53 DIAS DE INVIERNO, Judith Colell (Spain)

A young cello player has an affair with her music teacher, a man much older than her. A supermarket security guard loses his job for stealing a piece of jewellery as a gift for his wife. Following a year off work, a teacher returns to her job, trembling at the idea of facing her students. Three tales side-by-side in this second feature film from Judith Colell, director of Nosotras (2000).

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ANG DAAN PATUNGONG KALIMUGTONG, Mes de Guzman (The Philippines)

A young brother and sister live in a distant hut with their ailing grandfather. Every day they have to walk for miles to attend school, visit their parents’ grave and wait for two “uncles” to give them some uninventive food. When the “uncles” take too long to come, they cook up a herb-based concoction... A quasi-documentary about people who seem to come from another world, marking a return to the Festival of Philippine cinema after several years of absence.

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BORN/CHILDREN, Ragnar Bragason (Iceland)

A nurse and mother of four fights her second husband for the custody of her three daughters and the survival of her football crazy eldest son. Among her neighbours is the schizophrenic Marino, who can’t bear to see his widowed mother having adventures with a suitor. This film is part of a project by its director pointing towards a sequel about the parents. A powerful opera prima cleverly combining tragic overtones with a touch of comedy.

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BOSQUE DE SOMBRAS/THE BACKWOODS, Koldo Serra (Spain- UK-France)

Northern Spain in the late 70s, the hottest summer in years. Norman and Lucy are an English couple not precisely going through their best moment. A holiday with friends Paul and Isabel would seem to be the solution. Far from London, what sets out as an idyllic weekend of nature and sport in the farmhouse recently bought by Paul doesn’t end as expected. Their cultural shock with the locals, headed by Paco, and their sudden encounter with an abandoned house unleashes growing violence between them. The director from Bilbao, Koldo Serra, makes his feature film debut with an international cast, after having made several shorts including El tren de la bruja (2003), winner among many other awards of the Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Gold at Sitges.

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CASHBACK, Sean Ellis (UK)

When art student Ben Willis is dumped by his girlfriend Suzy, he develops insomnia. To pass the long hours of the night, he starts working the late night shift at the local supermarket. There he meets a colourful cast of characters, all of whom have their own 'art' in dealing with the boredom of an eight-hour-shift. Ben's art is that he imagines himself stopping time. This way, he can appreciate the artistic beauty of the frozen world and the people inside it - especially Sharon, the quiet checkout girl, who perhaps holds the answer to solving the problem of Ben's insomnia.

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LA DISTANCIA, Iñaki Dorronsoro (Spain)

A promising boxer lands in jail after attempting to rob a tobacconist’s shop. In prison, a corrupt cop forces him to murder another prisoner. Getting out, he strikes up a relation with the dead man’s widow, a prostitute in a club, who is also hustled by the police. A film noir set around boxing, corruption and human relations. Directorial debut by the filmmaker Iñaki Dorronsoro, also author of the medium-length El ojo del fotógrafo (1993).

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EMMAS GLÜCK / EMMA'S BLISS, Sven Taddicken (Germany)

A mediocre car salesman suddenly learns that he has terminal pancreatic cancer. His plans to spend the last days of his life in a Mexican paradise are foiled by a chance car accident pointing his steps towards a pig farm run by a dry, lonely, deeply indebted girl and an affair. Intense melodrama combining comedy with drama set round a spot-on study of the heroes, played by two of today’s most popular German movie stars.

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FAIR PLAY, Lionel Bailliu (France-Belgium-Czech Republic)

Sculling, squash, golf and the river thrashing through a deep gorge form the backdrop against which a group of yuppies bash out their jealousy, grudges and double-crossing as they fight for the reigns of a big company. A strange combination of sports and business intrigue narrated at racy speed, with growing suspense, spectacular scenery and enormous tension. A solid opera prima starring some of French cinema’s most promising actors.

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FAMILIA TORTUGA, Rubén Imaz Castro (Mexico)

The Tortuga family comprises two teenagers, an out-of-work father and an uncle with cerebral palsy. The movie traces a full day in their lives, eve of the first anniversary of the death of the mother whose absence continues to mark them all. First work from a very young Mexican director showing obvious signs of outstanding personality and a special talent for mise-en-scène. Special mention at Films in Progress 9.

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KUNSTEN AT GRÆDE I KOR/THE ART OF CRYING, Peter Schønau Fog (Denmark)

The 70s in a small, closed Danish village from which there’s no escape. A dairy farmer discontent with himself and the family he has contributed to forming constantly threatens to commit suicide in his endeavour to earn the love of the kids who console him in rather unorthodox ways. The monsters he has nurtured will leave home and create their own atrocities. A story seen through the eyes of a boy who has his own explanation for his family’s unusual situation. What sets out as a grotesque comedy soon turns into a fable gone terribly wrong.

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KUTSIDAZU BIDEA, IXABEL, Fernando Bernués & Mireia Gabilondo (Spain)

A youngster from San Sebastian decides to spend the summer in a remote mountain farmhouse to improve his Basque. At the farmhouse, he discovers that the Basque spoken by the inhabitants has little in common with his classroom studies. He also discovers the surprises, pleasures and downsides of life in the country. Entirely filmed in Basque, this is the movie version of the enormously successful novel by Josean Sagistizabal and first feature by Fernando Bernués and Mireia Gabilondo.

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MEI MAN REN SHENG/SINGAPORE DREAMING, Yen Yen Woo, Colin Goh (Singapore)

A middle-class family in a Singapore of savage, competitive capitalism. The father dreams of a more luxurious house that he’d have to win the lottery to obtain. The married, pregnant daughter nags her husband for being a professional failure. The son returning from his degree studies in the USA doesn’t land the job he wants as his girlfriend waits patiently for his success to get married. A gentle comedy clearly portraying the problems of a society far more typical of the West than the East.

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JI QUAN BU NING/ONE FOOT OFF THE GROUND, Chen Daming (China)

A traditional opera company folds due to money problems and its members have to start over in new jobs. One of them sells faked dogs, another tries his hand at shady dealing, noticing how his wife longs for a new life in France, and a third works as a photographer, while their true dream is for the opera company to get back on its feet. Their ups and downs keep a permanent smile on our lips while the odd well-placed gag has us blatantly guffawing. An unpretentious, highly endearing comedy.

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PROIBIDO PROIBIR, Jorge Durán
(Brazil - Txile - Espainia)

Two young friends share a flat together. One is a slightly anarcho medicine student with a penchant for joints and stout believer in the slogan “Forbidden to Forbid”, and the other, a socially-committed sociology student with a girlfriend. Conflict raises its ugly head between them when the girlfriend falls for the other flatmate. A new and rather free interpretation of Truffaut’s Jules et Jim, with seductively refreshing actors and parts. Winner of the Films in Progress 8 Industry Award.

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THE SENSATION OF SIGHT, Aaron J. Wiederspahn (USA)

An introverted English teacher suffering from despairing guilt after recently observing a tragedy decides to leave his boring life and family to become a local door-to-door salesman in the hope of finding an answer to the irreversible occurrence and the redemption he needs so badly. A poetic exploration of the drama, with a hotchpotch of characters assailed by loneliness, guilt and existential doubts. An elegant mise-en-scène and great cast topped by David Strathairn, the Oscar candidate for Good Night, and Good Luck.

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SONNER (SONS), Erik Richter Strand (Norway)

A swimming pool lifeguard thinks he recognises the man who abused him as a child. Seeing how he is still up to the same nonsense when a boy gets into his car, the lifeguard films the man and blackmails him with the threat of uncovering the material. Other former victims appear and the media issues reports of an anti-child abuse outfit... A red-hot subject tackled from an original angle making absolutely no judgement of the characters portrayed in every detail.

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VISPERAS, Daniela Goggi (Argentina)

A woman undergoes a biopsy of uncertain outcome, spending the weekend before receiving the results with her charming family, all experts at ignoring problems. We meet her sister, niece and boyfriend, her birthdaying uncle and her possessive, somewhat fanciful mother. There is never any real communication between the characters who are left to face their expectations alone. Intimate cinema juggling with the loneliness of its characters and the events in their lives.

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WIR WERDEN UNS WIEDERSEH'N / SO LONG! Oliver Paulus & Stefan Hillebrand (Switzerland-Germany)

Second film from Oliver Paulus and Stefan Hillebrand (who landed a special mention from the New Directors Jury at San Sebastian 2003 with his first movie, When The Right One Comes Along) set in an old folk’s home. A place only visited by outsiders when they’ve got something important to do: visit a patient, work, or receive the necessary care. The three principle characters work at the home and, like many of the patients, have to confront their fears to be able to live. For its authors, this is a film about waiting. The waiting of old people for the nursing staff to arrive, to have breakfast, to die. The waiting for happiness, the waiting to be able to live. The thing is that anyone who’s afraid to die is afraid to live...