Cinematic Era: 2008 Vintage

As a result of an unsuccessful experiment conducted in the laboratory of a chemical institute, a young woman gets a severe burn on her face.

A full-length documentary about a controversial evangelical movement that purports to convert gay people into heterosexuals. The film brings us inside this unusual Christian subculture and follows the lives of several young people whose homosexuality is at odds with their religious beliefs.

Poh Sin, Victor and Felix grew up in the shadow of a major Malaysian crime figure. Their lives get complicated as a series of events suck Poh Sin and Victor deep into the triad world while they struggle to protect Felix from a similar fate. A triad war erupts with Hong Kong gangs over lucrative international human trafficking contracts, while personal ambitions take their own toll. The Malaysian police hound Victor over an alleged string of sex crimes and matters spiral out of control.

Overwhelmed by various problems in Montevideo, a couple in their thirties must move to a deserted beach resort on the Uruguayan coast. There they will not pay rent since an aunt lends them their magnificent house. What in principle seems like a true solution to your problems ends up not being so. Quite the contrary, this "idyllic" winter season on the beach, away from its natural environment, without much to do, will forever change the relationship between Claudia and Leandro.

Tisa and Airin are the perfect accompanying tune to their father, Sastro, who has been raising them as a single dad. Their bond as a family starts to tremble as a young man named Ray gets the attention of Tisa and Airin.

Chameleons don't just dance, they "chrome" - an explosive combination of crazy moves with wild bursts of color changing. When a timid chameleon named Hue, who can't change colors, attends a dance party, he finds himself unexpectedly thrown on stage, his shortcomings exposed to all.

Celebrity Chef Anita hasn't seen her family for twenty years. That is until her son Michael decides to do some soul searching and track down his aunt.

Frantisek Soukenický is a psychiatrist with an apparent life in order ... until the appearance of a former lover scorned. She ends her career and Frantisek ends without a job, his wife (who left him for another man) and homeless. He doesn´t have choice but to start from scratch, and know that everything that happened was his fault. Abandonment, reunions, commitment and the suffering caused certain relationships when they reach their final part of this film that combines drama with dry humor.

The film takes place away from the glittering strip of mega casinos, but the greed of Sin City is just as pervasive on the desert outskirts. This is where a happy family learns of a forgotten fortune that may be buried beneath their home. Their lives are turned upside down. A sophisticated study of just how far people are able and willing to go if faced with the tempting prospect of easily acquired wealth.

The masks we wear end up using us. A different character to each of the people in his life, a stranger to himself, Jorge Torregrossa constantly faces the loss of his own identity. A mysterious voice on the phone warns him that an irrevocable event is approaching in his destiny, meanwhile Torregrossa runs through the labyrinth of his existence, looking for a way out before it is too late.

B'z LIVE-GYM Hidden Pleasure ~Typhoon No.20~ is a home video by B'z, released on DVD on December 10, 2008. The three-disc, three hour set serves as a compilation of previously unreleased and uncollected footage from past LIVE-GYM concerts along with special footage not included elsewhere in the band's catalogue.

The infamous Gorgoroth gig in Krakow, Poland! Gorgoroth, Norwegian black metal band, drew the attention of the international media in early 2004 after their show in Krakow. They were accused of "offending religious feelings" during the gig, as well as suspected of breaching Polish law concerning the protection of animal rights by using severed and impaled heads of sheep as part of their stage design.

Patton Oswalt makes funny faces and David Byrne performs in an unusual place.

The charismatic actress was known for her style and charming on-screen presence. This doc delves into her rise from difficult circumstances.

Junji Inagawa, one of Japan's most famous horror storytellers, visits the sites of reputed horrors to uncover the causes of the horrors in this first horror documentary. This time, he examines "an abandoned shrine in Nara" and "an abandoned hospital in Kumamoto" to get to the bottom of the matter. Assistants are Ayumi Ninomiya and Nana Ozaki.

Adventurer Alan Monroe is skeptical when a friend tells him of the secret society, Paladins of the Red Order, which exists to track the unearthly horror, the Shiftling. That is, until the Paladins are destroyed and the Shiftling begins to hunt the last person who knows of its existence: Monroe himself.

Gee Atherton ripping the Worlds course the day after winning the race, Robbie Bourdon stomping a 70 ft. flat spin and Fabien Barel dropping an insane, near vertical line in Morocco, that's right New World Disorder is back with it's 9th installment, "Never Enough." Filmed exclusively in Super 16mm and High Definition, the world premiere will screen September 24th, during the annual Interbike trade show in Las Vegas.

Ever wonder whatever happened to ’80s punk icon Pleasant Gehman? Even if you didn’t, she has transformed herself into Princess Farhana, the acclaimed bellydancer. This documentary is her story, as well as an in-depth look at the art and what it takes to be a professional bellydancer anyway.

The film tells the story of Jerzy, a writer whose creativity has burnt out. His wife and their seven-year-old son Jasiek live far from the city. Jerzy’s enduring creative crisis and their related financial troubles affect the married couple. They are drifting apart and falling out of love. One day, they find out their son is ill and will have to travel to the city for an operation. The long-anticipated journey is exciting for the boy. For the parents, the journey is one of anxiety and separation, which forces them to reflect anew on the essence of their relationship.

Marcel Theroux investigates the Russian art scene and the multi-millionaires who are acquiring the works of art.

The movie follows Sesame Street’s Big Bird and Elmo as they explore the night sky with Hu Hu Zhu, a Muppet from Zhima Jie, the Chinese co-production of Sesame Street. Together, they take an imaginary trip from Sesame Street to the Moon, where they discover how different it is from Earth. One World, One Sky is a brilliant spectacle of light and colour as the furry friends watch the stars twinkle over Sesame Street. Children attending the show can interact as they watch, drawing constellations and counting the time it takes the sun to set. One, World, One Sky is a production of Adler Planetarium, Sesame Workshop, Beijing Planetarium, and Liberty Science Center and was produced with major support from the National Science Foundation.

The boys in class 3F have bullied and made noise with all the teachers at school, and no one dare to teach them anymore. When no teachers appear in the classroom, they decide to teach each other.

The personal stories of the people from all around the world waiting for a decision in an asylum-seekers centre in one of most restrictive countries in the world, Switzerland.

Over the course of more than fifteen years, Clémenti films a series of intimate diaries, starting from daily encounters. In La deuxième femme, we see Bulle Ogier and Viva, Nico and Tina Aumont, Philippe Garrel and Udo Kier, a performance by Béjart, a piece by Marc’O, concerts by Bob Marley and Patti Smith (not always recognisable)... It’s like a maelstrom of psychedelic images that are passed through a particle accelerator.

Claire's night terrors are costing Will a lot of sleep: he's at the end of his rope. He knows it's not the bogeyman she's scared of; it's losing him. The nightmares are caused by anxiety. There's not really a monster in the bedroom. Right?

Alix is a woman of 27 looking for the only thing she is incapable of: love.

A serial killer terrorizes a town, stabbing people on the street. The killer hasn’t been caught yet. Shiori Ayakawa, a high school girl, aspiring to be a journalist, dares to investigate the case. She stumbles upon a strange fact. A sad voice was always heard on the crime scene. It’s like a woman singing. Shiori discovers that the song is the same as an idol singer’s. The singer, Mika Shiratori, was singing it several years ago. She went missing after her promising career ended when her face was permanently scarred by an accident. People avoided Mika, leaving Mika hopeless. Losing her sanity, she slit her mouth with a knife and deformed her face horribly. Murder is her revenge on the people who betrayed her as well as the only way for her to escape from the reality. All the people who saw her ugly slit mouth were brutally murdered.

Los Angeles artist David Choe's kaleidoscopic work can be playful, confrontational and sexually frank. His personal life is no less complicated, as revealed by close friend Harry Kim, who documented Choe's life and crimes from 2000 to 2007. From the manic highs of commercial success and dinosaur hunting in the Congo to the self-destructive lows of Japanese jail sentences and bouts of self-doubt and depression, what begins as a gleeful portrait of a bad-boy artist slowly becomes a poignant celebration of one man's journey, both artistically and spiritually, toward his own uncertain salvation. Written by Travis Miles

Lea is desperately searching for stability, a warm relationship and a reason for living. But she is floundering. Her life is meaningless, restless and aggressive. A brief encounter with Lukas develops into a closer relationship that takes her on a journey to a forgotten place, where the couple try to find out who they are, and recall a long-lost time.

An anxious middle school drama about hallucination

Is the story of women that were guerrilleras in Uruguay at the beginning of the 70's. Under an intimate focus, the film shows the moments of decision and the personal crossroads that it involve. The documentary search the experience and the look of common individuals in exceptional situations and goes to the bottom of the load of tensions, fears, contradictions and personal costs that those labor instants of the History have.

Helsinki, Forever is a montage film about the city of Helsinki by the award-winning Finnish film director and academic Peter von Bagh. The film draws a portrait of Helsinki and also acts as an essay on Finnish culture in a wider sense. It shows Helsinki as captured by leading Finnish feature film and documentary makers over a period of one hundred years.

Produced for Glass Eye Pix as part of their 2008 Creepy Christmas Online Film Festival, in which each short was inspired by the inhabitants of a diorama advent calendar. Each filmmaker was assigned a specific date and given the props that were used in that window to use in their short. This is the third film in the series.

A young foreign girl comes to LA to learn English but learns instead that life in the States is not what she saw on TV and film. She finds herself being dragged into a world not only foreign in language but completely outside her cultural values. Her only savior is the one person who does not rely on language for communication, a deaf artist.

In impoverished Baghdad under Saddam's dictatorship, 16-year-old Amal hopes to regain her social status at school by volunteering to find a book as a class gift for the departing literature teacher. Meanwhile, her emotionally fragile little brother becomes obsessed with the notion that a visiting uncle from America--whom he confuses with Santa Claus--will bring him toys. Ashamed never to have been able to give his son a toy, the child's father sells some more prized family possessions and buys a model car for him.

A young guy who works in a bank and chases women all the time, visits one of the wizards one day; upon returning from that visit he acquires the ability to see the true nature of each person; when one the wealthy men approaches him to get a loan from the bank, he refuses but that he gets the young guy into many problems.

Ayumi Hamasaki Asia Tour 2007 A: Tour of Secret is the first Asia-wide and ninth overall concert tour held by Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki, in support of her album Secret. The tour started March 10, 2007, and ended in mid June of the same year, with legs not only in Japan but in other Asian countries as well, making it Hamasaki's first concert tour with non-domestic stops.

This is the story of a man named Charles Riverbank, who, upon losing his home, wanders into various adventures (and a lot of dirty looks).

The most famous gypsy prima donna, Cinka Panna, lived and worked in the 18th century at the crossroads of two worlds: the aristocracy she played for and the gypsy community in which she lived her private life. A community that had its own rules of existence. In the spirit of tradition, she was sold into marriage. A young woman's desire is to succeed in a traditionally male profession. To become the first prima donna. But the goal requires sacrifice. Historical, narrative, the story captures a universal theme: the struggle for recognition and a place in the world. It reminds us that times and costumes change, but human problems remain... And these are what make the film's story timeless.

Elegant, short film introduces the lonely, contact-craving museum attendant Vera. One cold winter night, after another day of silently watching visitors in the museum, she finds a sleeping drifter in her doorway. She decides to take pity on him. First, she gives him a blanket and a thermos of tea; not much later the key to her house. Using chocolate as her main means of communication, she unchains an extraordinary dialogue.

Serbian crime drama focusing on Belgrade's violent criminal underworld. Obituary For Escobar distinguishes itself from other recent crime dramas with its strong visual style and energetic approach. Borko was a young effeminate boy bullied at school by the self-styled 'Ghandi'. Years on, Ghandi is now a warlord, wrecking mayhem in pursuit of his ambition to become the leading drug lord in the Balkans. His execution of the rival 'Serbian Escobar' coincides with the mysterious placement of an obituary for the real Escobar by two stoners. In Ghandi's pursuit of the assailants he meets Lela, a stunning mystery woman who leads Ghandi to reconsider both "Borko" and his life in crime.

Think breakdancing died in the eighties? Think again. PLANET B-BOY is a feature-length, theatrical documentary that re-discovers one of the most incredible dance phenomena the world has ever seen. Originally known as "B-boying", breakdancing was an urban dance form that originated from the streets of New York City during the seventies.

Changing Faces is a classic tale of good versus evil. Somewhere in Africa flighty journalist Lola exchanges spirits with buttoned down business man Dale, but only one of them wants to go back to the way things have always been.

Amateur's Riot (Shirōto no ran) is a Japanese association of activists, committed to the living conditions of the poor people (binbōnin) in Tōkyō. The association was founded in 2005 by Matsumoto Hajime, Yamashita Hikaru, Futatsugi Shin, Mochitsuki Rui and Ogasawara Keita. The protagonists of Shiroto no Ran played an important role in the anti-nuclear demonstrations that appeared in response to the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe.

Three virgin men of different ages and occupations fight to lose their virginity: Kenji, who starts working part-time as a security guard at a prep school to meet the hostess he's in love with, Akihiko, an honor student who failed the entrance exam, and Ichiro, a prep school teacher and elderly virgin,

A thriller about the dark and dangerous secrets shared by a 12 year old boy, his new teacher and the school principal, a catholic priest. Months after the death of his father, Simon (12) discovers the affair his Mother (Sarah) is having with a charming but enigmatic new teacher (Mario). The boy discovers the teacher's intentions and his dark secrets, but with his mother in love, it seems there is nothing he can do to show her that their lives are in danger.

A film crew go in search of Nok Phii - a rare bird which feeds on the blood of other creatures.

When the adult survivor of sexual abuse meets her lover, she struggles to remain present. She must remember that the hands of her lover are not the hands of her childhood abuser, and so, the separation between past and present begins to blur. Narrative and experimental, "Blue Covers" is an emotional, psychological and spiritual journey. A compelling look at the effects of sexual trauma, this short film is for survivors of abuse and those who care for them.

Bunky Blum is picked on in school. His only peace comes during lunch hour, when he and his mentally ill Mother eat McDonalds and visit a talking train named Train. The 83 year-old train is now a caged monument in the center of a children's park. However, Bunky believes that the train will break out of its confines and save him from the bullies of the schoolyard. When Bunky realizes that the train is not magical, all hope is lost and Bunky has a moral melt down. In a fit of rage, Bunky punches a girl in a wheelchair. The unsympathetic move lands Bunky on the losing end of a full out brawl. Bunky's Mother witnesses the schoolyard violence and she erupts into her own fit of rage, which ultimately sends her back to the psych ward. In the end, Bunky is left without hope, without family and without security. He returns to the old train to make a final plea for vengeance. But Bunky's giant steal savior has not come for vengeance. Rather, it offers Bunky what he needs, a shush of peace.

The story of four expatriate students who share a room in college, then an apartment after graduating from media department, and moving to work in the field of journalism, and what they go through during these stages in their personal and professional lives.

Break out the hair spray again for '80s glam-rockers Poison!! Live, Raw & Uncut DVD is a live concert from 2007, recorded at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in St. Louis, Missouri, in support of their 2007 cover album Poison'd. Features the following songs: Look What the Cat Dragged In; I Want Action; Ride the Wind; I Won't Forget You; What I Like About You; C.C.'s Guitar Solo; I Hate Every Bone In Your Body But Mine; Something To Believe In; Can't You See; Your Mama Don't Dance; I Need to Know; Rikki's Drum Solo; Unskinny Bop; Every Rose Has Its Thorn; Fallen Angel; Talk Dirty to Me; Nothin' but a Good Time.

The best friend of bright flower seller Peggy comes under suspicion of having murdered her husband. Although detectives Schiller and Mauser want to close the supposedly watertight case, Peggy is convinced of Anja's innocence. She goes into the lion's den herself to unearth the evidence and receives unexpected help.

Short film by Gao Shiqiang.

From 1937 to 1948 gold, silver, platinum and diamonds were looted by the Imperial Japanese Army during its campaigns throughout Asia-a treasure trove worth billions whose location has remained unclear until today. Rumor had it that hundreds of tones of gold were buried in the Philippines. In an exciting investigation of the 20th century history, director Egmont R. Koch embarks on the trail of Japan’s stolen gold, a journey that takes him to the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan. He discovers documents that prove that the disappeared loot was used to finance the Cold War in Asia and to corrupt nationalist Japanese politicians.

Obesity rates in the United States have reached epidemic proportions in recent years. Killer at Large shows how little is being done and more importantly, what can be done to reverse it. Killer at Large also explores the human element of the problem with portions of the film that follow a 12-year old girl who has a controversial liposuction procedure to fix her weight gain and a number of others suffering from obesity, including filmmaker Neil Labute.

Sumangala, a young girl from Valayapatti village in Tamil Nadu, seeking refuge in Kuriachira in Thrissur, Kerala along with her folks after a factory completely exploited the water sources in her village.

In this archival documentary, cinematographer John Bailey, production designer Eiko Ishioka, and composer Philip Glass discuss the conception of Paul Schrader's film, the image of Mishima that they had prior to committing to the project, the manner in which some of his ideas resonated with them, the unusual portrait of Mishima that the film offers, its form and visual style, etc.