Claire Lajoumard

Crocodile Tears

An overbearing mother who lives with her son in a secluded crocodile farm spirals out of control when her son sees the outside world and falls for a girl for the first time.

Cu Li Never Cries

A woman tries to cling onto dimming links to her past after inheriting a pygmy slow loris from her long-estranged husband; meanwhile, her niece prepares for marriage as the young couple ponders their gloomy future together. The present and the complex echoes of Vietnamese history are entwined before a contemplative and poetic perspective.

The Winter Within

In Srinagar, the winter capital of Kashmir in India, Nargis is a domestic worker for a wealthy family. She looks for her husband, Manzoor, hoping he is still alive, locked up in a military camp. Fired from her job she is left with no choice but to return to her village.

Vincent Before Noon

A father pays his son a visit after years of conflict and turns up in the middle of his house move. The son, Vincent, reacts violently to that intrusion. Emotionally weakened, the father involuntarily reveals the true reason of his visit, which revives the tension between them. Within a few minutes, the anger, the memories and the crossed looks move the two men deeply.

The Day I Lost My Shadow

It is winter in Damascus. Sana, with her eight-year-old son, is living alone while her husband works in Saudi Arabia. When Sana runs out of gas to cook or warm the house, she takes a day off to find a gas cylinder. From there begins a trip into the surroundings of Damas, where Sana finds herself brutally confronted with the effects of war.

Bintou

Bintou wants to make sure that her daughter goes to school, but her husband Abel doesn’t think it’s worth it and claims there is only enough money to educate their sons. But Bintou won’t give up and starts her own business to make the extra money. Abel, wary of losing control and scared that Bintou’s newfound financial freedom will lead her to adultery, tries to sabotage her efforts. Bintou tackles sexuality, gender relations, and the fraught relationship between tradition and modernity with joyful satire.