A Drop of the Grapevine

A young couple gets ready for a ceremony. Emilia is not dressed yet and Pietro is struggling with his tie and also very annoyed about a speech he has to give. While they talk around their house, time travels back and forth revealing different phases of their life.

Larceny, adultery, sabotage and treachery. Yes, just your typical Christmas with the Dredge family! Twelve-year-old Joey Dredge is in trouble again. Expelled for jumping off the school roof, he's haunted by his father's death and hates his mother's new boyfriend and his bullying son. Compounding his misery is the knowledge he has to spend Christmas with them at the family beach house. Things look grim until the unexpected arrival of great-grandfather Albert, fresh from a stint in prison. Forced to share the back shed with this swearing, farting and devious octogenarian, Joey's life changes. Between barbecuing the family dog, performing a self-burial and causing his intended step-father to consume a startling amount of hash, Joey learns a few life lessons from Albert, who despite his many vices may give Joey the strength to accept the past and embrace the future.

The O'Neills lived happily in their house in the Australian countryside. That was until one day fate struck blindly, taking the life of Peter, the father, leaving his grief-stricken wife Dawn alone with their four children. Among them, eight-year-old Simone denies this reality. She is persuaded that her father still lives in the giant fig tree growing near their house and speaks to her through its leaves. But the tree becomes more and more invasive and threatens the house. It must be felled. Of course, Simone won't allow it.

Outaouais, summer 1996. Solange, a 23-year-old Rwandan refugee, finds political asylum in Hull with her four-year-old daughter Lisa. Their integration process is fraught with obstacles and nothing goes as planned. Solange forges a friendship with Nyota, her Congolese-born neighbor, who helps her navigate her new home. From the heavy heat of summer to the first snowflakes of winter, Hamwe follows the pivotal moments of Solange and Lisa's journey towards permanent residency. Together is an ode to the land of welcome that is Quebec, but also to the resilience of my mother and the millions of other political refugees and economic immigrants.

Boog, Elliot, and their forest friends return with an all-new adventure, this time in a Big Top Circus! The comedy begins when Boog's pals choose their family obligations over the annual guy's trip, and a disappointed Boog decides to take a trip of his own, which leads him right into the middle of a circus ring...literally. When he switches places with a devious look-a-like circus grizzly and falls for an alluring Russian troupe member, he'll come to realize that maybe you don't have to choose between family and friendship after all.

The principal character in Helvécio Ratton's delightful film has been adapted from a book and comic created by the Brazilian cartoonist Ziraldo, and tells the tale of a happy-go-lucky 10-year-old child growing up in a city in the 60s.

Kanao, a courtroom portrait artist, observes crimes, scandals and the decline of Japanese values without passing judgement. As he and his wife endure the tragedy of their first child’s death, hope slowly unfolds and their love story flickers to life once again.

In 1919, Frank Gibbons returns home from army duty and moves into a middle-class row house in the suburbs, bringing with him wife Ethel, carping mother-in-law Mrs. Flint, sister-in-law Sylvia and three children. Years pass, with the daily routine of family infighting and reconciliation occasionally broken by a strike or a festival, and even another World War.

Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill.

Naturally Native follows the lives, loves, pain, joy and relationships of three sisters as they attempt to start their own business. Of American Indian ancestry, but adopted by white foster parents as young children, each sister has her own identity issues and each has chosen a very different career path. Now dedicated to starting a Native cosmetic business, they attempt to overcome obstacles both in the business world and in the home. A touching love story of family and culture, Naturally Native also interweaves a subtle, but strong wake-up call regarding the treatment of Native people in corporate America. Naturally Native also provides some insight into tribal infrastructure and gaming issues.

Minori is a head-strong photographer who is romantically involved with Kushida, her editor. On a photography assignment she gets into an argument with her subject, Ageha, a female erotic manga artist who, like Minori, is 30 and single. Shin'ichi, the journalist on the assignment, receives most of the blame for the failure of the project. Minori sleeps with Shin'ichi, then discovers that her own position is not as secure as she thought, when she suspects that Kushida is also involved with Ageha. The series of events causes Minori to reconsider her own lifestyle.

La Carpète

For hundreds of years, the Claus family has delegated the title "Santa" to a chosen few of its members, which can be passed down upon retirement. Each Christmas, Santa and his vast army of highly trained elves produce gifts and distribute them around the world in a one-night high-tech operation. However, when one of 600 million children to receive a gift from Santa on Christmas Eve is missed, it is deemed ‘acceptable’ to all but one—Arthur Claus, the current Santa’s misfit son deemed ineligible for the title, who executes an unauthorised rookie mission to get the last present halfway around the globe before dawn on Christmas morning.

The story Waste Away revolves around a family grappling with the impact of a progressive neurological disease on their lives. It begins with a younger couple, David and Kate, facing the grim reality of David's diagnosis. As they struggle to come to terms with the implications, their relationship is tested by fear, anger, and uncertainty. Years later, the story intertwines past and present, showing an older David and Kate reflecting on their journey. Despite the pain and challenges, they find moments of peace and acceptance. The narrative explores themes of love, memory, and resilience, culminating in a poignant depiction of loss and the enduring bonds that remain even after the end.

Bettiol: Il Deserto nella Cattedrale

Call him a city slicker. Call him a tenderfoot. But don't call him a member of the family--yet. Rising L.A. lawyer James White is going home for the holidays with his fiancée, Sadie Ryder, to finally meet her family in rural Pine Gap. After blundering through a bad first impression, James attempts to win over Sadie's lawyer-loathing father Karl by pretending to be a horse-riding, hay-baling, game-hunting, seasoned square dancer. But a pair of worn jeans and a ten-gallon hat don't make a cowboy, and it's going to take more than mere posturing to charm Mr. Ryder... in fact, it just might take a miracle.

Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.

A Japanese bullet train is threatened with a bomb that will explode automatically if the train slows below 80 km/h, unless a ransom is paid. Police race to find the bombers so the train crew can learn how to defuse the bomb.

Using a professional grade video camera, a dysfunctional family records their Christmas Day in 1985, which descends into total chaos.

Derrick is a struggling law student who takes a job as an awards show seat filler to make ends meet. One day, he is seated next to the beautiful pop superstar Jhnelle, who mistakes him for a well-known industry executive. With an instant chemistry, the unlikely pair begin to date.