Temblores

Jayro Bustamante : 2019
Tremors

When Pablo arrives at his family's house outside Guatemala City, everyone is already waiting tensely for this beloved brother, son and husband to appear. Everyone at the clan's villa is horrified: Pablo has fallen in love with another man, Francisco. In doing so, he is calling into question all the values by which this deeply religious evangelical family lives. In spite of resistance from his relatives, Pablo moves in with Francisco, who is closely linked to the city's subculture and leads a completely different, liberated existence. Pablo loses his old home, but somehow never really settles in the new one. His wish to unite the two worlds turns out to be a dead end. Putting their faith before everything else, his relatives are adamant that Pablo can be 'healed'. With help from their ultra-religious community, the family does everything in its power to get their prodigal son back on track, no matter the cost. Jayro Bustamante's second feature premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2019.

Un monde plus grand

Fabienne Berthaud : 2019
A Bigger World

In order to forget the death of Paul, the man of her life, Corine leaves Paris for a few weeks to direct a project in Mongolia. But her meeting with the shaman Oyun disrupts her journey, as Oyun proclaims that Corine has received a rare gift and must be trained in shamanic traditions. Back in France, she cannot refuse what is now imposed on her: she must go back to Mongolia to begin her initiation. She will agree to start a journey of discovery, which will lead her to discover a new culture, ancestral and forgotten ways, but most importantly herself. Based on Mon initiation chez les chamanes by Corine Sombrun, Fabienne Berthaud's feature premiered in competition at Venice Days 2019.

Unremember

Flavia Castro : 2018
Deslembro

Joana, a teenager, feeds her soul with literature and rock. In 1979, when amnesty is granted in Brazil, she lives with her family in Paris. Overnight and against her will, Joana moves back to the country she barely remembers. In the early 1980s, in Rio de Janeiro, the city she was born in and where her father has forcedly disappeared, she recovers pieces of memory from a fragmented childhood. Not everything is real, not everything is imagination. And as she remembers, Joana is able to write her own story in the present tense. Interweaving personal and political history, Flavia Castro's largely autobiographical first feature premiered in competition in the Orizzonti section at Venice International Film Festival 2018, and screened in the New Cinema section at Transatlantyk Festival 2019.

I Am They

Fox Fisher & Owl Fisher : 2019
A Non-binary Love Story

I Am They is a feature length documentary that follows the story of Fox and Owl, as they explore the many challenges facing non-binary people in the UK today; from legal issues to language, from marriage to hate speech. Through a protest-wedding Fox and Owl set out to raise awareness of the wider issue of lack of legal gender recognition in the UK, and speak with many other non-binary people about the challenges they face. The film also explores issues and topics faced by older non-binary people, non-binary youth, non-binary people of colour and non-binary people from across Europe. Their film is the first feature documentary on trans issues by My Genderation, an ongoing film project focusing on trans lives and trans experiences, created by trans people for a much wider audience. It was published today, 14 July, International Non-Binary People's Day.

I Am They – A Non-binary Love Story (YouTube)

Field of Blackbirds

Arzana Kraja : 2019
Fusha e mëllenjave

Once a political prisoner who was brutally tortured during the late eighties in Kosovo, Syla now leads an uneventful life in London where he was given refuge twenty years ago. The seeming stability of his new life is fractured by his nephew's chance remarks that suggest Syla has a child. Profoundly disturbed, Syla is compelled to return to Kosovo, and to finally confront the demons in his past. Syla journeys to unearth what happened to Zylfija, the love of his life and the child she carried when he was forced to leave her behind. He ultimately is forced to face up to the events which destroyed his life. Arzana Kraja's feature debut premiered as the opening film at Prishtina International Film Festival 2019.

Les fauves

Vincent Mariette : 2018
Savage

Summer is in full swing in a Dordogne camping site. Several youngsters mysteriously disappear, and as rumours begin to circulate about the presence of a panther in the surrounding area, the teenagers can sense a feeling of danger to their core. 17-year-old Laura, who is spending the holidays with her family at the campsite, is trying to solve the mystery when one of her friends vanishes without trace. Unlike all the others, Laura isn't frightened of the mysterious feline; on the contrary, she is strangely attracted to it. In this electric atmosphere, Laura meets Paul, a creepy yet charming writer. An ambiguous relationship develops between these two, who, though seemingly different, are brought together by their passion for mystery. Vincent Mariette's coming-of-age thriller premiered at Fantastic Fest 2018, and screened in competition at Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival 2019.

What Might Have Been

Florian Koerner von Gustorf : 2019
Was gewesen wäre

Astrid is in her late forties and has her life firmly under control. She has fallen in love with Paul, and their first weekend trip together takes them to Budapest for a few romantic days, just the two of them. But in the Hungarian capital things happen differently than they had planned. They run into Julius, Astrid's first great love, whom she had met at an artists' party in East Germany in 1986. It was a love that was never easy, but always exciting. There are still feelings that couldn't really be quashed by the course of history. Together with Paul, Astrid looks back at her past, and suddenly everything could be as it had never been. A fantastic coming-of-age story set in the adult world. Florian Koerner von Gustorf's directorial debut premiered in the New German Cinema section at Filmfest München 2019.

The Last Children of Paradise

Anna Roller : 2019
Die letzten Kinder im Paradies

Fourteen-year-old Leah lives in an isolated cabin with her ten-year-old brother Theo and their grandmother. Leah is going through a difficult period in her adolescence: though still firmly rooted in the world of children, she is slowly taking on the worries of an adult. A sad event that unexpectedly befalls them marks the definitive end of one period in Leah's life. She now finds herself responsible for her younger brother, but she carries out the task with the ease of a child. A story about losing a sense of security that had felt like paradise. Anna Roller's short screened in the Future Frames section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2019.

Carmilla

Emily Harris : 2019

Lara is a sheltered 15-year-old girl who lives with her father and strict governess Miss Fontaine. When a carriage crash brings the enigmatic young Carmilla to recuperate at their house, she provides an outlet for Lara's curiosity and burgeoning sexuality. The pair begin a passionate friendship, but rumours of a supernatural presence drive Miss Fontaine's mistrust of Carmilla. A moody and atmospheric coming-of-age love story, enveloped in mystery and set in the 1780s, it is inspired by Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novella, considered one of the earliest works of vampire fiction. Emily Harris's feature premiered in competition in the Best of British strand at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019.

Daughter

Mara Tamkovich : 2018
Córka

Piotr returns home on the day of his daughter Kamila's 16th birthday to find her unconscious in a pool of blood. The doctors' diagnosis is a shock for the man. What can a father do when his beloved daughter was hurt so much by someone? What can he do when the system fails him, standing in the way of justice? The father takes care of his daughter in the cruel world. From now on, their lives will never be the same. The film is a part of the social debate in the current context of the #MeToo campaign. Mara Tamkovich's short premiered at Gdynia Film Festival 2018, and was winner of the Cineuropa Audience Award for Best Short Film when it screened in competition in the Silver Lynx Fiction section at FEST 2019.

The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea

Syllas Tzoumerkas : 2019
To thávma tis thálassas ton Sargassón

In the small coastal town of Mesolongi in the west of Greece, two women live solitary lives while dreaming of getting away. Former elite detective Elisabeth has become the police chief – forced to relocate from Athens ten years ago, she does nothing to hide her bitterness and her hatred of the place. Rita is the quiet, mysterious sister of a lounge singer in the local disco. A worker at an eel farm, she is a captive of her social status and her manipulative brother. But then a death tears apart the already fragile network of relationships between the villagers, revealing an even more damaged structure beneath. The two women who had been ignoring each other's existence begin drifting towards each other. As the secrets hidden in the swamps begin to surface, they will have a chance to become each other's saviours. Syllas Tzoumerkas's third feature premiered in the Panorama section at Berlin International Film Festival 2019, and screened at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2019.

Zizotek

Vardis Marinakis : 2019

After nine-year-old Jason is abandoned by his mother at a folk festival, the unusually independent boy takes refuge in a cabin in the middle of the forest belonging to a mute loner named Minas. Although at first the man won't take him in, a series of circumstances eventually leads them to form a family – something both of them have lacked for a long time. With its dreamlike atmosphere, a captivating tale of harmony and the yearning for intimacy. Vardis Marinakis's sophomore feature premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2019.

A Certain Kind of Silence

Michal Hogenauer : 2019
Tiché doteky

Mia goes to live with a family as their au pair. She knows she'll be looking after a 10-year-old boy, but that is all. Yet her very first meeting with the family suggests that she is expected to do rather more than this. She has to pay the price for a life of high financial and intellectual reward by following a set of strict rules: breaking any of them would lead to her immediate dismissal and a ticket back home. However, it would also mean abandoning a child she is trying to reach out to, and losing her self-respect. An examination of the strength of an individual's resilience to manipulation and the extent to which people are willing to make sacrifices in order to preserve their self-esteem. Michal Hogenauer's feature debut premiered in competition in the East of the West section at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2019.

Shelter: Farewell to Eden

Enrico Masi : 2019

Pepsi is a transgender woman looking for a stable job as a caregiver. As a former member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front active in an island of southern Philippines, she escaped from her country to work as a nurse for over 10 years in Gaddafi's Libya. Because of gender discrimination, she was forced to join the flow of refugees. Then, she faced European institutions as an asylum seeker. It was in the city of Bologna, Italy, where she obtained the first acknowledgement of her status. However, she could not stop there. Her journey continued towards France, crossing the dangerous "pass of death" on the heights of Ventimiglia. With the strength of her experience in the wild mountains of Mindanao she reached Paris. There, she acquired a second identity and found underground work offering massages, sharing interstitial spaces among the harsh architectures of the metropolis. Her voice-over tale is a post-colonial parable, in which European geography mingles with an intimate emotional drama. Her wander recalls the ancient myth of Europa, according to which a young woman was kidnapped and raped by Jupiter, in the shape of a bull. He took her to an island in the Mediterranean from which she gave the name to the continent. 16mm film, analogue video and grainy iPhone footage contribute to a phantom image of life in the urban underground. A strategic and militant response to society's aggressive insistence that everything and everyone can be defined according to the norms of the majority. Enrico Masi's documentary premiered at Copenhagen International Documentary Festival 2019, and had its UK premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019.

Summer of Changsha

Zu Feng : 2019
Liu Yu Tian

A Bin is a police detective. He comes across Li Xue, a surgeon, during the investigation of a bizarre murder case. As they get to know more and more of each other, A Bin finds himself drawn to this mysterious woman. They both are struggling in their own love and sins. In the end, would they be given a second chance to re-live their lives? A story of police detectives solving a murder case, it is also a story exploring the inner worlds of men and women. For each lonely soul, there is an unknown dark side. People all have their desires and secrets. But what is the real redemption? Zu Feng's directorial debut premiered in competition in the Un Certain Regard section at Festival de Cannes 2019.

Red 11

Robert Rodriguez : 2019

Based on Robert Rodriguez's experiences in a Medical Research Facility to finance his first feature El mariachi, but with a sci-fi and horror twist. Red 11 is set in the dark, twisted world of the Legal Drug Research business. College kids turn Lab Rats to make quick money, and our hero, Rob (who is assigned the colour and number Red 11) is here to buy his way out of a huge debt to the tune of $7,000. But things get surreal when he's not sure if the hospital is really trying to kill him, or if it's side effects from the experimental drugs. Robert Rodriguez's feature premiered at SXSW 2019, and had its European premiere at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

#Like

Sarah Pirozek : 2019

Woodstock teenager, Rosie, is mourning her younger sister Amelia's death when she discovers a mysterious man who sexploited and bullied her sister, is back on-line, trolling for new victims. When the local police refuse to investigate, Rosie finds a darker side she never knew she had, as she decides to take justice into her own hands. Her pursuit of the man leads her down a murky path raising burning questions, will she find him? And if she does... then what? When does the victim become the perpetrator? Will justice prevail? How will Rosie come out of this intact? This noir, psychological thriller is a taut observation of teen sexuality and paranoia, at the intersection of #MeToo and the un-policed borders of cyber life. Sarah Pirozek's feminist thriller, her feature directorial debut, premiered at Cinequest 2019.

Sem seu sangue

Alice Furtado : 2019
Sick, Sick, Sick

Silvia is an introspective young girl who is not interested in the daily routine between family and school. Everything abruptly changes when Artur arrives unexpectedly in her class, after being banned from several other schools. Silvia is amazed by the vitality of the boy, who actually suffers from a serious illness – haemophilia. The two immerse themselves in an intense and brief coexistence, interrupted by an accident in which Artur bleeds to death. Silvia gets sick and sees her life turn into a strange nightmare. The mourning gradually becomes an obsession, and obsession becomes a goal – Silvia will do anything to bring him back to life. Alice Furtado's feature debut premiered in competition at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

Tlamess

Ala Eddine Slim : 2019

After the death of his mother, a young soldier settled in the Tunisian desert obtains a week's compassionate leave. He will never come back, and will desert the army. On the run, he is chased by the police in a popular neighbourhood, and eventually dies when reaching the construction site of a villa. Years later, a young pregnant woman married to a rich business man lives in a fancy villa in the middle of a forest. One day, she accidentally meets a strange looking man. It is the ex-soldier, but he is different now. This encounter sets the beginning of a series of mysterious events, involving the ex-soldier, the pregnant woman and the future baby. Ala Eddine Slim's feature premiered at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at Festival de Cannes 2019.

Pain and Glory

Pedro Almodóvar : 2019
Dolor y Gloria

Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline, experiences a series of re-encounters. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered. His childhood in the 1960s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity; the first desire; his first adult love in the Madrid of the 1980s and the pain of the breakup while this love was still alive and intense; writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable; the early discovery of cinema; and the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it and, in that need, he also finds his salvation. Pedro Almodóvar's feature received the award for Best Actor when it premiered in competition at Festival de Cannes 2019.