In 1965, passionate musician Glenn Holland takes a day job as a high school music teacher, convinced it's just a small obstacle on the road to his true calling: writing a historic opus. As the decades roll by with the composition unwritten but generations of students inspired through his teaching, Holland must redefine his life's purpose.
Olivier Assayas, Gus Van Sant, Wes Craven and Alfonso Cuaron are among the 20 distinguished directors who contribute to this collection of 18 stories, each exploring a different aspect of Parisian life. The colourful characters in this drama include a pair of mimes, a husband trying to choose between his wife and his lover, and a married man who turns to a prostitute for advice.
Philipp wishes to give his terminally ill father Walter one last treat. To coax him out of his hospital bed he tells a white lie: Philipp pretends that his father has won the lottery.
In 1980, the black Falashas in Ethiopia are recognised as genuine Jews and are secretly carried to Israel. The day before the transport the son of a Jewish mother dies. In his place and with his name (Schlomo) she takes a Christian 9-year-old boy.
Mateo, 17, prepares to migrate to Los Angeles in order to support his humble family in their small Zapotec village in southern Mexico, yet before he can depart, the leader of the local gang demands that he commit murder to become a member.
In Madrid, Spain, a mysterious serial killer ruthlessly murders his victims by recreating the first appearance of several comic book superheroes. Cosme, a veteran police inspector who is about to retire, works on the case along with the tormented inspector David Valentín and his own son Jorge Elías, a nerdy young man who owns a comic book store.
A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.
Caye is a young prostitute whose family is unaware of her profession. She meets her striking Dominican neighbour Zulema, an illegal immigrant, after she finds her in the bathroom, badly beaten up. They strike up a close friendship unbeknownst to Caye's xenophobic co-workers.
A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.
A young man upsets his Punjabi family when he falls in love with an Irish schoolteacher.
A father tries to rekindle his relationship with his son after years of absence and lack of communication. He takes him on a car ride across northern Norway, hoping it is not too late.
Two young Nicaraguan children, Saslaya and her mute brother Dario, must travel to Costa Rica to find their long-lost mother.
Two intertwined families, one American, one Mexican, and their fight to save three year old illegal Angelina from deportation.
After the death of his mother, Raúl is forced to look for his father to solve a legal problem with a property, he finds him in a distant town married to a young woman and after 20 years without seeing him they begin a conflictive and longing relationship.
On the eve of her 65th birthday, Dolores has a premonition: her life is about to change. She will own a successful casino. However, her gambling addiction of the past may work against her. Deborah, her only daughter, waits for her boyfriend's release from prison to start a new life, whilst her granddaughter Duda clings to a chance of working in the United States. All three women will strive to make their dreams of a better life a reality, going for it all or nothing.
In this loose adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV," Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
Two trouble-causing brothers, who in the second generation after World War II Germany live, are in the center of this German made for TV movie. The movie makes a subject out of their everyday lives and the helpless attempt for them to build a normal life.
Gabriel, Bobby and Costa are old friends from Altona, a multicultural hood in Hamburg. Just out of prison, Gabriel wants to turn his back on crime, but the others continue to operate as petty criminals. Friendships are tested as the trio navigate a dark world of mafia bosses and deals gone wrong.
Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned, a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane, a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor.
Walt is a lonely convenience store clerk who has fallen in love with a Mexican migrant worker named Johnny. Though Walt has little in common with the object of his affections — including a shared language — his desire to possess Johnny prompts a sexual awakening that results in a tangled love triangle.