Jesus Mora
Martín returns to his native island ten years after having to escape when he had tried to fake a robbery at his family mansion. He gets in touch with an old cohort, Román, and proposes that they get back into action. He wants to make the bit hit, the one that will allow him to get his own back on the past. Román is yet again attracted by Martin, and needs the money to buy his dream boat. Martín is accompanied by the quiet Nuno, a nasty piece of Brasilan work, and Román brings his old friend Picas into the action. Although the plan goes like clockwork and they succeed in getting all the loot, death goes after them one by one.
Gregor Nicholas
Nina lives with her family in a Croatian emigrant enclave beside Auckland (New Zealand). She was taken there by her parents after war broke out in her native country and is now faced with making a new life in a new land. The relationship with her dominating father, Ivan, becomes increasingly tense when she falls in love with a young Maori boy called Eddie. In an attempt to escape from this overpowering paternal influence, she marries a Chinese political refugee, Wu, for money. Ivan finds out about Nina's marriage of convenience and the fact that she is pregnant by Eddie. Desperate to separate Nina from the man she loves, he puts the family harmony at risk.
Alberto Lecchi
Spain - Argentina
110 min.
Eduardo Peña and Angel Ruiz, two Spanish actors on tour in Argentina, stop off in Zapallares, a village lost in the middle of the countryside where the local elections are being held. They run into their old friend, Robert Tolosa, the high school teacher. He and his students try to reopen the theatre for a show, with unforseeable consequences. Tolosa and the boys will have to put all their energy and wile into overcoming the opposition of the politicians.
Paolo Virzì
Sandro is a vegetarian, liberal, ecologist and disillusioned journalist who normally spends his summer holidays with a group of extravagant friends in a country house on an island with no electricity or mod-cons. They spend their time having profound discussions and cooking microbiotic food. But this year things are different: the nearby modern chalet has been rented by a family of Roman traders who have the television on full-blast all day and throw boisterous parties. The enormous cultural gap makes coexistence impossible.
Scott Silver
John and Donner are two hustlers who work the pavement of West Hollywood's Santa Monica Boulevard. Their makeship friendship is the only thing they have to rely on in a hostile world. John wakes up in a park one morning and discovers that someone has made off with his money and his lucky sneakers, in spite of the fact that he had them on. The next day is not only his birthday, it's Christmas, and John is determined to fulfill his dream for the day - to spend the night in one of the city's luxury hotels. All he needs to do is come up with three hundred dollars. Donner decides to help him fulfill his birthday wish.
Gilles Mimouni
About to get married, Max gets caught up in the past. Thinking he has recognized the voice of Lisa, with whom he was in love a few years before, he goes out in search of her. The action involves five people in a sentimental thriller, a somewhat fairytale romantic comedy, a dream or a nightmare. Blinded by his feelings, driven by his senses, he tries to find out what's going on. But, according to a Chinese proverb, the darkest place is right under the lamp.
Alfonso Albacete, Miguel Bardem, David Menkes
Max lives on women and travels to Madrid in an attempt to escape from his past. Meanwhile, unwitting, Mónica, Yeye and María go out to enjoy themselves with Alberto, a young homosexual. Mónica has three things hidden in her bag: her pants, a gun and a video of herself making love to Max. Yeye hides her past behind a mirror and this new meeting with Max changes her fate. María is bothered by Luis, a strange man who invents a double personality to enter her life. For Alberto things have never been the same since he slept with Alex, but everything is so much more complicated when you fall in love with a married man. Max tries to find Yeye, his old love, and the only person who can help him is Cristina, a luxury prostitution madame.
Carlos da Silva, George Sluizer
Portugal - Netherlands
102 min.
Edoardo Winspeare
During the Second World War, an American bomber is shot down near Salento, in Southern Italy. The only survivor is a pilot of Italian origin, Toni Marciano, who is thereby given the chance to get to know the land of his grandfathers. A widowed farmer and his three daughters find him unconscious in a field and decide to take him home. One of the daughters, Cosima, is put in charge of taking Toni on a trip to discover a culture and identity he never even imagined existed. The two youngsters fall in love while dancing the Pizzica, a sensual and romantic dance from Salento: but Cosima has another suitor, Pascuale, son of the richest farmer in the region. Jealousy brings Toni and Pascuale together in a duel.
Raymond Rajaonarivelo
Natural phenomena are highly significant in the traditional culture of Madagascar. An eclipse of the sun, for example, shows a disagreement between the sun and the moon, and the day on which this happens is disastrous. A boy who is born on this day has a tremendous force of destruction, and is therefore put to the test of being left in the midst of a herd of oxen for the night. If he is not crushed to death, he is allowed to live like everyone else. Kapila, The Lame Man, survives and his adoptive mother, Raïvo, takes him from his village to the city, where he grows up surrounded by poverty and violence. One day, Kapila returns home to participate in a last and terrible battle that will decide everyone's fate.
Trish McAdam
Ireland - Germany - UK
93 min.
Jean and Kate make a living as street artists in Dublin. Their friendship suffers a blow when Jean agrees to marry her musician boyfriend, Martin. Jean's mum, Nora, is determined to organize a perfect wedding, but at the last minute Jean gets cold feet and chickens out. She gets a job in television, presenting a new musical programme, leaving Kate without an acting partner. On the other hand, Martin is destroyed and seeks solace in Kate, who tries to be understanding to both sides. The upshot is that Kate has a child by Martin, although she decides not to tell anyone who the father is. Some time later, Martin appears on Jean's programme and her interest in her old boyfriend is rekindled.
Sue Clayton
Ireland - Sweden - UK
105 min.
Teenager Finbar Flynn lives in a run-down Dublin suburb separated from the Irish capital and from the promised European future by an unfinished overpass. One cold and rainy December night, Finbar climbs up on to the overpass and disappears without a trace. Everyone in the area has his or own theory on the subject, and an action committee is even set up, but after a couple of years everyone forgets about it. Everyone except Danny, Finbar's best friend. One day, Danny gets a phonecall suggesting that he look for his friend in Scandinavia.
Lee Xin
Hong Kong - China
98 min.
Riding along on his motorbike, Arong sees a group of hooligans harassing a young girl. He stands up to the group and ends up establishing a relationship with the girl, Aming. They get married, but she leaves without saying goodbye during their honeymoon. Another young girl, You Ge Li Li runs into one of her bosses, Wen Shan, in the lift, and falls in love with him. He responds to her advances and You Ge falls pregnant, but there is a problem: Wen Shan is married. You Ge's sister-in-law, Xiao Jin, reads love stories and dreams about finding her prince charming every night, finally realizing that the man of her dreams is her boyfriend, Ni Wa, who has been waiting patiently for her.