The Promise

The trajectory of a romantic couple of contemporary artists reveals how the limits, contradictions and obsessions of a romantic relationship are reflected in each of their artistic endeavors.

Sina and her best friend Aleks are young teenagers of immigrant origin in Germany in 1993, but a film project on a school trip puts their symbiotic friendship to the test.

All the way, Cao Li has come alone. From Fuyang to Shenzhen. From Shenzhen to Shanghai. From Shanghai to home? Leaving hometown is her choice, the choice out of no choice. Returning home is her dream, the dream getting blinded by the neon lights in the city.--

MARJORAM is a psychological suspense drama about a mother-daughter relationship in which love and abuse seem go hand in hand. Anna (11) is a smart and talented kid. Mary, her mother, actively supports Anna so that she can get the best out of her talents. However, suddenly Anna starts behaving in strange ways, putting herself in danger. When asked what is happening, Anna claims that she is just fine. Her weird behavior however continues, driving Mary to her limits. Why a child, who seems happy on the surface, is acting so unpredictably? Why a mother, who loves her child so much, is having no clue of what is going on?

Little Fatmir, whose parents have worked in a construction site, dreams of building himself a town. In his efforts to make his dream a reality, the kindergarten teacher and a workman who brings in working tools for all his friends, assist him. Within the courtyard of a kindergarten, the newest town in the world is thus erected, where children's dreams and characters are revealed.

Tomka is a boy who likes playing football with his friends. When the German army captures his town, the German soldiers establish their camp in the town stadium. Tomka with help from his friends and their parents organizes sabotage actions against the soldiers.

Laetita Masson directs this hallucinatory dream-like work about dancing on the beach, Elvis impersonators, and sailors longing to live and work in Taipei. Sandrine Kiberlain, Johnny Hallyday, and Julian Sands are just a few of the many cast members.

A dying woman, who stole her best friend's lover, is convinced that a spell has been cast on her, so she orchestrates her former friend's return from a self-imposed exile in Africa in the hopes of breaking the spell.

Gautam is an NRI who returns to India to cast his vote. When challenged by the woman he loves, Bhavana, to make a politician fulfil his campaign promises if he wants to win her over, Gautam sets off on a path to change the system.

Rolf Köster has been working as a cashier in a small bank branch for years. Every day passes like the day before. He has a thirteen-year-old daughter who would rather write in a diary than speak and a six-year-old son who has to wear a bicycle helmet because he is constantly banging his head against walls. His wife organizes the whole family life, and Rolf stays in the background. But he has doubts as to whether he, who has "everything", is really happy. Then Rolf is unexpectedly given a week's vacation. He decides not to tell his family and to leave the house as usual. Rolf Köster begins to lead a double life.

Single dad Richard meets Christine, a starving artist who moonlights as a cabbie. They awkwardly attempt to start a romance, but Richard’s divorce has left him emotionally damaged. Meanwhile, Richard’s sons—one a teenager, the other 6-years-old—take part in clumsy experiments with the opposite sex.

A fictionalised exploration of Beethoven's life in his final days working on his Ninth Symphony. It is 1824. Beethoven is racing to finish his new symphony. However, it has been years since his last success and he is plagued by deafness, loneliness and personal trauma. A copyist is urgently needed to help the composer. A fictional character is introduced in the form of a young conservatory student and aspiring composer named Anna Holtz. The mercurial Beethoven is skeptical that a woman might become involved in his masterpiece but slowly comes to trust in Anna's assistance and in the end becomes quite fond of her. By the time the piece is performed, her presence in his life is an absolute necessity. Her deep understanding of his work is such that she even corrects mistakes he has made, while her passionate personality opens a door into his private world.

After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.

During the 1972 elections, two reporters' investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.

Since they were both five, Ryosuke has been stalked by Momoko - the ugliest girl in the village. Her love for Ryosuke is so boundless that she has her face surgically altered to suit his taste - but still he wants nothing to do with her. Ryosuke goes in for fleeting romance - for example, with the girlfriend of a gangster boss. But when he finds out about their affair, he has Ryosuke's little finger hacked off. Magically, the finger falls into Momoko's hands, and she uses it to clone Ryosuke, so she can finally have him (or almost him) for herself. And this is just the first five minutes of Lisa Takeba's short-but-powerful feature debut. Just like in her previous short films, the director - who cut her teeth in the advertising world and as the writer of a video game - throws a lot of genres and techniques into the mix: from science fiction to gangster films, from hospital eroticism to animation. Hectic and absurd, but with its heart in the right place. © IFFR