Filmcoopi Collection

On the way from Berlin to Portugal in her rusty '303' camper van, young biology student Jule picks up hitchhiker Jan. While having intense conversations about the society, the world and the nature of man, they try not to fall in love.

In the week leading up to their 45th wedding anniversary, the Mercers’ get news that causes a crisis in their marriage. The remains of a woman have been found in the Swiss Alps; the body is Katya, Geoff’s former girlfriend, who died in an accident on the glacier 50 years ago. Geoff’s wife Kate is unnerved as she realises that her husband still clings to memories of the dead woman, worrying that she was never more than “second choice”. When Kate looks through stuff Geoff has stored in the attic, she discovers his secret … Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay deliver confident performances in this story of how a crack in faraway, seemingly permanent ice can shatter the tectonics of a marriage that appears completely intact on the surface. With few words and almost imperceptible gestures, they reveal Kate and Geoff standing at the edge of an abyss. The actors’ nuanced portrayals of an ageing couple questioning a relationship that has lasted almost half a century, and struggling to reassure themselves of its future, were rewarded with Silver Bears for acting at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival.

Abla runs a modest local bakery from her home in Casablanca where she lives alone with her 8 year old daughter Warda. Their routine of housework and homework is interrupted one day by a knock on the door. It is Samia, a young woman looking for a job and a roof over her head. The little girl is immediately taken with the newcomer but her mother initially refuses to allow a pregnant stranger into their lives.

Georg and Anna are around 80, cultivated music professors in retirement. The daughter, also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day Anna has a seizure - it is the beginning of a test for the love of the two.

Tokyo, cherry blossom time. Like every day, Sentaro is standing in his tiny bakery when the elderly Tokue passes by. She wants to start as a temp. Sentaro reacts negatively - until he tries Tokue's "An", a traditional sweet bean paste. This is so indescribably good that the baker immediately throws all concerns overboard and hires the woman. Soon a friendship develops between Tokue and Sentaro, who both have a secret. And the business blossoms - because the "An" preparation is not just a job for Tokue. Rather, it shows her deep connection with nature and her respect for life...

A Finnish man goes to the city to find a job after the mine where he worked is closed and his father commits suicide.

Young dancer Qiao falls for powerful mob boss Bin. After protecting him during a rival gang’s ambush, she ends up in prison. Upon release, some five years later, she seeks out Bin to restart their old life. But is that still possible? Their violent relationship develops from 2001 to 2017, which allows director Jia Zhangke to chronicle contemporary China – from mining ghost towns to entire villages sacrificed for new dams.

A documentary portrait chronicling the incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became America's most famous sex therapist. As her 90th birthday approaches, Dr. Ruth revisits her painful past and her career at the forefront of the sexual revolution.

A documentary portrait chronicling the incredible life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer, a Holocaust survivor who became America's most famous sex therapist. As her 90th birthday approaches, Dr. Ruth revisits her painful past and her career at the forefront of the sexual revolution.

A failed author, a wife in hiding, a clandestine gay IT-specialist meet in an Iraqi café in London. Incited by a radical Sheik, the author's nephew attacks them and turns their lives upside down.

At a time when audiences are filling up the cinemas to see the feature adaptation of Bruno Manser's Life in the Jungle, Christof Kühn's successful documentary BRUNO MANSER - LAKI PENAN from 2007, now digitialized for online streaming, is the perfect choice. With original film and sound recordings by Manser and interviews with his companions in the Borneo jungle, this documentary provides an authentic insight into the adventurous life of the Swiss environmental activist.

This so-called “film” is a rather manic story of seventeen young braves who, spitting in the face of all kind of dangers, don their dark glasses and set off on a desperate trek from the working-class quarter of town to the Eldorado of the fashionable waterfront, replete with green, wavelapped and wind-caressed beaches. But the way is long, and the city’s labyrinthine streets are infested with a bizarre array of loitering, huddled human wrecks, stray dogs, and permanently defunct streetlamps. Only the strongest survive the course, and what happens to them isn’t a lot to write home about. Life is tough, and the world keeps changing its shape.

In Lebanon, many parents can simply not afford to have their children officially registered. As a result, these undocumented kids do not exist in the eyes of the state and have no rights. That is the fate of young Zain. But Zain is a fighter: even at his young age, he is already supporting his family with various odd jobs. When Zain's parents plan to marry off his eleven-year-old sister Sahar, Zain does everything in his power to stop them.

In the ruins of post-war Poland, Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Zula (Joanna Kulig) fall deeply, obsessively and destructively in love. As performing musicians forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, they dream of escaping to the creative freedom of the West. But one day, as they spot their chance to make a break for Paris, both make a split decision that will mark their lives forever.

»Crime and Punishment« is a modern adaptation of the classical crime story by F.M. Dostoevsky – but faithful in its spirit to the original. The principal character – a young slaughterhouse worker – commits a senseless crime. Through his act he finally drifts out of society and into loneliness. Only a young girl who accidentally arrives at the scene of the crime wants to follow him. Guilt and the tightening net of the police throw a shadow over their desperate love affair. The nocturnal concrete jungle serves as a backdrop for the struggle for intellectual supremacy between the police and the murderer. Rahikainen’s only weapon in this struggle is his total indifference to everything. »Crime and Punishment« is, however, first and foremost a film about the last desperate rebellion of a young man against society. The society that – as we know – is a merciless machine. Perhaps we are all guilty – guilty of what? This unbearable question faces us everywhere, hands on hips, sneering at us. As you wish. We’ll die anyway.

Jonas Widmer is one of the best long-distance runners in Switzerland, his big goal is the Olympic marathon. Despite his difficult childhood, he seems to have found his way: Apart from his passion for sports, he works as a cook and is about to move in with this girlfriend. But then Jonas fails to defend his title at his home race and is increasingly caught up in the memories of his late brother Philipp. Unable to put the inner pressure of suffering into words, Jonas develops a tragic double life in his growing desperation. The Zurich director Hannes Baumgartner was inspired by a true Swiss criminal case for his first feature film. DER LÄUFER creates a differentiated image of an ambivalent figure entangled in a densely woven web of formative experiences, processes of repression and inner conflict.

A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.

Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2015 for this daring, genre-bending portrait of three Sri Lankan refugees—Dheepan (Antonythasan Jesuthasan), Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan), and Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby)— who form a fake family unit to emigrate. When they find themselves living together in a violent, gang-dominated housing project outside Paris, they start to reevaluate the terms of their intimacy. Like his character, the actor and novelist Jesuthasan was a member of the militant nationalist army LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) before fleeing the country and settling into a series of odd jobs in Paris, while eventually renouncing all ties to the Tigers. When, in its bloody last act, his character has to fall back on his military training, Dheepan becomes something darker: a harrowing reckoning with the past.

A fictionalized documentary about the great Japanese poet Bashô (1644-1694), the spiritual father of Haiku poetry. A monk plays the role of Bashô and walks through the Japanese countryside, following the tracks of the poet’s travel diaries. On the way he writes many of his famous haiku poems. A film about poetry, meditation, zen buddhism and a view of untouched, virgin nature, seen and to understand as a lost paradise.

Ilona Koponen (Kati Outinen), a head waitress at Dubrovnik restaurant, is married to Lauri (Kari Väänänen), a tram driver. The couple live in a small, modestly furnished apartment in Helsinki. As they both come home from work late one night, Lauri surprises Ilona with a new television which he purchased on store credit. There is a short discussion between the two regarding their ability to meet their financial obligations but they agree that the TV payments are manageable. Next day, as Lauri gets to work, he learns that the company will be laying off several workers due to non-profitability of certain tram routes and he is randomly chosen as one of the workers to be laid off. The day after Lauri has finished working his last scheduled shift Ilona is informed by the owner of Dubrovnik that the restaurant is being sold to a chain restaurant company and all the employees will be let go since the new company will be bringing in its own employees. Both of them set out looking for work immediately but with discouraging results. Lauri gets offered a job as a bus driver but is unable to pass the medical exam and subsequently loses his professional driver's licence. Ilona gets a job at a rundown bar/restaurant which doesn't even have a name and is owned by a tax evading crook. After 6 weeks of working there, the restaurant gets shut down by the state and Ilona does not get paid by the dishonest owner. During their search for meaningful employment, both Lauri and Ilona enter bouts of heavy-drinking, all the while running into their former co-workers who are dealing with similar difficulties. At one point, the two even sell their car and take the money to a casino in hopes of doubling the money but they, however, end up losing it all. Most of their furniture as well as the new TV that Lauri bought is repossessed by the creditors. One day, Ilona accidentally runs into Mrs Sjöholm (Elina Salo), her former boss. Sjöholm suggests that Ilona should open up a restaurant. Since Ilona does not have the financial means needed for such a venture, Sjöholm agrees to provide the capital for the restaurant to start operating with the understanding that Ilona will pay back the loan to Mrs Sjöholm. Ilona, humbled by her recent experiences, is initially reluctant to accept the offer for fear of the restaurant failing and her not being able to repay Mrs Sjöholm. She eventually does agree. Ilona names the restaurant Work and hires some of the staff from Dubrovnik, including the troubled chef Lajunen (Markku Peltola), plus Lauri. Filled with anxiety during a slow lunch hour on opening day, Ilona's worries quickly disappear as she watches the restaurant fill to capacity later the same afternoon. After receiving a call from a Helsinki union asking for a reservation for 30 people, Lauri and Ilona exit the restaurant and stand on the front steps appearing emotionless and looking at the skies as more people enter the restaurant.

A runaway couple go on an unforgettable journey from Boston to Key West, recapturing their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.

Teo has a good job, a fiancee, a lovers, no intention to assume any responsibility in his life. The meeting with Emma, a blind woman, will upset his convictions.

Detective Yvonne is the widow of police chief Santi, a local hero in a town on the French Riviera. When she learns he was in fact a crooked cop, she tries to right his wrongs. Crossing paths with Antoine, a victim of Santi, sets off a series of wild events.

Set wholly in a secondary school in a working-class district of Paris, where many inhabitants are foreign-born, the film follows a year in the life of a young teacher, François Marin, and the 25 teenage pupils to whom he teaches French for an hour each day. Teacher and novelist François Bégaudeau plays a version of himself as he spends a year with his racially mixed students walking the narrow line between maintaining discipline and gaining co-operation. Winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, master French director Laurent Cantet's The Class is a "fresh piece of humanist, realist, optimist cinema" (The Guardian).

Three players in the free market take on ethical responsibility for their actions and the following generations: they engage in sustainable production. At various stages, the film charts the careers of successful entrepreneurs who operate locally, nationally and internationally and manage to combine both the market and morality. The film examines the question of what a neo-liberal economic model could look like and presents the positions of three pioneers, who, day in and day out, balance out fair working conditions, biological production and the cost pressures of the free economy. The film presents a motivating approach to solving a situation which often appears hopeless. It emphasizes ethics and sustainability as factors for success.

Five courageous, clever and self-determined women are at the centre of Barbara Miller's documentary #FEMALE PLEASURE. They break the taboo of silence and shame imposed on them by society or their religious communities with their archaic patriarchal structures. Deborah Feldman, Leyla Hussein, Rokudenashiko, Doris Wagner and Vithika Yadav are committed to the sexual enlightenment and self-determination of all women, beyond all social and religious norms and barriers, with incredible positive energy and strength. For this they pay a high price - they are publicly defamed, persecuted and threatened, they are rejected by their former environment and even threatened with death by religious leaders and fanatical believers.

Paris 1964: In Alberto Giacometti's studio people work, drink, doubt, argue, flirt and laugh. The Swiss is established as an artist, his works achieve record sales on the market. However, he is not interested in success. Giacometti asks the writer and art lover James Lord to model for him. Flattered and fascinated, he says yes. But Lord has no idea what he is getting into. Soon the young American gains insights into the fascinating, intensive, sometimes chaotic and irritating creative process of the world-famous artist...

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.

Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives in New York, but she doesn’t really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she¹s not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren’t really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. FRANCES HA is a modern comic fable that explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption.

Gloria is a 58-year-old divorcée. Her children have all left home but she has no desire to spend her days and nights alone. Determined to defy old age and loneliness, she rushes headlong into a whirl of singles’ parties on the hunt for instant gratification – which only leads to repeated disappointment and enduring emptiness. But when Gloria meets Rodolfo, an ex-naval officer seven years her senior, she begins to imagine the possibility of a permanent relationship.

Alexandre lives in Lyon with his wife and children. One day, he discovered by chance that the priest who abused him to scouts always officiates with children. He then starts a fight, quickly joined by François and Emmanuel, also victims of the priest, to "release their word" on what they suffered.

Romeo Aldea, a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding. Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future. Now Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.

86 minutes Finnish “Perhaps Kaurismäki’s most original film and probably his best” (William Fisher), this brilliant refashioning of Shakespeare’s tragedy, set in the cutthroat world of high finance, makes surprising analogies between the rotten state of Denmark then and the corrupt state of Finland in the money-hungry ’80s. This Hamlet’s ineffectual prince (Pirkka-Pekka Petelius) is a chubby, google-eyed electronics buff with a “heart as warm as a refrigerator,” who schemes and conspires to sell his father’s shipbuilding business so that he can corner the market on rubber ducks; Polonius is a property manager, Laertes a marketing man, and Ophelia (Kati Outinen, natch) an infatuated, suicidal wannabe. “Confidently post-Fassbinder in its noir-ish angles and deadpan cool” (J. Hoberman, The Village Voice), Hamlet Goes Business is gorgeously shot in stylish black and white, but as Kaurismäki himself warns, “Don’t be fooled by the plastic beauty of this movie: the question is about money — a matter of life and death.”

In a town in the Northwest of the province of Buenos Aires, a group of neighbors is organized to recover the economy of the area, but when the Corralito is implemented in the country and they suffer a fraud, their hopes disappear. Now, they will unite to recover the lost money and give the blow of their lives to their greatest enemy.

Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old student in Sweden, started a school strike for the climate as her question for adults was, if you don’t care about my future on earth, why should I care about my future in school? Within months, her strike evolved into a global movement as the quiet teenage girl on the autism spectrum becomes a world-famous activist.

After fifteen years of service, Henri Boulanger is dismissed from his job. Shocked, he tries to commit suicide, but can't go through with it, so he hires a hit man in a shabby bar to murder him in the future at an uncertain time. Shortly afterwards, when he falls in love with Margaret, a flower seller, Henri realizes that his life does still have a meaning. But when he goes back to the bar to cancel the contract, he realizes that it has been destroyed - and there is no way he can contact the murderer...

Ale, a deeply disturbed young man subject to seizures, benignly decides to murder members of his dysfunctional family for altruistic reasons.

Daniel Blake, 59, who has worked as a joiner most of his life in the North East of England needs help from the State for the first time ever following an illness. He crosses paths with a single mother Katie and her two young children, Daisy and Dylan. Katie’s only chance to escape a one roomed homeless hostel in London is to accept a flat some 300 miles away. Daniel and Katie find themselves in no-man’s land caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy now played out against the rhetoric of ‘striver and skiver’ in modern day Britain. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, the Prix du public at the 2016 Locarno International Film Festival and the 2017 BAFTA for Outstanding British Film.

Leo's got a lot to do. A lot. He has a small sanitation company. And he is a single father of two teenage children. Diana is an artist, dreaming into the day. Her art doesn't sell at all. Now her landlord is also putting pressure on her, wanting his money. Diana senses her big chance when she has to paint a painting on the office wall of a lawyer. This is how she meets Leo - he needs legal assistance because erotic photographs of his daughter have appeared on the Internet. Silvio Soldini interweaves various stories, cleverly bringing them together. Besides Diana and Leo, there is Elia, who secretly raises a stork, the urban hermit Amanzio, Leo's late wife Teresa and a mysterious private detective...

Palermo, Sicily, 1980. Mafia member Tommaso Buscetta decides to move to Brazil with his family fleeing the constant war between the different clans of the criminal organization. But when, after living several misfortunes, he is forced to return to Italy, he makes a bold decision that will change his life and the destiny of Cosa Nostra forever.

A mother's last wishes send twins Jeanne and Simon on a journey to Middle East in search of their tangled roots. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults' voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love.

Filmmaker Elia Suleiman leaves his native Palestine in search of a new homeland – only to find that Palestine is with him wherever he goes. The quest for a new life quickly becomes a comedy of errors: whether in Paris or in New York, something always reminds him of home. All the while, Suleiman keeps returning to the same nagging question: What kind of place could we ever truly call home?

A silent film in black and white, based on a novel from 1911, written by Juhani Aho (1861 - 1921), the Finnish writer. The story tells of an older man, Juha (Sakari Kuosmanen), who lives with his young wife Marja (Kati Outinen) in the Finnish hinterland. One day a clever Russian representative, Shemeikka (André Wilms), persuades Marja to accompany him on his travels. The consequences are tragic. Shemeikka, actually a pimp, picks Marja up on a cabbage field and kidnaps her in his fancy sports car to Helsinki, where he runs a nightclub.

An oasis on the outskirts of Naples. Here children experience an everyday life that is completely different from what they otherwise know. With commitment and empathy, Giovanna manages a place full of creativity, where girls and boys spend their school-free hours. But then the young wife of an unscrupulous Camorra member with her two small children seeks protection in the institution - and Giovanna is faced with a decision that could change everything...

Marcel (André Wilms) is an impoverished Parisian poet and playwright who is evicted from his extremely modest room after he is unable to pay rent for it. While roaming the streets of Paris, he meets Rodolfo (Matti Pellonpää), a painter from Albania who is almost equally poor and is in the country illegally. They quickly discover they are kindred spirits since they both share the same love for art without much regard for their worldly well-being. The two eventually make another friend in Schaunard (Kari Väänänen), an Irish composer who is now renting Marcel's former room. The three friends help each other in the daily struggle to survive by sharing whatever little money they have among each other in order to maintain a basic and simple standard of living. Rodolfo's life is interrupted when he meets Mimi (Évelyne Didi), a poor French girl with whom he falls madly in love. But Rodolfo is soon deported back to Albania due to not having a visa. He is unable to return to Paris for six months and, by then, Mimi has moved on and found another boyfriend. Rodolfo, Marcel and Schaunard scrape together what food they have and have a meal together to celebrate the feast of All Saints. Mimi shows up and informs Rodolfo that she has left her boyfriend to be with him again, but she is ill and dies the next spring.

The tale of a meeting between Lazzaro, a young peasant so good that he is often mistaken for simple-minded, and Tancredi, a young nobleman cursed by his imagination. A loyal bond is sealed when Tancredi asks Lazzaro to help him orchestrate his own kidnapping.

When an African boy arrives by cargo ship in the port city of Le Havre, an aging shoe shiner takes pity on the child and welcomes him into his home.

Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.

An isolated farm in a remote part of the Jura region: this is where Pauline and Alex are living in complete self-sufficient harmony with nature. Their life project is sealed by their love, their ideals and their work. The couple is now ready to take the step towards total independence, and start producing their own electricity. The arrival of Samuel, who comes to install a wind turbine, deeply troubles Pauline, upsetting their relationship and their values.

A fictionalized documentary about the great Japanese poet Bashô (1644-1694), the spiritual father of Haiku poetry. A monk plays the role of Bashô and walks through the Japanese countryside, following the tracks of the poet’s travel diaries. On the way he writes many of his famous haiku poems. A film about poetry, meditation, zen buddhism and a view of untouched, virgin nature, seen and to understand as a lost paradise.

The Leningrad Cowboys, a band with foot-long quiff hairstyles and long Winklepicker shoes to match, are seeking success in Siberia, but nobody seems to like their music, except for the mute village idiot, Igor (Kari Väänänen). Thwarted by a lack of local commercial potential, they are encouraged to move to America, for people will "buy anything" there. They depart for New York, bringing with them a band member who had frozen the previous night while practicing outside. They arrive at the CBGB bar in Manhattan. An agent offers them a gig at a wedding in Mexico and recommends that they change their musical style to rock and roll. They buy a used 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine, strap the coffin carrying their frozen band member onto the roof and set off to earn their way through the Deep South, adapting their musical style to suit local tastes at each new location. All the while they are being driven on and exploited by their money and food hoarding manager Vladimir (Matti Pellonpää), who has a seemingly unlimited supply of beer in the ice-filled coffin. Meanwhile, Igor, who stowed away on the plane, follows the band by his own means of transportation. When he finally catches up with them, they appoint him as their road manager. During the trip, the band spends time in jail, has their car engine stolen, causes a nightclub to close after playing an unsuccessful show, and reunites with a long-lost cousin (Nicky Tesco) whose singing gives positive reception from the audience. They eventually make it to Mexico and perform their wedding gig, where the thawing bass guitarist is revived with a shot of tequila and joins the group on stage, as does Igor. Vladimir watches them play then wanders off, but the band finally finds success in Mexico, making the top ten.

Picking up where Leningrad Cowboys Go America left off, the band has settled in Mexico after charting a top ten hit there. However, many band members become alcoholics spending most of their day drinking tequila. Before long, more than half of the band members have died from excessive drinking. The surviving members have, in the mean time, become naturalized Mexicans, complete with mustaches, Mexican wardrobe but with their pompadours still intact.

Summer 1998 - Kabul under Taliban rule. Zunaira and Mohsen are young and in love. Despite the daily violence and misery, they hope for a better future. One day, a foolish gesture causes life to take an irrevocable turn.

Inspired by the 2005 riots in Paris, Stéphane, a recent transplant to the impoverished suburb of Montfermeil, joins the local anti-crime squad. Working alongside his unscrupulous colleagues Chris and Gwada, Stéphane struggles to maintain order amidst the mounting tensions between local gangs. When an arrest turns unexpectedly violent, the three officers must reckon with the aftermath and keep the neighbourhood from spiralling out of control.

Everyone smokes too much in Kaurismäki’s sweet-natured comedy about Koistinen (Janne Hyytiäinen), a lonely night watchman at a shopping mall who declares that he has no friends — not out of self-pity, but because it’s the sad truth. Only the woman who sells him hot dogs from her wurst stand (Maria Heiskanen) shows him any kindness, but he rebuffs even that. When a blonde femme fatale (Maria Järvenhelmi) appears to take interest in him, a stilted would-be romance ensues, which is soon revealed to be part of a plot to rob the mall. The most canine-oriented of all filmmakers, Kaurismäki complicates the story of Koistinen’s subsequent downward spiral into prison and homelessness with the tale of a dog that somehow brings this comedy of humiliation, silence, and incarceration to a happy conclusion. Filled with strange, arresting décor and musical interludes, Lights in the Dusk offers “a deceptively satisfying, almost magical achievement, like being stranded in a desert yet never going thirsty” (Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe).

Beatrice is a blabbermouth and a so-called billionaire countess who likes to believe she’s in intimacy with world leaders. Donatella is a young quiet tattooed woman, locked in her own mystery. They are both patients of a mental institution and subject to custodial measures.

In 1895, Auguste and Louis Lumière invented the cinematograph and made the first films in history. Directing, tracking shots, special effects - the two brothers also influenced the art of film design. Thierry Frémaux's exciting compilation of their partly world-famous, partly newly discovered masterpieces in restored copies is a moving journey back to the beginnings of cinema. The unforgettable film jewels also offer a unique view of the world on the threshold of the 20th century. Lumière - the adventure of cinema begins!

Based on the bestselling children's book by Daniela Kohl, the movie tells the story of six-grader Lotte and her best friend Cheyenne.

Stevie is a sweet 13-year-old about to explode. His mom is loving and attentive, but a little too forthcoming about her romantic life. His big brother is a taciturn and violent bully. So Stevie searches his working-class Los Angeles suburb for somewhere to belong. He finds it at the Motor Avenue skate shop.

Irene, nicknamed 'Miele', has devote herself to people looking for help, and tries to alleviate their suffering even when they make extreme decisions. One day she has to cope with Grimaldi and his invisible malaise.

An inspector hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who becomes a fugitive in his home country in the late 1940s for joining the Communist Party.

They have traveled far - by plane, train, bus or boat. Now they find themselves in the integration class of teacher Christian Zingg in Basel, where young people from all over the world get to know the language and culture of our country within two years. Anna Thommen's documentary film, which has won numerous awards at numerous festivals, opens up a view into a world that is hardly known. The director skilfully interweaves various stories, observed with great sensitivity.

Two introverted people find out by pure chance that they share the same dream every night. They are puzzled, incredulous, a bit frightened. As they hesitantly accept this strange coincidence, they try to recreate in broad daylight what happens in their dream.

Paterson is a bus driver in the city whose name her shares: Paterson, New Jersey. Every day, he drives his route and observes the city as it drifts across his windshield. During his lunch break, he writes poetry into a notebook. In contrast to Paterson's steady routine, his wife Laura's world is constantly changing. New dreams come to her almost daily, each a different and inspired project.

The film tells of the radical life-search by the Swiss writer Paul Nizon, born 1929 in Bern, Switzerland, who became what “he was meant to be” in Paris. Now 90-year-old, Paul Nizon grants insights into his life and work in a self-ironic, direct manner. The intimate portrait of a great literary outsider emerges, for whom the risk of life and the risk of writing merge into one and the same work of art.

The film tells of the radical life-search by the Swiss writer Paul Nizon, born 1929 in Bern, Switzerland, who became what “he was meant to be” in Paris. Now 90-year-old, Paul Nizon grants insights into his life and work in a self-ironic, direct manner. The intimate portrait of a great literary outsider emerges, for whom the risk of life and the risk of writing merge into one and the same work of art.

A former resistance fighter who is elected president of Uruguay and donates almost 90 percent of his salary to social projects: Pepe Mujica, one of Latin America's most charismatic personalities, has become known as "the poorest president in the world". He has always remained true to his ideals, having spent many years in prison for political reasons. His modest lifestyle - he lives in a small finca instead of a government palace - and his unconventional appearance underpin his credibility with young and old. Pepe Mujica represents his concerns with humour, intellect and passion, and his political commitment to a more just society attracts international attention and encouragement. Filmmaker Heidi Specogna and her cameraman Rainer Hoffmann often visited Pepe Mujica and his wife Lucía Topolansky and accompanied them with their cameras. This is how the portrait of an extraordinary person was created, who, at almost 80 years of age, has retained his courage, his wit, his humanity and his strong hope for change. "Pepe Mujica - el presidente" is an optimistic and moving film that inspires courage.

A struggling street photographer, pressured to marry by his grandmother, convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancée. Against their own expectations, the contrary pair develops a deep connection that transforms each of them in ways they never expected.

The story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya, with a visual impairment, and Misako who disconnects from the world.

Masato, a young ramen chef, leaves his hometown in Japan to embark on a culinary journey to Singapore to find out the truth about his past. He uncovers a lot more than family secrets and delicious recipes.

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.

Argentina in 1975: While a wave of political violence is overrunning the country, lawyer Claudio Mora keeps his usual pace - until one evening in a restaurant he gets into an argument with a strange man with dramatic consequences. The next day Mora has almost forgotten the incident. But then a private detective appears and begins to ask uneasy questions.

Nanni Moretti's new film covers the months that followed the coup d'état in Chile on 11 September 1973, which overthrew the democratic government of Salvador Allende. The film focuses on the role of the Italian embassy in Santiago de Chile, which became a refuge from General Pinochet's regime for hundreds of opposition members. From here, many opponents of the regime were able to flee to Italy.

Before an office complex is set to be demolished, it expresses one last wish: a love story. It centers around desire, security, and a melody that runs through the entire fabric of the building. So when darkness descends and everything falls silent, the routine lives of those within its walls sparkle like stars, paving the way for intimate chance encounters and absurd humor to unfold. A nocturnal kaleidoscope of longing, loneliness and freedom.

Shadows in Paradise established Kaurismäki’s international reputation, and was voted one of the best films of the decade in a major critics’ poll. Fassbinder’s influence, particularly that of The Merchant of Four Seasons, is amply evident in this melancholy comedy about a garbage truck driver (Matti Pellonpää) — “Bad teeth, bad stomach, liver hanging on. That’s more than I can say for my head,” as he resignedly sums himself up — who falls in love with a supermarket cashier (played by Kaurismäki’s ur-actress, Kati Outinen). Weary of the world and wary of each other, the downtrodden lovers run away after she revenges herself upon her employer, their erratic affair played out in bingo parlours and cramped hotels with a backbeat of ’50s rockabilly and tango. Kaurismäki’s sympathy for the articulate and the wounded, combined with a striking visual sense, makes for an exhilarating experience.

Sibyl, a jaded psychotherapist, returns to her first passion: writing. But her newest patient Margot, a troubled up-and-coming actress, proves to be a source of inspiration that is far too tempting. Fascinated almost to the point of obsession, Sibyl becomes more and more involved in Margot’s tumultuous life, reviving volatile memories that bring her face to face with her past.

From the Director of I Daniel Blake (Ken Loach) comes another hard hitting dose of reality. Ricky and his family have been fighting an uphill struggle against debt since the 2008 financial crash. An opportunity to wrestle back some independence appears with a shiny new van and the chance to run a franchise as a self-employed delivery driver. It's hard work, and his wife's job as a carer is no easier. The family unit is strong but when both are pulled in different directions everything comes to breaking point.

On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, traditions about nature remain eternal. During the full-moon night of traditional dances in August, 16-year-old Kaito discovers a dead body floating in the sea. His girlfriend Kyoko will attempt to help him understand this mysterious discovery. Together, Kaito and Kyoko will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life, death and love.

Tamás never wanted to get close to people. But he got stuck with Norika, with whom he often spends the nights. Her sister Annika also likes the mysterious man - and one day Norika suddenly disappears without a trace. Annika reports her missing and testifies that Tamás has been following them both at every turn. The suspected Tamás, however, sticks to his perception: Seduced by the women, he has slipped from an affair into a fatal triangular relationship.

In the beginning of spring 1970, the small village of Monchoux in Valais is experiencing unusual agitation. Is it because of the vote on the women's right to vote? Or because of the upcoming referendum on the expulsion of foreigners? No, it's worse: the village brass band has imploded! Half of the village will say it is Aloys' fault, the other half will respond that it is Pierre's. The dissent will be political, musical and amorous.

«Tatjana, Take Care of Your Scarf» is a road-movie about the unbelievable adventures of two Finnish men, driving a black Volga station wagon through Southern Finland some time in the mid-sixties. Valto, the owner of the car, drinks enormous amounts of coffee, Reino, a mechanic, drinks booze and blabbers endlessly. Already at the early stages of the journey, two ladies come along, one Estonian, the other Russian, and, in spite of understandable difficulties in communication and the obvious incapability of our men to approach the opposite sex, this absurd comedy gains, towards the end, some sentimental tones. A film about the amazing state of mind of the Finnish man, and an almost surgically cutting investigation into the Finnish-Estonian- Russian relationships.

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.

At the end of the 1950s in the sleepy English coastal town of Hardborough: Florence Green dreams of opening her own bookshop. Her love of books is the only thing left of her late husband. She is willing to invest her entire fortune and all her strength in making this dream come true. The initial scepticism of the villagers gives way to increasing interest as Florence also sells progressive and controversial works such as Nabokov's "Lolita" and Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451". The young widow finds a faithful friend in Mr. Brundish. The educated gentleman lives in seclusion and shares her passion for reading. But she also has a dangerous opponent - the old-established grey eminence of the village, Violet Gamart...

In his mid-30's, Pierre-Paul may have a doctorate in philosophy, but is still working as a courier - proof to him that he is too intelligent to be successful because in this world, only the dumb succeed. But then, he happens to witness a robbery gone thoroughly wrong in the course of which most of the participants end up dead. Pierre-Paul remains alone with the loot - and quickly grabs the two bags filled with cash. But before he can enjoy his newfound wealth, the mob, the tax office and two clever policemen are already on his heels.

The six-year-old Moonee lives not far from Disney World in the Magic Kingdom, a run-down motel where many families are stranded. Moonees mother Halley tries to keep herself and her daughter afloat with sometimes shady methods. The strict but generous motel manager Bobby supports her as best he can.

A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.

The film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. Unable to remember his name or anything from his past life, he cannot get a job or an apartment, so he starts living on the outskirts of the city and slowly starts putting his life back on track.

Iris (Kati Outinen) has a soul-deadening job as a quality-control worker watching boxes of matches go by on an assembly line all day. At night, she eats silently with her dour mother (Elina Salo) and stepfather (Esko Nikkari). One weekend, wearing her new red dress at a local dance, she ends up going home with Aarne (Vesa Vierikko), whom she mistakenly believes is her new boyfriend. When she discovers that she's pregnant, years of pent-up rage explode in a shocking outburst.

In a private home, various individuals think they’re coming together for a party. A series of revelations results in a huge crisis that throws their belief systems, and their values into total disarray.

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history; international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Sebastião's Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

After leaving her daughter Jessica in a small town in Pernambuco to be raised by relatives, Val spends the next 13 years working as a nanny to Fabinho in São Paulo. She has financial stability but has to live with the guilt of having not raised Jessica herself. As Fabinho’s university entrance exams approach, Jessica reappears in her life and seems to want to give her mother a second chance. However, Jessica has not been raised to be a servant and her very existence will turn Val’s routine on its head. With precision and humour, the subtle and powerful forces that keep rigid class structures in place and how the youth may just be the ones to shake it all up.

Ken Loach’s 2013 documentary about social change in Britain in the aftermath of the Second World War, including the nationalisation of industries and the formation of the welfare state. Made almost entirely in black & white, so B&W archive footage from the 1940s blend in with interviews made today.

A Romanian police officer, determined to free from prison a crooked businessman who knows where a mobster's money is hidden, must learn the difficult ancestral whistling language (Silbo Gomero) used on the island of Gomera.

The famous Iranian actress Behnaz Jafari receives a disturbing video in which a young girl from a small country village reports her desperation at the fact that her conservative family will not allow her to go to a university. To find out if the video is auhentic, Jafari and her friend, director Jafar Panahi, set off to the girl's village in the remote mountains of northwestern Iran. Here, they encounter a tight-knit community that is characterised both by a generous hospitality and a strict adherence to a traditional way of life.

Instead of stressing the imagination of disaster, French actress Mélanie Laurent and activist Cyril Dion try to show scientific solutions to the ideological fallacies of modern industrialism and mass consumerism.

Winfried is a charming music teacher with a social consciousness, and a penchant for silly jokes. His daughter Ines, on the other hand, is an ambitious career woman. When the father appears unannounced in the lobby of her company in Bucharest, Ines tries to grin and bear it. But because of his jokes and the subliminal criticism of her lifestyle, the two inevitably soon start to quarrel. A multi-layered and ingenious comedy about a father-daughter relationship and at the same time about modern capitalism, which is sometimes serious, sometimes bitter and sometimes really funny.

On June 12, 1993, more than 50 000 people witnessed a historical event on the Senate Square in Helsinki. For the first time and on the biggest screen stage ever seen in Finland, the rock group Leningrad Cowboys performed together with the 100 singers, 40 musicians and 20 dancers of the Alexandrov Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble. The programme included rock classics from "Happy Together" and "Delilah" to "Gimme All Your Lovin’" and "Knocking On Heaven’s Door", as well as traditional hits from the Ensemble’s own repertoire. From the beginning to the end, the concert was a roaring success. «Total Balalaika Show» is a documentary on the concert, an extraordinary, unforgettable encounter of the old and the new, of East and West.

Undine is a historian who works as a museum guide in Berlin. She knows all about the Humboldt Forum, and has the knack of choosing just the right blouse and suit. She is nonchalantly beautiful, and the way she imparts her knowledge about the city that was built on a swamp is as professional as it is graceful. And yet, time and again, her gaze wanders over to the courtyard café at the Stadtmuseum to see if he is there, or is still there, or if he’s there again. Him. But Johannes is leaving, leaving her, and Undine’s world is collapsing. The magic has gone... Christian Petzold reworks the myth of the mysterious water spirit as a modern fairy-tale in a disenchanted world. His Undine defies her role as a powerless and spurned woman and falls in love anew, with Christoph, who dives into the sunken world of a reservoir. Petzold’s deeply assured work reimagines this legend by way of his own cinematic vision, in which precise everyday gestures are combined with ghostly hyperrealism. The story of a life-or-death love, splendidly and effortlessly told.

Fifty-year-old Halla is secretly waging a one-woman-war on the local aluminium industry, engaging in everything from petty vandalism to outright industrial sabotage. But then, she receives notice that her application to adopt a child has finally been accepted and there is a little girl waiting for her in Ukraine. As Halla prepares to abandon her role as saviour of the Highlands, she decides to carry out one final attack to deal the aluminium industry a crippling blow.

The 80-year-old psychiatrist and best-selling author Irvin D. Yalom is considered the most influential psychotherapist in the USA. He has sold millions of books worldwide. Critics describe him as inspiring, compelling and life-changing. His work emphasizes the value of relationships and focuses on how therapy works. The film "Yalom's Cure" offers more than a classic biography: Yalom takes the audience on an existential journey through the many layers of the human psyche. In the role of the tour guide, Yalom shares his insights and provides deep insights into his own soul life.

Yuli is the nickname given to Carlos Acosta by his father, Pedro, who considers him the son of Ogun, an African god and a fighter. As a child Yuli avoids discipline and education, learning from the streets of an impoverished and abandoned Havana. His father, however, has other ideas, and knowing that his son has a natural talent for dance, sends him to the National Ballet School of Cuba. Despite his repeated escapes and initial poor behaviour, the boy is inevitably drawn to the world of dance, and begins to shape his legendary career from a young age, becoming the first black dancer to be cast in some of the most prestigious ballet roles, originally written for white dancers, in companies such as the Houston Ballet or the Royal Ballet in London.