Cinematic Era: 1956 Vintage

hong kong film

1956 / Love Song / L. Krishnan / Keris

1944: Geneviève and René live in occupied Paris. They love each other, and the young woman looks fearfully at René's activities in the Resistance. She wants to stay out of it, and sometimes there are arguments about it. After one such argument, René goes to a meeting with a German comrade. While he is away, the Gestapo come to the house to take the resistance fighter Louise away. Geneviève intervenes and is arrested. The men of the resistance are very worried as she knows about a planned bridge demolition. René trusts her, and Geneviève does indeed withstand the torture. The bridge can be blown up as planned, contributing to a decisive defeat for the German army.

A sprawling portrait of rural life in Sri Lanka; the story revolves around a boy and his friend--a blind girl who he accidentally 'heals' by giving her sight. Though the girl believes the boy healed her, in reality the boy has no such powers. The father of the boy fools the village folk into believing he's a healer, but ultimately the sham is exposed, causing the village to revolt against the boy and his family.

Three young women all find the deepest and abidingest and truest of true forever loves during a one-week vacation.

A short puppet animation movie by Tadahito Mochinaga.

A Hammer Films short recounting the adventures of Dick Turpin.

A "stroll" at various locations: the St. Marx Cemetery, the Prater park, Carnuntum. We see people taking walks, construction workers, people flying model planes and other little observations. Kren also used a short segment of found footage in colour which shows a woman in a bikini.

Drifting on a freighter in the port of Hamburg, shortly before the run.

A young indigenous man contracts tuberculosis and is sent to the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton. He struggles with the aftereffects of the illness but tries to move forward and get a job.

Nagy István, the formerly poor peasant boy returns to his native village as a teacher. His conviction is that the abyss between rich and poor can be diminished by good will. The rich Böröcz Horváth Klári returns his love, and also Böröcz Horváth is willing to help the poorest family, the Bakos. Bakos Jóska, who was sent to serve the tough Böröcz Horváth as a payment, dies of an infected wound and the people in the village hold the teacher liable as well. Nagy István realises, that the abyss cannot be ceased, what is more, it is impassable. He breaks up with his fiancée and stands by the side of the poor.

Chinese Opera genre picture directed by Chun Kim.

DEFA crime film about the smuggling of PVC across the (still open) border from East to West Berlin.

Hot off the heels of the successful of Marty (1955) Ernest Borgnine presents the trailer for The Catered Affair.

The jack of all trades Pekka is having financial trouble and is being hunted by a debt collector.

A doctor is persecuted after treating a tortured man at a police station.

In a small village in Provence, on the first day of school, a young boy throws his bag into the river on a bet, and the retrieval of it leads to a thrilling adventure.

Peter a storyteller talks about a story of a burglar Squishy Taylor that tried to blow up his safe.

Remembering the past, Rea returns to the moment that changed her life. Coming of age, Rea's alcoholic fate is wrapped around two men, composer Tauno Tarras and sea captain Erkki.

The story follows a man haunted by debt and crime, who flees with his mistress on a tense journey marked by betrayals and desperate choices. The film explores greed, betrayal, and the tragic downfall of a man consumed by money and despair.

This screen adaptation of Andrejs Upītis' novella marks the debut in Latvian cinema of two of the first graduates of the Moscow Film Institute - director Varis Krūmiņš and cinematographer Māris Rudzītis. An egg comes out of a shopping bag and breaks in the street, triggering a chain of events that entangles the accountant Krastiņš, his fiancée Ada, a minister, a poet, a critic, a minister and other members of the highest circles...

First film in the festival trilogy

Based on the novel by Güzide Sabri, the film tells the story of a woman suffering from a forbidden love.

Documentary short about the American Civil War. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.

Two ambitious parents decide to change their name for a foreign patronymic so that their young son Edmond can win fame easier. He's a eleven-year-old orchestra conductor.

After a victorious military campaign, a general returns home to glory and prosperity. The king rewards him and claims that all enemies will be intimidated by the general. From then on, the general no longer practice martial arts. He eats, drinks, lives the glamorous life, and didn't bother anymore with sharpening his weapons. When the enemy one day returns, his own arrogance led to his defeat and eventually to the downfall of whole nation.

A blind girl and a disabled singer fall in love.

The Biggest Musical Comedy of 1956, 12 Spectacular songs and dance numbers.

Two young skippers, Hans Tønnesen and Poul Nielsen, have a small cargo ship that transports freight from Copenhagen to the provinces. Poul and Hans are in love with the same girl, Margit, who is the daughter of master baker Bonnekamp. However, Margit chooses Poul. On their wedding night, Hans cannot sleep. He sits in his boat and hears a splash in the water. He jumps into the water and rescues a young girl, Kristiane, from drowning. She is distraught because she is pregnant and does not dare tell her parents. Hans offers to marry her and acknowledge paternity, but on the way to his own wedding, his engine stalls.

A foreign pianist who comes to visit Paris is ripped off by a young man and his sister. But he soon falls in love with this one.

A mother tells her demanding little boy a story to make him fall asleep.

After the death of his Russian mother, nine-year-old orphan Peter lives with Professor Hartmann and his daughter Helga, who cares for him like a mother. Peter is very musical. He especially loves the melancholy songs of the Don Cossack Choir, which remind him of his mother. Because the boy has suffered from a severe heart defect since birth, his doctor, Dr. Stark, has forbidden him any excitement, including music. When one day the Don Cossack Choir's tour bus breaks down near Peter's house with engine trouble, the little boy meets the conductor Serge Jaroff and his famous singers in person.

Directed by Paul Zils and sponsored by the U.S. Technical Cooperation Mission (TCM), this short documentary explores educational development initiatives in post-independence India. The film highlights efforts to promote literacy and modernize schooling systems as part of collaborative development programs between India and the United States.

The story is about a young orphan boy who steals money to help the daughter of his benefactress to marry.

From Pigalle to the Grands Boulevards, via the Champs-Élysées, a stroll through the heart of the Parisian nightlife, until the wee hours of the morning.

Under a police pursuit, Pavle tries to transfer a group of illegals on a free liberated territory. Pavle hopes to find a hideaway at an old friend Stevan, but these expectations fail. However, help unexpectedly comes from Stevan's little son Aca.

A rural singsong film.

A boy and a girl, who are both raised as the opposite sex, see through each other's disguises and fall in love. Together, they must come up with a plan to reveal their true identities to their superstitious fathers and fight their respective arranged marriages.

A newly orphaned brother-sister duo take refuge in a temple where they receive help from people who believe in them and push them to overcome several hurdles.

A heart stops beating and two others no longer dare to face each other. While an old lady is found poisoned, the two main suspects in the investigation see their mutual love decline behind vile suspicions. 35 years before Les Cordier, judge and cop, Pierre Mondy is already trying his hand at the role of inspector.

Bluto sabotages Popeye's date with the superstitious Olive Oyl on Friday the 13th.

Musical comedy sketch based on an old custom, according to which women are allowed to propose marriage to a man on leap day, February 24. If the man says no, he must give the woman 12 pairs of gloves.

A report on this extraordinary boom town that owes its fortune to oil.

Quartet from Northeast Brazil arrive in Rio de Janeiro, to try their luck in the big city.