The Hard Nut

A teenager has his Sitka Spruce tree chosen to be planted outside the White House as the new national Christmas Tree.

At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he falls in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.

Nicole and her son Serge live in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburbs, where their love for each other thrives against all odds. But as Christmas approaches, Nicole has her checkbook and credit card confiscated, turning their relationship and their lives upside down.

A charming but ruthless criminal holds the family of a bank manager hostage as part of a cold-blooded plan to steal £90,000.

Cecília, a successful young model, returns to Recife, her hometown, to spend Christmas with her mother. One night, a neighbour she hadn’t seen for a long time, João, shows her a bottle with a mysterious and intoxicating green substance. Cecília begins to fall in love with João, but also discovers he is involved in a secret cult around the figure of Salomé, the luxurious biblical princess.

An abused wife leaves her alcoholic husband and moves with her children to another town. There their lives become entwined with another family in trouble.

It's Christmas Eve and an unexpected delay at the airport has left everyone stranded. Young Joy (Savannah Page Ray from NBC's Parenthood) is traveling on her own to visit family for the holidays, so a retired flight attendant at the airport (Shirley Jones) becomes her travel companion. As they wait with their fellow travelers, they soon learn that everyone can use a Christmas Miracle, especially a young man trying to escape his past, and they join together to help. Allow your spirit to be lifted and your heart to be warned as you watch each person receive their Miracle at Gate 213

As Christmas approaches, a single mother struggles to raise her son and keep up the payments on her Oregon ranch, which is difficult since she's heavily in debt. But she's a tough cookie and proves that a steadfast attitude and an open heart go a long way in surviving the cold hearts and greed of the Scrooges around her.

When his father dies, Terry (Gary Sinese) returns to the house where he grew up, planning to stay only long enough to clean and settle the estate. Yet something indescribable keeps him there longer than expected. Soon, he is reunited with memories and people from his past and his life is changed forever.

The story of two small town boys from different sides of the tracks: 1950's childhood and self-redemption. Young "Whitey" Black (so called because of a tuft of blanched hair on the left side of his head) lives in poverty with his single mother and ailing, four-year old sister, Sandy. Just across town, young Jerry Barlow lives the advantages of a middle class lifestyle with both parents and his younger brother. When mischief casts Whitey and Jerry into a shared paper route, Jerry quickly learns of Whitey's desire to buy his sister an angel doll for Christmas. Even though no such dolls exist in their hometown, Whitey, Jerry and a host of colorful characters set out in search of Sandy's gift. Along the way, reversals of fortune, theft, prejudice and, ultimately, the boy's friendship opens their eyes to the vastness of the small town around them.

Commissioned by Opera North, the Brothers Quay created the installation and film 'She, So Beloved' inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem ‘Orpheus. Eurydice. Hermes.’ The Orfeo myth is re-told through a combination of art forms; film, dance, music and visual art contained within a contemporary staged installation to provide an intimate sensory experience.

A cinematic version of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's adaptation of Bram Stoker's gothic novel Dracula. Filmed in a style reminiscent of silent Expressionist cinema of the early 20th century (complete with intertitles and monochrome photography), it uses dance to tell the story of a sinister but intriguing immigrant who preys upon young English women.

Manhattanite Catherine O'Mara (Heche) bonds with a young man who has run away from his father. When the father returns to New York a year later to sell his Christmas trees, he and Catherine cross paths.

A young woman returns to her small hometown to rediscover music, family bonds, and the magic of the Christmas season.

The pensioner Mr. Kummer is desperate to attend a Christmas party of his estranged family, who have invited him by surprise. A story about the loss of illusion.

Nicole Ramsey is dedicated to serving military service members and their families at the Joint Military Base in Lacey, Washington, home of I Corps and the 62nd Airlift Wing. This Christmas, with the help of many dedicated heroes, Dr. Ramsey is on a mission to honor a special fallen soldier and bring much needed healing to her own family.

It’s Christmas time and the family has gathered. Everything goes on as it did the previous Christmases, with grandpa drinking too much and grandma trying to keep everyone in the mood. After the Christmas holidays, everyone returns to their own homes until it's time to gather again, this time for a funeral.

It's Christmas Eve, early 1930s on Walton's Mountain. As the family prepares for the holiday, they anxiously await Pa's return home from his job in the city some 50 miles away. He is late, and Ma and the grandparents hear on the radio a report of a bus accident that worries them. Oldest son John-Boy must step up to help grandfather cut down a Christmas tree, and upon learning the concern about Daddy sets out to find him.

A New York City couple decide to take a getaway trip to Texas, but unknowingly cross paths with the wrong kind of people.

It's the day before Christmas, the day before John's 21st birthday. He's a prostitute on Santa Monica Blvd in L.A., and he wants to spend that night and the next day at the posh Park Plaza Hotel. Meanwhile, Donner, a lad new to the streets, wants John to leave the city with him. John spends the day trying to figure out how to deal with Donner's friendship.