A mute Scottish woman arrives in colonial New Zealand for an arranged marriage. Her husband refuses to move her beloved piano, giving it to neighbor George Baines, who agrees to return the piano in exchange for lessons. As desire swirls around the duo, the wilderness consumes the European enclave.
A family loaded with quirky, colorful characters piles into an old van and road trips to California for little Olive to compete in a beauty pageant.
Marquise de Merteuil, former lover of Vicomte de Valmont, incites him to corrupt the innocent Cécile de Volanges before her wedding night, but Valmont has targeted the peerlessly virtuous and beautiful Madame de Tourvel.
Some of 2011's stand-out film actors appear in "a video gallery of cinematic villainy" for New York Times Magazine.
Anaïs is twelve and bears the weight of the world on her shoulders. She watches her older sister, Elena, whom she both loves and hates. Elena is fifteen and devilishly beautiful. Neither more futile, nor more stupid than her younger sister, she cannot understand that she is merely an object of desire. And, as such, she can only be taken. Or had. Indeed, this is the subject: a girl's loss of virginity. And, that summer, it opens a door to tragedy.
In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
A chaotic Bridget Jones meets a snobbish lawyer, and he soon enters her world of imperfections.
Luise, called Pünktchen, and Anton are closest of friends. Being the daughter of a wealthy surgeon, young Pünktchen lives in a great house. Her mother, who always travels through the world more for public relation reasons than for the social tasks she pretends to fulfill, is never available to her as a mother. Anton, son of a single and sick mother in financial trouble, does his best to help her out of it by working late. Pünktchen decides to help her only friend (as nobody else would anyway) and starts singing in public places. Trouble arises when Anton can't resist stealing a golden lighter and Pünktchen's secret life is discovered by her parents. Two troubled families finally can see the need for actions to be taken.
When Sam Baldwin's wife dies, he is left to bring up his eight-year-old son Jonah alone, and decides to move to Seattle to make a new start. On Christmas Eve, Jonah rings a radio phone-in with his Christmas wish to find a new wife for his dad. Meanwhile in Baltimore, journalist Annie Reed, who is having doubts about her own relationship, is listening in.
Elias and Teddy have always been friends. At age 23, they hang out, deal some drugs, and think they are the kings of their very small world. And then one day, for sure, they will leave Limoges for Marseille. Their encounter with Mona is going to speed things up.
Four strangers are wandering through town. Fanny, a young woman who takes care of trees, will cross paths with three people along her way and offer them her help: Jean-Luc is blind, Joséphine has reached the end of her life, and Carole is suicidal.
Li Hung is a desperate mother who tried for years to obtain an American visa to study to create a better life for her husband Nansan and her son. But after a short time, she loses contact with her family, and her husband, Nansan smuggles himself to New York to find her.
Sisters Maria and Anna live together. Maria is a most proficient executive secretary, encouraging Anna to finish her studies and start a career. Anna broods, threatens to quit university, takes pills, and keeps a diary. When Maria's relationship with Maurice, the son of her boss, starts to lead to love, Anna takes a selfish and drastic step that plummets Maria into solitude. No longer able to connect with Maurice, Maria does establish a relationship with Miriam, a typist at her office who becomes a surrogate younger sister. But Maria is intrusive as well as helpful. Can this or any relationship work out for this talented woman whose past seems to choke her soul?
Anne-Marie Miéville, frequent collaborator of Jean-Luc Godard, made this partner piece to Godard's own 'Je vous salue, Marie'. Marie, eleven years old, is experiencing difficult times. Her parents will separate. The perception of her universe is profoundly disturbed. This exacting portrait of a child immersed in her books, music and dancing casts a dispassionate yet touching eye on the girl's reaction to the new upheaval in her life.
After swearing off music due to an incident at the middle school regional brass band competition, euphonist Kumiko Oumae enters high school hoping for a fresh start. As fate would have it, she ends up being surrounded by people with an interest in the high school brass band. Kumiko finds the motivation she needs to make music once more with the help of her bandmates, some of whom are new like novice tubist Hazuki Katou; veteran contrabassist Sapphire Kawashima; and band vice president and fellow euphonist Asuka Tanaka. Others are old friends, like Kumiko's childhood friend and hornist-turned-trombonist Shuuichi Tsukamoto, and trumpeter and bandmate from middle school, Reina Kousaka. However, in the band itself, chaos reigns supreme. Despite their intention to qualify for the national band competition, as they currently are, just competing in the local festival will be a challenge—unless the new band advisor Noboru Taki does something about it.
Experimental short film that explores the feelings of 17-year-old Li Xia who searches for purpose and intimacy while trapped in Diyu, or "hell" in Chinese mythology.
Writer-director Samia Halabi explores her struggles with speaking in this touching story of a Muslim teenager trying to rekindle friendship with a childhood playmate.
A young pianist confronts her fear of motherhood when she marries into a remote island community with bizarre fertility rituals.
Following the separation of her parents, Tania, 14 years old, arrives in a French middle school. Having grown up in Finland, she experiences this event as a real uprooting. Especially since she played a very special sport there, "hobby horsing", in a very close-knit team.
An ex-pat travels from New York to his home village in rural China after a long absence. On his way, he meets a familiar girl.