Discoveries from European World Cinema

Djibi lives alone with Sofia, his 8-year-old daughter. Every night, he invents a story to put him to sleep. When Sofia falls asleep, these extraordinary stories come to life somewhere in an imaginary world inhabited by knights, pirates and other dragons. In this world that belongs only to them, Sofia is always the princess to save, and the brave Prince is none other than Djibi himself. But 3 years later, the entry of Sofia to the college will mark the end of her childhood. To the despair of her father, she no longer needs her stories at night. On the one hand, Djibi will have to accept that his daughter will grow up and move away from him. On the other hand, in the World of Stories, the Prince will have to face the most epic of all his adventures. Find your destiny in a world where it no longer has a place.

Therese, a beautiful but naive young girl, who finds herself being passed around from depraved pervert to depraved pervert, enduring just about every kind of sexual degradation there is while still believing that some kind stranger will eventually help her.

A mentally unstable woman and her son move to a sprawling mansion in Portugal to grow roses.

It’s 1948 and the Cold War has arrived in Chile. In the Congress, prominent Communist Senator and popular poet Pablo Neruda accuses the government of betraying the Party and is stripped of his parliamentary immunity by President González Videla. The Chief of Investigative Police instructs inspector Óscar Peluchonneau to arrest the poet. Neruda tries to escape from the country with his wife, the painter Delia del Carril, but they are forced to go underground.

In the early 19th century, a young woman with a harelip falls foul of her family's ambition and the superstitions of the local community, but meets a man who may see her differently.

Isabel moves with her two children into a very prestigious building that has a very peculiar admission method but at a very affordable rental fee. Once approved and settled, three elderly neighbors from the lower floor will turn their lives upside down.

A murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.

An enigmatic fragment of a bigger story, showing events leading up to a pivotal moment in the life of a strange, troubled young man. After losing his home, fiancée and job, he finds a moment of hopefulness.

Barney Lincoln is a rambling gambling man who scores sensational wins at poker and chemin de fer because he has succeeded in marking the original plates for the backs of all the playing cards manufactured in a plant in Geneva and used in all the gambling joints in Europe. In his gambling depredation, Barney is spotted by Angel McGinnis, the daughter of a Scotland Yard Inspector 'Manny' McGinnis on the lookout for a man to do a job. The inspector enlists Barney's help in playing poker with a shady London character whom Scotland Yard wants to force to financial ruin.

Philippe Jordan is a policeman prone to advancing the cause of justice by any means necessary. On his agenda is a powerful drug cartel working out of Paris and Marseilles, with a drug lord who is essentially inaccessible -- but not immortal.

David is a teenager who feels he doesn't belong to a life where his family, friends and the girl he loves seem not to understand him.

A documentary crew films heavy metal band Bad News as they have trouble starting their van, pick up a schoolgirl groupie, and meet up with rock journalist Sally at a motorway service station where they argue about the cost of sausage and chips.

An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.

In a sumptuous lakeside hotel, the perfect routine falters when disaster strikes.

This Surrealist film, with a title referencing the Communist Manifesto, strings together short incidents based on the life of director Luis Buñuel. Presented as chance encounters, these loosely related, intersecting situations, all without a consistent protagonist, reach from the 19th century to the 1970s. Touching briefly on subjects such as execution, pedophilia, incest, and sex, the film features an array of characters, including a sick father and incompetent police officers.

Journey into the extraordinary world of "The Witcher" — from casting the roles to Jaskier's catchy song — in this behind-the-scenes look at the series.

A man, released after a jail term for a crime he did not commit, raises a gang to go after the man who framed him.

A young man of Chinese-Cambodian descent dies, leaving behind his isolated mother and his lover of four years. Though the two don't share a language, they grow close through their grief.

British television adaptation of W.W. Jacobs‘ short story from 1939.

Count Moffat becomes infatuated with Nana, a presumptuous stage actress, vulgar, hypocritical and promiscuous, willing to do anything to succeed.

Kirikou's grandfather thinks that the story of Kirikou and The Witch was too short, so he proceeds to explain more about Kirikou's accomplishments. We find out how the little boy became a gardener, a detective, a maker of pottery, a merchant, a traveler and a doctor.

In one of the poorest areas of Paris, a school counselor devotes herself to working with disadvantaged students, while facing challenges of her own.

Ten short pieces directed by ten different directors, including Ken Russell, Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Bruce Beresford, and Nicolas Roeg. Each short uses an aria as soundtrack/sound, and is an interpretation of the particular aria.

After a series of unusual encounters, it is obvious to those that know her best, that Kathy Deane is not herself. Then comes a devastating diagnosis, and she leaves the safety of her marriage to Tim for a man she barely knows. The mental illness causes her to behave irrationally and affects her capacity for empathy. She becomes aware that she is unaware. Nick seems wild and free, and is the change that Kathy needs. He takes her to his childhood home, around the marshes in north Kent. It's here that she is able to reconnect with herself and find some hope for the future.

A painter was found burned in her studio twenty years ago. Her story resurfaces when the police begin to investigate two other homicides in Pont-Aven.

13-year-old Morris Gentry has just relocated with his single father, Curtis to Heidelberg, Germany. Morris, who fancies himself the next Notorious B.I.G., is a complete fish-out-of-water—a budding hip-hop star in an EDM world. To complicate matters further, Morris quickly falls hard for his cool, rebellious, 15-year-old classmate Katrin. Morris sets out against all odds to take the hip-hop world by storm and win the girl of his dreams.

Joaquin Monegro feels a huge hatred for Abel Sánchez, who was once his best friend. Over the years, Monegro marries without love, and tries to have his children marry, but not forgetting Abel so far.

Two friends, Mia and Teo, meet up one evening and over a glass of wine, they debate the philosophy of love into its very depths. Being polar opposites, Mia argues over the inevitable end and pain that comes with the start of every relationship while Teo is more concerned with the loss of self and the change that occurs in someone over a relationship. By trying to preserve a memory that will forever exist in their minds, they choose to play pretend for the evening and live out the perfect relationship. The film offers a quick glimpse into an alternate universe where after years spent together, Mia moves out of the apartment where Teo and her lived together. A short peek into what could have been and also asking - would it have even been worth it in the end? However, once the hour has passed, they have to return to reality.

Tunisian-Jewish businessman Alain Berrebi (Michel Boujenah) courts Ashkenazi princess Arlette Stern (Elsa Zylberstein). Her father David (Maurice Chevit) learns of the death of a rural Auvergne peasant who once hid David and his cousin Nathan (Felix Fibich) from the Nazis. Nathan is now a NYC diamond dealer on West 47th Street. David, Nathan, Arlette, and Berrebi head for the funeral in Auvergne. There they encounter the deceased peasant's son, Jean Bourdalou (Gerard Depardieu), who operates the family's restaurants in Paris. Arlette does a romantic take on Bourdalou, which sends the distraught Berrebi off to cry on the shoulder of his mother Gaby (Gina Lollobrigida). Back in Paris, Bourdalou and Berrebi make plans to open a trendy fashion restaurant in Manhattan.

The adventures of a couple of scoundrels in the Spain of the 16th century.

In a ghetto where religion and drug trafficking rub shoulders, Dounia has a lust for power and success. Supported by Maimouna, her best friend, she decides to follow in the footsteps of Rebecca, a respected dealer. But her encounter with Djigui, a young, disturbingly sensual dancer, throws her off course.

Upon opening its doors, High became the first gay club in Bilbao and the first in Spain to have a dark room. Soon, men from all over began to inhabit its corridors and recesses, sharing the space with curious neighbors who peeked in to enjoy the pornographic films projected by its owner. Over the years, the parties, desires, and fears evolved, while High remained a silent witness to everything that happened inside.

The true story of Freddie Knoller, a young Jewish man who flees Vienna following the Nazi occupation in 1938 and finds solace in the vibrant world of Paris's burlesque scene.

Chronic serial womanizer Stephane Margelle drops his wife Sophie off at the airport so she can go away for Easter weekend. He immediately picks up beautiful young Julie, who has just had a fight with her married boyfriend. He gets her back to his apartment and is preparing for a sexy weekend, when his wife suddenly returns home. He makes up a bizarre, on-the-spot, spur-of-the-moment story that the gorgeous girl is actually his long-lost daughter. Julie plays along, but this leads to a whole series of increasingly ridiculous lies and comical situations (such as when her real mother shows up).

The film consists of a series of tightly interlinked vignettes, the most sustained of which details the story of a man and a woman who are passionately in love. Their attempts to consummate their passion are constantly thwarted, by their families, by the Church and bourgeois society in general.

1943. They have never stepped foot on French soil but because France was at war, Said, Abdelkader, Messaoud and Yassir enlist in the French Army, along with 130,000 other “indigenous” soldiers, to liberate the “fatherland” from the Nazi enemy. Heroes that history has forgotten…

'The Cutter' is a master of his craft – gangland killings using a cut-throat razor. When his son disturbs him in his work and announces that he wants to follow in his father's footsteps, 'The Cutter' is faced with a dilemma.

In a future where consciousness can be transferred, Sal is urged by his sister to try a breakthrough technology that implants the memories and personality of the dead into the living. After the passing of his wife, Sal must decide how far he's willing to go to reconnect with the past.

Alex is an 11-year old boy who, during WWII, hides in the Jewish ghetto from Nazis after all his relatives have been sent to the concentration camp. The movie portrays the ghetto through his eyes.

Eugenie Grandet has discovered where her father, a miserable old miser, keeps his treasure. Eugenie's cousin, Charles, is the bearer of a letter from his father to his uncle, Eugenie's father. The letter informs the miser that Charles' father, his only brother, is reduced to a state of utter ruin, and unless he can obtain immediate help, he contemplates suicide.

Marco and Anita discover they are expecting a child. Finally a ray of light in Marco’s life after his heartbreak following the loss of Leo, his first born with his former wife Clara. Suddenly, however Perla, the new owner where the couple lived until the tragic accident, bursts into Marco’s and his ex-wife’s lives. The mysterious woman claims she keeps feeling a strange presence and hearing the voice of a child that is tormenting her and her son. Marco therefore finds himself torn between the ties of the past and an unwritten future.

When bike courier Chris witnesses what looks like a murder, his first instinct is to cut and run. But when his curiosity draws him back in, he's soon embroiled in a world of corruption, political power, and illegal bike racing.

Troubled psychotherapist Peter Bowers is suffering from nightmares and eerie visions. When he uncovers a horrifying secret that all of his patients share, he is put on a course that takes him back to the small hometown he fled years ago. There he confronts his demons and unravels a mystery 20 years in the making.

Victoria is a thirty-something divorced lawyer who's struggling to raise her two daughters. She is canny and cynical but on the verge of an emotional breakdown. At a friend's wedding she reconnects with Vincent, an old friend, and Sam, an old client. Her life is about to take a new turn.

Arthur and Anatole are two little robbers. They want to rob money, money that will travel in a special train from Paris to Bruxelles. They don't know that other people have planned to do the same thing.

A modern remake of Renoir's classic film. Aix-en-Provence, a spring night. Christian Lespinglet, an over-indebted gallery owner, rescues a homeless man, Boudu, from the waters of a canal who was trying to drown himself. Heroic to his detriment, he brings him home, for a few hours only... The incongruous arrival of Boudu will act like a mad dog in the game of skittles that is Christian's life...

How did Sarah and Victor get along for more than 45 years? Who was this enigmatic woman living in the shadow of her husband? Love, ambition, betrayals and secrets feed the story of this extraordinary couple, as they experience both the large and small moments of the last century's history.

Successful writer/director Bernard Rougerie is at a creative dead end and decides to isolate himself from his wife in order to complete the script for his next film. Bernard moves into an apartment building whose tenants are in the midst of a revolt against their abusive landlord. Reluctant at first, he joins their cause and then becomes involved in an affair with young, unemployed resident Anne.

Thomas is working at the Clay Pits when a storm closes in and the rain makes the clay cliffs unstable. A flash of lightning reveals what looks like giant footprints on the slope above, but a landslide has begun and Thomas cannot stay to investigate. Bill and Ben push Thomas to safety just in time. Unable to go back and confirm what he saw, Thomas tells Percy about it, but Percy quickly becomes convinced that there is a monster on the island. He even becomes frightened of taking the mail train at night. When an unusual engine with sloping boilers first appears, Percy thinks he must be the monster. James teases Percy and tries to scare him even more, but the new engine, who is called Gator, proves to be a good friend and ally, who helps Percy discover what it really means to be brave.

Mehdi had planned to spend a quiet summer in his in-laws' sumptuous home. But as soon as he arrives, a conflict breaks out between his girfriend's family and the villa's janitor couple. As Mehdi comes from a modest background, he thinks he can lead the negotiations between the two parties and bring everyone back to their senses. But things start to escalate...

Romy Schneider has been En Compétition ever since 1957 with Sissi, before coming back to the Croisette multiple times, notably for Claude Sautet’s Les Choses de la vie. This exceptional documentary recounts her illustrious career with passion and dedication.

When her ex-husband reappears, now suffering from dementia and having forgotten their divorce, Hanne’s orderly life with partner Bernd is gently upended.

One fateful night in a small English regional theatre during World War II a troupe of touring actors stage a production of Shakespeares King Lear. Bombs are falling, sirens are wailing, the curtain is up in an hour but the actor/manager Sir who is playing Lear is nowhere to be seen. His dresser Norman must scramble to keep the production alive but will Sir turn up in time and if he does will he be able to perform that night? The Dresser is a wickedly funny and deeply moving story of friendship and loyalty as Sir reflects on his lifelong accomplishments and seeks to reconcile his turbulent friendships with those in his employ before the final curtain.

A businessman leaves his country home, and wife and young son for a business trip to Paris. While there he develops a sexual and spiritual bond with a call girl.

Based upon Wilkie Collins Victorian mystery, the gothic tale tells of a pair of half sisters whose lives end up caught in a grand conspiracy revolving around a mentally ill woman dressed in white. As the story unfolds, murder, love, marriage, and greed stand between the two women and happy lives. Their only hope is the secret the woman in white waits to tell them.

When an infamous "cursed" Egyptian sarcophagus falls into the hands of unscrupulous huckster Everett Randolph, he becomes obsessed with resurrecting the mummified princess held within it.

Passepartout is a young and scholarly marmoset who always dreams of becoming an explorer. One day, he crosses paths with Phileas, a reckless and greedy frog, eager to take on a bet to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days and earn 10 million clams in the process. Seizing the opportunity of a lifetime to explore the world, Passepartout embarks with his new friend on a crazy and exhilarating adventure full of twists and surprises.