India. Smita is an untouchable. She dreams of seeing her daughter escape her miserable condition and enter school. Italy. Giulia works in her father’s workshop. When he has an accident, she discovers that the family business is ruined. Canada. Sarah, a successful lawyer, is about to be promoted to the head of her firm when she learns that she is ill. Three lives, three women, three continents. Three battles to fight. Although they don’t know each other, Smita, Giulia and Sarah are unknowingly linked by their most intimate and singular bond.
This is the sprawling saga of Honoré de Balzac, a man who created a great literary oeuvre from the dramas and adventures of his own life - a life that he shaped into one spectacular and unforgettable blaze of passion. At the heart of the story are the women in Balzac's life. Although gruff, unsophisticated, and far from handsome, Balzac exerts an irresistible fascination on women.
Beijing, winter 1990. Song and his girlfriend Xiao Qing have just moved into a hovel which they're illegally renting since they are not officially married. Song, a young chemistry graduate, is appointed to a position in a small engineering factory where he demonstrates a marked lack of enthusiasm. As for Xiao Qing, she is still a student, studying French. But their joy at living together and the idea of building a little island of happiness cannot withstand the weight of reality.
Seventeen-year-old Sangaile is fascinated by stunt planes. She meets a girl her age at the summer aeronautical show, nearby her parents' lakeside villa. Sangaile allows Auste to discover her most intimate secret and in the process finds in her teenage love, the only person that truly encourages her to fly.
Peter Mandrake, a North-American photojournalist becomes embroiled in South America's dangerous underworld of pimps, drug gangs and arms smugglers when he sets out to find the killer of a local call girl.
In 1978, five teenagers in Shelbyville, Tennessee look to meet the actress Sondra Locke, who's rumored to return to town for the local premiere of her big Hollywood movie.
A sheltered young princess is sent to live with relatives in America, where she befriends a pony held captive by a shady carnival owner.
The story of Exodus is relocated to the seaside town Margate. Moses lives in the Promised Lands with his adoptive parents, until he finds his mother in the shanty town, Dreamland, where she’s been ghettoised with other ‘undesirables’. He takes on his father, Pharaoh, and leads a radical campaign to liberate the people of Dreamland.
Nobody in the Rigi family is really looking forward to the Christmas Child this year. 13-year-old Sima and her little brother Elyas know: Mom Leonie and dad Kian are going to split up! Even Kian's parents Britta and Navid, who want to spread Christmas cheer, can't turn the tide. Only after a false alarm about Elyas, who has suddenly disappeared, do the tensions ease. The newlyweds make a discovery on their doorstep: a baby just a few weeks old. After a confession from him, the search begins for the mother - and the reason why the foundling should be with parents who are separating.
Tessa Grant, the feisty owner of a bed and breakfast in Cornwall, and David Johnson, an upper-class charmer, face an unexpected turn in their lives. After David's mother Carol loses her fortune to a swindler, they are left with their inherited bed and breakfast. With the aim of selling the accommodation quickly, they move in with Tessa. The Johnsons' chaotic lifestyle clashes with Tessa's regular life. However, when they try to win over Tessa's best friend Bruce, unexpected feelings develop between Tessa and David.
Victor Bukowski is an out-of-work actor with problems. He's got a lousy agent, he has a habit of falling out with directors and he's still in love with his ex-girlfriend. However, Victor is about to embark on an unexpected emotional journey which will make him confront his future and his past mistakes.
Some Boys Don't Leave is the story of what happens when the break-up happens but the break does not. 'Boy' is forced to come to terms with the fact that 'Girl' no longer wants him around. The only problem is he just can't seem to leave their once shared apartment. 'Girl' decides to keep living her life around him; while he remains, watching at a distance. In time, each decides to go in his or her own distinctly different directions. 'Boy' soon finds that sometimes the greatest distance we are asked to travel is one within ourselves.
A suburban housewife uses a hidden camera to compulsively record everyone around her.
Mark, Jasper and Lily are high school friends now in their early twenties. Mark is gay, living with Lily (his high school girlfriend), while Jasper is straight and soon to be married. A cynical and bitter trio barely connected by their past friendship, they reunite for the annual public Halloween celebration in San Francisco's Castro district.
After her mother decided that the eighteen-year-old mentally disabled Dora no longer has to take psychotherapeutic drugs, the young woman begins to blossom. The sedated teenager was never a problem for her surroundings – but new challenges arise when the pleasure-loving young woman discovers her sexuality. The family is threatened to fall apart.
From the 17th floor of an office building, Pierre is staring out a colleague that is here for hours.
A woman's morning jog takes a dark turn.
Chasing his wayward mother to Montana, fifteen year old Jake finds the picture perfect Tucker family instead who photoshop him into their lives, despite his questionable past. Too bad Jake can not stop himself from stealing, being seduced by the sexy next door neighbor, courting the mother of the house, encouraging the son in his first love affair, and leading the neighborhood boys in an ever escalating series of pranks. A drama about stealing radios, cars, and hearts
Gerd, considered a woman of dubious morals, falls in love with a boy whose family does not accept their relationship, so both run away and settle in a cabin in the woods where they meet a sullen man who tests their love.
Thirteen German directors present short films exploring the state of their country.