Juana prepares a paella as she does every Sunday surrounded by her family. The news of her husband Pepe’s retirement turns one more celebration into a heavy burden.
Social & External
The people behind it
Rocío Calvo
Chema del Barco
The 43rd edition screens Neighbors, with five segments about the theme “neighbors”: not only about physical proximity, but also about relationships. In Brazil, Olga is a 90-year-old black woman who lost her husband one year ago; her neighbors, who come from different parts of the world, interrupt her grief. In Russia, an employee tries so hard to please his boss that he becomes inconvenient. An Indian woman, with the help of her male friend, decides to learn how to drive, an uncommon practice for women in the country. In China, an elderly, owner of an old and decadent barbershop, argues with his son, who wants to change the business. In South Africa, a group of homeless fights for the right to housing.
In a dystopian city, where women are merely the possession of men, the 17-year-old Valentina escapes from Zéro’s grasp. Vulnerable and alone, she gets rescued by Alex, the leader of a group of young, strong women who fight together against the injustice in the world.
A six-minute short film starring Ester Expósito that addresses—directly and without artifice—vicarious violence, one of the most severe and devastating forms of gender-based violence
This anti-coming-of-age film follows Generation Y characters as they chase the desire for radical self-realisation.
The life and rather obscure hardships of a Slovenian feminist author and human rights activist Angela Vode.
Elisabeth leaves her abusive and drunken husband Rolf, and goes to live with her brother, Göran. The year is 1975 and Göran lives in a commune called Together. Living in this leftist commune Elisabeth learns that the world can be viewed from different perspectives.
A four-hour French comedy that masterfully blends absurdist humor with the profound existential philosophy of Albert Camus.
After World War II, Antonia and her daughter, Danielle, go back to their Dutch hometown, where Antonia's late mother has bestowed a small farm upon her. There, Antonia settles down and joins a tightly-knit but unusual community. Those around her include quirky friend Crooked Finger, would-be suitor Bas and, eventually for Antonia, a granddaughter and great-granddaughter who help create a strong family of empowered women.
When a shy young man arrives on her doorstep, Alice Hartley grabs the chance to escape from her loveless marriage. She and Michael open a Growth Centre with a difference - offering sex, drugs and personalised water births.
Directed by Helen Tadesse, often recognized as Ethiopia’s first female feature film director, the film centers on a teenage girl trying to live with the psychological aftermath of a sexual assault.
A wife is sick and tired of her husband's infidelities, so she leaves home and goes back to grad-school. There she meets many self-confident women who help her find her own voice.
Minja, a 19-year-old girl leaves her provincial town after her affair with the professor of drawing in order to avoid the scandal. In the big city, she meets Nenad and changes under the influence of love.
An epic meditation on psychoanalysis, the Baader-Meinhof, feminism, and pre-revolutionary Russia.
A short indie film
Two actresses take us through a series of 'raps' and sketches about what it means to be beautiful and black.
Matthew, a college freshman, meets his dream girl in a dorm elevator during a blackout. He never sees her face, but instantly falls in love. In the morning, the power is restored, but the "dream girl" has vanished. All Matthew knows is that she lives in an all-girls dorm. He sets out on a semester-long journey to find his mystery girl among a hundred female suspects. Could it be Wendy? Dora? Arlene? Patty? Cynthia? Or the 95 other girls, any of whom could have been in that elevator with Matthew.
And urban planner's journey to making the impossible possible.
When Ainara announces that she wants to become a nun, chaos arises in her family. Is this a genuine desire or has she been influenced by the religious staff at her school? Or is this life-changing decision due to her father’s inattention and her mother’s absence?
Ana and her two best friends, Maria and Paula, navigate life in their oppressive countryside village. Whilst their families struggle in the poppy fields harvesting opium, the girls try to grow alongside the creeping terror of their cartel oppressors.
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Memo lives on a remote Chilean sheep farm, hiding a beautiful singing voice from the outside world. A recluse with a glittery flair, he can't stop dwelling on the past, but what will happen once someone finally listens?
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
A terminally ill mother invites her family to their country house for one final gathering, but tensions quickly boil over between her two daughters.
In a bustling Mexican household, seven-year-old Sol is swept up in a whirlwind of preparations for the birthday party for her father, Tona, led by her mother, aunts, and other relatives. As the day goes on, building to an event both anticipated and dreaded, Sol begins to understand the gravity of the celebration this year and watches as her family does the same.
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico.
A psychotherapist helps a law student cope with schizophrenia in one of five interconnected tales dealing with mental illness.
While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.
Mariana and Julian are a couple that have been happily married for many years. They have two kids: Juan Maria and Bibiana. They are in love and are very successful in their professional lives. They have a wonderful sex life and in the foreplay that they enjoy in privacy, he tells her that she can have sex with other man if she tells him everything in detail.
After the death of her abusive husband, Matilde finds her new best friend in Miguel, her young, insecure, and disoriented neighbor.
Battling terminal cancer, a woman writes a one of a kind notebook about life, death and love for her son to remember her by. Based on a true story.
A woman is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime and re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past.
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
After being falsely accused of a terrible crime, Hector, a man with a neurological disability, goes to a secret prison. His goodness conquers the prisoners, who plan to prove their innocence.
Tension mounts between a quadraplegic man and his wife as she prepares a bath for him.
