Khibula

George Ovashvili : 2017

In 1991 Zviad Gamsachurdia became the first democratically elected president of the newly independent Georgia, yet within a few months he was ousted in a military coup. He sets out for the mountains with a group of loyalists to regroup with his supporters. With their help he will retake power, or so he earnestly hopes. The film uses historical events as a frame to shape an archetypal story told with light melancholy and an unmistakable visual poetic. Set against an imposing Caucasus backdrop, we witness a man fighting for power while waging an internal struggle as he heads to meet his fate. George Ovashvili's feature premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

City of the Sun

Rati Oneli : 2017
Mzis qalaqi

The Georgian town of Chiatura was once a vibrant centre of industry, but the monotonous sound of work in the expansive manganese mines has essentially been replaced by silence. The houses, production halls, theatres, stadiums and the unique system of public cable cars – previously the pride of the town – are now rusting and rotting away. Rampant vegetation turns buildings into ruins, completing the image of omnipresent decay. And yet people have not disappeared entirely from this place. The film's crystal-clear style, in which each shot is given the length it needs, seeks out the photogenic side of decay and explores the specific nature of the lost souls that continue to live here. Rati Oneli's feature-length directorial debut premiered in the Forum section at Berlin International Film Festival 2017.

Volubilis

Faouzi Bensaïdi : 2017

A tale of love in a world of despair, of beauty among the ruins. In the Moroccan city of Meknès, recently married Abdelkader and Malika struggle to make ends meet. He works as a shopping mall security guard, she as a housemaid. They dream of leaving the family house and finally starting a life of their own together. But one day at work, Abdelkader gets mixed up in a violent incident that will turn their lives upside down. The drama contrasts a poor but deeply in love young couple with the rich but inhumane and hypocritical upper class. Abdelkader suffers violence only because he is part of the powerless working class, and the corrupt law and government tramples on the weak as though only natural. A powerful criticism about injustice and discrimination in Morocco. Faouzi Bensaïdi's feature premiered in competition at Venice Days 2017.

Burning Mountains That Spew Flame

Samuel M Delgado & Helena Girón : 2016
Montañas arditens que vomitan fuego

Out in the open, on a mysterious volcanic island, a goatherd is tending his flock. The island's black rock, however, hides the murky depths of a cave complex, as well as shafts that formed in the course of volcanic activity. In these bowels of the earth, which served as a refuge for the resistance during the war but still welcome any lost soul, time has stopped. The enchanting magic of the place exists out of time and geographical location, yet the heart of the island quietly whispers a testimony of local history and mythology. Samuel M Delgado and Helena Girón's short premiered in the Imagina section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Waiting for Ana

Giorgi Mukhadze : 2016
Anas molodinshi

Their mother's death becomes the pretext for long-estranged siblings to reconnect. They lead different lives, so much so that they find it hard to communicate. If they could live quietly together in one apartment they might find their way back to each other, but the constant interruption of grieving rituals and mourning relatives makes this impossible. Then something seemingly insignificant from the past helps them break down the barrier dividing them, and they remember how it was when each other's presence brought them joy. Giorgi Mukhadze's short had its international premiere in the Future Frames section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Breaking News

Iulia Rugină : 2017

Following the tragic death of his cameraman, TV reporter Alex Mazilu is assigned the difficult task of shooting a video obituary in a small town on the Black Sea coast. He himself needs time to physically and mentally recuperate and to deal with his guilt over the fact that he alone came out of the accident alive. But instead of resting, he sets out to investigate his colleague's private life. The only member of the family willing to help is Simona, the deceased's 15-year-old daughter, whose relationship to her father was more than complicated. During three pre-Christmas days, Alex becomes an involuntary witness to the girl's struggle to come to terms with the loss of her father. At the same time he discovers that he didn't really know the man he saw every day at work, although he was convinced of the contrary. Iulia Rugină's feature premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

The Stone

Orhan Eskiköy : 2017
Taş

Over the centuries, the inhabitants of a remote village have created an intimate bond with the infertile soil, and their modest dwellings seem to merge into the ubiquitous stone and ruins. The old stone walls whisper secret wishes and wait for a miracle or at least a spark of hope. The walls confide their prayers to Emete, and soon afterwards she reconnects with her missing son Hasan after an absence of years. Or does she merely succumb to strong desire and begin to see her son in the face of the stranger to whom she offers shelter? The sinister Officer, however, also arrives in the village bent on taking the runaway back, otherwise he'll deprive the villagers of the one thing they hold dear – stone. Bordering on archetype, the story speaks in mysterious allusions, leaving the viewer – fascinated by a region whose forbidding nature is entwined with reassuring myths – to wander uncertainly through the meanders of blind faith, self-deception, and real hope. Orhan Eskiköy's feature premiered at İstanbul Film Festival 2017, and had its international premiere in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Arrhythmia

Boris Khlebnikov : 2017
Aritmiya

Oleg is heading for his thirties. He's a talented paramedic. His ambulance rushes from patient to patient. He knows his timely arrival can tip the scales of life and death. Each of his professional successes makes the world a little better. After a hard shift, he likes to take a few swigs. His wife Katya is also a doctor, working in the hospital's emergency department. But her patience with Oleg is running thin, so she announces one day that she wants a divorce – although they still have to share their poky apartment until Oleg finds a flat. He also discovers there are major changes at his workplace – the new boss at the hospital cares only about statistics and rules, which certainly doesn't make his life any easier. A study of a relationship experiencing an arrhythmia similar to that affecting the hearts of the patients Oleg treats in his ambulance. Boris Khlebnikov's feature premiered at Kinotavr Film Festival 2017, and had its international premiere in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Absence of Closeness

Josef Tuka : 2017
Absence blízkosti

Hedvika doesn't have much luck with the men in her life, and when her latest affair with a married man comes to grief she takes her three-month-old daughter Adélka and her dog to live with her mother and boyfriend in a posh country villa. The young woman's relationship with her distant mother isn't ideal, and she also senses her own maternal feelings for Adélka are still somewhat lacking. One day she chances upon some diaries in her mother's house that her late father had written to her when she was a child. Reading the diaries and visiting the places she used to know as a child, conjuring up faint memories and contemplating decisions made long ago – and their consequences – effect a change in her. Josef Tuka's feature debut premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

The Day After

Hong Sang-soo : 2017
Geu-hu

Areum looks forward to her first day of work at a small publishing house. Until recently, her boss Bongwan was in a relationship with the girl Areum is replacing. Like every other day, Bongwan leaves home early, and on the way to work he thinks constantly of the love he has lost. But today his wife finds a love letter he wrote and she heads to the publishing house. There she mistakes Areum for the woman who was having an affair with her husband. A tale of love, separation, jealousy, and disappointment. Hong Sang-soo's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Falling

Marina Stepanska : 2017
Strimholov

Young Anton has just been released from the rehab centre where he had sought treatment for alcoholism and drug addiction. His grandfather, a man of stern principles who brought him up from a young age, takes him off to the country, far from the lure of the big city. One night Anton meets Katia, who, like him, is trying to find her bearings in life, although at least one thing should be clear in her mind: she is shortly to be leaving for Berlin with her boyfriend Johann, a German photojournalist she met during the Maidan demonstrations. Her encounter with Anton, however, brings a new impulse into her life and profoundly affects both of them. Marina Stepanska's feature debut is both a fragile love story and a strong statement on the current young generation as it searches for its place in post-revolutionary Ukraine. Her film premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017.

Les fantômes d'Ismaël

Arnaud Desplechin : 2017
Ismael's Ghosts

Ismaël Vuillard makes films. He is in the middle of one about Ivan, an atypical diplomat inspired by his brother. Along with Bloom, his master and father-in-law, Ismaël still mourns the death of Carlotta, twenty years earlier. Yet he has started his life over again with Sylvia. Sylvia is his light. Then Carlotta returns from the dead. Sylvia runs away. Ismaël rejects Carlotta. Driven mad by these ordeals, he abandons the shoot for his family home in Roubaix. There, he lives as a recluse, besieged by his ghosts. Arnaud Desplechin's feature premiered out of competition at Festival de Cannes 2017.

After the War

Annarita Zambrano : 2017
Dopo la guerra

Bologna, 2002. The opposition to the Labour Law explodes in universities. The murder of a judge reopens old political wounds between Italy and France. Marco, a former left-wing activist, sentenced for murder and exiled in France for 20 years, thanks to the Mitterrand doctrine, is accused of having ordered the attack. The Italian government requests his extradition. Discovering that he no longer has political asylum, he is forced to flee with Viola, his 16-year-old daughter. His life will change forever, as well as his family's in Italy who has to pay for Marco's past faults. Annarita Zambrano's feature premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Jeune femme

Léonor Serraille : 2017
Montparnasse Bienvenüe

Paula, in the heat of a tense situation, recounts her life in a disjointed and feverish manner from the hospital to which she has been taken after trying to break down the door of Joachim, a famous photographer. After sharing a life for ten years, Joachim has apparently lost any interest in seeing her now that she's back in Paris after an extended stay in Mexico. At 31 years old, the door to la dolce vita slams in Paula's face, and she finds herself, suddenly and without warning, in dire straits in the capital, with no money and no realistic possibility of turning to her family. Nevertheless, this exuberant, straight-talking, hyper-social, sharp-tongued and occasionally borderline disturbed young woman is not entirely without resources. Léonor Serraille's feature debut was winner of the Caméra d'Or when it premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2017.

Tower. A Bright Day.

Jagoda Szelc : 2017
Wieża. Jasny dzień.

Mula lives with her husband, sick mother and daughter Nina in a countryside house. At the weekend before Nina's First Holy Communion, her brother with his family come for a visit together with Kaja – Mula's younger sister, who disappeared suddenly six years earlier. Kaja is Nina's biological mother. Mula is afraid that unstable Kaja might want to take her daughter away. The rest of the family, who at first keep their distance from Kaja, start to believe that this might be a new beginning for them and a chance for the sisters to reconcile. All this makes Mula even more frustrated and she decides to kick Kaja out. On the day of the first communion the sisters put their differences aside. However, there is another, more important reason why Kaja came home in the first place. Jagoda Szelc's feature was winner of the awards for Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay when it premiered in competition at Gdynia Film Festival 2017.

Dark River

Clio Barnard : 2017

Sheep shearer Alice returns to her family's farm in Yorkshire after an absence of 15 years, following her father Richard's death. There, for the first time since her departure, she will encounter her brother Joe, who has been left behind taking care of their sick father and the property. Alice is back to claim the tenancy to their farm, which comes as a surprise to Joe, and so a conflict will emerge between them. At the same time, more landlords are starting to consider Alice as a threat. As she tries to salvage her relationship with her brother, she's also fighting her traumatic memories, since their father regularly raped her as a teenager. Using the tenancy as an excuse, Alice aims to confront and unearth the past. She needs to release this tension and take Joe along with her on her devastating journey. It is important for her to reach closure, even if it seems almost impossible. Alice returns more unprotected than ever, to a male-dominated environment where she has to exorcise her own demons and evolve on a personal level. Clio Barnard's third feature premiered at Toronto International Film Festival 2017.

Gutland

Govinda van Maele : 2017

Early one summer morning a young man, with a secret stashed away in a duffel bag, emerges from the forest. In a nearby village he asks around for work, but the farmers, suspicious to the point of hostility, are not very forthcoming. Only when Lucy, the mayor's unruly daughter, takes a liking to him, does the village change its attitude: he is promptly offered a job as a farmhand and a caravan to live in. As time passes and he is gradually integrated into the community, it emerges that he's not the only one with a past to hide. Something sinister is lurking under the immaculate surface of this picturesque little world – and it is slowly drawing him in. Govinda van Maele's fiction feature debut premiered at Toronto International Film Festival.

El cuento de Antonia

Jorge Cadena : 2016
The Tale of Antonia

A visionary tale of contemporary Colombia. The wind picks up and tempers fray in the fishing village of Bocas de Ceniza on the northern tip of Colombia. Antonia – in her virginal white dress – undergoes an undefined religious ritual, seemingly carefree. She isn't easily convinced and chooses her own path. Jorge Cadena's graduation film was winner of the Tiger Award for Short Films when it premiered in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2017.

Thelma

Joachim Trier : 2017

Having grown up in a small coastal town, Thelma moves to Oslo to study Biology. She's quite introverted, sensitive and conservative due to her family's rigorous Christian background, so she doesn't have any real friends at the university. Whilst in the library, Thelma experiences a severe seizure; fortunately, fellow student Anja, who is sitting next to her, comes to her aid immediately. After this experience, Thelma feels extremely attracted to Anja, who reciprocates Thelma's attraction, and a relationship blossoms between them, although the closer they get, the more intense Thelma's seizures become. As it becomes clear that the seizures are symptoms of mysterious and dangerous psychological abilities, Thelma is confronted with secrets from her past and the terrifying implications of her newfound powers. Joachim Trier's feature was winner of the Norwegian Film Critics Award when it premiered at Norwegian International Film Festival 2017.

Sicilian Ghost Story

Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza : 2017

In a little Sicilian village on the edge of a forest, Giuseppe, a boy of 13, vanishes. Luna, his classmate who's in love with him, refuses to accept his mysterious disappearance. She rebels against the silence and complicity surrounding her. To find him, she descends into the dark world which has swallowed him up and which has a lake as its mysterious entrance. Only their indestructible love will be able to bring her back. Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza's second feature premiered as a Special Screening at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2017.