Esther Ortega

A tiempo

Once upon a time: a return, a town, a dead person, a family ... and a story.

Three friends at a table with a couple of bottles of liquor. One of them introduces the notion of a "pony", an event in your early childhood that is an embarrassment and that marks you for the rest of your life. From then on, revelations about each are made by the other two in an effort to encover such ponys. A more virulent form of the game of telling a secret about yourself.

All families have secrets and lies, and at some point everyone has thought of confessing everything. But when? How? One by one? Suddenly at a family reunion? Today, on Christmas Eve, it doesn't seem to be the best moment. On Christmas Eve you must enjoy yourself, because Santa Claus is coming, because children are there. Tonight, the secrets are whispered and lies are floating in the air. But who cares about another small lie, it will be the last one. Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow we will tell her everything. So, grandma, Merry Christmas.

Cristina is a young literature student who works at night in a bar, Rosa is a brilliant executive in his thirties, and Anna is married and has one son. All three are sisters, and every one thinks her life is worthwhile and that their sisters have taken the wrong way. But it is time to recognize their dissatisfaction, and perhaps they are needed more than they are willing to admit ...

Begoña, Pelayo and María are saying a last goodbye to their mother. Confusion arises when they discover she wanted to be buried in a very special outfit.

On July 19–21, 2001, over 200,000 people took to the streets of Genoa to protest against the ongoing G8 summit. Anti-globalization activists clashed with the police, with 23-year-old protester Carlo Giuliani shot dead after confronting a police vehicle. In the aftermath, the police organized a night raid on the Diaz high school, where around a hundred people between unarmed protesters—mostly students—and independent reporters who documented the police brutality during the protests had took shelter. What happened next was called by Amnesty International "the most serious breach of civil liberties in a democratic Western country since World War II."

An industrial warehouse is turned into a stage where a group of ordinary professionals are assembled daily to perform different tasks with apparent normality. Meanwhile, from the darkness of the auditorium, dozens of visitors observe the "wonderful" work show.

Dante, a pony express in serious debt, meets Nina, a hostess stuck in Torino for the night.

Aspiring writer Tommaso makes a living by penning the self-help column of a women's magazine. One day he receives a letter from a reader asking for advice on how to break up with her man: it is none other than Zoe, his partner of ten years, unaware of his pseudonymous side job. Tommaso can't believe his eyes and answers her in private to learn more.

A portrait of the bloody dynasty that spawned a pope, Alexander VI, as well as the role model for Machiavelli's “The Prince,” his son Cesare Borgia, and a legend of femme duplicity, daughter Lucrezia Borgia.

Alex doesn't have much work to do at his father's video store. But when the likewise film-loving Fátima enters the shop, his boredom is suddenly over.

A couple going through a rough patch must sit out a power outage.

El Televisor narrates how Marcos, the only neighbor without an alarm, finally ends up installing a protection system in his chalet. Far from feeling safer, he soon becomes obsessed with the idea that someone is stalking him, and he connects the signal from the surveillance cameras to the TV in the living room. Progressively, the images of the closed circuit supplant the programs and the movies, until becoming the only thing that is reproduced on the screen. His wife and his children helplessly witness the man's madness... but maybe "something" out there is really threatening the family. Something visible only between the pixels of the TV.

The story of Leo, a 13-year-old boy who lives with his mother, who is suffering from depression. Leo's high school prepares a two-day excursion, but his mother, who is immersed in her illness, is not able to attend to her son's needs, and maintains an internal struggle between letting herself be dragged down by her depression and finding the strength to take care of Leo as he needs.

Filippo is a star on the Italian TV. He works for a documentary series about wild animals and nature. He is sent to Tenerife (Spain) to shot an issue about the local stork. It is the 13th of August. After he did his job is time to leave, but the ferry couldn't operate. He has to spend the night in the island. The day after is again the 13th of August, and Filippo live again the same day for different times. Something has to change to exit the paranoid and unrealistic situation.

Alma's going to turn Javier's night into the most unforgettable soiree of his life.

Mai per amore

Madres: amor y vida

Recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Alcántaras, during the last years of the rule of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition to democracy.

Candela works at a logistics company while she pursues her dream of becoming a singer. Her life changes one night when a multinational record company executive hears her sing in a bar. That same night, Candela meets up with Diego, an old high school classmate of hers who is fighting to be a professional boxer.

U.C.O.