Kajinek

Kajinek(2010)
Director: Petr Jákl
Country: Czech Republic
Runtime: 111 minutes


A crime thriller inspired by true story of Jiri Kajinek, who is considered to be the first hitman in Czech Republic.
The movie is the powerful story of the famous prisoner, the story of two murders, the story of a lawyer constantly looking for new evidences, the story of the underworld and of its infiltration in the state administration, and the story of manipulation. ~ Official site

It's Your Fault

It's Your Fault(2010)
Director:Anahí Berneri
Country:Argentina
Runtime:90min

Are we what others see, or are we what we allow others to see? Most likely it is the view of others which delimits our own identity, as a young divorced mother named Julieta convinces herself. This evening is like any other: her two young sons are roughhousing in their cramped apartment. They whoop and shout while their mother makes desperately futile attempts at the computer to concentrate on writing a report for work. Feeling intense pressure, Julieta tries to quiet the conflict but finds it difficult without a partner to help. The tense situation changes unexpectedly when her two-year-old falls and hurts himself. In this story of a mother suspected of hurting her own child, the movie investigates themes of motherhood, guilt, duty, the role of men and women, fathers and mothers.... Written by Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

PORTRAITS IN A SEA OF LIES

PORTRAITS IN A SEA OF LIES(2010)
Director:Carlos Gaviria
Country:Colombia
Runtime:91 min

In the manner of a road movie, "Portraits in a sea of lies," directed by Carlos Gaviria, runs the national landscape from their beauty to their conflicts.

This time the Colombian film takes no wind to travel but the travel of reality.

Portraits in a sea of lies out into the physical and emotional journey that begins its protagonist, Marina (Paola Baldión), returning to his hometown of waves and sea breeze which was displaced by violence.

Insistent criticism surely return of Colombian reality attached to the big screen. Carlos Gaviria, the director and screenwriter, says that is an unavoidable issue to talk about what we feel and see. "You live in Colombia and can not make a movie where we all go out dancing and lifting the duckling. We are a violent country. We have been in a civil war that has lasted 60 years and has produced 10% of displaced persons. That figure is an outrage and an undeniable fact, "he says. Indeed, one of every 10 Colombians have been taken from his home against his will, and this film portrays one of many stories that produces this alarming situation in countries with armed conflicts.

For over a decade, Gaviria, who has worked on documentaries, television (director of murdered women and Rosario Tijeras), this film was under construction. After studying film in America, funded by a grant from Focine, he returned to Colombia. The combination of distance proximity confronted with a new identity was this script that shows the wonder of a Colombia that can be both wonderful and terrible.

Through a trip from Bogota to the North Shore Marina undertaking and his cousin, a roving photographer (Julián Román) to reclaim the lands of her deceased grandfather (Edgardo Román), will be revealing a past full of pain and death explain the amnesia and the apparent silence of the protagonist.

Paola Baldión is a Colombian actress before going to study acting at Montreal appeared in some television roles. Paola plays Marina, a character who barely speaks with her eyes and body language and achieved an outstanding performance.

The film manages to maintain a good balance between poverty, a reality dominated by violence and a beautiful landscape and scenery that contrasts with the brutality of the action. The humor and irony in a political arena is one of the tools used to manage refine and streamline the subsequent drama and, ultimately, achieve such a faithful portrait of a country dominated by two extremes: four million displaced, and the highest rates of happiness of its inhabitants.

Just Between Us

Just Between Us(2010)
Director: Rajko Grlić
Country:Croatia
Runtime:87 min

Just Between Us is a wicked, indiscreet contemporary story set in Zagreb about the whirling erotic passions that percolate beneath the dull, composed surface of everyday bourgeois life and manners. It is about things that happen in well-established families that are mainly kept secret, but that nevertheless remain painful. We meet two brothers, their wives and lovers - and their children who do not know who their real fathers are. Double lives and parallel relationships are blended into a bitterweet story about the relentless quest for love and happiness, about passion that never ceases, and the terrible consequences that arise, even by chance, when one ends up in a bed that is not one’s own.

Director’s Statement

In contemporary sociological writings one can find many explanations about conjugal infidelity or love affairs: however we may call it, these are often the only kinds of rebellion against the predictability of life. Our life is quite determined by our employers, family, church, state, media and money. It seems like the only thing left to change is the person with whom we share our bed. Today, adulterers replace the outlaws of yesterday--the revolutionaries, rebels, and visionaries. According to sociologists, the excitement of rebellion, the sweetness of breaking the rules, and the danger of crossing into the unknown, is reduced to an adventure called adultery.
On the other hand, psychiatrists have being assuring us for decades that deep at the root of everybody’s need to escape the annoyances of everyday life lies a powerful, hardly understandable and barely predictable "sexual instinct," - our archetypical drive for "creation" or "rebellion."
I have heard, as we all have, more or less, countless stories about affairs, adulteries and incredible double lives. I have always explicitly admired, I have to admit, the fascinating energy and the amount of fantasy some people have invested into these double lives, which often become the rebellious and creative peaks of their lives.
Put together, these three premises have led to my personal reason for making this film. I am of the age when it is good to go back to where I started to tell film stories in the first place: on Zagreb streets, in beds and apartments.

Freedom

Freedom(2009)
Director: Davide Ferrario
Country:Italy

Runtime: 102 min

When Irena Mirkovic (Kasia Smutniak) agrees to cooperate with Don Iridium (Gianluca Gobbi) for the staging in a prison of a paradoxical Easter Passion does not know that that experience will change her life. Not only because the meeting with the warden Free Tarsitano (Fabio Troiano), the push to close down the relationship with her actor boyfriend Chris (Christian Godano), but it soon will face an insoluble problem. Having gained the trust of prisoners, Irena realizes that nobody wants to play the part of Judas, for reasons that are unclear in a prison at all. Despite his insistence, the ragazzirestano steadfast in their refusal, and also who is pulling against the show: Sister Bonaria (Luciana Littizzetto), but with an inflexible religious spirit also very practical. The situation is unlocked when Irena has a light: If Judas is not, why not think about the story of Jesus in another way? A story that does not include betrayal, condemnation, punishment and death? A story that ends well? The prisoners, while not grasping the philosophical implications, appreciate the choice provided that it is against the jail ...

Poligamy

Poligamy (2009)
Director: Dénes Orosz
Country: Hungary
Runtime: 84



Andras and Lilla are a young couple, who have been together for five
years. Andras writes screenplays for television series and Lilla is an
assistant lecturer at a university. Finally they move into an apartment
together and it seems like everything is going well between them. But
there is something wrong. As if the essence was missing from their life
together. Lilla wants a wedding and a baby, while Andras… well, he
doesn’t really know what he wants. Then one day Lilla announces that
she is pregnant. Andras is overcome by mixed feelings. The next
morning Andras wakes up next to a beautiful woman who is a complete
stranger… From this point on he has relationships with a variety of
women, all very different from each other – so he is off to a journey
exploring all phases and possible relationships between men and
women.

Carancho

Carancho (2010)
Director: Pablo Trapero
Country: Argentina
Runtime: 107




In Argentina over 8,000 people die in traffic accidents every year. Behind each of these tragedies is a flourishing industry founded on insurance payouts and legal loopholes. Sosa is a lawyer who tours the A&E Departments of the public hospitals and the police stations in search of potential clients. Luján is a young doctor recently arrived from the provinces. Their love story kicks off one night when Luján and Sosa meet in the street. She's trying to save a man's life; he wants him on his client portfolio.

Ice Kacang Puppy Love

Ice Kacang Puppy Love(2010)
Director.: Chen Ching Hsiang (Ah Niu)
Runtime: 99 min
Country: Malaysia



The story is about a group of youngsters growing up in a small village in the early 80’s, the generation without handphones, Facebook and MSN...where 'guli' (glass balls), fish-fighting are the common games for entertainment...the ice kacang stall, the roti (bread) man and old shop lots; cloudy skies on a boring, hot afternoon…The story evolves around a group of teenagers of various characters from an old village growing up...with much care for each other...and also few of them secretly admiring each other...causing misunderstandings...all these leading to lighthearted hilarious moments and leaving unforgettable memories for everyone.

Then comes one 'stormy day', all of them goes their own separate ways…

Ice Kacang Puppy Love is profoundly an emotional tale of teenagers' puppy love, parental love, generation gap, life's truth and sometimes the 'make-believe' world we live in.

Paper Castles

Paper Castles(2009)
Director: Salvador García Ruiz
Country: Spain
Runtime: 93 min



Three aspiring artists forge a powerful but unusual bond while studying at the School of Fine Arts.
María José is a painter. She’s preparing her canvas for class as her classmate Jaime furtively sketches her portrait from afar. But while María José fails to notice her own likeliness being captured mere feet away, her talented classmate Marcos senses genuine artistry in Jaime’s drawing.
Later, Jaime shows María José his sketch, but surprises her by not offering to give it to her. Before long, the curious event begins to draw María José, Jaime, and Marcos into an unconventional, yet powerfully passionate, relationship as their education winds to a close, and the real world comes knocking. ~ Jason Buchanan, Allmovie

Hermano

Hermano (2010)
Director: Marcel Rasquin
Country: Venezuela
Runtime: 97


In Caracas, one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Julio and his mother are walking through a gateway near La Planta prison in Caracas. Suddenly, he thinks he's heard a cat but when he runs closer, he notices an abandoned baby crying in the middle of a street dump. The mother hesitates to take the child with them, but eventually welcomes him to their family. 16 years later, Julio and his little brother Daniel have grown to become the best footballers of La Ceniza, their barrio (slum). While Daniel, nicknamed "El Gato" (the cat) is an innocent boy who dreams of playing in Caracas FC, one of the major teams in the Venezuelan Primera División along with his older brother Julio and studies regularly; the latter has become part of a gang, quickly establishing himself as a leader within his young partners. This is specially proven when he beats up his comrade after he bullies a minor drug dealer. Anyway, he never intends to push out the chief of the criminal organization. During a game against the team from La Vega -another slum- they both impress a scout from Caracas FC, who encourages them to participate in the tryouts of their youth team. Daniel is hugely motivated; Julio instead is gradually more involved with his barrio's underworld.