The Tree and the Swing (2014)
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The true story of Australiaâs most notorious convict, Alexander Pearce and his infamous journey into the beautiful yet brutal Tasmanian wilderness. A point of no return for convicts banished from their homeland, Van Diemenâs Land was a feared and dreaded penal settlement at the end of the earth.
An examination of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 through to the present day.[Synopsis from the director, courtesy of Cannes Film Festival] : "The Time That Remains" is a semi biographic film, in four historic episodes, about a family--my family--spanning from 1948, until recent times. The film is inspired by my fatherâs diaries of his personal accounts, starting from when he was a resistant fighter in 1948, and by my motherâs letters to family members who were forced to leave the country since then. Combined with my intimate memories of them and with them, the film attempts to portray the daily life of those Palestinians who remained in their land and were labeled "Israeli-Arabs," living as a minority in their own homeland.
The year is 1919. German troops retreat from Ukraine. The Directory, the Ukrainian national government lead by Symon Petliura, takes control of Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik division commanded by Mykola Shchors is marching on the capital. The Bolsheviks capture the cities of Vinnytsia, Zhmerynka, and others one by one, but lose Berdychiv to Petliuraâs forces. They are demoralized by the defeat. By his personal example of courage and military skill, Shchors inspires the retreating Red troops and leads them to victory over the enemy.
Titus Andronicus returns from the wars and sees his sons and daughters taken from him, one by one. Shakespeare's goriest and earliest tragedy.
A 17th century Hungarian countess embarks on a murderous undertaking, with the belief that bathing in the blood of virgins will preserve her beauty.
During World War II, four Jewish brothers escape their Nazi-occupied homeland of West Belarus in Poland and join the Soviet partisans to combat the Nazis. The brothers begin the rescue of roughly 1,200 Jews still trapped in the ghettos of Poland. Based on a true story.
The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Using newly discovered historical evidence, Haitian-born and later Congo-raised writer and director Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of the mail clerk and beer salesman with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising belief in the capacity of his homeland to build a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgium overlords. Lumumba emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States, the international community, and Lumumba's own administration; a true story of political intrigue and murder where political entities, captains of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political hegemony.
The Russian Revolution provides the backdrop of this costume epic that centers around a young nobleman who, with his maid, escapes from his homeland to Constantinople where the two marry and begin a new life as commoners. But though it seemed a good idea at the time, the aristocrat has trouble adjusting to the daily toil and grimness of his new existence and when he meets an exciting seductress he immediately, abandons his good, peasant wife. With his shady lady, the fellow tries to become a con artist, but it doesn't work. He decides to return to his wife, and gets there just as she is about to be sent back to Russia. Much of the film was shot in real homes in Constantinople.
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare -- in this lush epic set in the 1870s, which finds Algren learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
The film is about a group of people who in other times wouldn't have anything in common, some of them innocent bystanders, some moral criminals. But nothing is straightforward and simple. From Russia "the run" continues to Constantinople, to Paris, back to Russia. Some of them have understood that they can`t live outside Russia and go back maybe to be happy, maybe not, some go back to face sure death for their crimes, some don`t go back and know that are going to miss homeland forever, some are comfortably well off (are they?) in exile. Sentimental without syrup, tragic and comical at the same time.
Twins separated at birth, Camryn and Alex meet by chance for the first time on their 21st birthday and discover they're witches with the power to save their homeland of Coventry from the evil that threatens it. But when Camryn leaves Alex to face the darkness alone, will Coventry be doomed? Or will the sisters multiply their magic by standing together?
A son leaves his widowed poor mother to make a fortune and promises to return for her. He rises up the ranks and even marries royalty but his promise is soon forgotten. When he returns to his homeland, he refuses to acknowledge her and his callous ways leads to tragedy.
Viktor Navorski is a man without a country; his plane took off just as a coup d'etat exploded in his homeland, leaving it in shambles, and now he's stranded at Kennedy Airport, where he's holding a passport that nobody recognizes. While quarantined in the transit lounge until authorities can figure out what to do with him, Viktor simply goes on living -- and courts romance with a beautiful flight attendant.
Corky, a tough female ex con and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend Caeser.
Shibnath is released from prison after serving eleven years for assaulting a British officer. His family has now become refugees, with his homeland, following Partition, belonging to a new nation. His wife urges him to make ally with his friend Bipin who is willing to capitalize on Shibnath's legendary reputation for patriotism, by asking to accompany him in electoral campaigns. In exchange, Bipin is ready to arrange Shibnath the job of a school master. However, Shibnath remains disillusioned and mystified by the life that now lies before him away from his belovedâand irretrievably lostâhomeland.
In a country shaken by major political events, three generations of a Greek family clash over an inside-the-family adoption.
Recently released from a mental hospital, Ricky ties up Marina, a film star he once had sex with and keeps her hostage.
To be defeated and not be - a victory. This is the motto that life is guided by three young friends: Alek, Sophy and Rudy. Scouts, high school graduates high school in Warsaw drifting ambitious plans for the future broken through September 1939. Entering adulthood in a very dramatic times, which puts them a choice - to survive at any cost, or to join the fighting for a free homeland, risking everything. The boys brought up in patriotic homes, shaped by the ideals of scouting, they decide to fight. They become soldiers, and although every scrape with death, they can live a full life.
Hannah is a young woman who lives on her own. She starts to get this feeling that she is being watched. The phone starts ringing at night and when she answers, no one is there. Is she imagining everything or is it for real?
Frank Yerby's Foxes of Harrow was one of those long historical novels so popular in the 1940s. 20th Century-Fox boiled the novel down into 118 minutes' worth of essentials for this film version. In antebellum New Orleans, roguish Irish gambler Rex Harrison buys his way into society--something he couldn't do in his homeland because he is illegitimate. Sequestering himself in a mansion won in a card game, Harrison courts Southern belle Maureen O'Hara, but their subsequent marriage is befouled by Rex's incessant womanizing. Though tempted to walk out for good, O'Hara stays by her husband's side after he loses his fortune, hoping that the impoverished Harrison will now behave more responsibly.
The Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia, is traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer. In an ancient spa town, he meets the lunatic Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his own family in his house for seven years to save them from the evils of the world. Seeing some deep truth in Domenico's act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia for his homeland and his longing for his wife, his ambivalent feelings for Eugenia and Italy, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.
A young Italian actress embarks on a self-destructive spree of sex, drugs and other excess while doing some soul searching to find the path for redemption.
This film focuses on an aging starlette (Silvia Perez) was once an it-girl. She returns to her hometown for her niece's birthday party and has to deal with her conservative family who does not agree with her chosen lifestyle.
The film talks the issue of Indian citizens who left the country before independence in search of job, mostly to Arabia, and happened to reach Pakistan, and then when returned to the homeland, happened to be holding a Pakistani passport, and now is forced by the Indian authorities to leave the nation to Pakistan, which even the Pakistani authorities won't allow.
As single mom Grace juggles work, bills, and her affair with a married doctor, her daughter, Ansiedad, plots a shortcut to adulthood after finding inspiration in the coming-of-age stories she's reading for school.
Secrets, rumors and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.
It is 1961 and an Albanian student (Nik Xhelilaj) of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, together with a group of Czech students, is shooting his graduate movie on a motorcycle factory, in the small market-town of Äeský Å ternberk, in then Czechoslovakia. Coming from a country that is completely isolated from the rest of Europe, he is fascinated by the lifestyle, society and "erotic exuberance" of the Czech golden youth, yet feeling strong links with his family in his homeland. He falls in love with a married woman (Anna Geislerová), the wife of a police superintendent (Paolo Buglioni) and is insecure about his future.
The Go Master is a 2006 biopic by director Tian Zhuangzhuang of renowned twentieth century Go master Wu Qingyuan, better known by his adopted name of Go Seigen. The film, which premiered at the 44th New York Film Festival, focuses on the life of this extraordinary player from his meteoric rise as a child prodigy to fame and fortune as a revolutionary strategic thinker, as well as the tumultuous global conflicts between his homeland and his adopted nation. The film also features a scene involving the Atomic bomb go game.
Filmmaking icon Agnès Varda, the award-winning director regarded by many as the grandmother of the French new wave, turns the camera on herself with this unique autobiographical documentary. Composed of film excerpts and elaborate dramatic re-creations, Varda's self-portrait recounts the highs and lows of her professional career, the many friendships that affected her life and her longtime marriage to cinematic giant Jacques Demy.
The story of 16-year-old Riyo who journeys to Hawaii in 1918 to marry a man she has never met, except through photographs and letters they have exchanged. Hoping to escape a troubled past and to start anew, Riyo is bitterly disappointed upon her arrival: her husband is twice her age and Hawaii is not the paradise she expected. As Riyo comes to terms with her new home, she discovers a land full of hardship, struggle--and unexpected joy.
Three flatmates in Mexico City face uncertainties: LucÃa who has a great job as an art director for TV commercials is abusing alcohol and cocaine. She risks losing her job, going to prison for assault, and she's woefully in love with a bullfighter who may be two-timing her. Carmen, an artist without income, can be manic - snorting lots of cocaine and hanging out with a gay man and a transvestite. What's her future? Hanna contemplates divorce from Abraham, a wealthy momma's boy, and she's disoriented by feelings of attraction to Sandra, a customer at her jewelry store. Can any of these poor little rich girls sort things out in a world of excess?
Computer hacker Will Farmer (Lanter) engages a government super-computer named Ripley in an online terrorist-attack simulation game. Little does Farmer know that Ripley has been designed to appeal to potential terrorists, and certain software glitches have in turn made him become paranoid.
In cities like Paris there are countless people from Eastern Europe who have forsaken their homelands because they can see no future there. Lucia and her little daughter Marussia are two such people. They have been thrown out by the Russian acquaintances they were staying with and must tramp the streets with their trolley suitcases searching for somewhere else to live. A Russian Orthodox priest offers them their first night's shelter. They spend the second night in a homeless hostel and party through the third with a chance acquaintance. On the fourth night they sleep clandestinely in a cinema and on the fifth with a Russian artist in a hotel ⦠Lucia is good-looking, dresses elegantly and is certainly not shy of men. This serves the mother and her daughter well. In spite of all the uncertainties in their lives, the two frequently share tender moments.
The happy lives of three best friends from school are brutally upended when Hei (Ivy Chen) breaks up with her fiancé (Wallace Chung). High flyer Kimmy (Fiona Sit) and director May (Yang Zishan) close ranks to help a devastated Hei move on, but she clings to her old feelings despite meeting a highly eligible prospect (Shawn Yue). Whilst May considers leaving the film set to travel the world with a free spirited musician (Vanness Wu); rivalry over the same guy threatens to tear Kimmy and May apart. An unexpected, shocking incident provides a climactic test. Can the girls keep their friendship together?
Summer in L.A., it's hot. Homeland Security has set the threat level at red; they're searching for several Arabs alleged to be terrorists. Mustafa, an Egyptian immigrant who runs a falafel shop, comes to the FBI's attention; they investigate him. He has other problems: his young teen son no longer wants to be a Muslim; his sister, a nurse, objects to Mustafa arranging her marriage to a cousin from Egypt. She has a non-Arab suitor of her own. Omar, an employee of Mustafa, is a struggling actor who doesn't want to play only terrorists. Mustafa hopes to open a real restaurant and has a potential partner in Sam, a Jew, whose family objects. What price the American dream?
Reunited after years apart, childhood sweethearts William and Janne are forced to confront the dark secrets of their past-and the menacing presence of William's pathologically jealous brother â in this haunting story from celebrated Norwegian director Sara Johnsen. (TIFF)
Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fastâmoving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.
Before crossing paths with Peyton, falling for a woman was an unimaginable situation for Elena, a straight wife and mother. The friendship between Peyton, an out lesbian writer, and Elena, the wife of an anti-gay paster who has never experienced true love, transforms swiftly from a one-sided crush into a torrid extramarital affair. Despite their attraction, Peyton, jaded in a number of ways, has strong reservations about becoming involved with a married straight woman; Elena, recognizing that she is caught in a loveless marriage, can barely begin to rationalize the nature and magnitude of her desires. As their relationship evolves, Elena confronts the choice of leaving her husband or ending her involvement with Peyton to save her unraveling and unrewarding marriage and return to a drab and automated life. Above all, Elena faces the looming challenge of convincing Peyton that the two women have a bright future together despite their unfavorable circumstances
Based on the plot of Euripides' Medea. Medea centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed her for another woman.
When Song Qi stumbles upon her boyfriend's affair with her best friend, her life quickly starts falling apart and she is subsequently drawn into a quicksand of revenge and murder. Though all is not as it seems and Song Qi will have to embark on a twisted journey into her past and the very depths of her own mind
Yellowstone is a park, but it's also the deadliest volcano on Earth. Beneath it, a sleeping 'dragon' is stirring. When an earthquake opens a crack for magma to seep through, other warning signs of an eruption start popping up, but they are ignored or dismissed as 'minor'. But when they learn an eruption will happen, panic breaks out through people of the USA and the world.
Victor Bukowski is an out-of-work actor with problems. He's got a lousy agent, he has a habit of falling out with directors and he's still in love with his ex-girlfriend. However, Victor is about to embark on an unexpected emotional journey which will make him confront his future and his past mistakes.
Anthology film of six shorts by leading Korean directors. Park Chan-Wook, tackles racial prejudice and the economic exploitation of immigrant workers through the real-life story of a Nepalese woman in Korea. Jeong Jae-Eun, tackles the plight of a paedophile released into the community. Yeo Gyun-Dong, invites disabled actor Kim Moon-Joo to re-enact his most famous protest. Im Soon-Rye, goes for the engrained sexism of Korean men with superb wit and, Park Jin-Pyo, confronts the horror of children forced into oral surgery to improve their English-speaking ability.
Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.
Alfad, a Lumad whose soul returns to his homeland to settle unfinished businesses and to finally rest. It is based on the Lumadâs belief that when a person dies his soul goes back to his homeland.
Ronah's life unravels when she starts working with a new client, Johnny.
Following the death of his mother, Karol Wojtyla is brought up by his father in the Polish city of Krakow during the first half of the 20th century. When his homeland is invaded by the Nazis in 1939, he secretly opposes the systematic persecution of their Polish culture. With the death of his father, Karol decides to follow a priestly vocation. When Poland falls into the grip of Soviet totalitarianism, the newly ordained Karol is constantly surrounded by young people whom he teaches to safeguard and defend human dignity. He could be considered a serious threat to the regime, but the Communist authorities merely see him as an innocuous intellectual and he becomes the youngest bishop in the history of Poland. When he is appointed Cardinal, Karol is more intransigent in the spiritual guidance of his homeland, becoming a real and proper thorn in the side of the Communist government. On the death of Pope John Paul I in 1978, Karol leaves his beloved Poland to become Pope John Paul II.
This is a comedy about people who work in the theater, live for the theater, think of nothing but the theater. The director seems crazy, the art director has idiotic ideas, and the acting coach is eccentric: they even look like brothers, related by their common obsession for the theater, linked as one with the actors. The new project is Mozart's Don Giovanni, in which the director insists to give it a brand new interpretation and an avant-garde treatment. Now, he has to deal with the violent objection from the actors, the musicians, the singing coach, the stage manager, and even the cafe bar attendants and the cleaners. The situation is further complicated as the director is such a womanizer like Don Juan... and his lovers and kids keep bugging him throughout the rehearsal...
Ten stories meet at Kerala Cafe.
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson returns to the U.S., where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends.
An 18-year-old beauty develops an attraction to an older photographer.
Two estranged half-brothers adventure together through Colombia to fulfill their dead father's will and connect with their family, their father's homeland, and - ultimately - each other.
Haunted by a tragic past, a stunning music student flees her homeland and ends up in an estranged marriage in Los Angeles, where her piano teacher's lover sparks a passion in her that threatens to destroy everything.
A Japanese Yakuza gangsterâs deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, California where he is taken in by his little brother and his brotherâs gang. This is the first English film by Takeshi Kitano.
American Steve Kendall, a freighter's radio officer, discovers seaman Carlson sending an unauthorized message ashore as the ship approaches his war-poised homeland. Carlson is shot in cold blood when he jumps ship and Kendall, implicated in the espionage, swims ashore to avoid arrest. A woman he meets at the dock hides him in her apartment, where he learns Carlson was her brother, and they both work in a sabotage ring. Nedra is a singer at Tio's Cafe, and she approaches Tio for help when both the saboteurs and the secret police try to capture Steve.
After many years two mariners return to homeland with the hope of a new beginning, little did they know about a disaster that would change their destiny.
A fidgety, wisecracking video store clerk develops a fixation on a particularly reclusive customer, a frequent visitor to the pornography section of Cinefile, the video store where he works in Los Angeles. After multiple failures to impress her during their brief daily transactions, he finds her street address in the store's database, drives to her apartment building and initiates an unconventional campaign to win her affections.
An acclaimed stage performer, Dorothy still struggled with the challenge of her color, in a time that wouldn't let some stars in by the front door. Yet against the odds she beat out many more famous rivals for the role of "Carmen Jones", becoming the first black woman ever nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award. Marriages and affairs would break her heart, but her heart was strong. Seductive and easily seduced, she was born to be a star - with all the glory and all the pain of being loved, abused, cheated, glorified, undermined and undefeated. Here was a woman who wouldn't wait in the wings. Halle Berry stars as Dorothy Dandrige.
The personal journey of young Sita is not only an expedition into her family's burdened past during World War 2. It is also a journey to the abyss of modern European society, a trip which takes her from Berlin to Romania via Vienna and Warsaw - about losing one's homeland and discovering oneself, about hope and responsibility.
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