In the Name of the Land

Two brothers who are forced off their farm in the debt stricken mid-west become folk heroes when they begin robbing the banks that have been foreclosing on farmers.

Amongst the mountains of Lesotho, an 80-year-old widow winds up her affairs and makes arrangements for her burial. But when her village is threatened with resettlement due to the construction of a reservoir, she finds a new will to live and ignites a spirit of resistance within her community.

Saheita, the final heir of a once rich and respectable family, can't refuse the many villagers that come to him for favours and money, even though he is on the brink of bankruptcy. Around town he is better known by his nickname Mr. Shosuke Ohara.

16-year-old Gary Black is an average football player, budding wordsmith and reluctant hero. Gary helps his local Australian Rules football team win the local championship by accident, but celebrations turn to violence when Gary's Aboriginal best friend, Dumby Red is denied the "Best and Fairest" medal because of the racism of local officials.

Maria is a shellfisherwoman and midwife in a small village in the Illa de Arousa in 1970s Galicia. After an unexpected event, she is forced to flee to Portugal.

After the death of his mother, a lonely farmer in rural Switzerland considers finally starting a family of his own. Eventually he pays for a bride from Thailand. The couple don't share a language, but being to know each other. However the village neighbors are suspicious of foreigners.

China, during the rule of the Qing Dynasty. The arranged marriage between Wang Lung, a humble farmer, and O-Lan, a domestic slave, will endure the many hardships of life over the years; but the temptations of a fragile prosperity will endanger their love and the survival of their entire family.

During the last years of Franco's dictatorship, Fernando, an old republican exile, returns to his home in a small Castilian village and befriends Aurora, a young and attractive teacher.

A farmer and his wife live in a rural part of Inner Mongolia with their three children. Chinese population control policies prevent them from having any more. The farmer sets out for the nearest town to obtain birth control. He comes upon a Russian truck driver who has ended up in a lake. The farmer takes the man back to his farm, and after initially being appalled, the Russian becomes enchanted with the peaceful life of the countryside and decides to stay. But his presence presages big changes for the peasants.

A son quits his job and is persuaded by his father to head off to a cottage in the remote mountains. Together, the two of them manage to get through their days while wearing old jerseys left by a deceased grandmother. The following summer, the two once again leave the stifling heat of Tokyo, as if escaping to the mountain cottage. However, the next summer is very different.

Living in a crowded, multi-generational household in a small village in Kosovo, the quiet teenager Venera can rarely find privacy. However, when she befriends the rebellious Dorina, a new, liberating world opens up to her. Slowly, Venera begins to push against her conservative family’s expectations.

At the turn of the century on Prince Edward Island, Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla decide to take on an orphan boy as help for their farm. But they get an unexpected jolt when they're mistakenly sent a girl instead: Anne Shirley.

He has everything that the destiny wanted and that he has been able to expand: fertile lands as far as the eye can see, cattle, exceptional wines and cigars matured in the long voyages of the boats coming directly from the Caribbean, more precisely from Cuba. He enjoys all this in his rich rural house, with his wife and two children, whom he very much likes, but which sometimes interrupt him to enjoy these pleasures. The disenchantment of the passionate routine always reminds him of the fabled memories of a moment in the past when, unexpectedly, he discovered in a handmaiden the surprising elevation of passion. Until the harlot appears to her at the Estate, untouched by the past fifteen years, purer than before and, even in her eyes, rejuvenated. But married, to a dangerous man.

A teacher, in search of inspiration, travels to the most remote school in the world, where he ends up realizing how important his job is and appreciating the value of yak dung.