No(2012)

No(2012)

Director: Pablo Larraín
Country: Chile
Runtime: 118 min






Military dictator Augusto Pinochet calls for a referendum to decide his permanence in power in 1988, the leaders of the opposition persuade a young daring advertising executive - René Saavedra - to head their campaign. With limited resources and under the constant scrutiny of the despot's watchmen, Saavedra and his team conceive of a bold plan to win the election and free their country from oppression.

Southwest (2012)

Southwest (2012)

Director: Eduardo Nunes
Country: Brazil
Duration : 2:06:54

In a secluded Brazilian coastal village, where everything seems to stand still, Clarisse watches her life over the course of a day, unlike those around her who live that day just like any other. She tries to understand her obscure reality and the destiny of the people around her in a circling, disturbing sense of time.

Slow-moving, almost dreamlike Brazilian black-and-white film "Southwest" has the initial feel of a tropical Tarkovsky or a Bela Tarr movie with better weather. But though rookie scribe-helmer Eduardo Nunes' technical approach to storytelling might be partly borrowed, he ensures that his tale of a girl whose entire life passes in a single day is also singular enough to captivate hard-to-please auteurist auds. With its extremely wide aspect ratio, richly detailed bichrome photography and two-hour-plus running time, adventurous fests are the logical venue for this effort, which deserves to be seen on the bigscreen.

Rhino Season (2012)

Rhino Season (2012)

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Country: Iran
Duration : 1h 27mn 


A haunting love story that spans three decades, Rhino Season is based on the tragic story of a Kurdish poet and family friend of Ghobadi’s who was unjustly incarcerated during Iran’s Islamic Revolution. The victim of a personal vendetta, Sahel (Behrouz Vossoughi) is thrown into prison along with his devoted wife Mina (Monica Bellucci). Inexplicably released after serving a ten-year sentence, Mina is informed by the authorities that Sahel is dead. Heartbroken, she and her two children leave Iran for Istanbul — unknowingly leaving behind her very-much-alive husband, who is forced to stay in prison for another twenty years. Finally released, Sahel sets out to find his wife, the memory of whom was the only thing that had sustained him throughout his agonizing ordeal. But after clinging to an intangible vision for so many years, what is the reality that awaits him now?

Just the Wind (2012)

Just the Wind (2012)

Director: Benedek Fliegauf
Country: Hungary
Runtime: 86 min

Benedek Fliegauf's hard-hitting Hungarian drama Just the Wind (Csak a szél, 2011) is a chilling story of a Romany community living amongst an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, that will certainly find itself fighting amongst the best of the Berlinale for its prestigious Golden Bear award.

A recent spate of murders has left the Hungarian gypsy community that lone mother Mari (Katalin Toldi) lives within in a state of justifiable panic. Nobody knows who committed these crimes, yet it remains clear that its perpetrators are trying to send out a message. She fears for the well being of her two children and their grandfather - working two jobs a day in order to raise enough money for them to join her husband in Canada. Her children attend the local school but the recent murder of a Romany family, who both worked and sent their children to be educated nearby, shows that these recent hate crimes aren't just aimed at those traveling families who choose not to contribute to society. The heightened sense of terror surrounding these racist attacks has a dramatic effect on the family, with every sound and unusual occurrence culminating in a suffocating sense of trepidation.
Based on tragic real life events, Just the Wind is a drama which focuses on the harrowing effects of these hate crimes without ever attempting to make a misguided social political statement - a fact made clear by all of its ethnic groups being portrayed through the same unapologetic light. However, despite its aim to remain purely a dramatisation it's powerful approach does raise some important issues regarding this often overlooked form of racism.

Director Fliegauf presents his central characters almost like ghosts, observing them as they go about their lives and revealing how invisible they appear to the world which surrounds them - emphasising their ethnic groups neglected social status. Fliegauf allows the camera to cling to his protagonists, imprisoning the audience in their insular community and installing in the viewer an artificial fear of the world which surrounds them, suitably mirroring Mari and her family's own sense of heightened paranoia - an element only amplified by the film's ominous score which installs a palpable sense of foreboding doom.

Steadily building to a nerve shattering conclusion, Just the Wind is a pressure cooker of social criticism which deceptively hooks you early on, before slowly reeling you in for the kill.

Marx Reloaded (2011)

Marx Reloaded (2011)

Director: Jason Barker
Country: Germany
Runtime:52 min

"Marx Reloaded" is a cultural documentary that examines the relevance of German socialist and philosopher Karl Marx's ideas for understanding the global economic and financial crisis of 2008—09. The crisis triggered the deepest global recession in 70 years and prompted the US government to spend more than 1 trillion dollars in order to rescue its banking system from collapse. Today the full implications of the crisis in Europe and around the world still remain unclear. Nevertheless, should we accept the crisis as an unfortunate side-effect of the free market? Or is there another explanation as to why it happened and its likely effects on our society, our economy and our whole way of life?


Today a new generation of philosophers, artists and political activists are returning to Marx's ideas in order to try to make sense of the crisis and to consider whether a world without or beyond capitalism is possible. Is the severity of the ongoing recession a sign that the capitalist system's days are numbered? Ironically, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, could it be that communism might provide the solution to the growing economic and environmental challenges facing the planet?


Written and directed by Jason Barker – himself an experienced writer, lecturer, translator and doctor of philosophy – "Marx Reloaded" comprises interviews with leading thinkers on Marxism, including those at the forefront of a popular revival in Marxist and communist ideas. The film also includes interviews with leading skeptics of this revival as well as light-hearted animation sequences which follow Marx's adventures through the matrix of his own ideas.



Interviews with leading experts include: Norbert Bolz, Micha Brumlik, John Gray, Michael Hardt, Antonio Negri, Nina Power, Jacques Rancière, Peter Sloterdijk, Alberto Toscano, Slavoj Zizek.

Road North (2012)

Road North (2012)

Director: Mika Kaurismäki
Country: Finland
Duration : 1h 53mn






A sly riff on the Prodigal Son story, Mika Kaurismaki's latest — about a joyless workaholic concert pianist who ends up on a wild ride with his long-lost rapscallion father — is a funny and cogent analysis of machismo, abandonment issues and the value of reconnecting with one's roots.

7 Days in Havana (2012)

7 Days in Havana (2012)

Directed by Laurent Cantet,Benicio Del Toro,Julio Medem,Elia Suleiman,Juan Carlos Tabío,Pablo Trapero,Gaspar Noé
Country:France | Spain
Runtime: 129 min

7 Days in Havana is a snapshot of Havana in 2011: a contemporary portrait of this eclectic city, vital and forward-looking, told through a single feature-length movie made of 7 chapters, directed by 7 internationally acclaimed directors.

Each chapter depicts a day of the week through the daily – and extraordinary – lives of its characters. A world away from the familiar touristic clichés, 7 Days in Havana aims to express the soul of this city and its diverse neighborhoods, atmospheres, generations and cultures, in touching, entertaining and funny style.

Seven directors (one from Cuba, six from other countries) share a common purpose: to capture, through their different sensibilities, origins and cinematographic styles, the energy and vitality that make Havana unique. Some have chosen to see the city through foreign eyes; others have preferred a deeper immersion and drawn inspiration from local people.

All seven stories have independent plots, but the many connections between them help to create a powerful dramatic unity. Shared locations play their part: emblematic Havana landmarks like the beach or the Hotel Nacional form the backdrop for some of the chapters. Several characters appear in more than one story – a protagonist in one chapter plays a secondary role in another – subtly connecting the stories and demonstrating that in Havana all social spheres run parallel, intertwine and intersect at various times of the week

Alms for a Blind Horse (2011)

Alms for a Blind Horse (2011)

Director: Gurvinder Singh
Country: India
Duration : 1h 53mn

Anhe Ghore Da Daan (English: Alms for a Blind Horse) is a 2011 Punjabi-language film. The film is based on the Punjabi novel of the same title published in 1976 by Gurdial Singh. It portrays the plight and problems of Indian farmers as well as the landlords. The film won National Awards for Best Direction, Cinematography and Best Feature Film in Punjabi at the 59th National Film Awards of India.



On a foggy winter morning, a Dalit family in a village in Punjab wakes up to the news of the demolition of a house of one of their community members on the outskirts of the village. Father, a silent sympathiser, joins his community in demand for justice for the affected family. The same day, his son Melu, a cycle-rickshaw puller in the city, is participating in a strike by his union. Injured and alienated, Melu spends the day quietly resting and later joins his friends as they tease him over his state of affairs. Hesitantly, he drinks with them in the night as they debate the meaning of their existence. Cycling through the city streets, Melu feels lost and wonders where to go and what to do. Back in the village, his mother feels humiliated at the treatment meted out by the landlords in whose fields she works. Gunshots are heard in the night and the village is tense. It's the night of the lunar eclipse. A man wanders asking for the traditional alms while Father decides to visit the city with a friend, even as his daughter Dayalo walks through the village streets in the night.

L (2012)

L (2012)

Director: Babis Makridis
Country: Greece
Duration : 1h 23mn




A man lives in his car.He is 40 years old and although he does not have a lot of free time, when he has, he chooses to spend it with his family. He meets his wife and two children at a specified day and time in car parking lots. His job is to locate and bring the finest honey to a 50-year old man. A new driver shows up and the man gets fired. Disappointed, he decides to leave his car behind. The man's life changes, and he finds it absurd that no one trusts him anymore.

Mekong Hotel (2012)

Mekong Hotel (2012)

Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Country: Thailand
Duration : 56mn 24s









Shifting between fact and fiction in a hotel situated along the Mekong River, a filmmaker rehearses a movie expressing the bonds between a vampire-like mother and daughter...