A crazy referendum throws Switzerland into a state of emergency. By the acceptance of the initiative “No Bilangue” there should be from now on only one national language: French. Many German-speaking Swiss are therefore having a crisis. Including fifty-six-year-old Walter Egli, who works for the Federal Police and must ensure that the transition to monolingualism is carried out properly. Although he hardly speaks any French himself, he is sent to Ticino with a French-speaking partner to uncover a Ticino resistance group that is fighting the new law by all means necessary. Peter Luisi and Beat Schlatter have created a wonderfully contemporary hymn to multilingualism in the form of a comedy that has attracted over 350,000 viewers to Swiss cinemas. Luisi and Schlatter were nominated for the Swiss Film Award for Best Screenplay.

Andrea, a small-town policewoman, has decided to move on from her unhappy marriage with the help of a transfer to a higher position in the police department of the next bigger city. As she drives home after a birthday party, she has no chance of stopping when her not-yet-divorced husband suddenly appears in front of her car, drunk. Unable to break, she runs him over and kills him. In a state of shock, Andrea flees the scene. Still, that night, being called to duty as the local police officer to the crime scene, she discovers to her horror that someone else has accepted responsibility for the accident: Franz, a religion teacher and recovered alcoholic, is convinced that he ran over the victim, and so is everyone else in the village. While Franz starts drinking again, Andrea applies herself to the task of eliminating all traces of her guilt... In his second feature film, Josef Hader blends humour with melancholy as he takes a look at sad, drunken men and a woman with a plan.

Mathieu (Guillaume Canet) lives in Paris, Alice (Alba Rohrwacher) in a small seaside resort in Western France. He is a famous actor, about to turn fifty. She is a piano teacher in her forties. They were in love fifteen years ago, then separated. Time has passed. They each went their ways and slowly healed. When Mathieu goes try to overcome his melancholia in a thermal spa, he stumbles upon Alice.

Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth – in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera. Alice Rohrwacher ("Lazzaro Felice") takes us on a wonderfully imaginative ballad set in Italy's past.

Takumi and his daughter Hana live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi’s house; offering city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature. When two company representatives from Tokyo arrive in the village to hold a meeting, it becomes clear that the project will have a negative impact on the local water supply, causing unrest. The agency’s mismatched intentions endanger both the ecological balance of the nature plateau and their way of life, with an aftermath that affects Takumi’s life. Following his Oscar-winning "Drive My Car", Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Evil Does Not Exist" is a poetic parable about the complex relationship between humankind and nature. This subtly and precisely told film - awarded the Silver Lion at the 80th Venice Film Festival - proves once again that Hamaguchi is one of the most exciting voices in independent cinema.

"Sterben" follows the very individual members of the Lunies family, who haven’t been a family for a long time. Lissy (Corinna Harfouch) is quietly happy about her demented husband Gerd (Hans-Uwe Bauer) slowly wasting away in a home. But her new freedom is short-lived: Diabetes, cancer and kidney failure mean that she doesn't have much time left either. Son Tom (Lars Eidinger), a conductor in his early 40s, is working on a composition called "Sterben", while at the same time being made the surrogate father of his ex-girlfriend’s child. And Tom's sister Ellen (Lilith Stangenberg) starts an affair with the married Sebastian (Ronald Zehrfeld), with whom she shares a love for alcohol. As Death finally turns up on the doorstep, the estranged family members finally meet again. Matthias Glasner's family epic features an outstanding cast and performances by Lars Eidinger, Corinna Harfouch and other acting greats. It was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2024 Berlinale. Tender and brutal, absurdly funny and extremely sad, terribly bitter and sometimes surprisingly beautiful: "Sterben" is a film about the intensity of life in the face of death and transience.

A group of very different individuals who in 1975 lived in a commune called Tillsammans, "together". Now it is 1999, and the collective has turned into the world's smallest. The commune consists of only two people - Göran and Klasse. Feeling a bit lonely, the idea occurs of a reunion with their old friends... Lukas Moodysson and an ensemble of Sweden's best actors are back with the follow-up to the Swedish cult original "Tillsammans! - Together" that offers Moodysson's signature mix of humor and seriousness.

Terrestrial Verses follows everyday people from all walks of life as they navigate the cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them by various social authorities, from school teachers to bureaucrats. These stirring vignettes, humorous and affecting, capture the spirit and determination of people amidst adversity, offering a nuanced portrait of a complex society. Iranian directing duo Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari tell the story of nine people who find themselves confronted with nerve-wracking governmental zeal. Set in Iran and having premiered at Cannes, the film is thematically universal: it revolves around the desire to regain control over one's own life in the face of interference from bureaucrats or other authorities of all kinds. "Terrestrial Verses" is a moving feature film with a radical formal aesthetic simplicity, sharp-tongued, pervaded by sarcastic wit and refreshing situational comedy.

Sophie is a brilliant student. Encouraged by her maths teacher, she leaves the family farm to attempt a science preparatory course. Between new encounters, mistrust, failures and fierce competition, Sophie realizes that getting into Polytechnique is more than just a competitive examination – it's a real challenge to climb the social ladder. Will she succeed? Director Frédéric Mermoud - with a winning Suzanne Jouannet in the leading role - brings the fight for educational justice in the elitist education system of contemporary France to the screen. Maud Wyler was awarded the Swiss Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, is assassinated in Dallas. His widow, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman), a First Lady admired for her elegance and culture, struggles to overcome the trauma, determined to shed light on the president's political legacy and celebrate the man he was. Director Pablo Larraín portrays of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history, seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady. "Jackie" celebrated its premiere at the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

Two happy families, a quiet beach and a house in the hills above the Adriatic Sea. It could be so perfect. But when teenager Finn has a breakdown it brings turmoil not only to the friendship between the families but also to the relationship between his parents Helena and Adam. In his second film, Swiss director Samuel Perriard portrays the gradual transformation of a couple, sensitively narrated and with strong atmospheric images - impressively embodied by Julia Jentsch and Florian Lukas. Eight days in August that change everything, and one last summer before a new chapter is opened.

Boundary-pushing dancer Ida Rubinstein selects Maurice Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet. Ravel ends up creating his greatest success ever: Boléro. With Raphaël Personnaz, Doria Tillier, Jeanne Balibar, Emmanuelle Devos, Vincent Perez, Suzanne Clément and Sophie Guillemin.

Boundary-pushing dancer Ida Rubinstein selects Maurice Ravel to compose the music for her next ballet. Ravel ends up creating his greatest success ever: Boléro. With Raphaël Personnaz, Doria Tillier, Jeanne Balibar, Emmanuelle Devos, Vincent Perez, Suzanne Clément and Sophie Guillemin.

An engineer from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, with a family and political ambitions, falls in love with an Italian waitress. He puts his marriage and career on the line for this relationship, but the young woman is not prepared to give up her job and independence for him. A film about an unequal couple, told as a chronology of failure in 112 days. The cinematic form forces us to observe from a distance, while at the same time the film touches us with an interesting, strong female character. Co-writer of Alain Tanner's first color film is writer John Berger, with whom the filmmaker has made some of his most beautiful and famous films ("La salamandre", "Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000").

Paris in the 1950s: Somewhere between Montmartre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, illustrator Jean-Jacques Sempé and comic author René Goscinny bend over a blank sheet of paper and bring a mischievous and lovable boy to life: Little Nicholas. From games and fights in the schoolyard to pranks and camaraderie at summer camp, Nicholas experiences a happy and carefree childhood. During all the adventures, the curious boy repeatedly slips into his creator's studio, sits on the keyboard or dances on the drawings. In the process, he elicits from Sempé and Goscinny the touching story of their friendship and their own childhood full of hopes and dreams. An irresistibly charming, funny and warm-hearted film about the creators of Little Nicholas, the illustrator Jean-Jacques Sempé and the comic author René Goscinny.

"Sterben" follows the very individual members of the Lunies family, who haven’t been a family for a long time. Lissy (Corinna Harfouch) is quietly happy about her demented husband Gerd (Hans-Uwe Bauer) slowly wasting away in a home. But her new freedom is short-lived: Diabetes, cancer and kidney failure mean that she doesn't have much time left either. Son Tom (Lars Eidinger), a conductor in his early 40s, is working on a composition called "Sterben", while at the same time being made the surrogate father of his ex-girlfriend’s child. And Tom's sister Ellen (Lilith Stangenberg) starts an affair with the married Sebastian (Ronald Zehrfeld), with whom she shares a love for alcohol. As Death finally turns up on the doorstep, the estranged family members finally meet again. Matthias Glasner's family epic features an outstanding cast and performances by Lars Eidinger, Corinna Harfouch and other acting greats. It was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2024 Berlinale. Tender and brutal, absurdly funny and extremely sad, terribly bitter and sometimes surprisingly beautiful: "Sterben" is a film about the intensity of life in the face of death and transience.

Takumi and his daughter Hana live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi’s house; offering city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature. When two company representatives from Tokyo arrive in the village to hold a meeting, it becomes clear that the project will have a negative impact on the local water supply, causing unrest. The agency’s mismatched intentions endanger both the ecological balance of the nature plateau and their way of life, with an aftermath that affects Takumi’s life. Following his Oscar-winning "Drive My Car", Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Evil Does Not Exist" is a poetic parable about the complex relationship between humankind and nature. This subtly and precisely told film - awarded the Silver Lion at the 80th Venice Film Festival - proves once again that Hamaguchi is one of the most exciting voices in independent cinema.

Where do Swiss German dialects stand in this era of globalisation? When the railways came to Switzerland in the mid-19th century, the Swiss feared that standard German would supplant the native idioms. But the opposite has happened: not only has the dialect survived, it has lost none of its vitality. Following in the footsteps of a forgotten Bernese word, we travel to the stage, the mountain pastures and the cellars to meet people who are passionate about the dialect. With Franz Hohler, Big Zis, Pedro Lenz, Alwa Alibi, Cachita, Simone Felber, Nadia Zollinger, Markus Gasser and Christoph Landolt.

Through her child’s eyes, Patpro will go through three periods of the history of her indigenous people, in the heart of the Brazilian forest. Tirelessly persecuted, but guided by their ancestral rites, their love of nature and their fight to preserve their freedom, the Krahô never stop inventing new forms of resistance.

Andrea, a small-town policewoman, has decided to move on from her unhappy marriage with the help of a transfer to a higher position in the police department of the next bigger city. As she drives home after a birthday party, she has no chance of stopping when her not-yet-divorced husband suddenly appears in front of her car, drunk. Unable to break, she runs him over and kills him. In a state of shock, Andrea flees the scene. Still, that night, being called to duty as the local police officer to the crime scene, she discovers to her horror that someone else has accepted responsibility for the accident: Franz, a religion teacher and recovered alcoholic, is convinced that he ran over the victim, and so is everyone else in the village. While Franz starts drinking again, Andrea applies herself to the task of eliminating all traces of her guilt... In his second feature film, Josef Hader blends humour with melancholy as he takes a look at sad, drunken men and a woman with a plan.

Jia Zhang-ke’s debut film tells the story of pickpocket Xiao Wu, who drifts aimlessly through the streets of the poor and dirty small town of Fenyang. He tries to hide his insecurity and lack of prospects behind a pair of big glasses and a cool demeanour but is increasingly losing his footing. His former friend Xiao Yong doesn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore; his love Mei Mei, who he met in a dingy karaoke bar, runs off with a richer man; and Xiao Wu’s father, who lives in a small mountain village, throws him out of the house after a fight. In the end, Xiao Wu is caught and handcuffed and taken away in full view of everyone on the whole street. Largely filmed with an ensemble of amateur actors, Xiao Wu draws a bleak picture of everyday life in China. The film premiered in the Berlinale Forum in 1998 and was an instant hit, making the director famous overnight.

Two happy families, a quiet beach and a house in the hills above the Adriatic Sea. It could be so perfect. But when teenager Finn has a breakdown it brings turmoil not only to the friendship between the families but also to the relationship between his parents Helena and Adam. In his second film, Swiss director Samuel Perriard portrays the gradual transformation of a couple, sensitively narrated and with strong atmospheric images - impressively embodied by Julia Jentsch and Florian Lukas. Eight days in August that change everything, and one last summer before a new chapter is opened.

Terrestrial Verses follows everyday people from all walks of life as they navigate the cultural, religious, and institutional constraints imposed on them by various social authorities, from school teachers to bureaucrats. These stirring vignettes, humorous and affecting, capture the spirit and determination of people amidst adversity, offering a nuanced portrait of a complex society. Iranian directing duo Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari tell the story of nine people who find themselves confronted with nerve-wracking governmental zeal. Set in Iran and having premiered at Cannes, the film is thematically universal: it revolves around the desire to regain control over one's own life in the face of interference from bureaucrats or other authorities of all kinds. "Terrestrial Verses" is a moving feature film with a radical formal aesthetic simplicity, sharp-tongued, pervaded by sarcastic wit and refreshing situational comedy.

Victor (Jean-Louis Trintignant), a renowned filmmaker, has started work on a film adaptation of Chekhov’s play "The Three Sisters". The project is in fact a pretext so that Victor can patch things up with Julie (Delphine Seyrig), his ex-wife, an actress whom he still loves. The ensemble includes Cécilia, a conscientious Italian actress, and Esther, a more carefree debutante who soon manages to exasperate Julie. With "Repérages", French-speaking Swiss filmmaker Michel Soutter has created a delicate intimate play about art, jealousy and reconciliation, in which life and imagination, memory and the present come together. Renato Berta's camerawork is as atmospheric as the locations in Bex in the canton of Vaud, and the international acting team, including Italian actress Lea Massari, is outstanding.

A group of very different individuals who in 1975 lived in a commune called Tillsammans, "together". Now it is 1999, and the collective has turned into the world's smallest. The commune consists of only two people - Göran and Klasse. Feeling a bit lonely, the idea occurs of a reunion with their old friends... Lukas Moodysson and an ensemble of Sweden's best actors are back with the follow-up to the Swedish cult original "Tillsammans! - Together" that offers Moodysson's signature mix of humor and seriousness.

In the spring of 1912, Alma Mahler (Emily Cox), grande dame of Viennese society and newly widowed, embarks on an affair with the "enfant terrible" of the Viennese art scene, Oskar Kokoschka (Valentin Postlmayr). A passion erupts that threatens their very existence. Director Dieter Berner focuses on two icons of the early 20th century art world and and uses powerful images to tell the story of Alma Mahler's passionate affair with Oskar Kokoschka, the intensity of which takes the two eccentric artists to their limits and threatens their very existence.

November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, is assassinated in Dallas. His widow, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman), a First Lady admired for her elegance and culture, struggles to overcome the trauma, determined to shed light on the president's political legacy and celebrate the man he was. Director Pablo Larraín portrays of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history, seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady. "Jackie" celebrated its premiere at the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

Lucien de Rubempré, a young, lower-class poet, is madly in love with the baroness Louise de Bargeton. The risk of scandal forces them to flee to Paris where they hope to live and love freely. Lucien soon finds rejection and loses the baroness’s support. He finds himself alone, penniless, hungry, and humiliated until the day he seeks revenge by writing controversial – yet banal – articles. Inside the Paris he so coveted, he finds a cynical world where everything – and everyone – can be bought and sold. Can he find his way and remain faithful to his hopes and dreams...? Xavier Giannoli's "Illusions perdues" is based on the novel of the same name by Honoré de Balzac, which takes a close look at French society during the Bourbon Restoration. The film celebrated its premiere at the 78th Venice Film Festival.

A crazy referendum throws Switzerland into a state of emergency. By the acceptance of the initiative “No Bilangue” there should be from now on only one national language: French. Many German-speaking Swiss are therefore having a crisis. Including fifty-six-year-old Walter Egli, who works for the Federal Police and must ensure that the transition to monolingualism is carried out properly. Although he hardly speaks any French himself, he is sent to Ticino with a French-speaking partner to uncover a Ticino resistance group that is fighting the new law by all means necessary. Peter Luisi and Beat Schlatter have created a wonderfully contemporary hymn to multilingualism in the form of a comedy that has attracted over 350,000 viewers to Swiss cinemas. Luisi and Schlatter were nominated for the Swiss Film Award for Best Screenplay.

On the edge of the Sahara, in Burkina Faso, the village of Kamsé is being destroyed by the effects of creeping desertification. To ensure the village’s survival, the villagers decided to embark on the planning of a perimeter. Armed with shovels and pickaxes, they will build dikes, plant hedges and trees to protect the soil from wind, gully erosion and herds of animals that grass on what little pasture manages to grow. For "Le périmètre de Kamsé", Geneva-based director Olivier Zuchuat filmed the fight against desertification in a village in Burkina Faso - a fight that is mainly fought by women.

7 short films by 7 directors that revolve around the most beautiful thing in the world, the butterflies in your stomach, the clammy hands on the first date, all the unexpected things that can happen when you go on a blind date. Einfach so Christoph Schaub (Switzerland, 1997, 14 Min.) Angela has planned her blind date perfectly: She will arrive early at the restaurant, so she can get a good look of the stranger before he sees her. For reassurance she takes along her trusty companion, her dog Zacki. The stranger is late to arrive and a series of misunderstandings begin to create havoc... Fortunately she has Zacki by her side, who saves the day and finds her the man of her dreams. Le chevalier à la rose Blaise Biguet (Switzerland, 1997, 17 Min.) Sepp, a young farmer, doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Montandons daughter nor with arranged marriages. Against his parents’ advice, he signs up to a dating agency and decides to travel to Lausanne to meet Rosa, his first blind date. On the train his fellow passengers begin to take a strange interest in him... Little Sister Anka Schmid (Switzerland, 1997, 16 Min.) Lisa, a young, shy post office employee, lives life as a recluse. Matters of the heart have never been her strong point. Mona, her sister, places an ad in the newspaper for her. Lisa at first doesn’t approve of this intrusion into her private life, but then as 19 men respond to the ad, she is temped. Angélique Samir (Switzerland, 1997, 11 Min.) Allesandro can’t believe his eyes, when he sees his sexy, beautiful blind date walk into the café they had arranged to meet at. He feels too intimidated to talk to her and tries to slip off unnoticed. But Angelique is a woman who knows what she wants and doesn’t take no for an answer. She follows him through the streets of the city, right up to the roof of his house where Alessandro tries to hide away... Joyeux Noël Bianca Conti Rossini (Switzerland, 1997, 11 Min.) On Christmas Eve Annie, a young girl with a lively imagination, wonders who the stranger is her mother Lise has invited to join them for dinner. What if he’s the murderer who has been roaming the streets of the city, preying on single women ? Her mother becomes wary as well and panic sets in when the doorbell rings. Who’s this stranger trying to force his way into the house ? L'hacienda du bonheur Heikki Arekallio (Switzerland, 1997, 12 Min.) In her grey, sad council flat Silvia dreams of a life, like those of the glamorous characters in her favourite telenovela "L’Hacienda du Bonheur", which she watches every night with her two children Johnny and Pamela. In a bid to find a soul mate, that lives up to her fictional expectations, she decides to place an add in the local newspaper... Les voies du Seigneur Antoine Plantevin (Switzerland, 1997, 16 Min.) Sister Angelique is praying with all her might for Rinalde to arrive – a prisoner on leave who was meant to meet her, but hasn’t turned up yet. The Mother Superior, who walks in on her praying in the chapel, strongly advises her to be cautious of men; perverts who could take advantage of her innocence. Sister Angelique listens to her words of wisdom, but when she hears Rinalde’s motorbike pull up outside, she rushes out to greet him. May the Lord be with her !

Sophie is a brilliant student. Encouraged by her maths teacher, she leaves the family farm to attempt a science preparatory course. Between new encounters, mistrust, failures and fierce competition, Sophie realizes that getting into Polytechnique is more than just a competitive examination – it's a real challenge to climb the social ladder. Will she succeed? Director Frédéric Mermoud - with a winning Suzanne Jouannet in the leading role - brings the fight for educational justice in the elitist education system of contemporary France to the screen. Maud Wyler was awarded the Swiss Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, is assassinated in Dallas. His widow, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman), a First Lady admired for her elegance and culture, struggles to overcome the trauma, determined to shed light on the president's political legacy and celebrate the man he was. Director Pablo Larraín portrays of one of the most important and tragic moments in American history, seen through the eyes of the iconic First Lady. "Jackie" celebrated its premiere at the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

Takumi and his daughter Hana live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi’s house; offering city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature. When two company representatives from Tokyo arrive in the village to hold a meeting, it becomes clear that the project will have a negative impact on the local water supply, causing unrest. The agency’s mismatched intentions endanger both the ecological balance of the nature plateau and their way of life, with an aftermath that affects Takumi’s life. Following his Oscar-winning "Drive My Car", Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Evil Does Not Exist" is a poetic parable about the complex relationship between humankind and nature. This subtly and precisely told film - awarded the Silver Lion at the 80th Venice Film Festival - proves once again that Hamaguchi is one of the most exciting voices in independent cinema.

Rashomon is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made: Three men take shelter at one of the gates leading to Kyoto, waiting for the rain to stop. We are under the Heian era (9th - 12th centuries). To pass the time, they discuss an event that took place recently: the discovery of the body of a samurai, probably killed by the bandit Tajomaru. The three men were in fact called to testify at the trial. They each report what they said at the trial, and what they saw. Four versions are opposed, the widow - who was allegedly raped by the bandit - also having her own. So what happened?

When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla's long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame. With subtlety, director Sophia Coppola draws the portrait of a woman trapped in a gilded cage. She places Priscilla Presley, usually in the King's shadow, in the spotlight and shows the American myth of this turbulent marriage, from the point of view of this infatuated young girl who would become a strong, independent woman. Priscilla Presley was involved in the film as producer; her autobiographical book "Elvis and Me" was the starting point. This film, which tells the story of an emancipation, resurrects the 60s and 70s, with elaborate historical settings, elegant costumes, opulent make-up and, of course, a lively soundtrack by Phoenix. "Priscilla" premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Cailee Spaeny won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her sensitive interpretation of the role of Priscilla.

Saint-Omer court of law. 30-year-old novelist Rama attends the trial of Laurence Coly, a young woman who stands accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter after abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. Rama is planning to fashion a contemporary retelling of the myth of Medea from the case. But as the trial continues, nothing goes as she had expected, and the 4 months pregnant author will have to question the truth of her own experience of maternity.

France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing. With her final exams fast approaching and her belly growing, Anne resolves to act, even if she has to confront shame and pain, even if she must risk prison to do so... An adaptation of Annie Ernaux's eponymous novel, looking back on her experience with abortion when it was still illegal in France in the 1960s.

In the midst of a divorce, Miriam Besson decides to ask for exclusive custody of her son, in order to protect him from a father that she is accusing of violence. The judge-in-charge of the file grants a shared custody to the father whom it considers abused. Taken as a hostage between his parents, Julien Besson will do everything to prevent the worst from happening.

This time, Jafar Panahi is making a film about a pair of lovers who want to flee to France with forged passports - from Turkey. But how does the Iranian director, who is banned from working and not allowed to leave the country, manage this? "No Bears" portrays two parallel love stories. In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power. Like in some of his earlier work, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi plays a version of himself.

In the treacherous and swampy forests that make up the so called “green border” between Belarus and Poland, refugees from the Middle East and Africa trying to reach the European Union are trapped in a geopolitical crisis cynically engineered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In an attempt to provoke Europe, refugees are lured to the border by propaganda promising easy passage to the EU. Pawns in this hidden war, the lives of Julia, a newly minted activist who has given up her comfortable life, Jan, a young border guard, and a Syrian family intertwine. 30 years after EUROPA EUROPA, three-time Oscar Nominee Agnieszka Holland’s poignant new feature GREEN BORDER opens our eyes, speaks to the heart, and challenges us to reflect on the moral choices that fall to ordinary people every day.

Young Dr. Yasumoto (Yuzo Kayama) returns to Edo following three years of medical training in Nagasaki. Believing he will become a physician to Shogunate, he is badly disillusioned to learn he must work in the poorly-financed Koishikawa Clinic, which is headed by a Dr. Niide (Toshiro Mifune), known to most as Red Beard (Akahige). Everything in the clinic is repulsive to Yasumoto, and he becomes determined to get himself discharged. "Akahige - Red Beard" is an ingeniously crafted plea for humanity, a still topical appeal for a medicine (and science) that does not treat people as "cases", but serves them by working together and taking precautionary measures - and thus helps them. "Akahige" was Kurosawa's last film in which Toshiro Mifune appeared, and it is Kurosawa's last film shot in black-and-white.

Yumiko is a young woman from Osako, whose life is defined by the death of her loved ones. She lost her grandmother at the age of twelve, and her husband Ikuo, who is the reincarnation of her grandmother to her, commits suicide some months after the birth of their child. Once more Yumiko loses a person she had really loved. Five years later she marries Tamio, a man who lives by the sea together with his eight-year-old daughter from his first marriage. Her pain has ceased until the day she returns to her place of birth and gets caught up by her memories.

With his father in prison and his brother abroad for work, young Rakib works as the lone housekeeper in an empty mansion belonging to Purna, a retired general whose family Rakib’s clan have served for centuries in a rural Indonesian town. After Purna returns home to start his mayoral election campaign, Rakib bonds with the older man, who becomes a close mentor and father figure, and finds his calling as Purna’s assistant in work and life. When Purna’s election poster is found vandalised one day, Rakib doesn’t hesitate to track down the culprit, kicking off an escalating chain of violence.

In the wake of Princess Diana's death, the very private and tradition-bound Queen Elizabeth II and her family remain stoic and hidden behind the castle walls. While the heartbroken public becomes disillusioned with the Queen's absence, the increasingly popular new Prime Minister, Tony Blair battles to convince the monarchy that its desire for privacy could lead to its ultimate downfall. Director Stephen Frears focuses on the British royal family and shows the life of the royals at the time when the British throne was at its most shaky. For her spellbinding performance, Helen Mirren won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

The film is a study of the 20th century cult of personality - the myth, the lure and the corruption of the political hero who is a fusion of two characters. Drawing from the so-called Dilessi incident of 1870 (updated in the film to the dawn of the twentieth century), this Megalexandros is a bandit of the sort that typically plagued nineteenth century Greece. Wrapped in the spiritual cloak of yet another Megalexandros - a legendary Greek liberator and King Arthur-like figure whose tale originated in 1453 under Turkish domination and has come down through oral tradition over the centuries - he becomes a leader of mysterious charisma. He kidnaps a group of English aristocrats and takes them to a mountain village where he is attempting to establish an agrarian commune among a company of Italian anarchists. The socialist hero becomes a Stalin-like tyrant whose trademark silence only reinforces his power. The film is a true work of demythification - from the roots of myth to the false promises of the new century.

The background of Andrei Tarkowski's first feature film is the Second World War, with the 12-year-old boy Iwan at the centre. As part of the official programme of films, it is still astonishing today how the Russian managed to shoot a film that stood across the system and showed the war from the perspective of a boy. Iwan seems totally hardened after losing his family and escaping a camp, he sees little prospects and quite simply wants to avenge the death of his loved ones. Tarkowski shows his masterly skills in cinematography in this early oeuvre. Using simple means, he tells the story in incredibly strong black-and-white tableaux.

The second part of Satyajit Ray's famous Apu trilogy, this Indian drama focuses on young Apu, who lives with his mother, Sarbajaya (Kanu Bandyopadhyay), and father, Harihar (Pinaki Sengupta), near the Ganges River. When Harihar dies suddenly, Apu and Sarbajaya move to a small village to be near relatives. Eventually, she reluctantly allows her son (now played by Smaran Ghosal) to attend school in Calcutta. As Apu acclimates to life in the city, Sarbajaya struggles with his absence.

Let’s imagine that there is a new craft, and that it is called "replacing". Let’s imagine an unemployed man who would practice such craft every day. So much so, that he would actually work beyond measure, and that he would be, in his own way, a happy man. All he does is take on, for a few hours, the role of absentees who duck - for more or less serious reasons, their official occupation. He makes do with just enough, our hero, because money isn’t everything in life: one needs to keep in shape, and not letting oneself go in times of, how to say, dark crises. Let’s imagine, also, that there is a twenty years old young man (his son) who plays the sax like a God, and is therefore lucky, as he is an artist. Let’s then imagine Lucia, restless and wary, that hides a secret behind her desire to get ahead. Will they get to the next episode safe and sound?

Sudan, province of Aljazira, nowadays - When Muzamil was born, a prophecy by the holy man of the village predicts that he will die when he is 20 years old. Muzamil’s father cannot stand the doom and travels away from home. Sakina, as a single mother, raises her son with over protection. One day, Muzamil turns 19.

A Nurse, a Paramedic, a Gymnast and her Coach have formed a service for hire. They stand in for dead people by appointment, hired by the relatives, friends, or colleagues of the deceased. The company is called Alps while their leader, the Paramedic, calls himself Mont Blanc. Although the Alps members operate under a discipline regime demanded by their leader, the Nurse doesn’t.

LANDSCAPE IN THE MIST is a film about the void. It is a film about despair, about the failure of contemporary society. The prodigal father who figures in almost every Angelopoulos film here has evaporated into his mythical essence - leaving his children to become the wanderers in search of him. In the «chaos», two children appear, little Alexandros and his older sister Voula. In order to exorcise their loneliness, they invent a secret universe for themselves, inhabited by their dreams. Every night they go to a train station to watch the departure of a train to Germany, where they have been deceived by their mother (herself an off-screen presence) into believing that their absent father is living. One night they finally dare to get on the train. But their voyage turns out to be hazardous and pointless and disappointing. They confront suffering, physical and moral illness, jealousy, evil and death, if also love - as many ordeals and rites as initiations. Evading the half-hearted pursuit of the police and uncaring relatives, sneak onto trains, hitchhike in vans and lorries, and suffering poverty, rape and exploitation, take a dangerous leap of faith, an eerie plunge into liberation and danger. The familiar Greek landscape - the cafes, the depopulated towns and deserted beaches - are played for a strangely harsh fairytale quality, seen through the eyes of two children whose introduction to the real world borders on the surreal. The film is filled with extraordinary, unforgettable moments that are at once real and hallucinatory and contains intriguing references to other Angelopoulos' films. The children even encounter the Travelling Players now, thirteen years later, without a stage to act on, their costumes put up for sale. At the end Alexandros tells Voula the same story from Genesis that she told him at the start: «In the beginning there was chaos.» The children do finally reach the border, but of course there is no border with Germany and perhaps the river they cross is actually the Styx and perhaps their whole journey was a search for order in a chaotic world.

Marina is 23 and lives together with her father in an industrial village on the Greek coast. She finds the human species to be peculiar, almost daunting, if it weren't for Bella, her only and very unconventional friend. Marina derives her first sexual insights from the animal documentaries of Sir David Attenborough - "Attenberg", as she calls him. Bella, on the other hand, shows Marina a completely different approach to her own sexuality. This leads to bizarre moments in Marina's approach to an unknown table football player, as well as in discussions with her sick father. Her dad, an architect unimpressed by the twentieth century, prepares for his self-determined "exit" from life. He considers this epoch to be overestimated and does not want to surrender to his cancer. Using these two men and their friend Bella, Marina examines the last mysteries of the human fauna.

The news of the death of their son Jonathan, who was doing his military service, throws the life, psyche and marriage of Michael and Dafna off track. Driven by deep sadness and lack of understanding, a storm of raging anger develops in Michael, marked by uncertainties and traumas.

A Japanese man searches the internet looking for his dream car, a 1967 Citroen DS (in French: Déesse, or "Goddess") . He locates one in Australia and travels there to buy it. Upon his arrival he finds the seller dead. A 17 year-old blind girl tells him she can take him to find the real owner. Together they embark on a strange and erotic journey into the arid Australian desert, populated by abandoned mining towns - a desolate land and a dark haunting past. Before long, their separate quests become one: a shared desire to transcend the past and find redemption, achieved under the benevolent eye of the Goddess.

When Miron’s beloved wife Tanya passes away, he asks his best friend Aist to help him say goodbye to her according to the rituals of the Merja culture, an ancient Finno-Ugric tribe from Lake Nero, a picturesque region in West-Central Russia. Although the Merja people assimilated into Russians in the 17th century, their myths and traditions live on in their descendants’ modern life. The two men set out on a roadtrip thousands of miles across the boundless lands. With them, two small birds in a cage. Along the way, as is custom for the Merjas, Miron shares intimate memories of his conjugal life. But as they reach the banks of the sacred lake where they will forever part with the body, he realizes he wasn’t the only one in love with Tanya...

Anberber has studied in Germany and returns post-graduate to Ethiopia. He is full of hope that he can support his country with his newly acquired knowledge. It's a story about hope and disillusionment, about foreignness and homeland.

After a forty-year civil war, the radio in Chad announces that the government has decided to grant amnesty to all war criminals. Outraged by the news, Gumar Abatcha orders his grandson Atim (Ali Bacha Barkai), a 16-year-old youth, to trace the man who killed his father and to execute him. Atim obeys him and, armed with his father's own gun, he goes in search of Nassara (Youssouf Djaoro), the man who made him an orphan before he was born. It does not take long before he finds him. Nassara is running a bakery. Unexpectedly, the taciturn Nassara takes Atim under his wing as the son he never had and begins teaching him how to run the bakery. The emotionally conflicted Atim is drawn into the life of Nassara and his pregnant wife (Aziza Hisseine), before a finale that Variety described as "sharp, fast and unexpected."

In the sorrow of exile, a group of Argentinians in Paris seek solace and connection to their culture by staging a set of tangos. The film alternates between their vibrant rehearsals and their circumscribed lives in low-rent apartments, underemployed, fitfully communicating with families back home, trying to make do with what they hope are only temporary arrangements in a foreign land. Director Fernando Solanas had to spend several years in exile, some of them in Paris. There he tells us the story of people from Argentina spending their time in Paris and longing for Buenos Aires. One of the strongest movies about living in exile.

About Endlessness sees writer-director Roy Andersson surveying the human condition with equal parts striking clarity, tenderness, and deadpan existential wit.

Mira, a young woman from Russia, comes to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, to visit her father, a player who often loses and finally even has to give away Mira to an old man. But Daler, a young player, falls in love with Mira and simply abducts her into his rather weird world. Daler is the boss of the local, thoroughly rotten aerial cableway. Its faded yellow cabins are suitable for every cargo: tourists as well as for hay, beer crates, stolen goods and even as a love-home for a clandestine rendez-vous. For Mira, Daler arranges a romantic picnic, floating between heaven and earth. And so begins the love story of Mira and Daler. When the movie ends (but not the love), Mira will have got to know a strange, sometimes exotic world. She will have seen a civil war. She will have accompanied her father to his death and Daler on the way to a new life.

A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.

Sam Ali, a young sensitive and impulsive Syrian, left his country for Lebanon to escape the war. To be able to travel to Europe and live with the love of his life, he accepts to have his back tattooed by one of by the World’s most sulfurous contemporary artist. Turning his own body into a prestigious piece of art, Sam will however come to realize that his decision might actually mean anything but freedom.

Eternity And A Day traces the final days of Alexandre (Bruno Ganz), a celebrated Greek writer as he prepares to leave his seaside home forever. While packing, he finds a letter from his long-dead wife, Anna (Isabelle Renauld), who wrote about an enchanted summer day they spent thirty years ago. From that point, Alexandre embarks on a mystical journey through his past and present. Realizing that after spending his entire life chasing after the words of poems and novels, Alexandre wants one final chance to capture the lost precious moments of true happiness, even if only for one day.

Sixth film from the Argentine director Daniel Burman, author of Esperando al Mesías (2000), El abrazo partido (2004) and Derecho de familia (2006). El nido vacío explores the emptiness experienced when children grow up and leave home, suddenly revealing the marital cracks (hidden for years beneath the everyday noise and chaos of family life). In El nido vacío, it’s Leonardo, a successful if somewhat weary author, who finds himself in this situation. Uncomfortable in the social situations demanded by his life as a member of the middle classes in Buenos Aires, Leonardo behaves like a man on the verge of a middle-age crisis, indulgent towards his neurosis and phobic towards the changes occurring around him.

Robbie, a young ne'er do well (Paul Brannigan), a broke new father with a good heart is in serious trouble with the law. When he holds his newborn son for the first time, roguish Robbie is determined that the boy will have a better life, one with more opportunities than he has been offered in this insular, blue collar world. But first Robbie must sort out a variety of pressing problems --his girlfriend's family wants to do him harm and run him out of town being first and foremost among them. He is given a lucky break by a judge who shows mercy, granting him community service instead of jail.

Zama, an officer of the Spanish Crown born in South America, waits for a letter from the King granting him a transfer from the town in which he is stagnating, to a better place. His situation is delicate. He must ensure that nothing overshadows his transfer. He is forced to accept submissively every task entrusted to him by successive Governors who come and go as he stays behind. The years go by and the letter from the King never arrives. When Zama notices everything is lost, he joins a party of soldiers that go after a dangerous bandit. Adapted from Antonio di Benedetto's 1956 classic of Argentinean literature.

Set in a traditional world of bullfighting ranches in the Mexican state of Tlaxcala, Our Time tells the story of Juan and Ester, who have an open relationship, and the problems that arise when Ester falls in love with another man and Juan struggles to meet the expectations he has of himself.

Max's mother receives a new job as a nurse, which means moving to the Geroldseck retirement home: a real castle with towers, an armoury and dusty knight's armors. In old actress Vera, former football coach Horst and famous professor Kilian, Max finds a colourful group of friends who share his passion for intricate puzzles and tricky cases. It could all be so beautiful... But scary things soon start happening at the castle. And then there's the football match during which Max would really like to have revenge on his nasty classmate Ole. For Max and his friends, it's time to show great courage and real team spirit. In Winfried Oelsner's new movie adventure based on the successful children's book series of the same name, things are not only exciting, but also spooky! The world's most unusual gang of detectives plunges into a criminal case and learns that courage and solidarity can overcome all challenges, no matter your age. In addition to the young actors, Uschi Glas, Günther Maria Halmer and Thomas Thieme also impress as the oddball pensioners with plenty of sporting spirit and wit!

Two solitary men (Bruno Ganz and Jean-Marc Stehlé) live in a secluded hut in the snow-covered Jura mountains. When a neighbor girl (Aude Eggimann) is suddenly left to fend for herself because her sister dies, the three are forced to get along. From this constellation, Maya Simon creates less of a survival drama than a poetic film that thrives on moods and is interspersed with dark dreams and memories. The director studied at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, and some of the shots in her debut film reveal the influence of Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The film was shown at the Locarno and Cannes film festivals and is now available in a newly digitized version.

This is the story of Marco Carrera, known as "the hummingbird". As a teenager in the early 1970s, during a vacation by the sea, he meets Luisa Lattes. The two never become a couple, but their love for each other would fade, either. The gentle Marco later marries and lives with his wife and daughter in Rome. Fatal coincidences and losses characterize his eventful life - and he has to learn to deal with the unexpected and major changes. "Il Colibrì" tells of the fate of a sensitive man, of family misfortune, the power of memories and of a great, unbreakable love. The film skillfully oscillates between different time periods, from the 1970s to the present day. "Il Colibrì" is based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Sandro Veronesi. Italian director Francesca Archibugi has assembled a great ensemble of actors in front of the camera, including Pierfrancesco Favino, Nanni Moretti und Bérénice Bejo. The result is an unconventional, disarming and deeply touching family story.

Kingdom of Bhutan, 2006. Modernization has finally arrived. Bhutan becomes the last country in the world to connect to the internet and television, and now the biggest change of all: democracy. To teach the people how to vote, the authorities organize a mock election, but the locals seem unconvinced. Traveling to rural Bhutan where religion is more popular than politics, the election supervisor discovers that a monk is planning a mysterious ceremony for the election day.

Lydia (Hafsia Herzi), a dedicated midwife, is in the middle of a breakup. At the time, her best friend Salomé tells her she is pregnant and asks her to monitor her pregnancy. One day, she comes across Milo - a one-night stand - as she is carrying her friend’s baby in her arms and embarks on a deceitful journey that may cost her everything. Inspired by the pregnancy of her best friend, Iris Kaltenbäck thoughtfully tells – with great cinematic subtlety – the story of motherhood and longing, loneliness, baby blues and the dream life of a young woman.

Shayda, a brave Iranian mother, finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her six-year-old daughter. Over Persian New Year, they take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings, but when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardised. Authentic, captivating, moving: based on her own childhood experiences, Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari has created a powerful debut film, winning the Audience Award at the renowned Sundance Film Festival in 2023. Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who gained international acclaim with her role in "Holy Spider", shines in the lead role.

Jordan, nowadays. After the sudden death of her husband, Nawal, 30s, has to fight for her part of inheritance in order to save her daughter and home in a society where having a son would be a game changer.

Some thirty children aged between four and eight spend their days in the woods, come sun, rain or snow. This is where they learn to read, write and count. Above all, the children experience this environment and the cycles of nature to the full, and seek their role in the community. This documentary by Natalie Pfister plunges us into the world of a forest school over the course of a year, giving a voice to its young protagonists.

Chiara lives on an island off the Atlantic coast, where her husband grew up. They are a happy couple, and very much in love. Antoine is a fisherman and having learned his demanding trade, Chiara has worked alongside him for 20 years. The arrival of a new trainee, Maxence, will disrupt their lives and cast everything Chiara believes in into question. Héloïse Pelloquet's romantic first feature follows a woman's great passion and her quest for freedom. Starring an amazing Cécile de France.

After years of mass tourism in the Alps, a rethinking is slowly taking place. Whether researchers, artists or philosophers: Many are trying to approach the nature of the mountains in new ways. They reflect the contrasting approaches at this critical time, when we need to redefine our learnt values and actively seek change. Director Dominique Margot paints a portrait of scientists, artists, and mountaineers exploring the Alps in novel ways. "Bergfahrt" takes viewers on a captivating journey to discover mythical giants that exert great attraction.

The few thousand kilometers that separate Patagonia from the South Pole are a fascinating and hypnotic journey for explorers. Some even speak of an addiction, 'the Antarctic bite'. "La Marche de l’empereur" (2005) director Luc Jacquet has been experiencing it for 30 years. His new film is a visually striking adventure, offering us images beyond words, an ultimate tribute to a vanishing continent.

Chef Andy (Stephen Graham) is under stress: his luxury restaurant has just been stripped of two stars, all the tables are overbooked because of the holiday season, and his former mentor, a culinary icon, has shown up unannounced accompanied by a respected food critic. If that wasn’t enough, the mounting pressure is slowly but surely bringing the mood of his team members, helmed by sous chef Carly (Vinette Robinson), to the boil. How long will Andy manage to keep it all together? Director Philip Barantini takes us on a breathless journey through the fascinating hustle and bustle of a gourmet kitchen where different minds collide. Shot in one single impressive sequence that condenses an evening at the restaurant into 94 minutes, "Boiling Point" casts its inevitable spell.