Mal de pierres

Nicole Garcia : 2016
From the Land of the Moon

Gabrielle comes from a small village in the South of France, at a time when her dream of true love is considered scandalous, and even a sign of insanity. Her parents marry her to José, an honest and loving Spanish farm worker who they think will make a respectable woman of her. Despite José's devotion to her, Gabrielle vows that she will never love José and lives like a prisoner bound by the constraints of conventional post-World War II society until the day she is sent away to a cure in the Alps to heal her kidney stones. There she meets André Sauvage, a dashing injured veteran of the Indochinese War, who rekindles the passion buried inside her. She promises they will run away together, and André seems to share her desire. Will anyone dare rob her of her right to follow her dreams? Nicole Garcia's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016.

Tramontane

Vatche Boulghourjian : 2016

Rabih, a young blind man, lives in a small village in Lebanon. His life unravels when he applies for a passport and discovers that his identification card is a forgery. Travelling across rural Lebanon in search of a record of his own birth, he meets people on the far fringes of society who tell their own stories, open further questions and give him minor clues about his identity. He encounters a nation incapable of telling his, or its own, history. Vatche Boulghourjian's feature debut premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2016.

Bacalaureat

Cristian Mungiu : 2016
Graduation

Romeo Aldea, 49, a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding – Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardise her entire future. Now Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter. The film premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016, where it won the award for Best Director.

Aquarius

Kleber Mendonça Filho : 2016

Clara, a 65 year old widow and retired music critic, was born into a wealthy and traditional family in Recife, Brazil. She is the last resident of the Aquarius, an original two-storey building, built in the 1940s, in the upper-class, seaside Avenida Boa Viagem, Recife. All the neighbouring apartments have already been acquired by a company which has other plans for that plot. Clara has pledged to only leave her place upon her death, and will engage in a cold war of sorts with the company, a confrontation which is both mysterious, frightening and nerve wracking. This tension both disturbs Clara and gives her that edge on her daily routine. It also gets her thinking about her loved ones, her past and her future. The film premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016.

Mimosas

Oliver Laxe : 2016

A caravan escorts an elderly and dying Sheikh through the Moroccan Atlas. His last wish is to be buried with his close ones. But death does not wait. The caravaneers, fearful of the mountain, refuse to continue transporting the corpse. Saïd and Ahmed, two rogues travelling with the caravan, say they know the way and promise to take the corpse to its destiny. In another world, Shakib is chosen to travel to the mountains with a mission: to help the improvised caravaneers. Oliver Laxe's second feature was winner of the Grand Prix when it premiered in competition at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2016.

Paterson

Jim Jarmusch : 2016

Paterson is a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey – they share the name. Every day, Paterson adheres to a simple routine: he drives his daily route, observing the city as it drifts across his windshield and overhearing fragments of conversation swirling around him; he writes poetry into a notebook; he walks his dog; he stops in a bar and drinks exactly one beer; he goes home to his wife, Laura. By contrast, Laura's world is ever changing. New dreams come to her almost daily. Paterson loves Laura and she loves him. He supports her newfound ambitions; she champions his gift for poetry. The film quietly observes the triumphs and defeats of daily life, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details. Jim Jarmusch's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016.

Elle

Paul Verhoeven : 2016

The wealthy entrepreneur Michèle Leblanc is the owner of a successful video-game company that she runs with her best friend Anna. Michèle seems indestructible, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. One day Michèle is attacked and brutally raped in her home by an unknown assailant which changes her life forever. However, when she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game, one that may, at any moment, spiral out of control. The film premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016.

Personal Shopper

Olivier Assayas : 2016

Maureen Cartwright is a young American living in Paris and working as a personal shopper to a high-fashion celebrity. It has been three months since the sudden death of her 27-year-old twin brother Lewis from a congenital heart malformation, and Maureen, a capable spiritual medium, still hasn't made contact with him. Spending her time between high profile fashion establishments and Lewis's abandoned house in Paris, Maureen is silently battling with grief and sorrow, whilst at the same time, looking for a sign from her deceased brother after an oath taken between the twins. Lewis's partner, Lara, wants to sell the Paris house to a couple of friends of theirs, who need some indication before they buy that Lewis is happy with them moving in. Spending a night in the house to make contact for this purpose, Maureen hopes that Lewis may send her that sign. As Maureen continues with her life, she begins to experience things that she is uncertain are real, which could mean that someone sinister is toying with her, or could be coded signs from Lewis, or a combination of both. The film premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016, where it won the award for Best Director.

La fille inconnue

Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne : 2016
The Unknown Girl

Jenny Davin is a young doctor who receives a late night call at the door of her practice after hours and decides to ignore it. The next morning she learns that the caller was a girl who has been found dead and that the police have no way to identify her. Shocked and guilt-stricken by the news, Jenny resolves to discover the name of the young girl so that she will not be buried anonymously. Playing intelligently with the traits of traditional detective dramas, an engaging social commentary and morally astute and compelling investigation of personal responsibility, justice and guilt. The Dardenne's feature premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2016.

A Serious Game

Pernilla August : 2016
Den allvarsamma leken

Stockholm at the beginning of the twentieth century. Lydia, the daughter of a landscape painter, and Arvid, a young journalist at the beginning of his career, fall in love at first sight. But the time is not ripe for their happiness: after the sudden death of her father, Lydia finds herself without an inheritance. Believing that he has nothing to offer her, penniless Arvid, who comes from a poor background, shies away from the idea of marriage. They part. When they meet again ten years later – both are now married and have children – they embark upon a passionate affair with unforeseeable consequences. A romance about two people who transcend the morals of their time and discover their own, unexpected ways of fulfilling their emotions. Pernilla August's adaptation of Hjalmar Söderberg's classic 1912 novel premiered in the Berlinale Special section at Berlin International Film Festival 2016.

A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery

Lav Diaz : 2016
Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis

Andrés Bonifacio y de Castro is considered to be one of the most influential proponents in the struggle against Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines during the late nineteenth century. Today, he is still celebrated as the father of the Philippine Revolution. Bonifacio's widow is searching for her husband's missing dead body; as she and her followers stumble deeper into the jungle, they become entangled in the dense thicket of their own guilt and responsibility. The Spanish governor tries to play off the various rebel factions and their utopian visions against each other. At the same time, a badly wounded companion of Bonifacio reflects upon the victims a revolution inevitably creates. The film was winner of the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2016.

Alone in Berlin

Vincent Perez : 2016
Jeder stirbt für sich allein

Berlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime's victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with grief. Anna and Otto Quangel's son has been killed at the front. This working class couple had long believed in the 'Führer' and followed him willingly, but now they realise that his promises are nothing but lies and deceit. They begin writing postcards as a form of resistance and in a bid to raise awareness: Stop the war machine! Kill Hitler! Putting their lives at risk, they distribute these cards in the entrances of tenement buildings and in stairwells. But the SS and the Gestapo are soon onto them, and even their neighbours pose a threat. A quietly persuasive eulogy to human courage and dignity in an atmosphere of surveillance and intimidation. Vincent Perez's feature premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2016.

Fire at Sea

Gianfranco Rosi : 2016
Fuocoammare

Samuele is twelve and lives on an island in the Mediterranean, far away from the mainland. Like all boys of his age he does not always enjoy going to school. He would much rather climb the rocks by the shore, play with his slingshot or mooch about the port. But his home is not like other islands. For years, it has been the destination of men, women and children trying to make the crossing from Africa in boats that are far too small and decrepit. The island is Lampedusa which has become a metaphor for the flight of refugees to Europe, the hopes, hardship and fate of hundreds of thousands of emigrants. These people long for peace, freedom and happiness and yet so often only their dead bodies are pulled out of the water. Thus, every day the inhabitants of Lampedusa are bearing witness to the greatest humanitarian tragedy of our times. Gianfranco Rosi's feature was winner of the Golden Bear when it premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2016.

The Night Manager

Susanne Bier : 2016

In Cairo at the height of the Arab Spring, hotel night manager Jonathan Pine receives a plea for help from the beautiful Sophie Alekan. As the mistress of the powerful but dangerous hotel owner, Sophie has evidence of an arms deal that could help crush the popular uprising. Compelled to do what he thinks is right, Pine makes contact with his friend at the British Embassy. But his actions unwittingly draw him into the terrifying world of ruthless arms dealer, Richard Roper. When Sophie's information makes its way to Angela Burr, a government anti-corruption agent intent on bringing down Roper's empire, a leak in her network triggers a chain of events that could end in tragedy. A TV mini-series adapted from the novel by John le Carré.

24 Wochen

Anne Zohra Berrached : 2016
24 Weeks

Astrid is a comedian who makes people laugh for a living; her husband Markus is her manager and the two of them work well together. They have a nine-year-old daughter and are expecting their second child. When they learn that their child will not be born healthy, they are at first optimistic that they will be able to meet this challenge – although they have no idea what awaits them. But the closer it gets to the due date, the more Astrid begins to worry about the future of her unborn child as well as that of her family and her career. After many discussions and arguments Astrid realises that the decision that will affect all their lives must be made by her alone. What complicates matters further is the fact that, as a successful entertainer, she is in the eye of the public and the media. Anne Zohra Berrached's second feature explores the way in which women choose to live their lives, delivering a powerful portrait of a woman who finds herself caught up in a major moral dilemma for which there are no easy solutions. Her film premiered in competition at Berlin International Film Festival 2016.

Ida

Paweł Pawlikowski : 2013

1960s Poland. A noviciate nun, about to take her vows in the Catholic Church, is told by her Mother Superior that she will be accepted into the church after she has visited her aunt. The young and prim Anna soon finds herself in the presence of the middle-aged Wanda, her mother's sister, a raven-haired sensualist. It is here that her past - and her real name, Ida - is revealed to her for the first time. This triggers a remarkable journey into the countryside, to the family house to learn what happened to Ida's parents during the war and where they might be buried – a trip that has a profound effect on both of them.

We are the tide

Sebastian Hilger : 2016
Wir sind die Flut

Fifteen years ago the sea disappeared from Windholm's shore. The tide simply retreated and has remained out ever since. There were no recognisable causes, it just happened. From that day this anomaly has lain like a curse on the area, throwing up questions and causing disquiet.
Ambitious physics student Micha has a bold theory and hopes to figure out the phenomenon. But after years of preliminary work, his project is rejected by the rigidly old-style university system. Micha and his colleague Jana secretly set out to test his hypothesis. In the restricted military area, the young researchers meet the piteous remains of the village community. They arrive in Windholm and fall under the spell of the isolated village community where there are no children. For years the people here have been trying to come to terms with the fact that, on the day the tide went out, their children also disappeared. They searched high and low for them until eventually they were declared drowned but their bodies were never found. Gradually, Jana and Micha begin to suspect that it is no coincidence that they of all people have ended up in Windholm. Did they even have a choice? Or was it predestined? And precisely what are they looking for? Little by little the pair not only begin to unravel a great secret, they also discover how they themselves are entangled in Windholm's history. The film premiered in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section at Berlin International Film Festival 2016.

Augustine

Alice Winocour : 2012

Paris, winter 1885. At the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Professor Jean-Marin Charcot studies a mysterious illness which he calls 'Hysteria'. Home to thousands of seemingly catatonic women and run by only a handful of doctors, the isolated corridors of the hospital perfectly shadow the Professor's hypnotic tests on his patients. Augustine, a 19-year-old girl, is admitted to the hospital and soon becomes the Professor's favourite subject; the star of his demonstrations of hypnosis. But the object of his studies will soon become the object of his desire. Alice Winocour's feature debut premiered in competition in the Séances Spéciales at the Semaine de la Critique at Festival de Cannes 2012.

The Wall

Julian Roman Pölsler : 2012
Die Wand

A woman inexplicably finds herself cut off from all human contact when an invisible, unyielding wall suddenly surrounds the countryside, leaving her isolated in the Austrian Alps. Accompanied by her loyal dog Lynx, she becomes immersed in a world untouched by civilisation and ruled by the laws of nature. Told via the voice-over of the woman as she enters her account of daily events in her journal, all the acting is delivered through expressions or actions. An adaption of the best-selling novel by Marlen Haushofer, this beautiful tale of survival and endurance, ultimately about the meaning of humanity, is a moving masterpiece that leaves a lasting impression.

Alone

Park Hong-min : 2015
Honja

Su-min spies from his balcony on the house of neighbours over the road and happens to photograph a brutal murder. It marks the start for a series of muddy events. Until Su-min wakes up and it seems he has dreamt it all. But there is no avoiding of horrific events, while it becomes less and less clear whether they are real or inside his head. Memories, dream and reality become entangled. Victims and culprits continually swap roles. A nightmare set in a labyrinthine residential area of Seoul. Houses are close together, but there's no one on the street. Su-min can run as far as he likes, but always seems to return to the same spot. Park Hong-min's second feature had its international premiere in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2016.