The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (2008)

Director
Stephan Komandarev

Main cast
Carlo Ljubek; Predrag Miki Manojlović; Hristo Mutafchiev; Ana Papadopulu; Lyudmila Cheshmedzhieva

Genres
Drama

Description
"World" centers on Alexander (played by Blagovest Mutafchiev as a child and Carlo Ljubek as an adult), who was born in 1975 in Bulgaria. During the oppressive communist era, he and his parents immigrate to Germany. But when an automobile accident takes the parents' lives, Alexander's beloved grandfather, Bai Dan (Miki Manojlovic), comes to tend to him. The young man is suffering from amnesia as a result of the accident, and Bai Dan decides to try to restore his memories by taking him on a bicycle journey back to the town in Bulgaria where he was born. Bai Dan, a backgammon champion and force of nature, is the kind of charismatic grandfather figure that movies often have relished. But the performance by Manojlovic (a veteran of several Emir Kusturica films) is so vigorous and unsentimental that the character never seems generic. These beautifully detailed episodes give the universal trauma of immigration a precise, painfully human focus.


Similar movies

Immigrants from around the world enter Los Angeles every day, with hopeful visions of a better life, but little notion of what that life may cost. Their desperate scenarios test the humanity of immigration enforcement officers. In Crossing Over, writer-director Wayne Kramer explores the allure of the American dream, and the reality that immigrants find – and create -- in 21st century L.A.
Based on the famous novel of Milos Crnjanski, the story follows Serbian migrations from the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the XVIII century.
When Lucian and Miranda are left alone in an isolated mansion for the weekend, their mutual attraction grows, as does their unease about the whereabouts of Miranda's ex-boyfriend who may be hiding somewhere in the house.
Set 70 million years ago in the Cretaceous period in North America, this animated docu/drama follows the journey of a young Edmontosaurus named Scar and his herd as they migrate south for the winter. This film depicts recent findings about Dinosaurs, such as Tyrannosaurs with feathers.
Abe is a man who is in his thirties and who lives with his parents. He works regretfully for his father while pursuing his hobby of collecting toys. Aware that his family doesn't think highly of him, he tries to spark a relationship with Miranda, who recently moved back home after a failed literary/academic career. Miranda agrees to marry Abe out of desperation, but things go awry.
A young mouse named Fievel and his family decide to migrate to America, a "land without cats," at the turn of the 20th century. But somehow, Fievel ends up in the New World alone and must fend off not only the felines he never thought he'd have to deal with again but also the loneliness of being away from home.
Screening of the synonymous Milos Crnjanski's poetic novel about the tragedy of Serbian people who scattered their energy and bones from Dnepr to Lotaringia during XVII and XIX century. The great Serbian migration topic is given through the military campaign of major Vuk Isakovic (Avtandil Makharadze) at the head of Slavonian-Danube regiment, from spring of 1744. to spring of the next year. The second topic follows tragic but passionate relationship between Vuk's younger brother and his wife, which ends with her long-lasting disease and death.
A family of Iraqi-Israelis, each with his or her own weaknesses and determination, gathers for an Independence Day picnic. Their background stories are presented, reaching back as little as a few days or as far back as the War of Independence and the old country before that, and interlocking in ways that even they never realize.
Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kathryn. But if he loses, Kathryn will claim his most prized possession.
Pia is coming home for Christmas after traveling in England for about 6 months. She wants to catch up with her boyfriend, Kristoffer, who was supposed to have joined her on the trip, but backed out at the last minute. Finding him, however, is turning out to be quite a task. While searching, she meets several more or less disgruntled and dissatisfied people. And when Santa turns up things start happening...
Oranges and Sunshine tells the story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovered one of the most significant social scandals in recent times: the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom. Almost singlehandedly, against overwhelming odds and with little regard for her own well-being, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice. She discovered a secret that the British government had kept hidden for years: one hundred and thirty thousand children in care had been sent abroad to commonwealth countries, mainly Australia. Children as young as four had been told that their parents were dead, and been sent to children's homes on the other side of the world. Many were subjected to appalling abuse. They were promised oranges and sunshine, they got hard labour and life in institutions.
In the middle of the 19th century, Kristina and Karl-Oskar live in a small rural village in Smaaland (southern Sweden). They get married and try to make a living on a small spot of land. However, the small size of their land, the infertile soil, and some bad harvests makes it tough. One of their children even starve to death. Thus, they decide to emigrate to the U.S. They meet a group of farmers with their families planing the emigration under the leadership of a banned priest. They sell everything and embark for the U.S. The journey on the sailing ship is long and tedious. Some of the emigrants will never reach the New World.
When a sixteen-year-old girl from the Ukraine, a single mother from Russia, an orphaned seventeen-year-old girl from Romania, and a twelve-year-old American tourist become the victims of international sex slave traffickers, a specialized team of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) struggles to expose the worldwide network that has enslaved them.
FIX takes you from Beverly Hills to Watts, and places in between, in one day, as documentary filmmakers Bella and Milo race to get Milo's brother Leo from jail to rehab before 8pm, or Leo goes to prison for three years.
Pathemari features the life of Pallikkal Narayanan (Mammootty) who migrated to the Middle-East in the early 1980s, when the Kerala Gulf boom was at its peak.
In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard line government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max (Matt Damon) is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that, if successful, will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.
As she does every morning, Lucie takes advantage of her journey to work to lose herself for a while in the pages of a good book. And as she does every morning, she joins her colleagues at the office with a smile. It's a working day just like any other. Then suddenly all activity in the office stops. All attention is turned towards the window of the opposite building opposite and abanner reading: Man Alone. Is it a hoax? A cry for help? Everyone has his own interpretation, and will try, by any means possible, to discover what lies behind this mysterious message.
Urban horticulturalist Brontë Mitchell has her eye on a gorgeous apartment, but the building's board will rent it only to a married couple. Georges Fauré, a waiter from France whose visa is expiring, needs to marry an American woman to stay in the country. Their marriage of convenience turns into a burden when they must live together to allay the suspicions of the immigration service, as the polar opposites grate on each other's nerves.
Bethlehem tells the story of the unlikely bond between Razi, an Israeli secret service officer, and his Palestinian informant Sanfur, the younger brother of a senior Palestinian militant. Razi recruited Sanfur when he was just 15, and developed a very close, almost fatherly relationship to him. Now 17, Sanfur tries to navigate between Razi’s demands and his loyalty to his brother, living a double life and lying to both men. Co-written by director Yuval Adler and Ali Waked—an Arab journalist who spent years in the West Bank—Bethlehem gives an unparalleled, moving and authentic portrait of the complex reality behind the news.
In the midst of the Mariel boat lift -- a hurried exodus of refugees from Cuba going to America -- an immigration clerk accidentally presumes that dissident Juan Raul Perez and Dorita Evita Perez are married. United by their last name and a mutual resolve to emigrate, Dorita and Juan agree to play along. But it gets complicated when the two begin falling for each other just as Juan reunites with his wife, Carmela, whom he hasn't seen in decades.
The film is set around 1914 when Lebanon was under the Ottoman Empire rule. The empire enslaved men to work for free. Abdou goes to get Adla the engagement ring but he's arrested with others and are taken to cut lumber. Meanwhile the Ottomans prevent the wheat from arriving to certain villages because they want to defuse the ongoing resistance operations led by Abou Ahmed. Adla travels to where some say Abdou is held prisoner and she meets with Abou Ahmed. She along other villagers start helping the resistance get the wheat to the people. When they accomplish their mission, Abou Ahmed, freed Abdou and others escape because now they're wanted, but on a promise to return and to continue fighting.
A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.
It tells the story of Moises, a Filipino single-dad working as a caregiver in Herzliya, Israel, who comes home to his apartment in Tel Aviv to celebrate his son Joshua’s 4th birthday. Itwas on that day that Moises, together with their Filipino neighbors Janet, and her daughter Yael, find out that the Israeli government is going to deport children of foreign workers. Afraid of the new law, Moises and Janet decide to hide their children from the immigration police by making them stay inside the house.
An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.
The wife's affair and a death in the family hasten the demise of an upper-class English marriage.We see the detritus of an abandoned camp in South America and a main character's hallucination. Then, the story beings. Tony and Brenda Last, lord and lady, live on his enormous estate with their young son. Tony's not much for parties, and Brenda joins London society, on the arm of a penniless man, John Beaver, a hanger-on at Tony's club. John is encouraged by his entrepreneurial mother, who sees a quid in Tony and Brenda. Brenda and John become lovers, Brenda spends more and more time in London, and Tony's without a clue. Then, bringing things to a head are tragedy, law suits, greed, and what should be a few-months' expedition to Brazil. We are each of us merely a handful of dust.
A successful businessman goes to Italy to arrange for the return of his tycoon-father's body only to discover dad died with his mistress of long standing.
Once-not long ago-a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many remember this... It wasn't that important. A band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.
A corrupted border agent decides to clean up his act when an impoverished woman's baby is put up for sale on the black market.
Marco leads a double life. As Marco, he is a construction worker but rich ladies craving sexual excitation know him as Patrick. As Marco he is married to Fanny, an ambitious young woman who has opened her own hairdressing salon in partnership with her friend Rosalie. Marco/Patrick is not a male prostitute at heart: in fact he does the job in order to support his wife's business. Which doesn't prevent Judith, an elegant tele-shopping presenter who buys his services, from falling in love with him. But when Fanny learns what Marco does and with whom, she first gets mad but soon starts interfering in their affair.
Samba migrated to France 10 years ago from Senegal, and has since been plugging away at various lowly jobs. Alice is a senior executive who has recently undergone a burnout. Both struggle to get out of their dead-end lives. Samba's willing to do whatever it takes to get working papers, while Alice tries to get her life back on track until fate draws them together.
An ironic black comedy of love and death that takes place an a lyrically beautiful landscape. Three related women, all named Cissie Colpitts share a solidarity for one another which brings about three copy-cat drownings. The local coroner is in love with all three women and helps to disguise the murders.
Mateo, 17, prepares to migrate to Los Angeles in order to support his humble family in their small Zapotec village in southern Mexico, yet before he can depart, the leader of the local gang demands that he commit murder to become a member.
In a small Corsican village, the life of Hélène, ordinary and single, She works as a maid in a hotel and is married happily with her Husband Ange and her fifteen year-old daughter. Her modest and monotonous life seems to be predetermined... One day while cleaning a hotel room, she meets a young, seductive, American couple which is playing a game of chess. First fascinated and then passionate about the game, Hélène learns with great tenacity she studies the rule of the game to perfection. She can count on Dr. Kröger, who is a mysterious inhabitant, to help her to achieve her goals. But this positive transition towards a liberty for Hélène does not go about without deeply changing her relationship with family, friends and inhabitants of the village.
During his journey to Jerusalem young James learns the meaning of being Israeli.
Sokol is a middle-aged Kosovar Albanian who, together with his family, emigrates from Kosovo to Turkey, and faces the foreign and unknown world. After some time he becomes homesick, eventually leaving his last will he gave to his son that when he dies, his bones will be returned to his native country. He dies near of a cliff at the Black Sea coast. In his native village, the news that Sokol has been returned from emigration are being spread.
While dining out with friends, Sy suggests the difficulty of separating comedy from tragedy. To illustrate his point, he tells his guests two parallel stories about Melinda ; both versions have the same basic elements, but one take on her state of affairs leans toward levity, while the other is full of anguish. Each story involves Melinda coping with a recent divorce through substance abuse while beginning a romantic relationship with a close friend's husband.
An urban hotel in London is a gathering and flash point for legal and illegal immigrants attempting to cobble together their lives in a new country. The immigrants include Senay, a Turkish woman, and a Nigerian doctor named Okwe who is working as a night porter at the hotel. The pair discover the hotel is a front for all sorts of clandestine activities. Their only wish is to avoid possible deportation. Okwe becomes more entangled in the goings on when he is called to fix a toilet in one of the rooms. He discovers the plumbing has been clogged by a human heart.
A gay Brit living in New York is deprived of his immigration status, and risks losing his family and life in the U.S. He marries his lesbian best friend to remain in the country and stay with his family, but things get complicated when he meets the love of his life and is forced to make an impossible choice.
When she learns she's in danger of losing her visa status and being deported, overbearing book editor Margaret Tate forces her put-upon assistant, Andrew Paxton, to marry her.
A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while traveling across town to perform landscaping work for the city's wealthy landowners.
The Devil's Disciple is a 1959 film adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title. The Anglo-American film was directed by Guy Hamilton who replaced Alexander Mackendrick and starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Laurence Olivier. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.
A government agent is determined to come to his son's rescue, when a sinister official kidnaps him to harness his extremely powerful psychic abilities.
Tensions run high near the border of British India, which is about to be partitioned with a new country called Pakistan. Sikhs living in this border town have heard numerous stories of Muslims killing, raping, and looting other Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians, and many of whom are their friends and relatives. Enraged at the loss of law and order, they plan their own attack on a trainful of Muslims leaving British India. The train is overcrowded with tens and thousands of migrating passengers, who are even perched on the windows and seated on the roof of this train. The plot is to tear the bridge down when the train is on it, and no one will dare stop these men to carry out this horrific task
Nancy Courtney, a once wealthy socialite, has had to struggle to maintain a facade of prosperity ever since her father's death. Although she loves writer DeWitt Taylor, who is indifferent to amassing a fortune, her mother urges her to marry stockbroker Norman Cravath instead. Nancy acquiesces to her mother's wishes but, despite the fact her new husband does everything he can to please her, she is miserable in her marriage.
An American girl on vacation in Argentina falls for a wealthy racehorse owner.
The story concerns two agents, one Mexican (PJF) and one American, who are tasked to stop the smuggling of Mexican migrant workers across the border to California. The two agents go undercover, one as a poor migrant.
The year is 1898. A beautiful woman named Marie (also known as Casque d'Or) has fallen in love with a carpenter named Manda. The problem is that Marie is the girlfriend of a hoodlum in the Leca gang. So in order to have the lovely Marie, Manda faces and defies the gang and kills Leca. Soon after however, Manda is sent to the gallows.
An adult drama telling the story of the spoiled rich girl Nadia who gets jelous after finding her dad marrying the perfect faithful woman. She sets a story of her having an affair with her uncle. Living with the feeling of guilt she sets up a marriage for her dad with her spoiled friend who happens to have a true affair this time. Feeling that god is punishing her for her deads, she is living at the same time a love story with a man double her age.
The film focuses on Angie (Kierston Wareing), a working class woman who, after being fired by the agency that she works for, decides to set up a recruitment agency of her own, running it from her kitchen with her friend Rose (Juliet Ellis). Taking advantage of the desperation of immigrants, Angie is able to build a successful business extremely quickly.
Before his compulsory retirement, on his last day of work, Marshall, JFK airport's chief Immigration officer, detains a group of Latin Americans and expose them to a series of humiliating situations. Blinded by prejudice, Marshall ends up by causing the death of a young Brazilian. After a period in prison, Marshall goes to Brazil, deadly ill and in a desperate search in order to purge his guilt. In his quest, he is guided by Bia, a young prostitute.
Miranda Wells is an attorney with a sideline in immigration fraud and murder. Miranda's assistant, Carla, is unaware of her criminal activities. Rick Benes, a journalist setting out to expose Miranda, poses as David Lopez, an illegal immigrant, and takes a job in the office. Carla stubbles on incriminating files and Rick Benes pursuit of the story is threatened when he becomes infatuated with Miranda. Carla is attacked and her husband murdered, Miranda is the chief suspect. As the investigation progresses and Carla disappears from hospital, it is clear that Miranda will stop at nothing including murdering again to stay out.
Reza Motori, who has feigned madness, escapes from an asylum and robs a factory, with the aid of a friend. Afterwards, a young writer, who looks exactly like Reza, visits the asylum in order to write about inmates. There he is mistaken for Reza and detained. Meanwhile, Reza assumes the identity of the writer. Reza falls in love with the writer's fiancée and decides to give up the money he has stolen from the factory, but his friends prevent him from doing so.
Tells the story of Sofia (Angie Cepeda), a Colombian college student struggling with immigration issues in LA, who accepts a $50,000 offer to rent her body and soul and become a surrogate mother to a wealthy couple.
In a small city of Brazil, Flor (a very good looking woman) marries Vadinho, a very handsome and erotic man. Once married she finds he is a good-for-nothing. She works teaching cooking to her neighbours but he takes all her money to gamble. One day he dies. Flor misses the goods of the marriage so she marries again with a very correct gentleman - the owner of the drugstore (Teodoro). Now she's very happy with her man, but misses the erotic moments with her previous husband. Then the ghost of Vadhino comes to earth to chase her.
Maria, a Ukrainian doctor, comes to Portugal to spend a year with Greco, her husband who is also a doctor. Upon arrival at Faro airport she is the only person from Kiev approached by agents of Immigration and Customs that lead her to a room of interrogation, without any explanations. All this occurs because the authorities suspect that something illegal should be behind her trip, since she is from Eastern Europe and her husband is Senegalese.
Germany refuses to receive any more refugees. The only way to obtain citizenship is to survive the popular TV show 'Immigration Game'. Whoever participates as a 'Runner' will be abandoned on the outskirts of Berlin and must make their way to the television tower at Alexanderplatz. For a prize money every German citizen may chase and eventually kill the refugees entirely unpunished.
Tom, now in his 40s, begins to write the memoirs of his 1960s childhood, as the little boy whose mother Rose was a glamorous Shanghai nightclub singer. When Rose meets Aussie sailor Bill, they are quickly married, and she packs up Tom and his older sister May to head for Melbourne. The marriage just as quickly breaks up and Rose moves with the kids to Sydney. After a succession of male friends and little success, in 1971 Rose moves back to Melbourne, in an uncomfortable arrangement living again with Bill – and his mother. With Bill called away to sea, Rose takes up with young Chinese cook Joe, but despair and conflicts over May's relationship with Joe tear the family further apart. Little Tom is deeply hurt, but May's ongoing conflict with her mother takes a respite when Rose tells her daughter about her traumatic teenage years.
Emma Woodhouse has a rigid sense of propriety as regards matrimonial alliances. Unfortunately she insists on matchmaking for her less forceful friend, Harriet, and so causes her to come to grief. Through the sharp words of Mr. Knightley, and the example of the opinionated Mrs. Elton, someone not unlike herself, Emma's attitudes begin to soften.
The taboo relationship between young Nadav and his Aunt Nina transcends definition on its way to odd highs and lows.

© Valossa 2015–2024