Discoveries from European World Cinema

"L'emprise" is the story of a drama, adapted from the moving book-witness "Acquitted", by Alexandra Lange. The story of a mother of four children, which is found in March 2012 in the dock of the foundations of Douai for the murder of her husband. How does a woman manage to kill the father of her children with a knife? During the three days of the trial, panting narrative takes us into the daily life of Alexandra, a mother that the society has failed to protect, neither she nor her children from the control of a monster she has loved. Through this incident that made headlines and upset the public, an event movie that raises the question of the balance of justice. Will she be heard?

A man opens a small-town bookstore in order to escape his connections to a mobster, but is reluctantly drawn back to his dark past by a mysterious woman.

A musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel "Notre Dame de Paris" which follows the gypsy dancer Esmeralda and the three men who vie for her love: the kind hunchback Quadimodo, the twisted priest Frollo, and the unfaithful soldier Phoebus.

Set during the fading glory of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the film tells of the rise and fall of Alfred Redl, an ambitious young officer who proceeds up the ladder to become head of the Secret Police only to become ensnared in political deception.

Marseilles, 1919. Georges Sarret is a distinguished and respected lawyer, recently honoured for his services in the First World War. He takes as his lover Philomène Schmidt, a young German woman, who has just lost her job and home. To enable Philomène to remain in France, Georges finds her a husband – who dies conveniently of natural causes a month after the wedding. Georges repeats the trick with Philomène's sister, Catherine – marrying her off to an old man who dies suddenly so that the scheming trio can profit from his life insurance. When an accomplice in the scheme, Marcel Chambon, threatens to blackmail them, Georges and his two lovers have no option but to kill him and his mistress...

A penniless countess falls in love with a cad, unaware that he is also involved on the side with her beautiful daughter.

One reel containing actuality footage of Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street). Some of the earliest known film footage of Ireland.

At Dawning stars Jenny Agutter as a woman escaping from a one night stand, who encounters a suicidal Yvan Attal in bizarre circumstances. A story of ethical debate and screwball action, which reaches a topsy-turvy climax as dawn breaks over London.

Vanina Vanini, a bored, spoiled Roman countess, falls in love with a dedicated young patriot who is in Rome to assassinate a traitor to the brotherhood of the Carboneria.

Grégoire Beaulieu learns that he has a twin brother: Anthony Girard. Gregoire is bourgeois, ambitious and promised to a great career, Anthony has no prospect and lives of shenanigans. The two brothers couldn’t be more opposite. Especially when one is white and the other is black !

In 1991, the USSR is falling apart and Cuba enters its hardest economic crisis. Sergio, a professor of Marxism who can't provide for his family, and Sergei, a Soviet cosmonaut stranded in the Mir space station, share a common passion: amateur radio. Through this hobby, both men will be able to help each other in facing the dramatic changes of their countries.

Due to a near-fatal accident that has left her incapacitated and depleted of her long-term memory, a temporarily wheelchair-bound woman returns home after being abroad for six years accompanied by her bohemian boyfriend, the apparent cause of the accident. Unable to remember her family or her own childhood, she sets out, with the help of her boyfriend, to find the reason for her leaving all those years ago and quickly discovers her relatives may not be as loving as she’d thought

A legendary thief sets his sights on the Mona Lisa, da Vinci’s iconic painting residing at Le Louvre museum in Paris. He recruits two young strangers to help him — a sharp Italian cybercrime expert and a swaggering French explosives specialist — before revealing they are long-lost siblings and that he is their father. Thrown into a chaotic reunion they never asked for, this new family must learn to work together — and try not to kill each other — if they want any chance at pulling off the heist of the century.

A businessman is wrongly accused and convicted for the murder of his associate.

A Peacemaker, who rejects his final mission to save an endangered planet, is believed to be cursed when a solar storm hits his spaceship.

A 3-part documentary granting a unique and privileged access into the magical world of whales and dolphins, uncovering the secrets of their intimate lives as never before. Episode 1: Giant Lives / Episode 2: Deep Thinkers / Episode 3: Voices of the Sea

Ruthless killer for hire breaks the rules of his profession and falls for a beautiful young woman. Discovering the notorious gangland brothers had hired him to kill her father, his world breaks down and he must turn against his criminal employers and their gang to save the woman he loves.

Michel, a psycho-analyst, falls asleep while listening to his patient Olga, a kleptomaniac and a sexual pervert, tell him how she likes her husband beating her. When he wakes up, he finds Olga having been choked to death. He now has to deal with a body, with Olga's rich husband who thinks she stole money from him, and with all his patients' insanity that haunts him.

Friends Aldo, Giovanni, and Giacomo cross Italy from north to south for Giacomo's wedding: the father of the bride, a despotic magnate who is both their boss and father-in-law—since Aldo and Giovanni have also married into the family not for love but for money, a fate now awaiting Giacomo—has entrusted them with a priceless piece of modern art, one that looks just like a rather unremarkable wooden leg.

Who knows about springtails? And among those for whom this name rings a bell, how many have already seen them? Yet, these small animals, similar to insects, are present in all terrestrial ecosystems. Springtails are undisputed soil regulators. Scientists recognize them today as absolutely essential, especially in the search for pollutants, disruptors, and all the variations that affect our soils, but this little animal is almost unknown. Thanks to extremely precise cameras, as close as possible to these microscopic animals, a teeming life is revealed before our eyes. According to the seasons, the film invites us to get into the intimacy of the springtails, to discover their morphology, their role and their usefulness in the ecosystems of the planet while rubbing shoulders with other organisms in the same environments.

A devestating, yet bracing look at a family whose proximity to each other belies the decay of their relationships, The Wild Duck is just as modern today as it was when first staged. When Gregors Werle comes to stay with the Ekdals, his idealist nature refuses to tolerate the dreamworld of lies the family is living. However, in his bid to force the Ekdals to see the truth, the skeletons he unearths destroy the family that he wanted to redeem.

In the aftermath of her tumultuous relationship with a charismatic and manipulative older man, Julie begins to untangle her fraught love for him in making her graduation film, sorting fact from his elaborately constructed fiction.

When 19-year-old Adam agrees to do a day's driving for his mum's gangster boyfriend Peter, it takes him on a 24-hour journey into a nightmarish world of murder, sex trafficking and revenge, in the company of aging hit man Roy.

Jack is encouraged to take the romantic Paris vacation he won, despite just being dumped by his girlfriend. His trip soon devolves into chaos and adventure, when his luggage is swapped for a French businesswoman's belongings who soon takes a liking to his belongings -- especially his shoes -- and sets out to find him.

Young nurse Elle battles her unravelling mind as she fights for her patients in a broken system.

Childhood friends reunite later in life in Spanish tuberculosis sanitorium. Pressures of death all around combine with dark secrets of their past.

Paul, a former insurer, is struggling to make ends meet. He agrees to meet Sarrebry, a loan shark introduced to him by his friend Daubelle. Paul mortally knocks out the disgusting crook and steals a large sum of money from him.

The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire.

Adapted from the BBC2 serial The Six Wives of Henry VIII. 1547, King Henry VIII's life has taken a turn for the worse and he is forced to look back over his life and the many loves which had brought him his three children, only one of which was the desired male heir to secure the Tudor dynasty.

Marie is an insecure housewife whose husband, Joe, is having an affair. The two of them take a holiday to rural Scotland, but by sheer bad luck, end up at the hotel Joe uses for his "getaways." There, Marie is told the story of a young boy who drowned in a nearby lake long ago, and finds herself becoming more and more obsessed with his ghost.

A man helps the victim of an auto accident, not realizing that the man has actually been shot. The men who shot him are now after the man who helped him, in order to eliminate him as a potential witness. Soon they are killing everyone he even comes in contact with in order to get him.

Alex Linden is a psychiatrist living in Vienna who meets Milena Flaherty though a mutual friend. Though Alex is quite a bit older than Milena, he's attracted to her young, carefree spirit. Despite the fact that Milena is already married, their friendship quickly turns into a deeply passionate love affair that threatens to overtake them both. When Milena ends up in the hospital from an overdose, Alex is taken into custody by Inspector Netusil.

Short movie

An all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier meets an eager young lady of the evening. Later he has an affair with a young lady, who becomes a maid and does similarly with the young man of the house. The young man seduces a married woman. On and on, spinning on the gay carousel of life.

The only things Wayne cares about are that Chelsea wins at the football, how much beer there is in the fridge, and his son's viewing habits. When Wayne's mates arrive to watch a match news is heard that a local policeman has been killed. The party atmosphere changes to something more sinister.

Maurice is an aging veteran actor who becomes taken with Jessie, the grandniece of his closest friend. When Maurice tries to soften the petulant and provincial young girl with the benefit of his wisdom and London culture, their give-and-take surprises both Maurice and Jessie as they discover what they don't know about themselves.

Between playing, colouring in and singing, children in a Paris primary school learn about the impact of political decisions on their everyday lives and their future. The documentary sheds light on the future of the education system.

Grigorij Efimovic Rasputin (1869-1916) the mystic and self-proclaimed holy man. The saint-demon and the simple peasant. About the plot against Rasputin, hated and feared at the highest levels of government because of his surreal influence on the Tsar.

A deep-sea salvage expert enacts an elaborate plan to infiltrate and take revenge on a criminal organization that dealt him a foul misdeed.

1930s. Anna, the primary character has reinvented herself in Italy as an actress and she is set to star and produce in a film by an Italian production house with questionable background. With these follows, the usual film industry scandals, casting couch, affairs of the stars, orgies at the producer's mansion and a lot of other scenarios warranting nudity.

A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.

A gardener is watering his flowers, when a mischievous boy sneaks up behind his back, and puts a foot on the water hose. The gardener is surprised and looks into the nozzle to find out why the water has stopped coming. The boy then lifts his foot from the hose, whereby the water squirts up in the gardener's face. The gardener chases the boy, grips his ear and slaps him in his buttocks. The boy then runs away and the gardener continues his watering. Three separate versions of this film exist, this is the third version.

Genoan navigator Christopher Columbus has a dream to find an alternative route to sail to the Indies, by traveling west instead of east, across the unchartered Ocean sea. After failing to find backing from the Portugese, he goes to the Spanish court to ask Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand for help. After surviving a grilling from the Head of the Spanish Inquisition Tomas de Torquemada, he eventually gets the blessing from Queen Isabella and sets sail in three ships to travel into the unknown. Along the way he must deal with sabotage from Portugese spies and mutiny from a rebellious crew.

In Lille, Claire Gauthier is an ordinary married woman with a young daughter that works in an insurance company analyzing losses of insured properties. When the single veterinary Laurent Kessler claims damage in his basement caused by a flooding due to water leakage, Claire resolves the situation favorably for him. The weird Laurent visits Claire in her office successively, inviting her for drinks and lunch, and they get close to each other. Meanwhile, a serial killer is terrorizing Lille, killing women with a scalpel. Claire feels a great attraction for Laurent, who has an unusual behavior in her apartment. When Claire sees a scalpel in the pocket of Laurent's jacket, she fears him, but still loves him.

A novelist attends the trial of a woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. But as the trial continues, her own family history, doubts, and fears about motherhood are steadily dislodged as the life story of the accused is gradually revealed.

When an overwhelmed, single dad pig moves his piglets into a rundown trailer park, he fears he’s failed his family. But soon his kids create a wildly imaginative game from a simple cardboard box, and Dad has a choice: dwell on the past or join them on their intergalactic adventure.

All girls volley ball team The Falcons end up stranded in the middle of nowhere after their mini-van breaks down. Little do they know they landed in degenerate hunters' territory and the hunt is on. Thus begins a very long night where they must run for their lives and test their team spirit. But the girls are more resourceful than it appears. In the heart of the forest, the tables are about to turn between hunter and hunted...

A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story set in the Cotswolds during and immediately after the First World War.

The climbing of an immense staircase made up of the most varied stairs. Symbolic scenes occur on different levels where characters seem to be prisoners of their deeds and of their own folly. The steep staircase leads little by little towards the zones of great light where human beings and nonhuman beings meet.

Two youths, Niño and Compi, enter the world of drug smuggling in the Strait of Gibraltar; while two police officers, Jesús and Eva, try to eradicate the contraband.

A man meets up with two "good guys" to recover what is unlawfully his, taking them on his whirlwind ride, doing things they never would have imagined, just to survive.

The life of a successful radiologist spirals out of control when she sees the spitting image of herself driving down a London street. While attempting to uncover who the imposter could be, she stumbles into a terrifying mystery that her family and closest friends are somehow involved in, leaving her with no one to trust.

The young nobleman Calisto falls in love with Melibea, the daughter of a rich merchant. Calisto's servant Sempronio suggests they get the sorceress Celestina to further the romance. However Calisto's other servant Parmeno is suspicious of Celestina, as he knows about her tricks.

A coming-of-age story that follows Matias, an Argentine filmmaker in his forties, struggling with an unfinished movie inspired by his elusive first love to Alexander, a Swedish friend he met at an international school in the 90’s. Tenderness and fascination define their strong friendship, which is short-lived when Alexander is suddenly expelled back to his country, leaving young Matias with an unresolved story of undeclared emotions. 25 years later, and Matias decides to reopen Pandora’s box as he embarks on a journey to find the ending to his story by coming face-to-face with Alexander, discovering life imitating art.

A young Romanian woman and a recovering drug addict launch an unlikely investigation after her parents are murdered by a vicious serial killer known as The Headhunter.

Melvin, a British author living in America, returns home to London for Christmas to introduce his American fiancée Lisa to his eccentric British-Caribbean family. Their relationship is put to the test as she discovers the world her fiancé has left behind.

Fifty years old, three years past of unemployment, benefits decreasing very quickly... Gerard is at the end of the rope when a position is offered him in Indonesia. To win the favor of his new employer, Gerard invites him to dinner at home. Fatal Error ! Terrified at the idea of not being up to par, his wife Colette begs Alexandre, their neighbor to help. Communication guru, Alexander accepts the challenge and gives a makeover to the couple in twenty-four hours. Apartment, decoration, lifestyle, dinner menu, uniforms, culture... Everything !