Cristian Bernard, Flavio Nardini
The figures in the title refer to three key dates in the history of Argentina and in the life of three friends. The first one, 1976, introduces them as teenagers, when a beautiful sex symbol who is to become their life-long obsession appears in their lives. In 1989, we meet them as young disillusioned men in a period of serious economic crisis. The year 2003 has a tragic unpredictable outcome in store for them.
Mia Trachinger
A surprising debut by a young American director who for her first full-length film has chosen to tell the strange fascinating story of Nik and Luda, a young couple who escape from a civil war in Central Europe and get to Los Angeles where the only job they can find is as Bunnies (little pink rabbits), who place themselves on corners so that people can use them as confidants.
Achero Mañas
One of the most eagerly-awaited films of the year. The first full-length film by this interesting actor and director of short films (Metro, Cazadores, Paraísos artificiales) is the story of a twelve-year-old boy with a life marked by hate, violence and the lack of love. Mañas defines it with a quote by Leopoldo Panero: "when you're young you live; when you're old you survive".
Antoni Aloy
Henry James is still an inexhaustible source of inspiration for cinema. One of his most famous novels, "The turn of the screw", is the one that this young Majorcan director has chosen for his first film. El celo features Sadie Frost, Lauren Bacall and Harvey Keitel and another Majorcan director, Agustí Villaronga, has a prominent role in it.
Santi Amodeo, Alberto Rodriguez
The first full-length film by two young Andalusian directors who established their reputation with their multi-award winning short film Bancos. Shot in London and in Spain, this entertaining film poses a question: what would happen if it was proved that the Beatles were a huge hoax and that most of their big hits had been composed by a Scotsman years before? Here is the mystery of the legend of David Pilgrim.
Achim Von Borries
The accident at Chernobyl nuclear power station shocked the world. However nobody had dared to make a film talking about it. This is what this young German has done. He tells the story of Valeri, a worker at Chernobyl, who is sick and wants to fulfil one wish before he dies: to see England. However Valeri will stop in Berlin to look for his friend Víctor and his trip will take a new turn.
Florinda Bolkan
The first film to be directed by the famous Brazilian actress who has settled in Italy. Filmed in a town in the north of Brazil, it tells the story of four brothers who meet again in their mother's house when one of them is going to get married. All of them have a secret that they are keeping. However, the biggest secret is the one that their own mother is keeping. "This film is the fulfilment of a dream that I have nurtured for years".
Javier Corcuera
A child works to help his family. A woman imprisoned for saying what she thinks. A man who is going to be executed. Three viewpoints, three voices, a single story: the story of life on the back of the world. The first full-length film by a Peruvian documentary-film director who works in Spain.
Christophe Ali, Nicolas Bonilauri
The rat watches the old man in a corner of the flat. Today the weather is fine. The old man will be able to go out and finish his life's work. He will follow a woman and bring her home. Today the weather is fine, but the old man does not know that the past will be coming to his meeting. One of the most surprising debuts of the year.
Mathieu Seiler
The Swiss director Mathieu Seiler has gone back to his old ways. After leaving half the festival stunned by his first film Stefanies Geschenk, which appeared in Zabaltegi in 1995, he is back this year with his second film, a very free, perverse version of Little Red Riding Hood. By playing with elements from the genre of fantasy, this fiercely independent director once again shows his skill at creating captivating indelible images.
Renaud Cohen
Renaud Cohen's training as a documentary film-maker provides a solid basis for this story about the generation gap starring Mathieu Demy, the son of Jacques Demy and Agnes Varda. Simon has just turned 30 and has become aware of the difficulties he has to face now that he is older. A gentle comedy that champions tolerance and interracial relationships as an infallible formula for overcoming problems with your family and love life.
Edoardo Winspeare
The second film by the director of Pizzicata, who took part in Zabaltegi in 1996 and got a special mention from the New Directors' jury. Just like in his first film, the thousand-year-old rhythm of the tarantella, that has captivated the young, plays a vital role in the tragic story of two brothers. Documentary and fiction blend together with the traditional music of Salento as an element that guides the film along.
Jonathan Glazer
An English gangster, who has retired to a magnificent mansion on the Costa del Sol, where he lives with a wife he loves, is drawn by an old partner, the evil Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), into a dangerous adventure that will force him to fight tooth and nail to defend the paradise that he has built. The multi-award winning director of adverts and videoclips Jonathan Glazer's first film is a stylized black comedy- thriller.
Cecilia Barriga
These are the well-tried words that psychoanalysts use when their consultation time has come to an end. The main character in this story is a Chilean who attends to her patients on a bus that goes round the neighbourhoods of New York and also struggles to get over a trauma from her past. A stateless debut film, made on a very low budget but with plenty of enthusiasm and sincerity.
Jean-Marc Barr , Pascal Arnold
Rosanna Arquette and Elodie Bouchez star in the second part of actor and director Jean-Marc Barr's so-called Free Trilogy . Set in a small town in Illinois the main character is a 35 year-old man, married out of a sense of duty, who discovers the real nature of his sexuality with the girlfriend of a friend of his who comes from France. The couple's forwardness brings them into conflict with a hypocritical puritan community.
Matthias X. Oberg
This is a German film that looks like an English one. Not only because it is in English and has been shot in England, but also because it is clearly a tribute to the films made at the Ealing Studios. Hugo, a young German wants to open an undertaker's in a small English town. The problem is that there is already a funeral parlour in the town and there aren't enough customers for both of them. However Hugo will find unexpected help for his business.