Ad Meliora

A portrait of Rita, who claims that her mother was never a mother for her. Rita gives birth to her own five children and forces her mother to take the role of a mother.

Sanda spends all her time working in a plastic factory, raising her two small children and catering to an indifferent husband, leaving little room for herself. A chance encounter with another man may offer her an escape from her daily chores.

Based on true events, several stories about disempowerment of women, are closely intertwined, affecting to each other's, unfolding against the background of the traditional, patriarchal society of modern-day Kyrgyzstan ultimately result in a series of tragic outcomes. The realities of modern-day Kyrgyzstan, despite the status of a "secular state", are violence, hypocrisy, and widespread infringement of the rights of women who are stay a socially unprotected part of the population. Under the conditions of aggressive propaganda of both patriarchal and radical, religious ideology, the ideas of feminism in Kyrgyzstan are equated with the popularization of LGBTQ communities, are openly criticized and the justice system, in most cases, takes the side of murderers and rapists.

Feeling not real? Let me go insane. An homage to the director's mind. A take on body dysmorphia and the bloody tale of self love.

In 1911, a willful and determined man from peasant stock named Charles Saganne enlists in the military and is assigned to the Sahara Desert under the aristocratic Colonel Dubreuilh.

Simon is an eight-year-old boy who seems to have everything from life. He’s a handsome child, he’s rich yet unhappy. He senses that there’s something wrong with his life and this leads him to wander off thanks to his fervid imagination. His greatest wish is to leave the materialistic world behind since he isn’t fond of it. That’s why the only present he wants for Christmas is for Santa Claus to take him away to live in his fairyland toy factory. At the same time, a secret that his family has been keeping for a long time suddenly comes to the surface and it is feared that the worst might happen soon. The expectation for the stroke of midnight on the night before Christmas is transformed into reality for everyone on the eve of something truly different. Something terrible that might happen.

‘Recrudescence’ takes place in a gothic, dystopian reality wherein a patriarchal judiciary removes the anger of women within whom it is deemed excessive. This is the case for Audrey, a writer of philosophy. But when Audrey’s husband tries to capitalise on her state, her anger returns in an unusual form...

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Courage was gradually growing, as the anguish took hold of the body. One morning, Gloria, 34, sets out to find herself back again.

A short indie film

The 43rd edition screens Neighbors, with five segments about the theme “neighbors”: not only about physical proximity, but also about relationships. In Brazil, Olga is a 90-year-old black woman who lost her husband one year ago; her neighbors, who come from different parts of the world, interrupt her grief. In Russia, an employee tries so hard to please his boss that he becomes inconvenient. An Indian woman, with the help of her male friend, decides to learn how to drive, an uncommon practice for women in the country. In China, an elderly, owner of an old and decadent barbershop, argues with his son, who wants to change the business. In South Africa, a group of homeless fights for the right to housing.

This is a fairy tale about a girl who just lived and was, and about a boy who just lived and was. You may recognize yourself in these stories, but all coincidences with real people are accidental.

Hélène, a woman living alone in a suburban house in 1976, is confronted by her past when her husband suddenly reappears after going away for a year and a half to write a novel.

An epic meditation on psychoanalysis, the Baader-Meinhof, feminism, and pre-revolutionary Russia.

Human, Tears, Art

A woman reflects under the parapet.

Love and admiration in 16mm. The fusion a beauty that exists throughout three generations; my three Venus.

A heartwarming look at two lifelong fashionistas, who face ridicule from their small minded village, pop to the shop to buy some alcohol.

Matthew, a college freshman, meets his dream girl in a dorm elevator during a blackout. He never sees her face, but instantly falls in love. In the morning, the power is restored, but the "dream girl" has vanished. All Matthew knows is that she lives in an all-girls dorm. He sets out on a semester-long journey to find his mystery girl among a hundred female suspects. Could it be Wendy? Dora? Arlene? Patty? Cynthia? Or the 95 other girls, any of whom could have been in that elevator with Matthew.

Love blossoms secretly between two old women at an elderly care home while the specter of patriarchy looms large overhead.