Bench Talkies

Four darkly funny tales about Lebanon: Activists planning a protest descend into internal strife. Three sisters and their mother argue while an incompetent plumber destroys their flat. Depressed life coach Malek wants to die and seeks help from a «death coach». A stand-up comedian who jokes about a meteor strike that could put Lebanon out of its misery, is blamed when it appears to come true.

Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: an everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank, and a bitter old recluse receives an uninvited guest.

A group of Mumbai up-and-comers search for love and struggle for success in this ensemble drama that centers on an eager young call centre executive.

A young boy tells three stories of horror to distract a witch who plans to eat him.

A romantic film composed of seven intertwining love stories. Couples in love offer a glimpse into their intimate private lives as they deal with emotional problems proportional to their age and nature. Teenagers experience their first romantic love; young artists try to cope with the success and fame that has invaded their privacy; a self-destructive bohemian encounters a pure, religious being; an unfaithful husband must make a fateful decision; a lazy cynic unexpectedly falls in love; self-centered seniors with unsuccessful pasts try together to build a better future, and love disrupts even the world of paid private prostitution.

On the surface, this collection of shorts by up-and-coming African American filmmakers arrived at a perfect time. The cutting-edge products of the New Black Cinema of the early '90s had disappeared, giving way to embarrassingly stereotypical, scatological fare such as Booty Call and Next Friday. This feature-packed compilation (which includes production notes, interviews with all of the filmmakers, and audio commentary by four) attempts to prove that African American cinema is intent on moving past the lowbrow humor, as six of the seven shorts steer clear of any comedy.

A horror anthology film starring the U.K.'s own Tromette, Kitty Kiss, more commonly known as Nurse Meow.

An anthology of four romantic stories across four age groups connected by that magical thread called love.

A triptych fable following a man without choice who tries to take control of his own life; a policeman who is alarmed that his wife who was missing-at-sea has returned and seems a different person; and a woman determined to find a specific someone with a special ability, who is destined to become a prodigious spiritual leader.

The film is divided into two episodes, The Hair of Disgrace and The Magician, both focusing on the theme of the occult and beliefs. The title translates as "Eye, Evil Eye, Parsley and Fennel".

When the pieces of a singular figure are unearthed and then joined together, a devil of the lowest category breaks into a small Mediterranean village. From that moment on, the demon will enter the life of a painter named Bernardino, in the affairs of a "modern" marriage, in the existence of a frightened gardener and, finally, in the day-to-day life of the Great Momo.

Four tales of terror: "Blood Witch": A twisted Goth girl summons a murderous seventeenth century witch to exact gory revenge on anyone who crosses her path. "Mike Wuz Here": Night shift workers at an old movie theater are terrorized by the ghost of a former employee who committed suicide in the building. "One Foot In The Grave": When a beautiful young dancer loses one of her feet due to malpractice, she uses black magic to bring the severed appendage back to life. "Slay Ride": Left behind by her family on Christmas eve, a teenage delinquent punk chick quickly becomes surrounded by murder and mayhem.

Two historical stories about love. In the story "The Arabian Horse", the scheming townsman Messer Francesco Vergellesi is so firmly convinced of his wife's virtue that he does not hesitate to bet her against a rare stallion he has a crush on... The story "The Earrings" shows how a poor girl can help herself to a rare jewel and what intrigues are needed for an elderly noble couple to finally have an heir...

Two hilarious short stories set in the milieu of apprentice youth, depicting the amorous travails of teenage boys. In the first story, "The Sorrows of the Devil's Apprentice", we see a talkative storekeeper who is constantly advising his charges on how they should behave, unaware that one of the young men has fallen in love with his daughter. Overcoming shyness is also depicted in the second of the stories, entitled "May I Beg, Helen?"