan to use Issa and Annabel in a brilliant ploy to expose the scheme. A contemporary, cerebral tale of intrigue, love, rivalry and politics adapted from the novel by John le Carré. Anton Corbijn's third feature premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2014.