Faust (2011)

Faust (2011)

Director: Aleksandr Sokurov
Country: Russia
Runtime:134 min







 The film depicts the instincts and schemes of Faust, and the world that gives rise to his ideas.The film is the final part in a series of films where Alexander Sokurov explores the corrupting effects of power. The previous installments are three biographical dramas: about Adolf Hitler in Moloch from 1999, Vladimir Lenin in Taurus from 2001, and the Japanese emperor Hirohito in The Sun from 2005.

Poliss (2011)

Poliss (2011)

 Director: Maïwenn
 Country: France
 Runtime: 1 hour, 59 minutes



 The police officers who belong to a squad that has been set up to protect minors are never short of things to do. When they are not rounding up paedophiles and juvenile pickpockets, they have to confront negligent parents who abuse their children and come to grips with the vagaries of adolescent sexuality. But how do these dedicated men and women manage to balance their private lives with the varied routine that fills their working days? ~ Filmsdefrance

From its opening scene, in which a little girl tells one of the officers, Chrys, that her father sometimes “scratches her butt,” the film presents the difficulties in distinguishing truth from speculation in child sex abuse cases, especially when kids and parents offer conflicting testimonies, or take issue with police workers poking into their private lives. Maiwenn and co-writer-star Emmanuelle Bercot insert a number of such interrogations throughout the story, and they run the gamut from disturbing to hilarious to downright tragic, especially in one emotional wallop of a sequence where a little boy is separated from a mother who can’t provide him adequate shelter.

No Rest for the Wicked(2011)

No Rest for the Wicked

Director: Enrique Urbizu
Country: Spain
Runtime:114min

 

 

 

 

 

Madrid, early twenty-first century. One day, the police inspector Holy Trinity, coming home very drunk, was involved in a triple murder. But there is a witness who manages to escape and could incriminate him. Santos undertook an investigation to locate and eliminate the witness. Meanwhile, Judge Chacon, charged with investigating the triple murder, meticulously advances in finding the murderer. Santos and Chacon soon discover that what seemed a simple case of drug trafficking is actually something far more dangerous.

Days of Santiago (2004)

Days of Santiago (2004)

Director: Josué Méndez
Country: Peru
Runtime: 83 min


Unfolding in alternating color and black-and-white, this prescient Peruvian drama tells the story of Santiago (Pietro Sibille, PROOF OF LIFE), a 23-year-old former soldier who has recently returned home after serving in the army. Haunted by his past and filled with pent-up rage and paranoia, he is increasingly alienated from his family and his young wife, and unsure of how to make his way in the world. Although he wants to pursue his education, he takes a job as a Lima taxi driver, while his friends and fellow ex-soldiers try to convince him to join them in a life of crime. When his equally violent brother's girlfriend turns to him for help and possibly something more, Santiago finds himself on an inescapable path of destruction. Recalling Martin Scorcese's TAXI DRIVER in its gritty portrayal of the effects of war on the individual psyche, DIAS DE SANTIAGO brings to light the crucial predicament of Peru's "lost generation," boys who became men under the auspices of war. DIAS DE SANTIAGO won numerous awards on the festival circuit.

Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland (2011)

Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland (2011)

Director: Yasemin Samdereli
Country: Germany
Runtime: 101 min

On 10 September, 1964, Germany’s one-millionth ‘guest worker’ was welcomed. Spanning a period of no less than forty-five years, this film by sisters Yasemin Samdereli (director) and Nesrin Samdereli (screenplay) tells the story of guest worker number one-million-and-one – a man named Hüseyin Yilmaz and his family. ‘Who or what am I – German or Turk?’ asks six-year-old Cenk Yilmaz when neither his Turkish nor his German schoolmates pick him for their respective football teams. In an attempt to comfort Cenk, his 22-year-old cousin Canan tells him the story of their grandfather Hüseyin, who came to Germany at the end of the sixties as a ‘guest worker’ and who later brought his wife and children to ‘Almanya’. Germany had long since become the family’s home when without warning one night, Hüseyin surprises his loved ones with the news that he has bough a house in Turkey and now wants to return to the old country. Refusing to brook the slightest opposition, the entire family set off for Turkey. This marks the beginning of a journey full of memories, arguments and reconciliations – until, that is, the family trip takes an unexpected turn … The young filmmakers have plundered their own memories of childhood and youth for this, their cinematic debut. Yasemin Samdereli: “Even at an early age, we were always struck by the way people found it amusing whenever we told them stories about our childhood: that Nesrin for instance once played German carnival figure ‘Funkenmariechen’ and used to belt out Catholic hymns fervently during mass. Or that I used to play the flute in a marching band and wrote my name Jasmin – until my second grade teacher torpedoed my attempts to hoodwink her.” –Berlinale

Who Wasn't There (2010)

Who Wasn't There (2010)

Director: Ramil Salakhutdinov
Country: Russia
Runtime: 1 hour, 47 minutes







 A meeting of two characters happened in a deep forest, on the bank of a small pond, while it was raining heavily. This meeting is a node of the whole story. Once a gypsy predicted death to the main character. He believes her, for all her predictions have come true. The fear of death makes him look for solution and he dares to take part in an experiment which is fantastic in real life. He asks the doctor to help him in avoiding death. And finally the doctor agrees…

Gandu (2010)

Gandu (2010)

Director: Kaushik Mukherjee
Country: India
Runtime: 85 min









Gandu hates his life. He hates his mother. Gandu raps out his hate, anger, dirt and filth of his existence. He and his rickshawpuller friend enter the world of smack, rap, porn and horror. Reality and fiction, surreal and bizarre come together. Can Gandu survive?

Captains of the Sands(2011)

Captains of the Sands
Directors: Cecília Amado, Guy Gonçalves

Country: Brazil
Runtime:96 min








 Captains of the Sands - Pedro Bala, Professor, Cat, Legless, and Dora Good Way - Jorge Amado are characters that once created to dwell forever in the memory of his readers. Abandoned by their families, they are forced to fight to survive the streets of Salvador. More now than ever, the story of immortal characters of world literature moves us and inspires deeply.

The Artist (2011)

The Artist (2011)

 Director: Michel Hazanavicius
 Country: France | Belgium
 Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes


 The Artist is an infinitely charming, and incredibly clever homage to the Golden Age of silent film: as authentic and believable as if it were made circa 1927, right from the opening credits which are so subtly unquestionable that you’re immediately gripped by the glamour and romance of the era, before we’ve even met a character. When we do, it’s Jean Dujardin’s George Valentin, an intoxicatingly charming mega-star of the silent period, who has the whole Hollywood world on their knees before him – the film subsequently charts his peek, before the advent of the talkies arrives, and he finds himself cast out overnight in favor of the new breed of speaking stars. Along the way he meets Berenice Bejo’s Peppy Miller, a wannabe who miraculously finds her way to stardom when she bumps into George during a photo shoot, and takes her fate in her own hands to ensure she makes a career of the brief fame that follows.

Travelling With Pets (2007)

Travelling With Pets (2007)

 Director: Vera Storozheva
 Country: Russia
 Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes








 Hatalie was 16, living in a foster home, when she was bought by a rough and unstable man. They lived at a remote station, and their loveless marriage lasted 19 years, until he died. Now free, Natalie is discovering her first love when she meets Sergei.