This brisk ensemble-cast thriller begins as if somebody just kicked over a rock and all the underworld characters in picturesque Barcelona went scurrying. Amid the thieves, hookers, and crooked cops, it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad ones—... more

South Korean icon Bae Du-na gives a fantastic performance as Nozomi, the love doll companion to a boring, sleazy but essentially harmless middle-aged man (Itsuji Itao). Within the first minutes of the movie, she inexplicably comes to life, not be... more

This enchanting father-and-son idyll was shot in Quintana Roo, on clear blue waters that contain the planet’s second-largest barrier coral reef. A descendent of Mayans, Jorge lives there simply, working as a fisherman with his father. He met an Itali... more

It's Paris, 1941. Exiled Armenian poet Manouchian, who survived his own people's genocide, finds common cause with the Jews being rounded up and reluctantly takes control of a ragtag group of young, foreign-born resistance fighters. At the risk of th... more

In director Inoue's debut feature, following her prize-winning short, The Woman Who Is Beating the Earth, we follow Catholic nun Sister Mariko (singer and musician Shibakusa Rei), who is questioning her life as she approaches menopause. Under brill... more

Based on the true events, The Balibo Conspiracy skillfully uses archival footage and various film stocks to recreate the chaotic and controversial days leading up to Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor. Anthony LaPaglia plays the real-life Roger ... more

In a crowded Rio de Janeiro nightclub, the mutual attraction is nearly instantaneous between handsome Roberto (Reynaldo Gianecchini) and beautiful Paula (Paola Oliveira). Grabbing a nearby hotel room, they immediately grab each other, heedless of any... more

Beyond Ipanema is a film about the cycle of discovery of Brazilian music in the world. Why does Bossa Nova still lure DJs 50 years after it was created? What makes the Tropicália movement resonate so deeply with names like Beck and Devendra Banhart? ... more

A discussion with Filmfest DC guest filmmakers: Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, Directors of The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom and Dan Sturman, Director of Soundtrack for a Revolution. We are pleased to invite documentary filmma... more

Soft-spoken yet focused in the distinctly unassuming vein of his Midwestern upbringing, bassist and composer Charlie Haden's long-overdue documentary biography plays like a particularly warm and intimate musical composition. And that's by neces... more

Director Dilip Mehta's sly film takes us inside both the privileged world of Canadian diplomats in New Delhi and the more tenuous existence of the poor Indians who work for them. Stella (the charming Seema Biswas), the Canadian High Commission’s long... more

After the 1973 overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende, the members of his cabinet were sent to Dawson Island, a naval base in frigid Patagonia. They were imprisoned in a makeshift concentration camp and assigned numbers. Number 10 was Sergio... more

"It would be nice to go back in time and start over," says Alice (Katharine Schüttler), a mysterious young woman who seems to be on a mission. Driving through the beautiful Alsace-Lorraine countryside, she purposefully crashes her car into a tree clo... more

After her husband's death, Romany Vera Horvathova discovers that she presents a problem for most of society. After years of not paying rent, she moves into a small welfare flat where, despite the rough conditions, she tries to give her seven children... more

Markos's life takes a radical turn in a coffee shop when he picks up an essay entitled "Melancholia in Rock 'n' Roll" left behind by Electra, a student of music history. Markos pursues Electra and, when they meet, it is music that brings them togethe... more

Christian Carion's previous film, the Oscar®-nominated Joyeux Noel, took the director into French, English, and German archives to research the story of the "Christmas Truce" during WWI. For Farewell, Carion added a trip inside Russia’s private past ... more

The regulars at Bologna's Margherita Café are, to use the technical term, "losers." But they're an entertaining lot and likely to be as cherished by viewers as they are by the film's protagonist, an 18-year-old dubbed "The Kid." Set in 1954, the late... more

Delia is the happiest girl in the world. She has just won a luxury car after taking part in a beverage promotional contest. All she has to do is star in a TV commercial while driving the car and reciting a testimonial line to perfection. The price is... more

On the shabby side of London, a run-down block of council estate flats has become the unchallenged playground of a group of violent thugs and drug dealers. Graffiti covers the front doors and the elderly residents must stay inside or become victims o... more

A wistful account of loss woven with the hope of possibility, this Egyptian ensemble piece is even set in a lost place: Cairo's Heliopolis neighborhood, once the city’s European quarter. In a series of overlapping stories, writer-director Ahmad Abdal... more

"Here" is the less glamorous streets of New York City, and "there" is battle-scarred Belgrade, Serbia. And to director Lungulov’s camera, the two can often look the same. The issue of where one's home truly is lies at the heart of this story about do... more

Hipsters is a lush rebel-with-a-cause musical chock full of intricately choreographed, toe-tapping numbers and plenty of none-too-subtle social commentary. The plot takes many unexpected twists and turns as it celebrates the uneasy Cold War romance b... more

There's lots of reggae music in this compelling documentary, whose interviewees include such reggae performers as Sugar Minott, U Roy, and Culture's Joseph Hill. Yet the film's main subject is not the music, but its inspiration: Rastafarianism. This ... more

This thoroughly madcap dark comedy follows a divorcing middle-aged couple forced to remain together until they can sell their house. Although husband Juhani (Hannu-Pekka Bjorkman) prepares a new list of "house rules" to make life bearable, he immedia... more

Tilda Swinton delivers another in a memorable string of fiercely independent-minded performances as Emma, the transplanted Russian wife of a newly anointed Italian textile magnate (Pippo Delbono). Emma throws a birthday dinner for her wealthy patriar... more

No mothers are murdered during the course of this semi-autobiographical family smackdown, but teenage protagonist Hubert does sometimes tell people that his mom is deceased. Played by 21-year-old writer-director Xavier Dolan, Hubert is a gay high sch... more

A delicacy for opera devotees, the latest musical film from veteran Spanish director Carlos Saura (Blood Wedding, Carmen) goes backstage in 18th-century Vienna as "Don Giovanni" is written and rehearsed. Mozart and Salieri both feature in the story, ... more

French auteur Alain Cavalier's moving love poem to his wife—the actress Irène Tunc who died in car crash years earlier—is composed with a lightweight video camera and his own voiceover commentary that is by turns private, compelling, poignant, comica... more

In an impoverished trailer park on the outskirts of Rome, a small band of social outcasts eke out an existence in the dreary Italian winter. Circus performers Patty (Patrizia Gerardi) and Walter (Walter Saabel) wait patiently for the summer to come, ... more

For what might be his last major project, Qatar's Museum of Islamic Art, Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei decided to learn "the essence" of an architectural style he didn't really know. The 92-year-old designer studied buildings throughout the Is... more

A gentle parable of redemption, this Finnish drama is about a minister and the paroled murderess who can't see what he's done for her. Expecting to serve a life sentence, sullen Leila is unexpectedly released and offered a position at Jacob's remote ... more

Lauded Palme d'Or winning director Ken Loach crafts a whimsical dramedy that skillfully walks the tricky line between the comedic and the serious. Eric Bishop is a wreck. One of his panic attacks has just spurred a car crash that landed him in the ho... more

Although times are tough, the female workers of a provincial toy factory are given new smocks to assure them of their company's stability. When they show up the next day, they're shocked to find the factory empty, its machinery and management nowhere... more

This smartly contemplative film was shot on location at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in the beautiful foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains. Wheelchair-bound Christine (the talented Sylvie Testud) has joined a group of pilgrims seeking solace a... more

Get ready to rock'n'roll as the music of the '60s era goes behind the Iron Curtain in this toe-tapping musical romantic comedy. After a prolonged stay in the U.S., a Brylcreemed Hungarian teenybopper teaches his Communist-era peers about rock 'n' rol... more

Brought to the screen by Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy; Black Robe) is the inspiring true story of Li Cunxin. Born in 1961, Li lived with his six brothers and impoverished parents in China's Shandong Province. In the midst of the Cultural Revol... more

Winner of the Jury Award, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay Awards at this year's Thessa-loniki Film Festival, this ironic and immensely touching film encapsulates Romania's shift from communism to capitalism. Ion (Victor Rebengiuc), is a 75-year-old m... more

Set in 1942 amid the Japanese invasion of China, this lavish spy thriller keeps us guessing and rethinking what we know until the very end. After the resistance manages a series of assassinations of members of the Japanese-controlled puppet governmen... more

Winner of audience awards and other accolades at festivals from Bratislava and Bologna, Mid-August Lunch is a mellow gem of a film, and represents a modest triumph for Di Gregorio, who co-wrote Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah. Sixtyish Gianni (writer-direc... more

Haiti has a castle high atop a mountain outside Port-au-Prince. It is a remnant of colonial power and debauchery hiding in the mists. It is from this height that the president rules. Styling himself an imperial monarch, he rattles paranoid around the... more

Winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize, No One Knows About Persian Cats was co-scripted by Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was imprisoned in Iran last year. A CBGBs T-shirt, a Joy Division poster, l... more

Depressed that the love of his life is now with his former best friend, Jomar (Anders Baasmo Christiansen) spends his days watching disaster documentaries on the National Geographic Channel and half-heartedly running a shabby ski park. When he accide... more

The Other Irene is an odd event in the current landscape of Romanian cinema. Although paying tribute to the aesthetics of the Romanian New Wave, director Gruzsniczki also embraces thriller genre conventions, delivering a distilled suspenseful tale ba... more

After her husband's sudden death, Claire has an intriguing idea: The almost-septuagenarian will reunite "The Sisters of Love," her pop vocal trio of 50 years ago. The other two singers agree, easygoing Magda embracing the plan more quickly than uptig... more

When an old woman, Nusret, played by veteran French actress Tsilla Chelton, disappears in a small Black Sea town, her estranged children travel from their homes in Istanbul to find her. The journey and process of finding Nusret unleashes long-kept an... more

Three beautiful silent-era films from Spain feature live musical accompaniment conducted by Gillian Anderson and performed on two pianos by Max Midroit and Ju-Ping Song. The composers are Sergi Casanelles, Elias Constantopedos, Shruti Kumar, Dosia Mc... more

The composer Giacomo Puccini's operas are some of the most famous and oft-performed works in the entire operatic canon. Like that of his characters, the composer's privileged life could become complicated. While the composer is writing "The Girl of t... more

Suddenly finding himself a widower, film executive Pietro (Nanni Moretti) is bewildered by his apparent lack of grief yet resolves to be the perfect father to his 10-year-old daughter, Claudia (Blu Yoshimi). This determination manifests itself oddly:... more

This tight thriller is soon to be remade as a vehicle for Mark Walhberg under the direction of the current star Baltasar Kormakur, a favorite son of Filmfest DC by virtue of such vivid directorial efforts as 101 Reykjavik and The Sea. Kormakur plays ... more

During WWI, German-Jewish peasant Siegmund "Menne" Spiegel (Armin Rohde) won an Iron Cross for bravery on the Western Front. "Twenty-five years later," he narrates wearily, "my homeland was trying to kill me." Based on the incredible true story of Me... more

Seven months into her second marriage in contemporary Cairo, smart and sexy Sun TV presenter Hebba Younes is grappling with a crisis: husband Karim, deputy editor of a popular newspaper, is under some pressure from higher-ups to persuade his wife to ... more

The Oscar®-nominated young people's film The Secret of Kells is set against the Norse eighth century and concerns the creation of that foremost illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells. Twelve-year-old Brendan (Evan McGuire) is caught between the or... more

Oskar has his roles perfectly balanced: beloved husband, attentive father, and favorite television weatherman. However, one Saturday morning he wakes up to the realization that his wife’s nose is just too big. How could he have lived with her for so ... more

This year's collection features: 7:57 AM-PM (France), As The Rain Was Falling (France), Caviar (Romania), Jade (UK), Pigeon Impossible (USA), Seeds of the Fall (Sweden), Six Dollar Fifty Man (New Zealand) and Sundown (Greece). ... more

Based on the true story of a young girl growing up in a Mafia family, The Sicilian Girl shines an intriguing light on what is, even in the Mediterranean, a shadowy world. After she witnesses her father gunned down in the street, Rita (Veronica D'Agos... more

In a bucolic village in the 1950s, a colorful wedding is silently taking place while the country enters national mourning over Stalin's death. Silent Wedding is inspired by a real-life event from the communist past and proves pure gold for Horaƫiu Mǎ... more

Calling Skeletons a surrealistic dark comedy barely captures the many charms of writer/director Nick Whitfield's debut feature. Itinerant exorcists Bennett and Davis (Andrew Buckley and Ed Gaughan) are a modern-day Laurel and Hardy marching glumly ac... more

Turkish-German director Fatih Akin’s hectic comedy follows Greek brothers Zinos and Illias, who operate a restaurant in a converted warehouse in a rundown area of Hamburg. Soul Kitchen combines good food, a thumping soundtrack of great soul music, fr... more

Executive produced by Danny Glover, Soundtrack for a Revolution tells the story of the American Civil Rights movement through its powerful music: freedom songs sung on picket lines, in mass meetings, in paddy wagons, and in jail cells by black and wh... more

The Sun Behind the Clouds updates the struggle for Tibetan independence, focusing on the March 2008 demonstration against Chinese rule, the largest since the 1959 takeover of that nation. The Dalai Lama is given the opportunity to explicate his "mid... more

Encroaching middle-age proves troublesome for a group of former jocks, who still bask in the fading memory of almost winning a bronze medal in "floorball" (hockey without ice) in 1985. For team leader Frederik, unemployment and his ex-wife's job tran... more

Instead of wasting energy bad-mouthing Romania's communist regime, Tales from the Golden Age takes an affectionate look at the absurdity it wrought. Divided into five episodes, the film adapts well-known urban legends to recreate the period of rule b... more

Rising tango talent Helena Ferri (Eugenia Ramirez) is abruptly rejected by her lover and spirals into despair as she begins to resemble the emotionally tortured characters in the songs she inhabits with considerable fervor. But what if she took off... more

The intense friendship, and later bitter feud, between François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard is told through archival interviews with most of the main characters involved with the French New Wave movement as well as an amazing collection of vintage n... more

Imagine that the president of the United States was also the president of CBS, Fox, HBO—and MTV, too. That's sort of what happened in Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi got rich on sex, scandal, and reality TV. Berlusconi vaulted from smutty quiz shows t... more

This lively documentary shows the White Stripes duo on a tour of Canada that visits every province and territory, including remote Nunavut. In addition to regular concerts, the group performs "side-shows" in such locations as boats, bowling alleys, a... more

When this uproarious road comedy begins, the central characters are young, prosperous, and in love. So what could go wrong as Elvis travels from Johannesburg to Cape Town to wed Ayanda? Well, just about everything. A missed bus, bad directions, a mut... more

This charming romantic comedy was Switzerland's top-grossing film of the year. In a Swiss village straight out of a chocolate ad, Rahel Hubli (Marie Leuenberger) works as a civil registrar performing marriages. Although her own marriage isn’t going w... more

A musician and his would-be disciple traverse northern Colombia in this picturesque saga that is as much a sonic expedition as a geographic one. Having just buried his wife, despondent Ignacio sets out to return his instrument—a distinctive horned ac... more

Internationally acclaimed visual artist Shirin Neshat is known for her stark, potent photo and video portraits of how women in Islam experience the world. Given a canvas as vast as a feature film, she expands her vision while simultaneously bringing ... more

Writer-director Pawel Borowski's remarkably assured debut feature takes place over one very long day in a busy Polish city. His camera follows people as they bump into each other—sometimes literally—on their daily rounds, and the story likewise carom... more