Antoine Simkine

The Islanders

The story takes us to an island with no future, given that it’s already partly submerged underwater. A woman is caring for ten or so very elderly individuals, but the arrival of five travellers turns their lives upside down…

Imago

About Ela a rebellious artist struggling with the deep gray everyday life of Poland in the 1980's, including family problems and personal demons originating in bipolar disorder.

The Best Reward

Mattia is 17 years old. Raised in a post-industrial province and experiencing an identity crisis, he is the son of a trade unionist and a housewife. Hypersensitive and fragile, he expresses himself through hip-hop music. The death of his older brother begins a period of great changes. Mattia leaves school, starts working in a factory and, through a North African colleague, approaches Islam. Prey to a lacerating restlessness, Mattia takes the path of progressive isolation and radicalization.

Bikechess

Dina works as a journalist for the national television station. The stories she is asked to report on are becoming increasingly absurd and full of praise for the government. Her love life is limited to a few secret meetings with her married camera­man. Dina looks after her young sis­ter, a lesbian activist, who regularly finds herself in trouble with the au­thorities.

Libre Garance !

It is the summer of 1982. Garance is eleven years old and lives in a remote hamlet in the Cevennes where her parents are trying to lead an alternative life. When two Italian activists rob a bank in the area, things go wrong. This event turns Garance and her family's life upside down.

Battle: Freestyle

Amalie and Mikael lead their street dance team to the finals in France but tough competition and personal distractions threaten to ruin their dreams.

The Path

Fleeing from the Nazis, two children, a journalist father, and a dog must make their way through the hazardous Pyrenees mountain range.

Oasis

Upon her arrival at an institution for people with mental disabilities, Maria becomes fast friends with the equally fiery Dragana. When it becomes clear that they are both in love with the more withdrawn Robert, their relationship is upset and gradually grows into a dangerous game of hide-and-seek to win him over. Being condemned to a lifetime of hiding away from society, the three teenagers’ profound longing for independence and human connection takes hold. Driven by the newfound feelings of desire and envy, their impulsive actions topple the delicate balance preserved by the institution’s stifling rules and spill over into confrontation and desperate measures for any way out.

Mr. Gay Syria

In focusing his attention on the competitors of Mr Gay Syria, director Ayse Toprak shatters the one-dimensional meaning of “refugee”. Using the pageant as a means of escape from political persecution, the organiser Mahmoud — already given asylum in Berlin — hopes to offer the winner a chance to travel as well as bring international attention to the life-threatening situations faced by LGBT Syrians.

3 Years Later

Featurette in which Julija Steponaityte and Aistė Diržiūtė reflect on one another's characters from The Summer of Sangaile "in character."

The Summer of Sangaile

Seventeen-year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. She meets a girl her age at the summer aeronautical show, nearby her parents' lakeside villa. Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret and in the process finds in her teenage love, the only person that truly encourages her to fly.

Painless

While searching for a solution to his serious health condition, David, a renowned neurosurgeon, discovers a sinister secret hidden in the past.

Sons of Norway

It’s not easy to rebel when your dad wants to join the party... One day (in 1979), Magnus and his son Nikolaj hit the wall in their new terrace house in Rykkinn. Magnus is an architect, hippie and free spirit, a glaring exception in a community where equality and conformity is the norm. He always stands up for his son, supporting him unconditionally, even when Nikolaj decides to stop giving a damn.

Volcanic Strip Tease

A woman smokes a cigarette which propels her into a visual and musical journey that entangles her within an implosive intimacy and a volcanic eruption.